Ty Herndon Talks About Recuttg a No. 1 Country H as a Gay Ballad - Variety

Contents:

• STILL GOG STRONG: AN TERVIEW WH GAY UNTRY ARTIST TY HERNDON
• TY HERNDON COM OUT AS A ‘HAPPY GAY MAN’
• COUNTRY MICIAN TY HERNDON REVEALS HE IS GAY
• COUNTRY SGER TY HERNDON COM OUT AS GAY
• COUNTRY STAR TY HERNDON OUT AS GAY
• COUNTRY SGER TY HERNDON 'OUT, PROUD AND HAPPY' AS A GAY MAN
• TY HERNDON TALKS ABOUT WHY IT MATTERS TO REMAKE A NO. 1 COUNTRY H AS A GAY BALLAD
• COUNTRY'S TY HERNDON RERERDS ONE OF HIS BIGGT HS TO REFLECT HIS TTH AS A GAY MAN
• COUNTRY SGER TY HERNDON COM OUT AS GAY
• BILLY GILMAN REVEALS HE’S GAY, LAMENTS IT’S ‘NOT THE BT THG’ FOR COUNTRY CAREER
• COUNTRY SGER TY HERNDON OUT AS GAY, SEND STAR FOLLOWS
• COUNTRY SGERS E OUT AS GAY – TY HERNDON AND BILLY GILMAN

STILL GOG STRONG: AN TERVIEW WH GAY UNTRY ARTIST TY HERNDON

Sce g out as gay 2014, Ty Herndon has changed all female pronouns his song "What Mattered Most" to male pronouns.

Herndon me out as gay 2014 and this year, to ci wh Pri Month, he is re-releasg his h wh updated lyrics to f his te inty. "20 years later — after a divorce, leavg his major label, dg addictn and revery — Herndon me out as gay, beg one of the first major untry artists to do so after Chely Wright me out 2010.

After proudly g out as a gay man 2014 and fdg personal and public acceptance, Herndon has performed at Pri ftivals and released albums which he sgs songs wh same-genr pronouns. Ty Herndon Com Out as a ‘Happy Gay Man’. Sger impli first two marriag were only for show, explag he thought he uldn't be openly homosexual untry mic.

TY HERNDON COM OUT AS A ‘HAPPY GAY MAN’

“It’s my life, ’s what I do, ’s who I am, and I went to great lengths to ver up [beg gay] to be a untry star. Those lengths clud gettg married twice, to “some really amazg young ladi, ” Herndon says, claimg both ex-wiv knew he was gay.

The 52-year-old sger knew as a child he was gay. Herndon tells People magaze that an Anthony Robbs semar sparked the urage to e out, as he realized sharg his story might help ightened gay youth. “I was 10, stg church and horrified that I might be a homosexual.

COUNTRY MICIAN TY HERNDON REVEALS HE IS GAY

The gay mors followed Herndon both good tim and bad, as did dg and alhol problems. Herndon’s full terview wh Entertament Tonight, durg which he proudly proclaims to be “an out, proud and happy gay man” — and also discs his partner of six years — airs tonight (November 20th).

Ty Herndon, a untry mic star who had three No 1 hs on the Amerin untry charts, has revealed he is gay. Now 52, Herndon said that he has stggled wh his sexualy sce childhood, only gradually g to grips wh his inty as a gay Christian man. “[Gay people are] not broken, they’re not sners and they’re perfectly betiful, ” Herndon told People magaze.

”Not long after after People magaze broke the news, Billy Gilman, a fellow untry mic star, posted a vio announcg he was gay. Inspired and enuraged by Herndon, the vio - tled My Story By Billy Gilman - discs his stggl wh the dtry as a “gay male untry artist”.

COUNTRY SGER TY HERNDON COM OUT AS GAY

”Herndon said he realised he was gay when he was about 10, stg church and feelg “horrified that I might be a homosexual”. “[My fay] has seen me stggle wh beg gay my whole reer, ” he said.

Herndon began seeg his current partner, a man named Matt, and Wright both spired Herndon’s cisn to e out as gay, but was also rmed by a 2009 semar wh life ach Anthony Robbs.

COUNTRY STAR TY HERNDON OUT AS GAY

Country fans wh long memori and/or a keen sense of gay-dar have long wonred if the eply nflicted and closeted untry sger named Will Lexgton on Nashville was moled on Ty Herndon, who had a seri of No. While ’s unclear whether Nashville’s tortured sger will ever e out, his historil antecent did jt that on Thursday, as Herndon beme the first male untry star of any ser notoriety ever to reveal himself as a gay man.

Ty Herndon Com Out as Gay. Bee untry mic is all about tradnal valu, and I’m takg a stand that bee I’m gay do not mean that I nnot have tradnal valu, bee I do.

COUNTRY SGER TY HERNDON 'OUT, PROUD AND HAPPY' AS A GAY MAN

” And if I’m speakg up for anythg, ’s that gay and untry mic n -exist whout someone tryg to kill themselv or overdosg or all the heo thgs that sometim go along wh the subject of beg gay the South.

TY HERNDON TALKS ABOUT WHY IT MATTERS TO REMAKE A NO. 1 COUNTRY H AS A GAY BALLAD

I had to stop watchg bee was brgg back a lot of bad memori for me wh the gay character. There are certaly openly gay people workg the mic bs Nashville; ’s been artists and performers that haven’t been reprented. I thk you n be gay Nashville and be behd the scen — be a manager, be a stylist, be a meraman, be a TV host — and you’re still sred s—ls.

I mean, there was a time when some artists were so spic of me and so homophobic that they wouldn’t even let me pull my tour b next to theirs.

I foree a lot of gay and lbian and transgenr folks g to the shows, bee I want to stand for the bt of that muny and earn that. I am a sger, who happens to be gay.

COUNTRY'S TY HERNDON RERERDS ONE OF HIS BIGGT HS TO REFLECT HIS TTH AS A GAY MAN

I believe that I n make mic that everyone’s gog to relate to, whether I’m gay or a Martian or anythg else.

I have been programmed to thk that if you’re gay this world, you’re gog to lose. The lengths that I went to to ver up the pa of beg gay and who I was created some habs that killed everythg good that I tried to do. I n jt say that I’m gay, and this is why I did the dgs; this is why I did this horrible thg.

But I was disappoted that I uldn’t jt go to rehab, e out, and say, “I’m gay.

COUNTRY SGER TY HERNDON COM OUT AS GAY

Oddly enough, no one ever asked me if I was gay. [Lghs] “I’m gay!

BILLY GILMAN REVEALS HE’S GAY, LAMENTS IT’S ‘NOT THE BT THG’ FOR COUNTRY CAREER

I’m gay!

But sounds as though you spent much of your life believg you uldn’t be gay and godly. Then I was church at 10 years old when I realized I was gay, as a visg pastor looked at me as he was givg a fire-and-brimstone sermon about homosexualy. But wasn’t beg gay that he removed.

He removed all the damage I had done om tryg not to be gay. I am not your stereotypil gay guy.

COUNTRY SGER TY HERNDON OUT AS GAY, SEND STAR FOLLOWS

It’s awome for me to thk that I n be thentic and still be that same redneck kid om Alabama who wasn’t really supposed to be gay but who is, even though ’s taken me half my life to accept that. I thk everybody knows somebody that’s gay, even the rednecks. The people that like untry mic and that are drivg the tcks and huntg and fishg probably know somebody that’s gay that’s the closet.

And I’m jt a regular guy, so if mak people thk “Oh my God, if you’re gay, then who else might be?, ” that’s a good thg. And I’ve been one that’s been at ath’s door a few tim wh addictn and prsn all around beg gay. Country sger Ty Herndon has e out as gay an terview wh People: "I'm an out, proud and happy gay man.

Country sger Ty Herndon has e out as gay a new terview wh People: “I’m an out, proud and happy gay man.

COUNTRY SGERS E OUT AS GAY – TY HERNDON AND BILLY GILMAN

” This revelatn mak Herndon the first openly-gay man untry mic wh any No. “[Gay people] n be loved by God, they n be married one day, they n have a fay, they n give their parents grandkids, ” Herndon said. It’s personal stori like his that help people unrstand that gay people n also be Christians, wboys, and even untry mic stars.

Not one, but two untry mic sgers publicly revealed they were gay on Thursday, markg a signifint event the untry mic world.