Country's Chely Wright: Out, Married, and a Mom
Country music has boasted stars of every age, race and gender, but the genre had long been conspicuously heterosexual. Countrified pop chanteuse k.d. lang -- who famously graced a 1993 cover of Vanity Fair in a barber chair being amorously "shaved" by model Cindy Crawford -- fired the first salvo in shattering that unspoken barrier when she opened up about her sexuality in the early '90s. Almost two decades later, country singer Chely Wright carried the conversation into the 21st century when her coming out made headlines in 2010. Wright faced death threats and declining record sales following her announcement, but rather than take a lower profile, the "Single White Female" singer married LGBT activist Lauren Blitzer in 2011.
Wright's story during the past few years has been inspiring to many, particularly in the form of "Wish Me Away," a documentary about her experience. Shot during the course of three years, the film made its debut at the 35th annual Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco in June 2011, and won several major awards in 2012--including trophies from the Los Angeles Film Festival, the Seattle LGBT Festival and the Tallgrass Film Festival in her home state of Kansas.
And in 2013, Wright had an even bigger reason to celebrate--she and wife Lauren Blitzer welcomed twins George Samuel and Everett Joseph Wright on May 18. --Jessica Letkemann & Chuck Dauphin
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