People.com has posted the details of their semi-surprising cover story on Clay Aiken’s admission that he’s gay. The 29 year-old singer has finally put to rest rumors about his sexuality by admitting that he’s of the other persuasion and doesn’t want to hide it anymore. Aiken had a child, a baby boy, with an older female friend about six weeks ago. Parker Foster Aiken was conceived by in vitro fertilization and is being raised by Clay and the baby’s mother, music producer Jaymes Foster.

Clay told People that he decided to come out after he became a father because he wanted his son to live by his example and not hide things. He also called himself a “homosexual,” which seems like an oddly formal word to use, as D-Listed points out. Maybe it’s more commonly used in the south where he’s from.

“It was the first decision I made as a father,” Aiken, 29, tells the upcoming issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday. “I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things. I wasn’t raised that way, and I’m not going to raise a child to do that.”

Aiken says he expects the news may overwhelm some of his fans. “Whether it be having a child out of wedlock, or whether it be simply being a homosexual, it’s going to be a lot,” said Aiken, who returned to Broadway last week as Sir Robin in Monty Python’s Spamalot.

[From People]

Clay was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, and is a born-again Christian. He says his mom started crying when he came out to her four years ago, but that she was “supportive and comforting” and has really grown a lot:

The born-again Christian singer also reveals how he told his mother Faye he’s gay four years ago. After dropping off his younger brother Brett, who was being deployed to Iraq, at Camp Lejeune, “I started crying in the car,” Aiken remembers. “It was dark. I was sitting there, thinking to myself. I don’t know why I started thinking about it … I just started bawling. She made me pull over the car and it just came out.”

So what was his mom’s reaction? “She started crying. She was obviously somewhat stunned. But she was very supportive and very comforting.” Even now, Aiken admits, “She still struggles with things quite a bit, but she’s come a long way.”

As for his rabid fans, often called Claymates, Clay says he never wanted to mislead them and hopes they understand:

“[I want my fans to] know that I’ve never intended to lie to anybody at all. … But if they leave, I don’t want them to leave hating me.”

Do you think Clay took a calculated risk realizing he could score the cover of People by coming out? Are Ricky Martin and his twins next?