Latino superstar Ricky Martin says he wishes he could come out again and say ‘you find love’

Latin superstar Ricky Martin is telling a U.N. conference on homophobia that he wishes he could come out again so he could tell people struggling with their identities that “it’s just beautiful — you find love.” Martin said Tuesday that “for many years, I lived in fear ... because I was hating myself because I grew up listening to a very crooked concept: ‘You’re gay. You belong in hell.’” Martin, who is currently starring on Broadway in “Evita,” said it was amazing to be at the United Nations surrounded by people “fighting for one cause — equality and love and social justice.” He praised U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who got a standing ovation after telling the conference that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people — the LGBTs — “are entitled to the same rights as everyone else.” “They, too, are born free and equal,” Ban said. “I stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them in their struggle for human rights.” The secretary-general said he is “pained” that more than 76 countries still criminalize homosexuality.