Hello folks.

A somewhat disturbing story that I read on NME which can be read in a little more detail over at AllHipHop.

The man in the picture at the top is called Trick Trick. Trick Trick is a collaborator of Eminem, and Trick Trick has some serious issues. The man is homophobic to his core. I am not going to reprint what he said here -with freedom of speech comes responsibility, and his views on homosexuality are just offensive, not just to those who define themselves as non-heterosexual but any right thinking person. He has said, quite bluntly, that he doens’t want homosexuals buying his album. Don’t worry, I don’t think many people will, hater, bigotry has to stop somewhere.

I’m encouraged by most of the comments on the NME and AllHipHop posts that I read, it’s clear that the majority of people think he’s a sick, sick man in a very bad way. It’s time that society confronted this sort of hatred full on. There is no excuse. Period.

Oh, and anyone who tries to excuse themselves by quoting this passage from the Bible can go away. Stop hiding your prejudice behind religious teachings that you have distorted to promote your hatred.

Society is changing, and hopefully, not just with Barack Obama’s election as President, but people do seem to be realising that standing out against sexism, racism and homophobia isn’t about political correctness, it’s to do with human respect. Mrs. 17 Seconds and I have quite a few gay and lesbian friends; in fact, some of them – gosh! shock! HORROR! -are Christians as well. It is, as they say, not about where you’re from, it’s where you’re at.

As a teacher, I find many young people are becoming more enlightened. The school where I teach does deal with homophobic incidents, though in the previous school there was amazement that I’d reported one girl for making homophobic remarks about another girl. There has been the somewhat disquieting rise in the use of the word gay meaning ‘stupid.’ As a fellow teacher said to one child: ‘What do you mean, that chair’s gay? Are you saying it wants to have sex with other chairs?!’ tee hee…

There’s an interesting list here about songs that speak out about homophobia.

Bronski Beat -‘Smalltown Boy.’ mp3

…and that video

Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy – ‘ The Language Of Violence.’ mp3 [BTW excellent piece on this band over at Teenage Kicks

…and that video

Senseless Things -‘Homophobic Asshole.’ mp3

Chumbawumba -‘Homophobia.’ mp3

…and yes, the video for this too

‘All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.’ Edmund Burke.