Shane Stevens, star in the hit Sundance Channel series Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys, has earned success by co-writing Lady Antebellum’s No. 1 hit “American Honey,” as well as penning songs for Kellie Pickler, Jordin Sparks and Sara Evans. He’s accumulated these accolades while being an out and proud gay man in a largely conservative format.
According to Stevens, attitudes about gay people are often kept quiet within the country-music industry. Acceptance can vary from one fellow artist to the next.
"As a whole for the most part, people in the music business are pretty accepted and open-minded," he says. "The thing you have to worry about is if you’re writing country songs as an openly gay man writing to hard-core staunch Republicans. They probably don’t want to know you’re a gay guy, so that might pose a bit of a challenge."
Based in Nashville, the second season of Sundance Channel’s hit series Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys features four pairs of participants offering up their privacy for an opportunity to shape the cultural landscape. Billed as an unscripted series that "celebrates and explores the special relationship" between women and their gay best friends, Girls will complete its season in February.
