Your first response when reading this title might be “who are these people?” so I’ll recap. Chely Wright is a country singer with a few minor country hits. She had a number one country single in 1999 called “Single White Female,” and another hit with 1997’s “Shut Up and Drive” (not related to the Rihanna song) but if you’re not a country fan, or even if you are, you might not have heard of her. Wright just came out of the closet as the first country singer to openly admit they’re gay.

When I heard that Wright was announcing her orientation I assumed “well, she’s doing it for publicity after a stalled career.” That seems to be supported by the fact that she has a new album and memoir out. However, I saw Wright on The Today show yesterday (you can watch the video here) and she seemed both earnest and genuinely torn about coming out. She said that she’s Christian and a conservative and that she’s struggled with self acceptance of her orientation since she was a little girl. Wright wants people to know that it’s not incompatible to be gay and conservative and that no one needs to go what she went through. She almost committed suicide before she realized that she deserved to live an authentic life.

While explaining how she tried to keep her homosexuality a secret, Wright said that she encountered open resistance from people in her industry. She told a story about a guy named John Rich, from the country band “Big and Rich,” asking her if she was gay and telling her that it homosexuality was “sick,” “deviant,” and “unacceptable to country fans.” This encounter with Rich was a real turning point for Wright in that it was the first time she lied about her orientation, and it forced her to face the prejudices in her industry.

The news that Wright is recounting this incident has of course gotten back to John Rich, and he denies that it all went down that way. According to Rich’s account, he was just checking to see if a beautiful female country singer was available.

Country star JOHN RICH has fired back at quotes attributed to him in gay singer CHELY WRIGHT’snew memoirs, insisting she has misquoted him – and taken one remark he made 10 years ago way too far.

The Big & Rich star is upset Wright never spoke to him before going public with her book, Like Me, in which she states an offhand comment he made about her sexuality prompted a meltdown.

Talking about her new book on U.S. TV show Access Hollywood, Wright recalled the hurtful comments Rich, who has remained a close friend of hers, made a decade ago.

She said, “He said, ‘You’re not gay are you?!’ I said, ‘No, John, I’m not.’ He said, ‘Good, thank God.’ And that began a spiral for me. I had a meltdown shortly after that.”

But Rich insists Wright took his comments too far, and he’s appalled she has slammed him in her new tome.

He states, “I would never pass judgment on any friend of mine. I feel awful that, at this time in Chely’s life, my decade-old comment was taken the wrong way.

“I was clumsily trying to express my relief that even a country boy like me had a one-in-a-million chance of having a beer with a woman as talented and attractive as Chely. For years after that conversation, Chely invited me to perform at charity events. In all that time, I wish she would have said something directly to me before the book’s publicity tour, especially since some of the comments attributed to me in the book are not mine.”

But Rich has chosen to take the high road on the literary spat, insisting he’s happy for Wright and “I only wish her the best in her personal and professional life.”

[From Contact Music]

I don’t know much about this guy, but I like the way he handled that. He was defensive without getting upset about it. He’s saying that he had no idea Wright took his comments that way, that he didn’t exactly say that, and that he knew her for years and she never told him the effect that had on her. That’s fair enough, although he could have apologized for whatever way she took his comment, unintentional or not. Also, if he told her being gay is “sick,” “deviant” and “unacceptable” then he needs to clarify that he doesn’t hold those beliefs. (It’s possible that Rich doesn’t yet know that she said that about him on The Today show, though.)

I looked up Rich on Wikipedia, hoping that he was married when he confronted Wright and claims that he just wanted to date her. He wasn’t, but I learned that he campaigned for McCain in 2008 and even recorded a song for him. (Unlike the many other artists who said McCain used their music without permission.) That doesn’t mean anything other than the fact that he probably holds conservative positions on issues. I’ve often wished the guy who won that election would advocate to give overdue basic rights to gay and lesbian couples. It’s unacceptable that another generation will grow up and face the same ignorance and prejudice that drove Wright to consider suicide.