Chely Wright's Coming Out Gay Story Named Most Moving

The coming out gay of country music star Chely Wright has won GregInHollywood.com's Coming Out Story of the Year.

“No celebrity coming out story moved me more than that of Chely Wright,

” long-time Hollywood correspondent Greg Hernandez said in awarding 

Wright his 2010 Greggy Award.

The 40-year-old singer-songwriter came out gay in an interview with Peoplemagazine in May. In that interview, Wright called her coming out

 “magical” and revealed that she once believed she could alter her sexual orientation by praying it away.

Wright continued to talk about her coming out in her memoir, titled 

Like Me: Confessions of a Country Singer, and in subsequent interviews.

She confessed to Oprah that she seriously considered suicide in 2006.

“I couldn't find a way to get the pieces of my life to fit, and [I thought]: 

'I'm trapped. I can't come out because there's never been an openly 

gay country music singer. I decided on that night I was done. I was

 tired. I couldn't do it anymore. I said a prayer to God to forgive me for 

what I was about to do, and I began to cry.”

And she went on to become an advocate for gay teens.

“Young people in every corner of America are being told by their

 churches, and their parents are echoing what the churches are telling 

them, that they are damaged goods. And they are not,” she told Oprah.

Hernandez earlier named Darren Criss New Star of the Year for his

 portrayal of an out-and-proud student on Fox's Glee.

BY ON TOP MAGAZINE STAFF 
PUBLISHED: DECEMBER 22, 2010