A few years after the Stonewall riots launched the gay rights movement into the international spotlight, country musician Patrick Haggerty had to make a choice.
“Was I going to be openly gay and advocate for gay rights, or was I going to slither off to Nashville and stay in the closet and try to make it in country music,” he told CBC Winnipeg’s Information Radio in September. “The choice was stark, but it was completely, incomprehensibly impossible to do both in 1973.”
Haggerty chose to embrace his identity, and formed the queer country music band Lavender Country. Their self-titled 1973 album is believed to be
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