Vicky Beeching, the theologian and Christian singer-songwriter, says she has been overwhelmed by the support after revealing her sexuality in public for the first time. Beeching came out during an interview in Thursday's Independent (August 14, 2014).

Vicky BeechingVicky Beeching came out this week

Beeching discussed the emotional and physical trauma she had suffered trying to reconcile her homosexuality with her religious beliefs during childhood.

"It's taken all my courage, and all these years, for me to finally do this interview," she said.

However, the reaction on social media has been almost entirely positive and many Christians said they hoped the interview would persuade the Church of England to change its attitude towards gay people. Currently, the House of Bishops does not allow clergy to perform same-sex weddings and banned same sex marriages between clergy earlier this year.

"I was terrified about the reaction," she said today. "I was literally holding my breath in the moments before the interview was published online, but given how much of a broader audience it has reached with it being on the front pages as well the reaction has been wonderful."

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Beeching conceded that she had been sent a minor amount of "nasty stuff" via her Facebook fan page inbox but was ignoring the comments.

"For some reason, those people don't want that kind of comment seen publicly so they have been sending the messages where only I can read them. I'm focusing on the overwhelmingly positive reactions though," she said.

The 35-year-old studied theology at Oxford before signing as a singer to EMI and moving to Nashville. She spent six years touring before returning home with extreme stress over issues surrounding her sexuality. 

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