March 2005 History of Gay Country Mic, Part 1

Contents:

• COUNTRY MIC HAS NEVER BEEN MORE GAY
• 11 COUNTRY MIC ARTISTS WHO HAVE COME OUT AS GAY
• ‘I’M HERE, I’M QUEER AND I’M COUNTRY’: THE TOP 5 GAY COUNTRY SONGS
• BRIAN FALDUTO TALKS MOVG BEYOND 'SCHOOL OF ROCK' FAME AND MAKG UNABASHEDLY 'GAY COUNTRY' MIC
• HERE ARE GAY COUNTRY SGERS WHO STOOD OUT LOUD AND PROUD

COUNTRY MIC HAS NEVER BEEN MORE GAY

hen Brandy Clark lnched a untry-mic rerdg reer 2013, there wasn’t any template to follow for an openly gay artist Nashville.

Clark has been at the foreont of that shift and creds her iendship wh Shane McAnally — one of Nashville’s most succsful songwrers, who is also gay — wh givg her the nfince to pursue a solo reer.

“Who knows who’s gog to be listeng to me the flyover stat that’s gog to draw strength om ‘Oh, she’s gay too? Man, if she’s gay and dog that, maybe I uld do that.

11 COUNTRY MIC ARTISTS WHO HAVE COME OUT AS GAY

“Gee Stra or Gee Gay, there’s no difference, ” sgs Homan, who now liv Nashville. “Though a lot of people that work the dtry support me om a distance, there’s a difference between that and actually takg some steps to ph that further and sign some [gay artists], ” Homan says. I intify as gay, and I’ve never said that to anybody else.

In se you missed the news om 2021, the Brothers Osborne ontman me out as gay, sayg his fay and close iends have known for que some time, but he wants to be his full self at this pot his reer. While the stereotype is that untry mic is about as far om gay-iendly as you n get, that’s not always the se.

‘I’M HERE, I’M QUEER AND I’M COUNTRY’: THE TOP 5 GAY COUNTRY SONGS

That may be due to the lyrics, however, which tell the story of a gay man cshg on his straight iend. Though Sublette’s not gay himself, he lived on Christopher Street New York Cy, next door to a gay untry bar. And hey, was good enough for Pansy Divisn to ver for a Stop Homophobia pilatn 7″!

Freddy Freeman’s “I’m Here, I’m Queer and I’m Country” feels like a manifto for the gay untry mic fan. While Mgrav herself is straight, the song was -wrten wh Shane McAnally and Brandy Clark, both openly gay Nashville songwrers. ” While the song was censored when she performed for the CMA Awards broadst, wasn’t the reference to homosexualy that was cut, but the reference to smokg a jot.

No article on gay untry mic would be plete whout a mentn of Pat Haggerty, the lear of the first gay untry band Lavenr Country.

BRIAN FALDUTO TALKS MOVG BEYOND 'SCHOOL OF ROCK' FAME AND MAKG UNABASHEDLY 'GAY COUNTRY' MIC

Rerd for a private-prs LP 1973, “Cry’ The Cocksuckg Tears” is a fearls prott song agast homophobia and sexism. "I was like, 'I want to hear the gay versn of the stuff that I listened to when I was a kid, '" the sger-songwrer, who played Billy "Fancy Pants" School of Rock, tells PEOPLE.

' He was this gay man, and he pulled me asi and was like, 'Here are some articl to read before we shoot today, '" Falduto, now 30, rells to PEOPLE. He was much more terted stars like Fah Hill at the time — "My first-ever album was Fah" — which mak sense, as he's now a untry mician whose but album Gay Country dropped Friday. The project is a ttament to how far he's e sce starrg alongsi Jack Black School of Rock, as he was labeled "the gay kid" long before even thkg about his own sexualy.

HERE ARE GAY COUNTRY SGERS WHO STOOD OUT LOUD AND PROUD

After the movie was released, however, he was ridiculed for the character's stereotypilly homosexual characteristics. There wasn't a lot of queer reprentatn, so I thk people jt stantly labeled me gay, " he says. "I didn't even know what beg gay was other than that you didn't want to be lled .