Scott McLellan
As you can imagine, I was startled last Monday when the popular Facebook page Wooster Compliments counter-reprimanded me for a sardonic post made Sunday night during the MTV VMAs. I relentlessly criticized the foregrounding of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’s song “Same Love” (featuring Miranda Lambert) as a display of loving progress and queer acceptance. Long story short, I posted a drippingly sarcastic post in praise of the song and Macklemore’s work for queer liberation, highlighting the fact that the rapper is straight. In response, the student behind Compliments shared the status on their page, along with a response that emphasized the political counter-productivity of “[vilifying], and [condemning] many people who might otherwise stand side-by-side with you in your crusade for LGBT equality. US LIBERALS NEED TO PICK OUR FIGHTS!”
Underhanded, anonymous attack aside, I try to focus my retellings of this incident in terms of ethical allyship and voice. What do I mean by voice? Well, put simply, there are implicit powers involved in politics based on identity (in this case, queer (LGBTQA+) identity), especially in terms of speaking, listening and being heard. Historically (think about the closet), queer people and their voices have either been erased from the record or pushed into hiding, denying queers political presence, a voice and hand in larger decisions about life’s arrangements. No matter how accepting you think America is, we are not post-homophobic or post-trans* phobic (or post-racial, for that matter). Queer voices are still hardly ever heard; if they are, they’re often not taken seriously, or they’re a certain kind of voice (e.g. white, male, cis, middle-class, etc.).
In the Macklemore case, my problem comes, not from the mere fact that he’s a straight cis (non-trans*)-dude, but the fact that his (privileged) voice is more heard and supported than those of other queer people who have been saying exactly what “Same Love” is for decades (if not longer). Unfortunately, it does take special re-learning and unlearning to become aware of privilege. But, this is not a reason to forego all criticism of Macklemore as a self-proclaimed ally.
My point is this: Macklemore, according to his song, is not gay or anything queer. Why would it make sense for him not only to be heard most, but also to receive millions of dollars for words taken out of the mouths of generations of queer activists? Whether he’s aware of what he’s doing or not, the mix of the music industry with a historical record of queer voice co-opting and straight privilege created a rather problematic, inappropriate instance of allyship.
Do I think he should stop trying to help? No. But I do think, instead of making millions of dollars and fans off the words of my queer activist ancestors, he needs to drop the mic and listen.
Queer allies, we don’t need a straight Superman to come in and save us from the clutches of homo-/cisphobes