Maren Morris is out and proud this June.
“Happy to be the B in LGBTQ+,” the singer captioned an Instagram post Sunday that featured her waving a miniature Pride Progress flag onstage at a concert in Phoenix.
Though this is the first time “The Middle” singer has said she’s a member of the LGBTQ+ community, Morris has been a staunch advocate for gay rights and inclusion throughout her career — even going so far as to leave country music over discrimination she said she saw from her fellow musicians.
In 2023, she told The Times that she was leaving her original genre because of the industry’s unwillingness to open its doors to people of color and queer people.
“I thought I’d like to burn it to the ground and start over,” she said. “But it’s burning itself down without my help.”
Morris has felt that fire firsthand. When Brittany Aldean wrote on an Instagram makeup transformation video, “I’d really like to thank my parents for not changing my gender when I went through my tomboy phase. I love this girly life,” Morris hit back, tweeting, “It’s so easy to, like, not be a scumbag human? Sell your clip-ins and zip it, Insurrection Barbie.”
Her comment was picked up by right-wing media, leading conservative commentator Tucker Carlson to label her a “lunatic country music person” when he did an interview with Aldean. Morris wore the nickname like a badge of honor, selling T-shirts with the phrase to raise funds for transgender organizations, resulting in a donation of more than $100,000.
“I’ve always been an asker of questions and a status quo challenger just by being a woman,” she told The Times. “It wasn’t really even a choice. I didn’t think of myself as a political artist. I just wrote songs about real life.”
Morris has been on a self-love journey over the last four years, which included becoming a mom in 2020 and getting a divorce from her husband of five years, country singer-songwriter Ryan Hurd.
“I think a lot of identity crises happened there,” she said on “Today” in 2022. “Not just being a new parent and a new mother and dealing with postpartum depression for the first time, and reeling from that, and trying to, like, find the forest through the trees. But also just knowing my worth without someone clapping for me.”
Plenty of fans were applauding for Morris’ courage Sunday, however, taking to her Instagram comments to express their support for the singer and gratitude for her advocacy.
“From seeing you as a closeted 16 year old on the hero tour to being out and proud at 24 and seeing you doing the same,” one fan commented, including a plethora of heart emojis. “love you endlessly and happy pride!!”
“Couldn’t love you more!!!! Happy Pride my fellow B,” another wrote.
“Thanks for representing!!!” another fan commented. “It’s hard to be the B, and having public representation helps us all. Thank you!!”
