HRC Back Story

NOTE FROM CHRIS: A lot of people are well aware that International Best Dressed List rapper/producer/blogger (and fellow Gemini) Kanye West can be rather, er, outspoken on his beliefs - especially when he feels slighted by "the industry." Well, according to my tally, Kanye deserves to be commended for the bold way he's stood up to the ingrained homophobia that's widely accepted in the hip-hop music machine - even though many of the stylists, choreographers, video directors, money people, and other professionals that work behind the scenes to bring the artists' music to life are LGBT.

This week, Kanye spoke out again on the need for his fans to "open their minds" and continue to shed their prejudices against LGBT people at the end of his August 5 "Glow in the the Dark" concert at NYC's Madison Square Garden.  Andy Towle has posted a YouTube video of his fearless comments, which start about 1:45 in the clip. YouTube may soon take the video down, so watch it now while you can:

Andy also typed up a rough transcript of Kanye literally using his platform and microphone to speak out against homophobia:

Open your f** minds. Open your minds. Be accepting of different people and let people be who they are. You know how many people came to me calling me gay cause I wear my jeans the fresh way? Or, because I said "hey, dude, how you gonna say 'fag' right in front of a gay dude's face and act like that's ok?" That s** is disrespectful. Coming from Chicago, where if you saw somebody that was gay you were supppoed to stay ten feet away. It should be time to break out of the intuitions that I was sayin', the steretypes, or the fear, the backlash that I would get if you don't believe in what I believe in, acceptin' people for who they are...they're very talented and if they do something special in the world and they're discriminated. I've flown across the world y'all, and I've come back here to tell you — open your minds and live a happier life..."

Now THAT's what we need more of. That's the kind of talk by a prominent pop culture figure that can help curb the type of anti-gay hatred and violence that's still aimed at LGBT people of all races.  Hat's off to Kanye for saying the right thing, in the right place, and definitely at the right time. 

Big hat tip to Andy Towle on this one.