text: (CNN) -- There are plenty of country songs about how to be a man. One way is to face the music, and two country crooners did that on Thursday. 
  
  Ty Herndon and Billy Gilman came out as being gay. 
  
  Herdon went first, in interviews with People Magazine and Entertainment Tonight. His revelation inspired Gilman to do go public as well. 
  
  Gilman posted a message to YouTube, thanking Herndon for breaking the ice. He preferred telling his fans directly, from the comfort of home, to sitting down with the press, he said. 
  
  But an encounter with a journalist also prodded him to spill the beans before someone else did. The reporter bumped into Gilman in a public place and snapped a photo of him -- with his partner. 
  
  "It was in that moment that I knew that I'd rather it be from me than you reading it somewhere else," Gilman told fans. He also feared being ripped over his sexuality in an article. 
  
  Country and LGBTQ 
  
  In the genre of country, Thursday's tune was a tough one to sing, Gilman said. "Being a gay, male country artist is not the best thing." 
  
  At age 26, he's had a long career, having rocketed up the charts at age 11 with his then silky, pre-voice-change alto pipes, according to his biography on AllMusic.com. 
  
  But currently, he's hitting snags. 
  
  Rumors about his sexual orientation have been going around, he said, and he thinks major music labels may have thumbed their noses at him over it. 