Country singers Ty Herndon and Billy Gilman both came out as gay yesterday. Herndon came out publicly yesterday in an interview with People Magazine.
“I’m an out, proud and happy gay man,” the country music star said.
Herndon came out to his family in his 20s. Now, at age 52, he has decided to share his story publicly.
“My mother probably knew I was gay before I did. I remember sitting down with her and having the conversation,” Herndon tells People, noting his career path in country worried her. But, ultimately, “she was more concerned about me having a happy life. You have to be able to do that in your own skin, and [my family] has seen me struggle with being gay my whole career.”
“I have made a lot of mistakes in my life. They’ve been my mistakes, and I own them,” added Herndon, who was married to women twice before coming to terms with his sexuality. (He says both ex-wives knew he was gay.) “I’ve done a lot of work around forgiveness with people that I’ve hurt and people I’ve not been honest with because of my sexuality.”
As a person of faith, he hopes LGBTQ youth can learn from his coming out story. “They can be loved by God, they can be married one day, they can have a family, they can give their parents grandkids,” Herndon explains. “And they’re not broken, they’re not sinners and they’re perfectly beautiful.”
A few hours later, Gilman came out as gay in a video he posted on YouTube.
http://youtu.be/5N7MBAPZWms
In the video, Gilman shares that Herndon inspired him with his coming out story earlier that day. “It’s taken me a good many weeks to figure out how I was to approach this video that you are watching right now,” Gilman admits. “But today, actually, a fellow country artist and friend made it easier for me to make this video.”
Gilman, 26-years-old, has been a country music star since age 11. He admits that being openly gay in the country music industry is hard, but he is ready to take on that challenge. Gilman shares, “Now that I have finally found my place as a person, that only makes the music that much better.”
