Female gay country singers

• This s artist was the first openly lesbian territory singer.

• While her fans were not aware, she was never in the closet to her producer or others in the industry.

• Most of her love songs were non-gendered.

• For each love song to a man, she negotiated to record any song of her choice.

• She opened the first woman-loving woman bar in Nashville, The Hitchin' Post.

Impact

Wilma demonstrated the power of negotiation to expand representation and freedom of creative expression.

Explore the music

Self-reflection

What is one thing you're not happy with and could use negotiation to improve?

• Before coming out in , this legendary artist already had a

  “The main stories in country are loneliness, heartbreak, disappointment, unrequited love,” remarked Orville Peck, the fringe-masked crooner at the forefront of the genre’s LGBTQ move. “I think that those are things that are felt by almost every queer person at some point in their lives, and sometimes for a long part of our lives.” However, it’s only in the streaming age that the Nashville scene has started to accept that country music and queerness don’t desire to be mutually exclusive terms.  

  With traditional media no longer able to aid as gatekeepers, a whole world of country artists who don’t fit the heteronormative mold contain been able to get their melody, and their communication, out there to the masses. Everyone from non-binary singer-songwriter Paisley Fields to trans artist Mya Byrne to Dark queer twin duo The Kentucky Gentlemen have built up loyal followings, though without much mainstream recognition. In addition to her other roles as a television star, makeup company owner, block and motel proprietor, DJ, podcaster, and YouTube sensation, Trixie Mattel has turn into th

  It’s a great time to be a queer land music fan. Whether you’re a new devotee to Lil Nas X, Trixie Mattel and Orville Peck, or a longtime listener of sparkly rhinestone icons such as Dolly Parton, Lavender Country and Tomson Highway, big gay twangy summer is upon us.

  Alberta’s Robert Adam has line-danced to the forefront of a new crop of queer country stars, earning a spot in the finals of Sirius XM’s Top Country competition. To help shed light on his new single “Moonlight Magic,” he shared some juicy details behind the song’s lyrics with Xtra. 

  “Back in my past when my family and my surrounding rural town looked down on me for my sexuality, I used to feel alive at night,” Adam explains. “When everyone else was asleep, there was no expectation of who or what I had to be.

  “I would often meet other guys on dates in farmers’ fields or by lakes in the surrounding area,” he continues. “It was so thrilling and exhilarating because it was the start of me connecting with my accurate self, which would eventually come out to perform even in the daytime. 

  “This song is for anyone who

  Country Artists Who Have Arrive Out as Gay [PICTURES]

  Ty Herndon and Billy Gilman made headlines in November by revealing they were gay within hours of each other but they weren't the first state artists to make such an announcement, nor the last.

  From Chely Wright -- the first well-known state star to come out, in -- to songwriter Shane McAnally, there possess been a few others helping pave the way in the country song industry. On Feb. 3, Brothers Osborne member TJ Osborne came out publicly, in a feature in Time. That makes him one of the very few out country artists signed to a major or large independent document label, along with Brooke Eden, who recently got engaged to her longtime girlfriend, Hilary Hoover.

  "I crave to get to the height of my career being completely who I am," says the singer, who's now released three major-label albums with his brother John. "I signify, I am who I am, but I've kept a part of me muted, and it's been stifling."

  Click through the gallery below to learn more about country's LGBTQ+