Country music star Reba McEntire says
she feels “sad” for closeted country music stars.
The 60-year-old McEntire, who last week
released her 27th studio album Love
Somebody, recently told Michigan gay weekly PrideSource
that LGBT advocacy was “very important” to her.
“I just went to my first gay wedding
a couple of months ago in California for Michael and Steven, my two
great friends,” McEntire said. “They've been together for 20
years! I thought that it was not fair, and I didn't understand why
they couldn't get married. It wasn't because they just wanted to get
married. If one of them had gotten injured and gone to the hospital,
the other one couldn't make decisions for them. It's very upsetting.
It's not only for convenience or for romantic reasons – it's for
practicality. For practical reasons!”
“I get a kick out of what Dolly
[Parton] said: 'Why shouldn't they get married and be as miserable as
the rest of us?'” she added with a laugh.
When asked her thoughts on the recent
self-outings of country music artists Billy
Gilman, Ty
Herndon and Brandy
Clark, McEntire said that what they had to go through was sad.
“It's really, really sad what they
[were] living with before they decided to come out,” she answered.
“And then why they decided to come out, and how they deal with it
after they've come out – the pressure society puts upon them, their
families and what they put upon them, whether they accept it or they
don't. … Accept them, and then go on with life.”