Part 2: 12 Songs by Other Artists

The first six songs come from my past, centering on the AIDS era. In the spirit of the intergenerational learning in this class, the second six songs are by younger, contemporary queer artists and allies. As part of dismantling ageism against both older and younger people, I’m committed to staying open to younger people and their music.
 

1. Fred Hersch: The Sleepers (poem by Walt Whitman)
   I chose this in part because I became obsessed with Walt Whitman in my late teens, before I had come out to myself and not realizing that he was gay (before the term "gay" existed). I’m currently working on a novel, which is a piece of  autofiction based on my life as a gay teenager in Michigan in the 1970s, who writes diary entries to Walt Whitman. Another reason for this song’s inclusion is that it was arranged by pianist Fred Hersch, one of the only openly gay, openly HIV+ jazz musicians I know of. The vocalist Kurt Elling is an ally. When this CD came out, I attended their concert with my then-boyfriend Philip. We met through the long-defunct Queer Jazz Club, a club for queers who got together to listen to jazz recordings and attend concerts. 
    

2. Bronski Beat( vocalist Jimmy Sommerville): Smalltown Boy
   This song represents my relationship to home as a gay man who came out in the 80s/90s( “the love that you need will never be found at home, the answers you need will never be found at home”). For many of us, home was not where we were from but a place we hoped to find in the world. For the generation before mine, this was Judy Garland singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow in The Wizard of Oz. Unlike Dorothy, we didn’t want to go back to Kansas to live with Auntie ‘Em; we wanted to create our new home in Oz. 
    

3. The Kinsey Sicks: AZT
   This song, written during the height of the AIDS epidemic, is by the San Francisco dragapella group whose name is a play on Kinsey Six (i.e.100% gay on the Kinsey scale). I occasionally shared the stage with them in their early days and was friends with one of their members (Jerry Friedman-Vasalina Dildona), who died from HIV related complications. The group still exists, although none of the original members are still part of it.
    

4. Michael Callen: Do Not Turn Away
   Another song from the AIDS epidemic, written by an artist who died of AIDS, urging parents not to abandon their children while they were dying of AIDS, which is something many parents did. The epidemic coincided with my decision to come out to my parents, even though I knew they were homophobic and feared they might disown me. In the end, even though they were unable to accept me and refused to discuss my sexual orientation during the 20+ years they lived after I came out, they did not disown me, and we maintained a loving connection. I was fortunate not to become infected with HIV.  In part, this is because I was not as sexually active as many people, having survived more than two violent sexual assaults by men and women. Feeling traumatized and confused about my sexuality, I shut my sexual life off for a few years. When I began to open up, it was with much fear, as for years we did not know exactly how HIV was spread and feared that many no-risk and low-risk activities could spread the disease. I remember the sleepless nights, trembling in fear after what I now know were low-risk activities, believing I could become gravely ill within a year, and die within a couple of years because of the behavior I’d engaged in.
    

5. George Michael: You Have Been Loved
   This song is loosely based on George’s experience of losing his partner to AIDS. It tells the story from the perspective of the late lover’s grieving mother, as well as from his own point of view. 
    

6. Mark Weigle: I Remember
   This comes from the later part of the AIDS epidemic, written by an artist who is a long-term HIV survivor and who was able to benefit from the life-saving medicines after they arrived. I met Mark a couple of times and deeply admire his music. 
   
   Now we move into the contemporary part of the playlist.
    

7. Greg Holden: Boys in the Street
   Greg is an ally, and this song deals with a father who gradually overcomes his homophobia. Even though this wasn’t possible between my father and me, I love songs that evoke the possibility of change and overcoming prejudice. 
    

8. The Young’uns: Be the Man
   This song is based on the true story of a man who took his own life because his religious family could not accept that he was gay. In response to this, his boyfriend, Matthew Ogston, began the Naz and Matt Foundation to tackle religious homophobia. Additionally, while I’m inspired by young people defining themselves as non-binary,  perhaps because I’m older, I still identify as male, albeit a unicorn man. (Jorge thinks I’d identify as non-binary if I were young). I admire that the song identifies maleness as being caring and compassionate. Since gender roles are largely based on social constructions, I’d love to see a massive redefinition of what it means to be male in this world. 
    

9. Chris Housman: Blue Neck
   A bit of out-and-proud gay country music that also embraces intersectional politics and speaks on behalf of multiple social justice issues, not just gay rights. 
    

10. Crys Matthews: Suit and Tie
    This song, by a preacher’s daughter, speaks out on behalf of her own right to live as a butch dyke and in support of trans people.
     

11. Shea Diamond: Don’t Shoot
    This song is written by a black trans woman pleading with the police not to shoot her. Admittedly, in many ways, as a white gay man, my life has a lot more in common with straight white people than it does with a black trans woman. One thing I like about proclaiming a queer identity is that it doubles as both self-identification (e.g., I am mainly, but not 100% gay, am also attracted to trans men, do not have a penetration-centric sense of sexuality, etc.) and a community term in which all members of the community can stand in solidarity with each other. Given my white privilege, I feel it’s important to stand in solidarity with marginalized people who suffer from much harsher oppression than I do.
     

12. Todrick Hall: Amen
    This song circles back to the first song on this playlist, bringing the church into a song of queer celebration that proclaims we all have the right to love anyone we want.