Singer Chely Wright says being out and
proud is better.
The 41-year-old Wright came out gay
last year and married her girlfriend Lauren Blitzer in Connecticut
this year. She has become a leading advocate against the bullying of
gay teens and a proposed constitutional amendment in her home state
of North Carolina that would ban gay marriage.
In a wide-ranging interview with
Chicago gay weekly Windy
City Times, the country music star encouraged people to be
open about their sexuality.
“It's my experience for me that being
out is better,” Wright said. “That being said, I wouldn't have
this forum had I come out when I was 19. I would not have been able
to become a country music star. I also am painfully aware that not
everyone is safe and able.”
“I know what it was about for me. It
was that I wanted to keep my job. I wanted to keep making records,
and I wanted to keep writing songs, and I wanted to keep being
successful and making the money I was making and having the security
I was having.”