Vicci Martinez, the 26-year-old openly
lesbian contestant on NBC's reality contest The Voice, says
returning to the closet for the duration of the show was never an
option.
Martinez is among the four gay
contestants vying to win NBC's challenger to Fox's 10-year-old hit
American Idol. Also gay are Tyler Robinson, Nakia and Beverly
McClellan.
The Seattle resident landed a spot on
Cee Lo's team after she wowed the judges with her rendition of
Adele's We Could Have Had It All.
Unlike several previous contestants on
American Idol, Martinez says she never considered hiding her
sexuality.
“I'm not going to hide it,”
Martinez
told lesbian entertainment website AfterEllen.com. “I've been
very public about it and I've had people say, 'Well, why don't you
just keep them guessing?' You can hit all the markets.' No.
Especially if you're with somebody; it's so disrespectful. It was
hard for me coming out to my parents. And for me, I've already gone
through that hurdle, and I'm not going to go through it again.”