"New York Times" Notes Rise of Gay-Friendly Pop Songs

As anyone who spends much time on AfterElton.com has surely noted, there has been a definite upswing in the number of pro-gay or gay-inclusive pop songs of late. From Lady Gaga's "Alejandro" to Kylie Minogue's "All the Lovers" to P!nk's just released celebration of gay marriage, song writers are definitely making their views known on gay rights.

In fact, Billboard's Hot 100 has two such songs in the top ten right now — P!nk's "Raise Your Glass" and Ke$sha's "We R Who We R."

And now the New York Times has noticed the trend in the article "For Gays, New Songs of Survival." As the Times notes:

"In the wake of the continued legal wrangling over the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and same-sex marriage; harassment of gay youth in schools; and anger over the use of a gay joke in the trailer for the Vince Vaughn film The Dilemma, the top of the pop music charts has become a refuge of unambiguous support for gay rights. 

Together, these artists represent a new wave of young (and mostly straight) women who are providing the soundtrack for a generation of gay fans coming to terms with their identity in a time of turbulent and confusing cultural messages. “These songs are countering a hateful message that a peer, family member, politician or a bully might be saying,” said Dan Savage, the sex columnist who started the “It Gets Better” campaign, for which Ke$ha has also recorded a video. “I get frustrated with gay politicos who discount or undermine the importance of pop stars,” Mr. Savage added. “They’re a huge part of this fight.”

The article also notes that one of the stars with a new gay-inclusive video is Katy Perry, but that the gay community's relationship with Perry is complicated. Says the Times: 

For some, however, there is a whiff of opportunism behind the artists’ good intentions. Ke$ha and Ms. Perry, who started their careers as irreverent party girls, suffered from a credibility problem early on. Eyes rolled in particular at Ms. Perry’s first single, “Ur So Gay,” a jab at image-conscious straight men that many critics said was homophobic, and at her breakout hit, “I Kissed a Girl,” an ode to bisexuality that the lesbian singer Beth Ditto of the Gossip called “offensive to gay culture.”  “Many in the gay community felt used by her,” said Barry Walters, a music critic for Spin and Rolling Stone who is writing a book titled “100 Albums Every Gay Person Should Hear.” He added, though, that maybe the new records “are these artists telling us they’re growing up — and emblematic of an entire generation growing up with them.” 

Indeed, until the release last week of the upcoming Glee version of Perry's "Teenage Dream," we here at AfterElton had very little use for Perry and what often seemed like her opportunistic use of the gay community. 

The article also discusses two college students -- Josh Erdman and Ben Klute — who have been performing many of the songs themselves and stamping the videos with "Legalize Gay."

What's interesting to note is that this is almost exclusively female singers taking up the mantle of gay rights in their music. The past several years have seen some gay-inclusive videos from groups such as Boyzone which included a gay couple in their video for "Better" and John Barrowman, who also included a gay couple in his song "What About Us?"

But the only completely straight band with a gay-inclusive song that comes to mind is Ozomatli which performed "Gay Vatos in Love," a song about two young gay Latino men. 

So kudos to the ladies and the gay guys, but how about hearing something pro-gay from some of the straight men out there? How about you Kanye? Or Kenny Chesney? Or Usher?

On the next page you can watch some gay-positive videos from Ozomatli, P!nk, John Barrowman and more!