Country’s Chely Wright Comes Out: ‘Sinful Lifestyle’ or an Opportunity for Understanding

Country music's Chely Wright - Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Going where no country music star has gone before, Chely Wright admitted to being a lesbian in this week’s People Magazine. With her self-outing, the 39-year-old country singer has ventured into uncharted territory with her more socially conservative fans.

It would be easy to underplay Wright’s announcement as just another celebrity getting too close and personal. Doing so, however, would not only minimize the courage it took for Wright to come clean, but would also overlook the special nature of the star/fan relationship in country music.

A large contingent of country aficionados feel an affinity for their favorite stars that falls somewhere between close friend and family member. This personal investment is played out every year at the Country Music Association’s Music Festival and Fan Fair, where tens of thousands of fans stand in designated lines for photo ops and autographs from their favorite stars. Every day, stars are accustomed to receiving birth announcements, requests for advice and long, soul-revealing letters from loyal fans.

However, as the Dixie Chicks discovered in ‘03, an adoring throng can quickly turn into an angry mob if the fans feel they’ve been betrayed.

Wright’s revelation could lead to the same kind of reaction, only worse. Hers was not just a political statement that could later be taken back or apologized for; she let her fans in on a secret that is central to who she is—no room for compromise.

Wright knew she was putting her career on the line, but felt she owed it to herself, her fans and the LGBT community to end the charade.

As Wright told Karen Ocamb in a Huffington Post interview, “Our secrets shouldn’t take us down. There’s so much in the world that’s so painful – this shouldn’t be one of them. This shouldn’t be a reason a kid goes into his basement and puts a gun in his mouth. This shouldn’t be a reason a 45-year old man takes a bottle of pills but he does.”

Disappointment

“It makes me sad to see so many people congratulating you,” wrote a disappointed fan from Wright’s hometown. “Here in Wellsville, you are our ‘claim to fame’ so to speak and it really makes me sad to see that you have chosen a sinful lifestyle.”

Though the supportive comments far outweigh the negative on Wright’s Facebook page, you can be sure there are a number of folks in Chely’s fan club who will look sideways at this lesbian thing. But, here is where there is some reason for hope.

Gay and lesbian rights groups are full of heterosexuals who had been intolerant of homosexuals until they were forced to come to terms with a friend or family member coming out.

Given the personal nature of country music fandom, it’s possible that some of Wright’s fans will undergo a similar awakening. Maybe the woman who chastised Wright for her lifestyle choice will ask herself why a woman who makes her living as a country singer would jeopardize her hard-earned career by “choosing” homosexuality. Then, she might go on to wonder why Wright, whom she had always considered her town’s “claim to fame,” would suddenly resign from the “decent American” club, and leap headlong into wickedness and sin.

When anti-gay dogma and rhetoric fail to give sensible answers to these questions, and the fan discovers that Wright’s sexual orientation was God’s choice—not Chely’s—the fan might start looking to common sense, compassion and understanding for more answers.

When the fan realizes that her darlin’ Chely continues to be the same sweet, talented, troop-supporting gal she’s always been, the fan might start to believe that bigotry against Chely and other homosexuals is the real sin.

When that fan realizes that her former attitude toward gays drove Chely Wright and countless other members of the LGBT community to live a lie that was almost fatal, she might start telling her friends about the cruelty and injustice of homophobia.

In time, the entire Wellsville chapter of the Chely Wright Fan Club might even start believing that Chely should have the right to marry the person she loves.

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