Rocktivity: The Rock and Roll Attitude In Action - When country singer Chely Wright decided to acknowledge that she is gay,

she brought another country music star out of the closet with her...as a bigot. John Rich from the band Big and Rich had a conversation with Wright that seems to show bigotry towards the gay community.

...Wright...was once a sweetheart of the country music world...(R)umors began to spread that she was gay...John Rich reached out to her to tell her about the rumors...(He) asked Wright, “You’re not gay are you? If you are, people won’t have it!” Wright acknowledges that it was the first time she lied out loud to another person about her sexuality..." John Rich told her, “You gotta hit this gay thing (rumor) head on…it’s sick, it’s deviant, it’s unacceptable to country music fans.”

...John Rich spoke with Access Hollywood about Chely Wright's revelations..."I feel awful that...my decade old comment - 'Good, thank God' - was taken the wrong way...I was clumsily trying to express my relief that even a country boy like me had a one-in-a-million chance of having a beer with a woman as talented and attractive as Chely...(She has since) invited me to perform at charity events...I wish she would have said something directly to me before (her) book's publicity tour, especially since some of the comments attributed to me in the book are not mine."
(link)

So Chely says John was trying to give her professional advice, and John says he was just trying to pick her up? I won't take sides other than to point out that there's a BIG difference between "I deny making anti-gay comments" and "Anti-gay comments that have been attributed to me are not mine." But since since the encounter made Chely decide to stop living a lie even if it meant the end of her career and is now married, I think this story actually has a happy ending!

P.S. Stephanie Miller, who came out a few months later, cited Cheley as a big influence and supporter -- and she's someone who dubbed Melissa Etheridge as her show's official rock star!

P.P.S. Big (Kenny Alphin, who has been to Sudan and donated to Obama) and Rich have since broken up. Bon Jovi no longer refers to them in a song they co-wrote for the Bon Jovi album Lost Highway.

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