Out country music star Chely Wright has
criticized the tone of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee's
resignation letter from the CMA board.
Huckabee resigned from the board of the
Country Music Association (CMA) Foundation on Thursday, less than one
day after the appointment was announced, following an outcry from the
Nashville music industry.
Critics pointed to Huckabee's vocal
opposition to LGBT rights and his “deep involvement” with the
NRA.
In his resignation letter, Huckabee
claimed that the board was “bullied” into acting: “I genuinely
regret that some in the industry were so outraged by my appointment
that they bullied the CMA and the Foundation with economic threats
and vowed to withhold support for the programs for students if I
remained.”
In an open letter posted on Facebook,
Wright chided Huckabee.
"Your letter is a predictable
attempt to convince folks that this is a binary choice; the battle
between (your side) people of faith who care about providing
schoolchildren with musical instruments and (the lefty liberals'
side) affirming LGBTQ people. You're sneaky, Mike, but we've seen
your colors before,” Wright
wrote.
"Mike, everyone cares about music
in schools. We all do. Stop trying to pretend that it’s not
important to all of us or that you’re the only one who can bring
this idea to the table. The CMA Foundation will continue this
important part of their mission without you, I assure you. And stop
using students and country music fans as pawns to validate your
bigotry toward LGBTQ people and our incredible straight allies.
Pitting people of faith against the equality movement is a fool's
errand,” she added.
(Related: Chely
Wright, Lauren Blitzer-Wright welcome twin boys.)
Jason Owen was among those who
protested Huckabee's appointment. The openly gay executive heads
Monument Records and Sandbox Management, which represents country
music stars such as Little Big Town, Faith Hill and Kacey Musgraves.
In a letter to CMA Foundation CEO Sarah
Trahern, Owen, who is raising a family with his husband, said that he
could “no longer support the CMA Foundation in any way.”
Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist
minister and a former presidential candidate, has called
homosexuality a sin, called on lawmakers to ignore the Supreme
Court's finding that gay and lesbian couples have a constitutional
right to marry and is opposed to openly gay and transgender people
serving in the military.