The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus has made one of its recent songs unavailable on YouTube following major backlash. This is because the song allegedly claims, “We’ll convert your children.”
For years, religious conservatives have claimed that LGBTQIA+ rights are harmful to children and that children would succumb to this “choice” if they were not taught early that homosexuality is dangerous. This song from the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus seems to mock ideas like these.
Blaze Media, an American conservative media company, reported that last week, the group released the music video titled, ‘A Message From the Gay Community’. The video begins with one singer introducing the tune by saying, “As we celebrate Pride and progress we’ve made over these past years, there’s still work to be done. So to those of you out there who are still working against equal rights, we have a message for you.”
The song starts with the lines: “You think we’re sinful/You fight against our rights/You say we all lead lives you can’t respect/But you’re just frightened/You think that we’ll corrupt your kids/If our agenda goes unchecked/Funny, just this once, you’re correct.”
It then says, “We’ll convert your children/Happens bit by bit/Quietly and subtly/And you will barely notice it/You can keep them from disco/Warn about San Francisco/Make ’em wear pleated pants/We don’t care/We’ll convert your children/We’ll make them tolerant and fair.” The chorus is perhaps what has gotten people to react with rage: “We’re coming for them/We’re coming for your children.”
BlazeMedia also reported that the group shared the link to the video twice on its Facebook page — once calling it a “heartwarming and hilarious piece” and in another, saying, “Pride Month may be over, but the Gay Agenda never stops!” Both posts are now unavailable and have likely been deleted.
The Post Millennial, a conservative Canadian online news magazine, claimed that on YouTube, the song drew in 88 likes and 5,000 dislikes before the video was made private. One person reportedly wrote in the YouTube comment section: “The dead stare in this guy’s eyes. This is some black-pilling creepiness at the max. Keep him away from any and all kids.” Another reportedly wrote, “And just like that, victim status is revoked.”
The music video, tweeted by many, has received a lot of criticism on social media. “Christ it’s like they want to step back to the homophobia of the 70’s and 80’s,” wrote one person on Twitter, in response to a person calling the song pedophilia.
But people also came in support of the song. One person tweeted to the Post Millennial editor-at-large, right-wing social media personality Andy Ngo, “It’s really sad that right-wingers actually live in fear that their children will not be hateful and bigoted like they are. Imagine living like that.” Another person tweeted, “Are we sure this isn’t supposed to be tongue in cheek, like ‘hey we want to recruit the kids,’ just throwing it back in the face of their objectors with sarcasm?”Another person pointed out, “This is sarcasm aimed at idiots who equate gays with pedophiles.”
The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus was founded in 1978 by Jon Reed Sims. It was one of the first-of-its-kind musical groups. Through its music, the group has, over the years, spoken out against discrimination and bigotry. As per its website, over 2,000 different men, cis and trans, and non-binary people have sung with the chorus.
*story by MEAWW
