Clay Aiken continues to live comfortably as an openly gay father

Clay Aiken has dealt with homophobia since his childhood. The pop star remembers teasing and name-calling he endured on school buses and classroom hallways - and he knows that being gay made him a target.

It was something he experienced with his mother. She knew about the bullying, but didn't acknowledge Clay was gay until he told her in 2004. Now he's a father, and hopes for a better world for his child.

People said it, we heard it," Aiken tells the AP.

"I heard the kids call him names," his mom said. "I knew some things about him were a little bit more effeminate than others. But parents engage in denial."