Country artist Billy Gilman, whose five major label albums have sold an average of one million copies each, came out in a heartfelt video on YouTube late Thursday evening.
After finding happiness with his current partner of five months, Gilman said he knew he had to be honest with the world about who he is.
A clearly nervous Gilman mentions Ty Herndon’s coming out earlier on the same day as inspiration and motivation for announcing his own sexual orientation.
Though Gilman also acknowledges the difficulty of being gay where his particular profession is concerned:
There were rumors and whispers: “Is he, or isn’t he,” and…for many that know Nashville, and [that know]] how much I love the industry…being a gay male country artist is not the best thing. You know, if people don’t like your music, that’s one thing. But, after having sold over five million records, and having a wonderful life in the music industry, I knew something was wrong when no major label wanted to sit down and have a meeting and listen to [my] new [music].
Gilman goes on to call the industry “silly” for making him feel ashamed of being who he is. Given all the other adjectives he could have used in that instance, he’s actually rather restrained.
Here’s the man speaking for himself:
So far, the messages on Gilman’s Facebook page seem to be running pretty solidly on the side of support for his announcement.
