Clay Aiken has officially come out of the closet as a gay man

Clay Aiken is on the new cover of People Magazine, which reads:

The Idol star opens up about his emotional decision to come out: “I cannot raise a child to lie or hide things”

As for his fans, he understands that all the news may be a little much. “Whether it be having a child out of wedlock, or whether it be simply being a homosexual, it’s going to be a lot.”

But, he hopes that they know “I’ve never intended to lie to anybody at all…. But if they leave, I don’t want them to leave hating me.”

Clay told his mother he was gay, 4 years ago when his brother was deployed to Iraq.

“I started crying in the car. It was dark. I was sitting there, thinking to myself. I don’t know why I started thinking about it … I just started bawling. She made me pull over the car and it just came out.”

So how did his mom react?

“She started crying. She was obviously somewhat stunned. But she was very supportive and very comforting.” Even now, Aiken admits, “She still struggles with things quite a bit, but she’s come a long way.”

Clay hopes to give his own son the support he and every child needs to grow up to be a happy and healthy adult.

“I have no idea if he’ll be gay or straight. It’s not something I’ll have anything to do with, or that he’ll have anything to do with. It’s already probably up inside the code there … No matter what the situation you’re in, if you’re raised in a loving environment, that’s the most important thing.”

I have so much more respect for Clay that he has done this. He may lose some fans initially but he needs to be true to himself.