Disclaimer - Listen and read at the risk of having preconceived ideas and notions challenged.
(2nd disclaimer - I know that some people who read this blog will not be happy with me. They will see me as giving an outlet for what they might consider a secular message of this kind. As if I am minimizing my frum (religious) credibility with this. So be it. Right now I am all about love and acceptance, it's all I yearn for and need. This is something that moves me and as such I am going to share.)
I heard this song the other day flipping through some channels on the radio. I was instantly moved. I quickly checked the screen for what it was. It was a song called 'Same Love' by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.
Apparently it has been out for a bit, but has gotten a lot of play on the radio lately. One might attribute this to June being Gay Pride month. Others might say that the song has a catchy beat and a nice message. To me it is a sign of the times. It is groundbreaking. This is the first hip hop song that so clearly addresses and criticizes homophobia in the USA. The artist does it with subtlety and sensitivity. I am happy for the songwriters success because it must have taken a lot of guts to release this.
You may not agree (and I don't agree) with everything said in the song. You might not agree with it's overall message. It's the beauty of the lyrics that gets to me. I will let you listen for yourself.
Go ahead...
Same Love - with lyrics
There is so much to talk about in this song. You can take apart almost every line. I want to talk about some lyrics that moved me and some that started the wheels in mind turning.
A preconceived idea of what it all meant For those that liked the same sex...
'The right wing conservatives think it's a decision
And you can be cured with some treatment and religion
Man-made rewiring of a predisposition
Playing God, aw nah here we go'...
I had never thought of it this way...
Are we playing God by asking someone to change 'with some treatment and religion'? If one is born with a genetic predisposition to homosexuality, than we sure are. It's like forcing a righty to be a lefty. or telling a blonde that he needs to go to therapy to become a red head.
If you feel homosexuality is a learned behavior then you are asking people to change something that has been given to them through God created circumstance and given quite deeply. So deep that therapy has hurt and intensified their scars. Scars of people who have struggled their entire life. Struggled with being 'different'. Struggled with bullying. Struggled with unbearable burdens that they are unable to share with anyone. Some struggling to a point where they have suicidal thoughts and tendencies. Many have attempted suicide and some successfully. They have a need for same gender intimacy that is so intense. Some have carried it for 20, 30, 40 years or longer. It is so ingrained into their psyche. For me it's been 40 years in the making; are you telling me that I should spend a year or two in therapy, finding my manhood and my gay will simply go away? (For the record, I went to therapy including a period of reparative therapy for 9 years) So I ask again; are we playing God by asking gay people to 'change'? I don't see an issue for an individual to try it if he so chooses. But if you impose it on anyone, than you are a Shabtai Zvi. You might as well sit yourself down on the heavenly throne and bring the Messiah; because you are playing God.
'When kids are walking 'round the hallway plagued by pain in their heart. A world so hateful some would rather die than be who they are....' No need to elaborate on children (and adults) committing suicide and how that is a commentary on society. I hope that speaks for itself.
'Same Love' talks about stereotyping to a point where people lose self awareness and unknowingly (and dangerously) suppress an important part of them. It talks about American hypocrisy. It continues by establishing the viewpoint and impositions of religion and politics on the homosexual individual. (I love the usage of the word treatment. It represents the thought that homosexuality is easily changeable, as if it is simply a treatment; as eye drops treat red-eye.) The song continues by pointing out areas of society where homophobia is rampant. Hiding behind the anonymity of the internet to spew hate.
'Gay is synonymous with the lesser'; Differences should be celebrated as opposed to being the cause of hatred and wars. Don't be silent in the face of bigotry.
Finally an uplifting message of hope.
'No law is gonna change us
We have to change us
Whatever God you believe in
We come from the same one
Strip away the fear
Underneath it's all the same love
About time that we raised up'
Go ahead and listen again...
Same Love - with lyrics
