Billy Gilman goes from child star to gay role model

The last time country star Billy Gilman visited Charlotte, he was the opening act for George Strait’s 2000 festival concert at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Gilman was 12 at the time, and his first big hit, “One Voice,” had made him the youngest solo artist to ever receive a Grammy nomination for best new artist. He also made the Guinness Book of World Records for being the youngest singer to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.

On Sunday, he returns to Charlotte with a new, more socially relevant distinction: Openly gay country singer.

He will be in town as a headliner for the 2015 Charlotte Pride, a three-day LGBT festival expected to bring 100,000 people to uptown this weekend.

Gilman is not the first country artist to come out as gay in recent years – but he is the biggest selling, having reportedly racked up 5 million album sales. His announcement in November came shortly after former country hit maker, Ty Herndon, also came out as gay.

Herndon went big with the news, scheduling TV and magazine interviews for weeks. Gilman took a low-key approach, outing himself in a self-made video posted on his website. He says it had long been suspected by Nashville insiders that he was gay, but it was hard to prove because he says he’s “reclusive, politically conservative and pathetically boring.”

In fact, Gilman says the only reason he went public is because a journalist familiar with his career spotted him on a date with a guy at a festival in Rhode Island, and took a photo of the two posed together. This was in October.

“I didn’t realize just who the photographer was until he told me he had an interview set up with me the next weekend to talk about my music,” recalls Gilman, in a phone interview.

“I realized he could throw (my story) to the AP and have fun with it. My heart started pounding and I thought: ‘How am I going to curb this one?’ I didn’t want to come out to People magazine or the ‘Today Show,’ because it would look like I was trying to sell records or get headlines. So I decided to come clean. I made the video.”

The country music industry’s reaction was muted. He says some major acts reached out with support. But others he expected to hear from stayed silent. “I hear they’re just scared, because of their own careers. That shows you the mentality. I’m not one to step on toes about it. I’m still coming to terms with this.”

Coincidentally, Gilman says he’s a friend of country hit maker Chely Wright, who is the only well-known country act to come out as lesbian. That was back in 2010. “I’d heard of all the struggles she went through, but frankly I wasn’t paying enough attention at the time. I was busy dealing with my own thing.”

He says he came out to his parents about six months before going public. By then, he was in a relationship with a man he’d met through a musician friend in Rhode Island. The two are still dating and have been together a year and a half, he says.

Gilman is now at work on a musical “rebirth,” releasing songs digitally, touring heavily and performing a mix of genres at his live show. His latest single, “Say You Will,” is available for download in country and pop versions.

He’s the second major country act to perform at Charlotte Pride, following singer and actress LeAnn Rimes, who headlined in 2014. Unlike Rimes, Gilman says he intends to stay firmly rooted in country music, though acting gigs are being explored in film and on Broadway.

And in case anyone is wondering, he will do his preteen hits at the Charlotte show, including “One Voice” and “Oklahoma.” Gilman promises it won’t be embarrassing.

“I do them in a new key,” he jokes. “When other country acts do their hits, they don’t have to worry about a drastic voice change like I do. I’ve been performing since I was 7 and paying taxes since I was 8.”

This story was originally published August 13, 2015 at 9:56 AM with the headline "Billy Gilman goes from child star to gay role model."