I decided to pick Christmas to post this piece about the Pope’s recent tirade about gay people. The quote that jumped out to me was this:
Pope says same-sex marriage is destroying the ‘essence of humanity’
If they’re human, how can they destroy any essence of themselves?
I’d like to point out that I have loads of people in my life who are gay. Some of my heroes are gay, for that matter. Three or more of my musical heroes are gay, to that end. So, when the pope attacks gays, he attcks my heroes.
Here’s a song from Mark Eitzel, one of the finest lyricists I’ve ever known called ‘Wild Sea.’
This is Bob Dylan’s ‘Knocking On Heaven’s Door’ as covered by Antony & The Johnsons. Antony Hegarty identifies as transgender and while it’s not ‘gay, per se,’ it’s close enough for me in this context.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-I-p5F-D2E
Bob Mould is another favorite. He was the primary lead singer in a band called Husker Du. Here’s one of his tunes called ‘New Day Rising:’
We can only hope for that New Day Rising…
Since Bob is a bit of a wild card, let’s also mention Rob Halford of Judas Priest. Proabably the finest lyricist ever was Cole Porter. Gay, too.
Besides all of these musical heroes, I have friends who are gay. My groomsman is gay. One of my best friends from college: Gay. I have 2-3 clients who are gay, many other friends are also gay. I happen to like gay people because they’ve been through some shit and those who are still alive have come through to the other side. No different than any other wise men…
But, most of all…my brother is gay. So, Pope Benedict, when you pick on gays, you pick on my family. No one picks on my family!
Closing out this post with Antony doing his version of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine.’