Singer Carrie Underwood facing backlash for supporting same-sex marriage

Supporters of same-sex marriage may want to consider supporting country singer Carrie Underwood for declaring her position on the hot-button issue.

The former American Idol winner has been swept up in a media storm and has been facing an online backlash after—gasp!—daring to express her support for same-sex marriage in an interview. (What century is this again?)

When asked about gay marriage, Underwood (who was raised Baptist but now attends a non-denominational congregation) told the U.K. publication The Independent that she thinks everyone should have the right to marry.

"As a married person myself [she's married to hockey player Mike Fisher], I don't know what it's like to be told I can't marry somebody I love, and want to marry," she said. "I can't imagine how that must feel. I definitely think we should all have the right to love, and love publicly, the people that we want to love."

Underwood, who is releasing her first album in the U.K., later told the Associated Press that she normally tries to remain apolitical.

“I was asked a difficult question in the last five minutes of an interview and I answered it the best way I knew how, and after that I do what I do and I love making music and I generally try to stay out of any kind of controversy,” she was quoted as saying.

Well, hey, if Underwood decides to run with it and take a fighting stance, she could always cover the Dixie Chicks' 2006 "Not Ready to Make Nice". The feisty hit song was a response to the backlash that erupted after singer Natalie Maines made negative comments about U.S. president George W. Bush at a U.K. concert.

Only a handful of country singers are openly gay, including Chely Wright and Canadian singer Drake Jensen.

In January, Jensen came out of the closet by releasing a song, "On My Way to Finding You", dedicated to gay Ottawa teen Jamie Hubley who committed suicide in October 2011. (The video includes an appearance by Jensen's husband.)

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