Christian rock star’s music video features same-sex kiss in church
A newly-out Christian music star has released a music video in which he is seen kissing a man in a church.
Trey Pearson, lead singer of popular Christian band Everyday Sunday, came out to fans in an emotional letter last summer.
The singer has two children with his wife Lauren, but in his letter explained that after two decades in the closet he was finally able to admit to himself and the world he is gay.
Pearson was later dropped by a Christian music festival over his sexuality and has been shunned by the anti-LGBT elements within the faith music world.
This week, Pearson released a music video for his first solo single, Silver Horizon.
The track doesn’t shy away from Pearson’s sexuality, portraying him kissing another man in front of an altar in a church, after a sermon from a preacher.
There’s initially a stunned response to the kiss from the parishioners, before the entire congregation breaks out in applause, including the pastor.
Speaking to Huffington Post, Pearson explains he wants the track to “bring hope to people who’ve felt that it wasn’t OK to be themselves”.
He said: “[I] thought a lot about how much I wish, when I was younger, there would’ve been somebody that I looked up to.
“I hope people smile as much when they see [the video] as I do. Hopefully, it can help change people’s hearts on how they view same-sex relationships.”
Pearson previously spoke to the panel on The View about his conservative upbringing and how it influenced his choice to remain in the closet.
He explained: “I grew up in a Christian home and church, where I was taught that God hated homosexuality, and I could choose to be straight.
“I tried for a really long time. I don’t think I was every trying to lie to anyone, I was trying to convince myself I could be something I wasn’t.
“I put all my faith into that, and it’s scary because a lot of the church continues to teach that this is a choice. They don’t realise how damaging it can be.”
He added that there needs to be more change within the church because “there are still people teaching these hurtful things”.
He continued: “I’ve always had attractions to other guys since adolescence, but they’ve always been things I felt really guilty about and horrible about, so I tried to push them down.
“It’s not like I was trying to hope some miracle would happen by getting married [to a woman]… I just put all my faith into thinking that’s how it was supposed to be.”
The singer added that his wife had been incredibly supportive and that his conservative family has also started to embrace him.
Pearson said: “The day that my story came out, [my dad] showed up on my porch… he knocked on the door and just hugged me for 10 minutes and told me how much he loved me.”
He said he will take some time to adapt to his new reality before he starts dating.
Another Christian music megastar, Vicky Beeching, came out in 2014.
