WATCH: Jennifer Knapp's TED Talk on Coming Out, Faith, and Acceptance

Once a singer in the contemporary Christian music scene, folk-rocker Jennifer Knapp — who came out as a lesbian in 2010 — took her guitar onstage with her for a TED Talk that blended strumming, singing, and speaking.

Between her songs at the University of Nevada TEDx event last week in Reno, Knapp spoke about LGBT issues. She recalled that the first time she performed a song that drew from the “intimate feelings of my heart,” her hands shook and she was terrified to perform in front of her largely conservative Christian audience.

“I thought, Everyone is gonna see through me,” said Knapp, who braced herself for the possibility that audience members would walk out or even throw a shoe her way. Up until that moment, she said, she had been “just Jen.” But after coming-out, she became part of a demographic, a percentage.

Even though Knapp was safe from flying footwear — and she previously told The Advocate that she received an unexpected amount of public support when her sexual orientation became public knowledge — she noted in her TED Talk that there is still a lot of prejudice against LGBT people.

While acknowledging the marked progress on issues such as marriage equality, Knapp noted that acceptance of LGBT people is at about 60 percent — so the odds of having a good experience coming out to someone are better than half, but far from a sure thing.

Knapp encouraged people to educate themselves about LGBT issues, and she reminded her audience that in the end it’s all about love. 

“There’s no love song that I’ll ever play that’s inherently gay ... I mean, I’d like to write a gay love song. Apparently gay pride parades need more anthems. But I’m just me, and I know what love is, and I think you know what love is too,” she said.

Last year, Knapp published a memoir (Facing the Music) and launched Inside Out Faith, an initiative that seeks to tackle the issues of LGBT inclusion and affirmations in religious environments by engaging and educating communities of faith.

Watch video of Knapp’s talk: