Martina McBride on Gay Community: ‘I Believe in Acceptance’

Martina McBride has a diverse group of fans, and she's very proud of that fact. The songstress recently sat down with Larry King to defend her loyal following.

During an appearance on 'Larry King Now,' the host asked McBride whether she had suffered any repercussions in from conservatives in country music because of her open acceptance of the gay and lesbian community.

"No, I don't, actually," she replied. "I think that it's just your own personal morals and values, and like I said, I believe in acceptance."

The Kansas native acknowledges that while some may disapprove of their lifestyle, the issue is not as black and white as it may appear from the outside.

"I don't know that you can generalize like that," she said. "Yes, there are people that are not tolerant and accepting. And then there are people that are . . . I think that there are people in every kind of music and every walk of life that are conservative -- and people that don't agree with it and people that do agree with it."

The married mother of three says she is proud of her eclectic following, regardless of the genre she represents. "I don't know about singling out country music," she adds. "I don't think of my fans as one way. I think I have a very diverse group of fans."

McBride will release her latest album, 'Everlasting,' on April 8. The record is a collection of 14 songs by some of her favorite singers, including Elvis Presley, Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin. But while the singer is putting her own spin on each of the songs, she insists it's not a karaoke record.

“It’s an instinct thing,” she explains. “You don’t want it to sound exactly like the original, and then you don’t also want to make it so different that it’s unrecognizable, because these songs are sacred to a lot of people.”

Pre-order 'Everlasting' here.