Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Country singer Chely Wright Comes Out; Teaching Tolerance


Country Music Singer Chely Wright recently spoke on her sexuality to people and the struggles dealing with it in the country music industry to PEOPLE

"There had never, ever been a country music artist who had acknowledged his or her homosexuality," she tells PEOPLE. "I wasn't going to be the first."




But now Wright is changing her tune. "Nothing in my life has been more magical than the moment I decided to come out," she says.



Wright, 39, recalls of her youth in the South: "I don't have a memory in my life that doesn't include the dream of making music." But during her childhood and rapid ascent to fame in the county world, she also experienced a community in which homosexuality was shunned. "I hid everything for my music," says Wright.

Like most religion teaches you, homosexuality is a sin and she tried to pray it away, but could never shake it.


“Early in my life I went through what I think a lot of gay people go through, thinking that I could change and pray it away,” said Chely.
She explains one conversation with John Rich that made her feel especially bad


“He said, "You're not gay are you?!" I said, "No, John, I'm not." He said, "Good, thank God." And that began a spiral for me. I had a meltdown shortly after that.”

It go so bad that she considered shooting herself with a loaded gun.

“I was looking at myself in a mirror…as I was about to do it. I just looked at myself and something snapped and I started to cry…and I realized I have too much to live for. I may lose my career in country music, that will break my heart, but it's okay. I have a lot of different pieces of my heart that matter and that's what I've come to learn.”

There is still such a homophobia among certain sects in the United States and certain populations have been really slow to accept the gay lifestyle.  The rural, conservative south has been one of the leading groups in the opposition against homosexuality.  We have to start teaching tolerance with these groups.   This comes with accepting everybody along with yourself and realizing not everybody is built or made the same.  This should start to be taught in schools at an early age along with tolerance of all minority groups.

How can you teach somebody that who they are is wrong and attempt to change them?  If God made us all in his image, that includes homosexual race, blacks, Hispanics and all, then are you saying that your God made mistakes? Think about that.

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