Lighting a candle for Chely Wright

And all little boys and girls who are being lied to about their orientation

Country music singer Chely Wright was on CNN yesterday talking about the Vatican’s announcement that the Roman Catholic Church would not bless same-sex unions because the church “can’t bless sin.” The Holy Roman Church may not feel comfortable blessing sin, but there’s a lot of documentation that the church is OK with sin they can sweep under a rug. Let me just leave this here.

Ah, bu this is not a Pile-on-the-Vatican Day. When the church sees a financial benefit to recognizing same-sex couples, the church will do so, and not a moment before.

Instead, I want to talk about bravery, and Chely Wright, because as she was talking about this decision on CNN, my heart opened up.

Wright grew up in Wellsville, Kansas, a hole in the road about an hour west of Kansas City. She was actively involved in her local Baptist church, where her spiritual mentor lumped homosexuals — as does the Vatican — into a list of sinners like drunkards, and liars. She used to pray, she said, that God would make her straight so that when she died, she could go to heaven.

Lord. How many little girls and little boys have we lost because of this kind of bad Biblical scholarship? Actually, it’s not just bad Biblical scholarship. It’s wicked and it’s a lie. The next time someone trots out a clobber verse, ask them what Jesus said about homosexuality.

Nothing. He said nothing. So let’s just assume it needn’t be an issue for our local Baptist church — or the Vatican, either. Love is love.

Chasing her dream, Wright left Kansas for Nashville, and vowed to stay in the closet, a decision that had predictable results. Wright hit a crisis in 2006, and even considered suicide. Instead, she came out in 2010 and wrote a memoir (“Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer”). After she came out, she found an army of female singers supporting her, including Mary Chapin Carpenter, Trisha Yearwood, Faith Hill, and Naomi Judd, among others. There is something about someone who is unabashedly herself that can be an inspiration to the rest of us.

Wright and her wife (whom she married 10 years ago) have twin 8-year old sons, and Wright continues to successfully navigate waters that have historically been unfriendly to gays and lesbians, though that is slowly — slooooowly — changing.

Wright begins touring again in May.