Billy Gilman

2014 has been a whirlwind year of triumph and tragedy worthy of a country song.

In a stunning turns of events that literally has no precedent in country music history, two country hitmakers came out publicly in a single day on Thursday (Nov. 20), and members of the country music community took to Twitter to react to the news.

Hours after one country artist revealed he is gay, another followed. Billy Gilman followed. On Thursday afternoon, he took to YouTube to reveal he's gay.

We previously reported that former country child protege Billy Gilman had united 18 of the biggest names in country music to sing on his song 'The Choice.' With the song, Gilman is teaming up with the organization Soles4Souls to bring shoes to kids across the globe who don't have any. The artists are donating 100 percent of the proceeds from the song's digital downloads directly to the cause. This