Country singer
Carrie Underwood’s recent support of gay marriage may have stirred the ire of some of her more fundie fans, but she isn’t the only one in the biz — or from Oklahoma — to promote gay rights.
Toby Keith,
Reba McEntire,
Rascal Flatts and even
Garth Brooks and wife
Trisha Yearwood back equality, multiple sources report.
In 2009, McEntire told
Out magazine, “I have gay friends who have partners, and I see where they would want to get married. I understand why. So, I can’t judge that.”
Last year, Keith spoke with
Country Music Television Insider about gay rights, saying bluntly, “First of all, we’re going to stop somebody from getting a marriage license because they’re gay? You won’t stop them from living together, so what have you accomplished? … Wasting a lot of money here and a lot of time that could be spent working on this deficit that we’re under.”
Way back in 1993, Brooks won the
Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Award for his song "We Shall Be Free," widely accepted to have a "gay-friendly" tone, including the lyric "'Cause we shall be free / When we're free to love anyone we choose." He also paired with George Michael to sing the latter's hit "Freedom" at the Equality Rocks festivities in 2000.
The Tennessean newspaper credits Yearwood with being the first major country artist to play a gay venue in
Nashville. She performed at a 1999 cancer benefit at The Connection.
Picher native
Joe Don Rooney of Rascal Flatts said to
CMT of the band’s 2009 song “Love Who You Love,” “If you are someone who’s gay or someone who’s straight, you still feel something from the song, and that’s what we want.”
Said Flatts bassist
Jay DeMarcus, “We don’t judge anybody’s lives.”
