Today And Every Day Is Our Parade! Move Over, Or Get Knocked Down, Bitch - This Is Our Road, Too!

In Los Angeles, there is an alternative rock station, 98.7 that recently posted a letter written by a listener asking the station to stop playing Macklemore and Ryan Lewis's pro-equality track "Same Love", whining about the "discomfort" the song causes and the political issues that it may bring up.

DJ Darren Rose put the letter on the station’s website and asked listeners: 

"Hey guys, I got this letter in the mail from a listener and wanted to see what you all thought. I don't feel this way, just want people to do their thing and be happy, but I know it’s a hot topic. How do you feel about this song? Should it not be played? We don’t share these opinions but we respect everyone’s. Let us know what you think in comments below."

If you belong to facebook (I do not), and would like to comment please hit this link: here.

Here’s the letter:

Click on it to enlarge. 

Feel free to leave your comments below.  I would LOVE to hear what you think!

Here are my thoughts:

I don't understand why anyone with a life would bother to write such a mealy-mouthed letter.  First off, the writer suffers under the misconception that being gay is something we choose.  So, that's an immediate red flag that we are dealing with someone who needs to educate themselves and exercise some common sense. We, as gay people, have to accept that we are gay; just the same way one accepts that they have red hair or blue eyes, or, in the case of the writer of this letter, are ignorant, hurtful, and misinformed.  Because I am gay?  I think that makes me an authority on being gay.  You want to claim your heterosexuality is a choice? I’m listening (laughing deep inside, perhaps, but listening).  Secondly, this letter is an exercise in polite bigotry and to see it as a matter of expressing 'an opinion' is ludicrous.  That would be like characterizing all that ‘love the sinner, hate the sin’ stuff as ‘Christian love.’  The writer is full of crap, talking out the side of their neck, and not living in the real world. 

I’m simply tired of homophobes whining about the fact that gay people and gay rights are currently at the forefront of this country’s national dialogue.  That’s right – Gay Liberation is no longer a one day a year event where the drag queens and circuit boys represent an entire community for a single sound bite on the evening news.   It’s now about that man and his ‘roommate’ that live next door; the same ones that mow their lawn, pay more than their fair share of taxes, and help raise property values in the neighborhood. 

Here’s a message to all the whiney, ignorant homophobes in the world, like the writer of this letter – get over it!  Gay is not going away.  So put on your big boy panties and grow the ‘f’ up.   YOU do not get to have an opinion about being gay, unless you ARE gay.   And let’s stop treating these people like we need to understand their position.  Their position is absolute rubbish.

Do we need to even talk about all the heterosexual love songs we are forced to listen to every day?  To say nothing of the more salacious songs objectifying female body parts?  That crap plays everywhere and we accept it as part of life.  Do we really need to kowtow to those listeners who are ‘majorly sickened’ by a single song that might cause them as listeners to contemplate the thought of two people of the same sex being romantically or sexually involved?  Or contemplate that those with same sex attraction should have the same rights and privileges that those with opposite sex attraction enjoy?  OH, THE HORROR!

And while this is a tad off topic, I would also like to address those who ‘know homosexuality is wrong’ (really?) and argue that to not accept their position is a violation of their religious rights.  Do these people seriously think gay people want to force their way into their place of worship?  Telegram for Ms. and Mr. Myopic: we have our own places of worship and others that have welcomed us for a long time now.  We don’t need yours.  Those of you who fear that accepting gay people and gay marriage will mean that you will be forced to worship alongside gay folk and marry them in your churches?  You can keep your little pockets of intolerance – we don’t care.   There are other such bastions of ignorance that exist in this country under the guise of freedom, you know, like the KKK and Westboro Baptist for example, and accepting such nonsense and intolerance is simply part of the great American landscape.  We’re grown-ups and we accept that as part of life.   

You want to live your life a frightened little mole believing in space aliens, magic, folk-tales, mysterious gold tablets, and assorted garbage?  You want to quote a book as law that 1/ you don’t know who wrote, 2/ you don’t know how many translations it has suffered through, and 3/ you don’t know what was included after the fact or omitted before the fact?  Be my guest.  I won’t march in your parade, but I support your right to have one. I don’t think there should be laws preventing you from gathering, performing rituals, lighting candles, worshipping statues, and playing let’s-make-a-wish.  Wait! Does feeling that way about religious organizations make me an intolerant person?  No, for one very simple reason: because if anyone tried to take away your right to practice whatever religion you deem fit I would be the first person there to support you and make sure that did not happen.  I may not go out of my way to help the KKK or NOM, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to get them abolished either. 

People have the right to believe whatever illogical, ignorant crap they want – what they don’t have the right to do is try to limit the lives of others by forcing their belief systems on others simply because it makes them ‘uncomfortable’.  The fact that you believe in people rising from the dead, or that there is a space alien trapped inside you, or that the earth is only a few hundred years old?  While that makes me very uncomfortable, and may influence my decision to vote for you in a political race, I am not going to try and prevent you from living your life as you see fit (preferably in a different state), as long as you don’t try to tell me how to live mine.

There’s also a huge difference between stomping on my civil rights – because, like it or not, I was brought into this world a card-carrying member of the gays and that is not only my truth, but would seem to be the ‘opinion’ of anyone else who is gay - there’s also a huge difference between stomping on my civil rights simply because you don’t want to have to deal with this ‘raw subject’, and me simply making fun of and pointing out the illogical, hypocritical, and silliness of your religious beliefs.   Again, I support your right to be illogical, hypocritical, and silly.  I even support your right to be intolerant and hateful (within the confines of a building). 

But don’t stand in the middle of the road and tell me I am not going to get to have my parade today. 

Because I am through being nice about this.  I am through apologizing for who I am.  And I think it’s time that we all start taking a hardline with people like the mealy-mouthed writer of this letter and inform them nicely, but firmly – to get the hell out of our way. 

Move over, or get knocked down, bitch.  This is our road, too.  And, from now on?   

Today… and every day, is our parade!

P.S. To the writer of that letter: See that little knob that says “On/Off” on your car radio? 

Use it and shut the fuck up.