>> Christian rock singer Trey Pearson comes out: ‘I never wanted to be gay’
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Avec quelques centaines de milliers d’albums écoulés et plusieurs titres classés dans les « charts » dédiés, Trey Pearson est une star du « rock chrétien ». Marié pendant sept ans à une femme et père de deux enfants, l’artiste de 35 ans a finalement choisi de se confier, soulignant dans une lettre ouverte sur le magazine d’arts et culture américain (614) Columbus : « j’ai toujours été attiré par des garçons et ce n’est pas un choix ! »
Trey a en effet grandi dans une famille chrétienne conservatrice qui n’aura jamais cessé de lui répéter que l’homosexualité est une « pratique » choisie délibérément. « Je ne voulais pas être gay, impossible de l’accepter, ni d’ailleurs d’en parler à qui que ce soit », explique-t-il. « J’ai tout essayé pour devenir hétérosexuel. J’y ai mis toute ma foi. J’ai lutté contre mes pulsions et sentiment depuis l’adolescence. J’avais peur de ce que Dieu et toutes ces autres personnes que j’aime allaient en penser. »
Mais impossible de tenir la comédie. Il a effectivement perdu des personnes, considérées comme proches, notamment des gens d’église, mais c’est un nouveau départ. Aucun conflit également entre sa foi ou détermination à suivre le Christ, ajoute t-il : « Dieu m’aime tel que je suis ! » Et s’il a décidé de faire son coming out, c’est aussi pour partager le message, notamment à ses fans : « Le chemin vers l’acceptation a été difficile et les témoignages m’ont aidé. Ces derniers mois ont été très compliqués, mais je ne me suis jamais senti aussi serein. »
Le musicien a tout particulièrement remercié Lauren, son épouse, pour le soutien qu’elle lui aura manifesté, en annonçant mettre provisoirement sa carrière en suspens.
Terrence Katchadourian
stophomophobie.org
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>> The lead singer of the popular Christian rock band Everyday Sunday, Trey Pearson, came out as gay on Tuesday in an open letter to his fans, ending a yearslong personal struggle between faith and sexuality and joining a flock of Christian musicians who have come out as gay or lesbian in recent years.
Mr. Pearson, 35, has enjoyed a successful career in Christian rock with Everyday Sunday, whose 2009 album “Best Night of Our Lives” reached No. 15 on Billboard’s Christian albums chart and No. 187 on the Billboard 200. The band also produced 20 top-ten singles on the Christian rock charts. He said he has toured in 50 states and 20 countries.
He also spent two decades trying to make himself straight, he said.
His letter, published in (614) Columbus, an arts and culture magazine in his hometown, Columbus, Ohio, detailed the long process of accepting his sexuality and reconciling it with his Christian faith. In the end, he said, it was his growth as a Christian that helped propel his coming out.
“Most of us reach at least one pivotal moment in our lives that better defines who we are,” Mr. Pearson wrote. “These last several months have been the hardest —but also have ended up being the most freeing months — of my life. To make an extremely long story short, I have come to be able to admit to myself, and to my family, that I am gay.”
Mr. Pearson said in an interview that he was raised in a “super-Christian” home where he was taught that “you can choose to be straight.” He spent years trying to make that happen, even marrying a woman and fathering two children. “I was scared of what God would think and what all of these people I loved would think about me; so it never was an option for me. I have been suppressing these attractions and feelings since adolescence. I had never done anything with a girl when I got married, and I thought it would just magically work,” he said.
Finally he concluded that he could not make himself straight, he said, and that God would love him as he was.
“I got to this place where it clicked pretty hard with me that I was not able to be what Lauren, my wife, needed me to be as her husband,” he said. “I was faced with a decision at that point: if I was going to try to keep burying it down and blaming it on other things, or if I was going to admit to myself and her that I was gay.”
He and his wife have separated but share in parenting their children, and they continue to be close, he said. “It’s been a really difficult journey to get this point,” he said. “But I feel like I’ve been set free.”
