Kacey Musgraves Wants Country Music to Include LGBT Fans

Kacey Musgraves is proud to be part of inviting everyone, but especially LGBT fans, to country music. The 30-year-old knows that gay people have not always been included in the genre, which is why she is proud to advocate for their inclusion and acceptance.

"What I think it is — someone told me this recently and it broke my heart — they said, 'I've grown up loving country music and I grew up gay in a small town, and country music has always felt like a big party that I wasn't invited to,'" Musgraves shared during a recent appearance (quote via Vulture). "Oh my god, you're invited to my party. It's crazy that a certain kind of a person could feel excluded from a genre that's so real — or supposed to be so real."

"That has always really pissed me off," she added. "Because I love the genre so much, I felt, 'Well fine, maybe I'll just have an all-gay audience.'"

Musgraves didn't intend to become an advocate for gay people, but when a close friend confided in her first that he was gay, Musgraves wanted to take a stand. The Texan earned criticism with her 2013 single, "Follow Your Arrow," which says, in part, "Kiss lots of boys / Or kiss lots of girls if that's somethin' you're into." But she says it's time that the LGBT population, including some who are her close friends, feel a part of her favorite genre.

"I was the first person he told," she recalled. "I had an idea, it was an unspoken thing, but it was so painful and hard for him to tell me, even though I was totally fine with it. Thinking about him and all of those other kids who are like, I love country music, why can't I be a part of this? Why isn't my narrative included? I don't know."

Musgraves is using her platform to advocate not only for the LGBT community, but also for female artists in country music, who continue to face a big disadvantage, especially when it comes to radio.

"My husband and I decided, out of sheer boredom, to listen to country radio and tally the number of males versus females we heard," Musgraves told ELLE. "It was, not shockingly, so offensive —two females among 31 males in about a couple of hours. We also tallied the number of times —35 — we heard references to a woman's body or skimpy clothing, or the actions the man wanted her to do: cook for him, please him sexually, bring him a beer. And we're being told women want to hear that over hearing other women?"

Musgraves is nominated for two CMA Awards – for Female Vocalist of the Year and Album of the Year, for Golden Hour. The 2018 CMA Awards will air live from Nashville's Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 14, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Photo Credit: Getty images/Burak Cingi