The country music icon also talks about attending her first gay wedding!
Superstar Reba McEntire is speaking out on country music’s
lack of acknowledgement for its female stars.
“We’ve gotta promote these younger females coming on,” the
icon says in a new interview with PrideSource. “There’s a bunch that have been
lost in the shuffle -- female singers -- that I don’t know they’ll get a second
chance. We just need to get them on the radio.”
Sunday night’s Academy of Country Music Awards prominently
featured the genre’s gents; the only female to be nominated for entertainer of
the year was Miranda Lambert, who
also showed her support for her female peers.
“It’s been good ol’ boy season right now, but it’ll change,”
McEntire insists. “It’ll go back to more romantic, more females.”
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McEntire has plenty of perspective on the topic of females
in country music, her home for the last 40 years. During that time, she’s gained
a large gay following. Earlier this year, she even attended her first gay
wedding this year!
In February, the 60-year-old veteran celebrated
with her newlywed friends, Michael and Steven, as the couple tied the knot
in California.
“I don’t understand why people have a problem with it,” says
McEntire, regarding gay marriage. “I’m a very spiritual person, but I don’t
judge. I try not to; I’m only human. To each his own, and everybody is
different. God did not make us all the same. So, I just pray for an open mind
and a loving heart, and I think that’s all I can do.”
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She encourages parents of gay and lesbian children to have
an open mind as well, and says she wishes her recently released album, Love
Somebody, was called Love Everybody.
“What a child needs when they’re growing up is support and
love, mainly love. Love can go a long, long ways whether they’re gay or not,”
McEntire says. “What a parent needs to do more than anything is jump in there
with love and support. You made ’em. They’re a gift from God. Love ’em as they
are.”
Read the full interview at PrideSource and watch below to find out which Magic Mike star McEntire is crushing on: