ENTERTAINMENT: Chely Wright: “I felt like God had been on my shoulder whispering to me, saying, ’Stand up.’”

The Chely Wright coming out story is in full swing and how nice it is to have such an articulate and introspective person at the center of it.

Here are a few excerpts from an interview she did with (my good pal) William Kapfer for Edge.

On why Chely decided to come out with a memoir (Like Me) and new album (Lifted Off the Ground) at the time of the announcement: “I needed my story fully recorded, I needed my story of spirituality, I needed my story of patriotism, my relationship with God, my relationship with friends,” she explains of the process of writing her story. “Hiding was a spiritual and emotional cancer. I am thankful to God for giving me the gift of language, the ability to know how to communicate. I thought I’d only be able to communicate in song, but as my sister Jenny said to me, ’The best communication you will ever be able to do will be this book.’”

For all of her well-respected confidence, however, Wright admits she cannot know how her fans will react to the news that she is a lesbian: “I have spent my entire life imaging what my Country-Western fans will think about this. I’m relieved of the duty of having to spend time worrying about what people will say.”

Rosie O’ Donnell, who interviewed Chely this week, said she’d throw me a party and introduce her to some lesbian friends: “She read the book and loved it. She said it made her cry, it moved her. She showed me her craft ’house,’ an entire house devoted to crafts; and we shared a candid, ’microphones and cameras off’ visit.”

She and O’Donnell also share a new commitment: to set a healthy example for today’s LGBT youth. “I do absolutely feel I have responsibility, a responsibility I welcome, a responsibility I’ve been waiting for,” she explains. “There was a time when I thought I was afraid of that responsibility, but that very responsibility was one impetus for doing this.