Musician Trey Pearson admits to being gay, hopes to be a voice for gay Christians

Trey Pearson, a member of the Christian rock band Everyday Sunday, admitted this week that he's gay.

"These last several months have been the hardest – but have also ended up being the most freeing months — of my life. ... I have come to be able to admit to myself, and to my family, that I am gay," the 35-year-old musician said in an open letter to his fans, as posted on Religion News Service. "I had never before admitted to myself that I was gay, let alone to anyone else. I never wanted to be gay. 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."

Pearson grew up in a conservative Christian home, and while he was taught that sexual orientation is a matter of choice, he did his best to "be straight." He did this despite having felt attraction for other males even when he an adolescent. He got married almost eight years ago and he and his have two kids, but he realized that he could not be the man that his wife needed him to be.

"I was not making it an option to be gay so I could be loyal to her and my children," he said in an interview with the publication. "But then I realized the only way I was ever going to be my best for them was to be healthy myself."

While he had finally accepted his gender orientation and decided to let everyone know about it, he said that he is not turning his back on his faith. The report says that Pearson still reads the Bible and regularly prays. Moreover, he finds that there is nothing incompatible with being a Christian and being gay.

"There is absolutely no conflict with accepting who I am and following Jesus," he said. "God wants me to be healthy, authentic, whole, integrated and my truest self."

Given what happened to the careers of other Christian artists who came out as gay or lesbian before, Pearson had accepted that his music career, too, might take a nosedive. Nonetheless, he hopes that it would mark a fresh start for him. He also hopes to become a voice for gay Christians.

"I definitely know how hard it was on my journey to be able to accept myself, and how other people's voices and stories helped me. So I absolutely want to be a voice for other people," he said. "I know there are more and more Christians that realize how important this is, and I hope I can join with them in seeing this change."

In his letter, he said that he's still the same person, and he hopes that even though he had already accepted and publicly admitted his gender orientation, people would still love him.