"America the brave, still fears what we don't know."

In "Dude, You're a Fag? Adolescent Male Homophobia", Susan J. Ferguson studies the real meaning of the usage of word fag in a high school, and through her research she finds that fag is usually not used to directly correlate with homosexuality. Instead the word was used by high school students to lower other students masculinity. Although, many of the male students interviewed, commented that they wouldn't not use the word in front of someone who really was homosexual because they thought it was a disability really made me think about how society has looked at homosexuality from the beginning. In our society many individuals are accustomed to one way of living and in many cases a change or a difference is automatically labeled as something negative. Homosexuality serves as a perfect example, when it was discovered it was labeled as a disease, and many doctors and scientists were hesitant to find a cure for something they thought was so different and knew so little about. Since homosexuality has been looked down upon by society, society has made it extremely difficult for homosexuals to define themselves by their true identity. Over the years the view on homosexuality has changed, which has allowed the future of the homosexual community to head in a positive direction.

The closest has been more like a safe zone for homosexuals, “In response to a stigmatized desire, these individuals fashion a double life. Passing in their public life, homosexual expression is confined to furtive sexual encounters involving intense self-management to avoid unwanted exposure.” (Seidman, Meeks, and Traschen p186). One of the biggest challenges homosexuals face revolves around the closet and even though the era of defining homosexual as polluted and social disenfranchisement has not passed it is believed that the first phase of normalizing gay identities involves affirming the identity as primary. Over the progression of time, homosexuality has not been fully accepted but is more talked about in the United States. Including the government, there are many states that have legalized gay marriage. Ever since homosexuals started to take a stand many more people started to accept homosexuality. There have been cases where children ask their parents why two people of the same sex hold hands and in response the parents respond, “Because they love each other.”  Not only has homosexuality been accepted by many individuals but it has also made a break through the music industry.

Recently, homosexuality has made a breakthrough in the music industry. Macklemore is one of the many artists that have decided to take a stand and support homosexuality even though he was brought up Catholic and in the hip-hop community, which are institutions that are defined as homophobic.  From his personal life, he was around homosexuality because two of his uncles were gay. He also believes that there has been a huge shift and he decided to write a song about homosexuality because it is prevalent to what is going on right now. In his song, same love, one of his most powerful lyrics writes, “When I was in church they taught me something else. If you preach hate at the service, those words aren't anointed. And that Holy Water that you soak in is then poisoned. When everyone else is more comfortable remaining voiceless rather than fighting for humans that have had their rights stolen. I might not be the same, but that's not important. No freedom until we're equal. Damn right I support it.” It is impressive how Macklemore was raised Catholic and still be able to stand up for what he believes in. Overall, it is astounding to see the homosexual movement to be moving in a positive direction, especially in the music industry since it has a big impact on a lot of people.  I also could not agree more with artists such as Macklemore. This world will only start to change when people start realizing that in this world everyone is equal.