Ex-Christian music star Jennifer Knapp tells of coming out

Mention Jennifer Knapp to Christian music execs and they scatter.

This is the same Jennifer Knapp who made the Christian music industry several million bucks in album and ticket sales in the late '90s and early 2000s before quitting in 2002.

When she came out as gay in 2010, any chance of a comeback in the Christian music genre ended, industry execs said.

"Jennifer's an incredible woman and an incredible artist," said executive Robert Beeson, who helped launch Jars of Clay. "Do I think the Christian market will embrace (her music)? No, I don't."

What?

Simply put, several said, the Bible says homosexuality is a sin, and sin doesn't sell to the Christian market.

Nothing's changed in the last four years.

Knapp is out this month with a book, "Facing the Music: My Story," and a new album, "Set Me Free." She plays a show at 7 Thursday night at 3rd & Lindsley.

When I called Christian music industry friends this week to talk about Knapp and her book, I had a dozen politely but firmly decline to talk. But that's OK with Knapp these days.

Knapp considers her new album to be acoustic folk and not Christian music.

"Only one song is remotely in the direction of the conversation of my faith," she told me by phone this week.

Since coming out, Knapp has found enthusiastic audiences who have greeted her with standing ovations. And she says it was important for her to tell her story, regardless of how it was received.

"By coming back to music and coming out, I've had the chance to be part of a movement to end religion-endorsed discrimination, marginalization and judgment against LGBT people and their allies," Knapp wrote in her book.

She told me that she's also paying back fans who have told her their stories.

"So many people shared their stories so intimately with me and had the courage to be able to talk about that. It's a little bit of a thank you but it's also understanding the value we have in going through difficult situations and being able to write about them and share," Knapp said.

"Breaking through the bondage of silence is really one of the most healing things you can do if you do it well. And hopefully I'm doing it as gracefully as I possibly can."

The story Knapp tells starts with growing up in constant conflict with her stepmother, which damaged her relationship with her father. Once in college, Knapp drank heavily to deal with feelings of abandonment.

"I was really fortunate to look back at those years and go, 'Oh my God, I'm alive and healthy.' Something more terrible or sinister could've happened," she said.

Knapp eventually met a Christian friend who guided her to deal with those feelings through music and songwriting. And Knapp eventually launched a career as a Christian artist — and a 10-year period of sexual celibacy.

That ended when Knapp walked away from the business in 2002 with a good friend, Karen, who had been her road manager.

"In some ways, I wasn't surprised by it. It wasn't like I woke up and went, 'Oh my God, I've got gay.' I was drawn to women. I was kind of wondering why I wasn't blending into the get-married-have-babies vibe. I didn't have that," she said.

"I'm a late bloomer, a late gay bloomer."

But that coming-out part? "I was terrified."

There was some pushback, some ugly things said, online mostly. Knapp felt at first she had to defend her orientation and religion.

But no more.

"You can't make somebody feel compassionate toward you. It's up to the person who sits across from you. I just have to go back to, 'Just tell your story, just tell your story.'

"I feel good about that today."

Reach Brad Schmitt at 615-259-8384 and on Twitter @bradschmitt.

Hear Jennifer Knapp sing

Jennifer Knapp plays a show at 7 p.m. Thursday at 3rd & Lindsley. Robbie Hecht opens. Admission is $12.