Is the trade-off worth it?
After presenting my research findings about how Thai gay men are represented in popular music, I'm often asked whether the music would change if society as a while no longer had problems with homosexuality. It's a challenging question!
The songs to which Thai gays relate most are full of tension and emotion, reflecting the misery of their experience. In dance music this is evident in the dramatic melody, while fast and heavy rhythms encourage them to live long and hopefully happily.
If social conditions improve, such elements in music must consequently change too. “Gay music” would be “lighter” thanks to the easing of the stress in their lives. There would be no need to express pain through “extreme” performances.
Of course any social progress will be welcome, but when we look back at the relationship between the gay community and popular music, we find many songs topping the charts thanks to gay support.
And many of these tunes are quite old, surviving as heritage from our gay forebears. “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, “I Will Survive”, “I Will Always Love You”, “Believe”, “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” and “Vogue” remain among gay men’s all-time favourites. Besides their inherent individual beauty, these songs continue to have value in music history. If gay men no longer had any special relationship with specific tunes, would they still reach the top of the charts?
American social philosopher Judith Butler has warned that LGBT people would lose the right to complain about social inequity if they become bonded to the nation-state through legalised marriage and other reforms. The state would assimilate them into its melting pot to the point where they would be blind to the very types of racism and nationalism that create inequality, she said.
Losing the power to support gay and gay-friendly artists might not be the same as losing the right to complain about inequality, but should we be concerned about trading our special privilege for the ordinary things that straight people have? We need to be the same as them and we don’t need them to respect the difference, do we?
