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Carrie Underwood Joins List of Country Superstars Who Support Marriage Equality

Toby Keith, Carrie Underwood, Reba McEntire
Jason Merritt / Christopher Polk / Mike Moore, Getty Images

In an interview on ‘CBS This Morning’ a few weeks ago, ’90s country star Chely Wright talked about the painful process of coming out as a lesbian to the music industry. Although Wright hasn’t endured much open criticism from the country music industry, she admitted that she wished country stars would get vocal about supporting gay rights. It didn’t take long for Carrie Underwood to swoop to the rescue. Last week, she told the Independent that she believes in gay marriage.

As a Christian, Underwood endured some flack from religious groups by joining the ranks of a few other country superstars who support equality, if not marriage equality. Of course Wright is on the same page as Underwood, but would you believe that Garth Brooks, Toby Keith, and Dolly Parton share the same sentiment of love and respect for all? MJSBigBlog.com points out that it’s not uncommon for superstars to tackle this issue.

Last Fall, Keith spoke up about gay rights in the military to ‘CMT Insider.’ “That whole gay issue thing, that’s never bothered me,” he said. “I’ve never seen what that affects and [why] anybody should care — and they never do affect me.”

“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.”

Back in 2009, Reba McEntire, Martina McBride and Rascal Flatts all came forward in support of tolerating alternative lifestyles. In an interview with ‘Out’ magazine, McEntire opened up about her stance.

“I just try not to judge. Don’t judge me, and I won’t judge you,” she told Out. “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.”

McBride also talked about tolerance in an interview with the same magazine that year, although she didn’t address the issue of gay marriage. Rascal Flatts 2009 song ‘Love Who You Love’ was thought to be a testimony to accepting gay marriage. MJSBigBlog.com points out that Brooks’ 1992 song ‘We Shall Be Free’ contains the lyric, “When we’re free to love anyone we choose … We shall be free.”

Sounds like Wright got her wish before she wished it — plenty of country celebs are preaching tolerance if not all-out support of gay marriage.

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