Billy Gilman Also Comes Out as Gay (Watch Video)

By Timothy Yap Nov 21, 2014 06:42 AM EST

Followwing in the footsteps of his friend and fellow country artist Ty Herndon, Billy Gilman has revealed that he too is gay via a self-released video. Gilman burst onto the country music and inspirational music scenses in 2000 when he was only 11 years old. He scored a top 20 country hit "One Voice." And his debut album of the same titular became a #2 album on Billboard's Country Album chart, selling over 2 million copies.

Gilman followed up his success with two more albums "Dare to Dream" and "Classic Chistmas," both of which sold more than 500,000. Puberty was not kind to Gilman as it chipped away the high soaring tenor Gilman used to have. As a result Gilman stepped away from recording for a while. And when he came back he had one more major label release before he was subsequently dropped due to the tepid response to his maturing voice.

Now at 26 years-old, Gilman is looking to ink up with a recording company. And he is nervous his coming out as gay may dampened his opportunities. "It's difficult for me to make this video, not because I'm ashamed of being a gay male artist or a gay artist or a gay person. But it's pretty silly to know that I'm ashamed of doing this knowing that because I'm in an genre and industry that is ashamed of me for being me," Gilman says in the video.

"I've been an advocate for so many things in my life that I thought why not now be an advocate for me and the cause that I believe in with my whole heart," Gilman said.

In addition to publicly revealing his sexuality, Gilman teased a sneak peek at a new music video he currently has in the works and said, "Now that I have finally found my place as a person that only makes the music that much better."

"I felt it was time for me to be honest and to be truthful."