Pansexual: YouTube teen icon JoJo Siwa ponders her sexual identity

"I still don’t know what I am. It’s like, I want to figure it out." JoJo Siwa, the YouTube teen star with an audience of millions, has become an LGBTQ star. She told People magazine that she's not really sure which letter of the LGBTQ applies to her. "I have this joke," she said. Her girlfriend's name is Kylie. "So I say that I’m Ky-sexual. But like, I don’t know, bisexual, pansexual, queer, lesbian, gay, straight." She's still figuring it out and shares her journey with the world.

The performer / glitter queen told People magazine that she likes to identify as queer "because I think the keyword is cool." Technically, she added "I would say that I am pansexual because that’s how I have always been - my whole life is just like, my human is my human."

The artist went 'Instagram official' with her partner who she'd been dating since early 2021. She did so with three photos and a video of both of them singing a Justin Bieber song. "Happy one month to my girl!" she added. "I love you more and more everyday."

In less than a day, this post became the most followed and liked of all of JoJo Siwa's updates. With more than 1.4 million likes, it is clear that her more than 10.6 million followers are delighted to see her happy and in love.

Kylie response to JoJo Siwa's declaration of love did not take long to arrive. She replied on Instagram: "Fall in love with your best friend, guys. It's THE BEST feeling in the whole world. Here's to a month with my favorite human. I love you Sharky."

17 years old, JoJo Siwa has been an icon for the LGBTQ community since she came out in early 2021. "I’ve never gotten this much support from the world," she told People. "I think this is the first time that I’ve felt so personally happy." What's the story of this curious girl?

It was on 'The Tonight Show' with Jimmy Fallon that JoJo Siwa went public with her relationship. She claimed that her "'perfect girlfriend" was the one who encouraged her to come out about her relationship and her LGBTQ identity.

With 12.1 million subscribers on YouTube, 10.5 million on Instagram and more than 32 million on Tik Tok, Jojo Siwa's decision has been a valuable example of acceptance and visibility among her gay and heterosexual followers. Many are even younger than her and look up to the star. JoJo Siwa says she has received many responses of  gratitude and joy to her coming-out.

Although she has not revealed the identity of her girlfriend, JoJo Siwa has confessed that her partner was key to her decision to come out. "I have the most amazing, wonderful, perfect and beautiful girlfriend in the world," she told Jimmy Fallon. "If I lost everything that I've created because of being myself and because of loving who I want to love, I don't want it..."

Why hadn't she said anything until now? "It's not something I'm ashamed of, I just hadn't shown it on the internet yet," she explained on 'The Tonight Show'. "There was always speculation, but I was like... I think this is going to backfire on me." In the end, it's gone very well though. Like many things in JoJo Siwa's life, things end up being alright.

Far from what many people think, it is not YouTube that launched Joelle Joanie Siwa to fame, but 'Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition', an American show in which she participated when she was only 10 years old. From then on, in 2013, JoJo did grew immensely in popularity.

In 2015, at the age of 12, the singer, presenter, dancer and actress decided to open her own YouTube channel. Her first videos, as is usual at this age, told of her day-to-day life, accepted the challenges of the moment and, in her case, showed any item of clothing whose composition included more than 60% glitter.

As the quality of her videos improved, JoJo began to upload her own songs and music videos. One of them was the enormous hit 'Boomerang'. The song, which aims to raise awareness against bullying in school, was and continues to be a hit. After four years, the video has accumulated 934 million views on YouTube.

JoJo Siwa's impact made her a symbol against bullying. By now, she is also an icon of the juvenile LGBTQ community. It's an important role for a teenager whose origins are in a middle-class Iowa family.

In 2020, before she made her relationship with a woman public, JoJo Siwa had been dating Mark Bontempo. If you've seen any of her videos, you'll also know her three dogs: Coco, Lulu and BowBow. They are regular stars on her platforms.

TV channel Nickelodeon responded to the star's coming out by displaying a photo of the youngster in her characteristic glitter look, and writing the following message: "Never been more proud."

Read also: the story of Elliot Page (formerly known as Ellen Page)