I’ll start off by stating that I don’t care that Clay Aiken has finally decided to let us in on the painfully obvious – he’s gay.  I’m offended not by his sexual orientation (I am a huge fan of Queen and Judas Priest after all), but rather by his mediocre and boring music.  But while Aiken’s revelation met with a resounding “meh” from most of the American public, there is a subset of the population – self-titled ClayMates – who have had a hard time keeping the old stiff upper lip, as it were.

Here’s a sampling of dispatches from deep inside ClayNation – The Clayboard forums.  Read and weep, my friends:

“This is a gut wrenching day for The ClayNation. Somebody wake me up, I hope its a dream.” – strollynn63

“I wish him well and hope he gets some peace of mind now BUT I feel he lied to everyone-especially us fans. He should have just said so years ago. I feel like we were “used”. I still love to hear him sing but I also feel he has now become like a Michael Jackson and it’s a bit too weird! He isn’t just the plain ordinary person with the values he first stood for.-but it’s just my opinion.” – NJ4ClayA

“please tell me I’m not the only one who is shocked beyond belief! I feel numb I’m so upset. This can’t be real!! How can you guys say this won’t change anything? This changes EVERYTHING. I don’t even know what to think right now.” – Holmes24

“Okay, i’m going to come right off and say that when I saw it, I did cry. and I probably will if and when it is confirmed. Which will be tomorrow morning hopefully. I’ll probably be late for my first class, because i’ll be surfing the internet in the library. I knew in my heart for awhile that he was-…but my head was having nothing to do with it. I knew it might come eventually, but again my brain denyed it. I’m sure its a shock to all of us, weather we believe it or not. And for all those people who think he lied to all of us, I say whatever. I’m glad he picked now to say this and not a few years ago. He has gathered many fans over the years and im sure that if he had come out before, that there wouldnt be as many.” – MissMuffins31

“I am very very sad.” – RedBay

“I don’t understand how anyone can say that this changes nothing. It’s as simple as this for me: Clay is NOT the person I thought he was. I can’t look at him the same way again and this is killing me. I want SO bad to feel the same about him but right now I just can’t. And the funny thing is I have NO problem with gay people. But it’s just that he lied about it and I can’t forgive him.” – Holmes24 (again)

“I’ve cried a river of tears and truthfully do not know where I stand right now. I am envious of those who can take this news and continue to state their unconditional love and support for Clay. Right now all I can think of is that he is a fantastic entertainer but I took him at his word and it appears that his word isn’t what I thought it was.” – clayncfan

“I have defended Clay for years against these accusations. What do I say now?” – kwiltro

I’ll tell you what you can say, kwiltro.  You stand tall, you look those people right in the eye and you say in your most confident voice, “I LOVE SHITTY MUSIC, YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT!?!?”