Homeowner: For what it's worth

By Mike Prevatt

I imagine if I wasn't gay, and I paid attention to the media with any regularity, I'd probably be sick of homos by now. I mean, holy shit, we're everywhere. Punch the remote, and there we are queuing up in the San Francisco rain to get married. Turn the page, and there's the "Queer Eye" guys hawking their TV show, book and soundtrack. Click on the next link, and they're preparing for the gay Episcopalian bishop to be sworn in.

I'd be a little concerned about overexposure, but with the bombardment of Janet Jackson outrage and Mel Gibson worship, I'd say we're as close to "fair and balanced" as we're going to get in the left/right headline-grabbing game. For every snarling, sexually repressed pundit waving a cross in the air like a scepter, there's a report on the inroads we homeowners are making. Makes me wonder who's doing our PR.

Many are calling this a genuine, modern-day civil rights movement. It certainly feels like it. Rarely a day goes by in which some report or image isn't giving me a lump in my throat. And it goes beyond civil disobedience and marriage licenses. The other day, I was driving around and listening to a gay-oriented talk show discussing Bush's support for a constitutional amendment against gay marriage. A man called in, identifying himself as a lifelong Republican, Christian and heterosexual, as well as a proud father of a lesbian. And he was outraged. Bush had lost this man's vote to the Democratic nominee, he said, for his daughter's happiness was more important than anything. I was almost moved to the point of having to stop the car.

And as I was listening to all this, I wondered, man, the only thing that could top all this is to play a song that captured all those feelings, some anthem that would represent the anger and/or the hope of gay people. I tried to imagine myself as the DJ, and what song I'd close such an impassioned show with.

Of course, nothing came to mind, because rarely do gay artists commit to making music that resonantly expresses the frustrations of their people. There's no gay equivalent of "For What It's Worth" or "What's Going On" or "Imagine." Hell, it's too much to ask for anything gay-themed, even by out LGBT artists, unless you're Me'shell NdegeOcello or the Pet Shop Boys.

Ever notice when there's a gay moment to put music to, you're bound to hear "I Will Survive" or "Y.M.C.A." or some cheesy "Club MTV" standby like C+C Music Factory's "Gonna Make You Sweat"? During the 2002 Pride parade in West Hollywood, nearly every float was blaring Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out of My Head." This tells me that if it doesn't make gay men want to dance, it's certainly not indicative of their lives.

Once in awhile, a bone is thrown our way and we get something that attempts to be substantial. Typically, though, you get someone like Melissa Etheridge or Elton John writing an undynamic song about or for Matthew Shepard, the Wyoming student who was beaten and left to die by gay-baiting thugs. Not to sound jaded, but Matthew cannot be the only muse for the modern-day gay movement. It makes me wonder--what would compel a gay songwriter to write his own "Sunday Bloody Sunday" or "Rockin' in the Free World" or "Fight the Power"? Scary thought.

I do know there are a lot of queer musicians in the underground producing some impassioned tunes, from hip hop and folk to punk and whatever you might call alterna-queer. But outside of satellite radio, it's hard to find the means to sample that material. I know there are a few gay artists who have penned songs that aren't explicitly gay, but could be taken that way. I have only heard R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion" and "Walk Unafraid" as gay-themed songs, and I'll never hear them as anything else. I also know a lot of straight, gay-friendly (and even "formerly gay") acts have written some great songs with homos in mind. Patty Griffin's "Tony" comes to mind.

And it's not like there's a plethora of openly gay artists, and the ones who put it out there are doing what they can to not be pigeonholed. I recently checked out a Rufus Wainwright gig, and he played a soon-to-be-released song called "Gay Messiah" that seemed a little balls-out even for him.

I wish there was a musician today as brazen as David Bowie. Say what you will about his "gay" period in the '70s, but if asked to produce an emboldened song that spoke to the homeowners without the disco artifice, I'd recommend tunes like "Rebel Rebel," "Heroes" and "Under Pressure" (which he did with gay Queen singer Freddie Mercury). They may not be exclusively, or even primarily, gay-centered, but they are undeniably referencing ideas and sensations we're still grappling with in 2004. Hopefully, some budding gay musicians are making that same connection, in the same way Bowie did in 1972--or Bob Dylan and Marvin Gaye did during the last civil rights movement.

The Homeowner appears biweekly. Send your comments and nude pics (especially if you look like Topher Grace) to oughtabeinporn@yahoo.com.