In the wake of President Obama's marriage equality endorsements, we've seen a wave of similar endorsement--some of them unexpected. Jay-Z, Harry Reid, Colin Powell, and now...50 Cent?
It's true, in a May 18 interview, 50 Cent came out in favor of legalized marriage equality. He had this to say on the subject:
I think everyone should be happy. I think a fool is going to go against same sex marriage at this point. The President…look how long it took him to say he was for same sex marriages. You understand? I’m up for it. If everyone else is for it, then hey, to each his own. I don’t have personal feelings towards it because I’m not involved in that lifestyle. I want people to be happy. It makes for everything to be better…
A bit convoluted, but I think the message is clear: Gays and lesbians should be allowed to get married. 50 Cent made headlines for endorsing marriage equality. But what many outlets didn't pick up on was that, right after his endorsement of equal marriage rights for gays and lesbians, he added this:
So in process, we need organizations for straight men. We do. We need organizations for straight men in the case you’ve been on the elevator and somebody decides they want to grab your little buns. Times are changing. Those organizations are set up for at one point they were being attacked for those choices. Now it's completely different. Obviously [homosexuality] is more socially accepted.
/facepalm
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This isn't exactly a huge surprise. In case you don't know much about 50 Cent's history on LGBT issues (and unless you're either as deeply immersed in the gay blogosphere as I am or a 50 Cent fan, why would you?), here's a place to start:
He also once tweeted:
Perez Hilton called me douchebag, so I had my homie shoot up a gay wedding. wasnt his, but made me feel better.
So yes, it makes perfect sense that 50 Cent would be calling for straight organizations to be founded to protect straight men from getting felt up by gays on elevators.
I know, I know--who cares what 50 Cent says? Well, as much as I hate to admit this reality, 50 Cent is an influential figure in his own right. An endorsement of marriage equality coming from him--minus the straight rights nonsense--would have mattered. Just like it mattered when he called for gay suicides and made jokes about "shooting up" gay weddings. Had he left it at a marriage equality endorsement, I would have said, "Good for him," and moved on, feeling better that an influential rap artist supports equality. But he couldn't help but add on his paranoid concern about gays assaulting straight men.
What this really shows, as ThinkProgress notes, is something more fundamental and widespread than 50 Cent. We're seeing quite the ripple effect when it comes to marriage equality endorsements now that President Obama has come out for full equality. That's wonderful. But we can't confuse some of these endorsements for a lack of homophobia. As 50 Cent has made abundantly clear, he has some very deep issues with gay people. And he may support our rights in theory, but in practice he still obviously feels that we're icky and that we're going to sexually assault him in an elevator somewhere. He, like many other Americans, still inexplicably feels personally threatened. Sure, we're seeing more support for marriage equality as Americans are getting to know gays and lesbians on a personal level. That seems to be the rule. But it doesn't always work like that. Even some of our "supporters" aren't completely comfortable around gay people.
This doesn't mean that marriage equality endorsements from people like 50 Cent and others who aren't exactly friends of gay people don't matter. I would argue that they do. And it's a tribute to President Obama's decision to come out for marriage equality that we're seeing this wave of equality endorsements. I believe we're witnessing--pardon the expression--a trickle-down effect when it comes to marriage equality support. But more than anything, 50 Cent's comments are a reminder of how far we still have to come. I know many people like 50 Cent. People who support "gay rights" but still go "ewwwww" when they see two men kiss. People who think we should have the right to marry but still don't want to be alone with us, for fear that we'll try to make a move on them. Homophobia reaches deeper than an opposition to civil rights. Yes, even as the polls are tipping in our favor, we still have a long way to go.
And we'll get there (or, we'll at least get closer). We've already made mind-numbingly rapid progress in the last several years. But it's clearly not going to happen all at once. Homophobia is a deep-rooted problem that will continue to exist long after we secure marriage equality. All we can do is keep chipping away at it.
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