Christian music star Jennifer Knapp is outing herself as a lesbian.



A rising star on the Christian music scene is returning to the public eye with a new identity after a mysterious seven-year absence spent mostly on the other side of the world.

Jennifer Knapp is not only coming out with a new album, she is also "coming out," a term the Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter considers "very bizarre" as she nervously relaunches her career.

The 36-year-old Kansas native, who dated men during her college days, is braced for a backlash from religious fans who faithfully shot down whispered rumors about her sexuality over the years. On the other hand, she said in a recent interview with Reuters, "I'm definitely getting a lot more friendly winks from the girls (at her concerts) than I have in the past!"

No other singer of Knapp's renown in the Christian music genre is openly gay. In the past, the industry looked dimly on those who deviated from the straight and narrow. Radio stations and retailers quickly dropped Sandi Patty and Michael English after they admitted to (separate) extra-marital affairs during the 1990s. Amy Grant was also blacklisted when she went through a divorce later that decade. All have since been forgiven to varying degrees.

Knapp is taking a preemptive stand anyway. She has recorded a mainstream album, and is not specifically targeting Christian radio stations and retailers.

"I just wouldn't find it respectful at all to say, 'Hey, this is something that you want in your store next to your Jesus statue,'" she said. "It would just be disingenuous to try and convince someone that they needed to do that."

READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE:
http://new.music.yahoo.co...--62000832

See there, I told you that THIS is something that you do NOT hear about in the world of CCM or gospel for that matter.

In almost all cases, there has always been stories AND rumors of a few gay/lesbian CCM/gospel artists living on a down low as the expense of gay rumors being spread OR (in the case of James Cleveland) the truth being confirmed after they are dead and gone.

Of course, we have this story of Jennifer Knapp making a switch to mainstream music after expecting a potential backlash from the CCM community. But I think it would have been interest to see how many CCM shows she could've done on her own if she had choose to release one more CCM album first.

Who do you think?!?
[Edited 4/23/10 20:54pm]

Tonex tried the same thing and was still thrown to the dogs after he switched genres...

I don't see any contradiction between and being gay/lesbian and being a person of faith, but a lot of Christian see things very differently. Even so, Ms. Knapp should live her life based on authenticity, it took a lot of courage. If those of the Christian faith turn their backs on this young woman (I'm certain many shall) her faith is with her always as long as she believes.

Just my two cents.

ABeautifulOne said:

Oops, I forgot about Tonex. He was dropping a lot of clues through his interviews over the days.

This is not really that new...



...dUg Pinnick, vocalist extraordinaire and bassist of King's X (the best Rock group nobody's heard of) went through this years ago.

From what i've read, he came out during a 1998 interview with either re:generation quarterly or Contemporary Christian Music magazine.


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
While Pinnick Seeks Answers…
Vincent Bacote

January 1, 1999

Mark Joseph's article [4.4] reflected the Doug Pinnick I've come to know since interviewing him in 1994. Ever since the Dogman album, Doug has been nothing if not honest. When I saw that he had publicly outed himself, my first thought was, "Oh no, this could be disastrous." Worrying about the fickle nature of the Christian public, not to mention the unfortunate tendency of some Christians to shoot their wounded, I was fearful that many Christian King's X fans would turn on Doug in an outpouring of disappointment and condemnation.

In fact, King's X's Christian distributor did drop the band after reading the article in which Pinnick detailed his struggles with homosexuality. Bill Conine, president of Diamante Music Group, said that after confirming the article's authenticity with the band's label, Metal Blade, Diamante felt it could not continue distributing King's X's music since Pinnick forsakes a lifestyle of abstinence, a position incompatible with the lifestyle Diamante's buyers believe in.

But Conine registers no delight, much less condemnation, in his decision. Nor do the reactions of Doug's fans in the Christian arena. Of more than 100 posts on the Internet newsgroup rec.music.christian, the majority registered a tone of sorrow mixed with concern for Doug's welfare.

...

Another post read: "I don't agree with what he is doing or condone it in any way. Drop your rocks and drop to your knees."

King's X fans are certainly a different breed than the average CCM crowd, but the RQ story had a high volatility quotient. There was plenty of reason to think it might engender similar responses as those seen on the old King's X mailing list after Ear Candy came out in 1996, when many Christian fans were sorely disappointed.

http://www.ctlibrary.com/...5105a.html
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Metal? Christian? Gay?
Queer talk with Kings Xs Doug Pinnick
Comments (0) By RICH KANE Thursday, Mar 6 2003

Metal bands aren't very interesting. Black men fronting metal/punk bands? Seen it before—Bad Brains, Living Colour, Body Count. Christian black men in metal bands? There's that guy in POD, and . . . give us an hour, we'll find another. Gay Christian black men in metal bands? Well, that's different.

And so it was back in 1998, when Doug Pinnick, the singing bassist of arty Houston metal trio King's X, came out in an interview with Contemporary Christian Music magazine. Hate mail from supposedly loving, compassionate Christians followed. King's X albums were banned from Christian bookstores. Fans stopped liking the band overnight, even though a lot of them had taken to heart their song lyrics, oozing spiritual themes.

http://www.ocweekly.com/2...stian-gay/
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From a 2006 statement by dUg Pinnick:

"Christian music scene?? Yeah, we could have been maybe the biggest band in Christian music, but we're not hypocrites, and when the Christians find out that we drink, smoke weed and I am gay, they would turn on us anyway, so why go there? That just hurts. Besides that, they rejected us anyway after they learned who we were. They're human, they hide it. We're not like that, we're too honest. That's why I am down on Christian music. In the name of truth they live lies. That's never been me, or KING'S X. It's one of our biggest faults. The Christian music scene was a dead end for us no matter what had happened in our career. I am agnostic now anyway. We just couldn't justify being a Christian band. It just wasn't the truth. I was raised Christian and have seen the Christian music scene first-hand. I can't be a part of it and I couldn't back then either... and we're still called a Christian band to this day. It wasn't kosher back then either. I remember so many people saying that they couldnt get their friends to listen to KING'S X 'cause we were Christian, even though STRYPER were successful. Now it's accepted being a Christian band, but we're not one of those bands. What's done is done and it's the past..."

http://www.roadrunnerreco...emID=52609
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Tribal Records

theAudience said:

I need to read more on THIS^. Thanks tA.

TonyVanDam said:

Yeah it was pretty obvious but he eventually did that interview and it hasn't been the same for him since.

theAudience said:

I thought Christian music fans turned on King's X because they were getting too mainstream. I guess those fans didn't notice King's X were signed to the same record co as Metallica and Anthrax (Megaforce Records). This happened long before Doug came out. I don't think this hurt the band's career, though.

Didn't almost the same thing happen to Stryper? I thought they got caught drinking and smoking and it upset their fanbase at the time.

I don't think the day will ever come when we will see Donnie McClurkin or Kirk Franklin come out the closet...at least while they are still alive.
[Edited 4/25/10 6:55am]

missfee said:

Especially, Donny.

Donny did come out. Though he says he is not gay, he has had encounters because he was molested. Donnie touched on this in his book. It is a really good read.

DerekH said:

I'm thinking that these are two separate sets of circumstances.

You'll always have a segment of "fans" drop out once you start to get some notoriety and supposedly sell-out.
This is probably a different segment (the Christian contingent) that dumped them once they found out Pinnick was gay.


Never had an interest in Stryper so I don't know what the deal was with them.



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Tribal Records