“I’m a moderate Republican, I have the best jobs plan, I’m pro-choice, support gay marriage and I want us out of Afghanistan now. If you’re not excited about Mitt Romney or the direction of the Republican Party, then I ask you to vote for me.”
— Openly gay Republican presidential hopeful Fred Karger, who won 0.1 percent of the primary vote in Maryland, in his new “Sexy Frisbee” campaign video that intersperses his remarks with beach scenes of shirtless men and bikini-clad women, plus two guys kissing at the end. (Pink News, April 24)
“There’s so much work to do. If 80 percent of what I talk about is gay issues — I didn’t come out to shut up. I came out to talk.”
Sugarland’s Kristen Hall also ‘out of the country closet’
To the Editors:
I was surprised to see your article on Chely Wright titled “The road to country’s first openly gay star” (June 11) which questioned “if kd lang should count?” The answer is neither was the first openly gay country music star!
Some may argue that Chely Wright isn’t technically the first major country singer to come out as gay.
Butch crooner kd lang had three country albums under her belt — along with the 1989 Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance — before she discussed being a lesbian in a 1992 interview with The Advocate.
But it’s difficult to consider lang the first mainstream country artist to come out because she was never really “in” — neither in the closet nor accepted in the Nashville-centered world of country music.
Country music’s evolution from redneck to rainbow, Pride celebrations around Georgia, gay baiting in the governor’s race — all this and more in the June 11 issue.