Same Sex Marriage Should Be Legalized

In the music video "Same Love", Macklemore used pathos, history, and symbolism to emphasize on gay marriage, marriage equality, and homophobia in hip-hop. It follows a storyline of how a boy started to feel like he was gay in the 3rd grade, but his mom reassured him that it was just a phase. Throughout his life, he still had that strange feeling that he could not shake. He was even pressured by his peers to play a game called seven minutes in heaven. He became very uncomfortable which caused him to leave to another party. One day, he decided to bring his partner to his parents' house for dinner and disclosed that they were getting married. As usual, the parents are surprised to hear that their child likes the same sex. Towards the end of the story, the two men get married and by their sides were their families supporting them in every way. Finally, they were happy with a child

In the article, “BOW DOWN, MACKLEMORE: Why Same Love is NOT My Queer Anthem,” Kelly Fox argues that Macklemore’s song Same Love is homophobic, racist, and that Macklemore is a poor excuse for an LGBT ally. While Fox may have a few good points, she rants throughout her article, and establishes almost no credibility with her audience. All of this makes finding those good bits really difficult and not worth it.

This song is concentrated on the social construction of reality, which talks about about how “Ideas about reality also change over time” (Newman, 53). We can see this expressed in lines 32-33 in the song : “It just ain't the same, old ways have changed/New days are strange, is the world insane…” (lines 32-33) The band states how the world’s views and attitudes have changed and how there is uncertainly for the future. The band is questioning the values that they once lived up to. “Yo', whatever happened to the values of humanity/Whatever happened to the fairness in equality/ Instead of spreading love we're spreading animosity/ Lack of understanding, leading lives away from unity…” (lines 71-74). They imply that individuals are swaying away from their values, as a result changing their reality.

The Perception of People Initially, I thought that this piece would be about a man or a woman who struggled to find their sexual orientation, however, I soon found it to be so much more. This reminded me of an article that I read recently that recalled the the story told by the rapper, Macklemore, that explained how he thought he would be gay merely on the account that we was able to draw. The article infers that his song, “Same Love” was a reflection of these thoughts. However, let us not stray from the topic at hand.

Furthermore, the goal of the music video is to inspire the LGBT community to be proud of who they are, promote the gay right movement not only in America but globally and to make a change toward all of humanity with speaking his belief. Macklemore’s “Same love” targets teenagers, adults, any race, any gender, in efforts, to raise awareness and stop discrimination, support equality and gay marriage. To begin he starts by targeting adolescents who are suffering from feeling different from the norm of society, then proceeds through the life span of a homosexual stressing the need for expectance. The older generations are a little more old school and have a harder time accepting changes in today’s society, such as, homosexuality for this reason some do not believe in equality like gay rights. The strictly religious communities follow what they were taught in the bible resulting in not believing in gay rights because God made Adam and Eve not Adam and Bob.

The most prevalent issue observed in the lyrics and music videos was gender and sexuality. This was in issue that was present and reoccurring in all of the top songs but occurred in different ways. This was no surprise though because we live “In a culture where sex and gender are centrally important” (2015; 73). The issue arises in the genre of music because of the way gender and sexuality is presented. In the top song “Die a Happy Man’ by Thomas Rhett, objectification was presented in both the lyrics and the music video. In the lyrics he says “Baby that red dress brings me to my knees, Oh but black dress makes it hard to break” and goes on to say “You’re a saint, you’re a Goddess, the cutest, the hottest, a master piece” (lyrics). It seems that his goal is to complement her, but he is objectifying her by judging her femininity (2015; 203). He also does this in the music video by having the girl in a bikini the whole time. Not only was the women objectified, but Thomas exposed a stereotypical relationship consequence. In modern society men tend to make a stereotype that they have to give up everything to be with a woman. Thomas did this in his lyrics when he talks about how he could “never get to see the Northern lights” or “never get to build my mansion in Georgia or drive a sports car up the coast of California” (lyrics). The second song was “Strip It Down” by Luke Bryan. In this song Luke definitely introduces gender roles in both the lyrics and the video. The song

He says, “no freedom ‘til we're equal, damn right i support it” (Macklemore). What this line means is that justice and freedom is only fair when everyone is equal. He supports everyone being equal. “Whatever god you believe in we come from the same strip away the fear underneath it's all the same love”(Macklemore). He is saying everyone is equal and should have liberty and freedom. Lastly he says, “its human rights for everyone, there is no difference.” (Macklemore). He believes everyone should be treated the same no matter what.

Macklemore’s song, “Same Love,” with Ryan Lewis, featuring Mary Lambert, tells the younger generation about discrimination against gays, homophobia, and inequality. The song calls out people who want freedom, where our country came from, and what are religion says to show how if we don’t accept gays, there is a lot we can never have. Macklemore is disappointed with the way hip hop and rap talk about gay people without realizing how difficult they are making gay’s lives. It is also great when Macklemore practically asks religious people how exactly they do not support gay rights, and why they believe it is wrong because God is supposed to love everyone. Macklemore gives his honest opinion on how he feels everyone should be equal, and there are no “buts” or “ifs.” I stand by his opinion about love being love no matter what. Macklemore’s song, “Same Love,” he talks about societies false ideas of gays, the way the term “gay” is used in hip hop music, and that we are not equal until we allow gay rights with a huge change at heart.

Despite walking a thin line between fun/sexy and degrading/sexist, the song has steadily increased in popularity since its release on March 26, 2013. Regardless of it's wide appeal the song promotes rape culture directly through its lyrics and accompanying music video. The first time I heard the song I was driving home from Six Flags. I thought the song was really catchy and cool, so when I got home I decided to listen to the song on a deeper level. After carefully listening to the lyrics I realized how outrageous and demeaning they were. I'm not the only one who liked the song at first. Coates believes there is nothing wrong with the lyrics in and of themselves. The song first sparked controversy in the media when the lyrics were connected

I personally like the artists Macklemore and Ryan Lewis and the songs that they create. Their songs have a way of diving into important matters that the rest of society try to avoid. I am not gay, but I had a friend that was and this song closely resembles what he went through. The song also tells the story of a gay couple and the struggles they had and not just the problems around the subject of being gay. “No one disputes that biological difference, exists between men and women. However, what we make of those differences does not inevitably arise out of the biological” (Conley 277).

The song talks about homosexuals and the explaining how certain members of society still frown upon

I think that he is using his platform to spread awareness just like he did with his song “same love.” Now, it’s difficult not to assume that he does this for the money or to get more publicity however, it’s still sending a message that is powerful for people to listen to. (He can be making any other non-controversial music and still get a hit since he does have a huge fan base). I agree that people in privileged positions need to stand up for issues such as the Black Lives Matters movement and it seems like rapping about it is the way Macklemore is doing his part.

The appeal he uses most often is pathos, it is found throughout the song. Macklemore uses a word that is very hurtful to homosexuals: “faggots" (Haggerty, Lewis, Lambert, 2102). He uses it to show how people inappropriately use the word, but it is a word that causes a lot of pain to some people. His word choice is effective in bringing out emotion as in the line, “plagued by pain in their heart.” The choice to use the word plague describes just how bad the pain is. When people hear the word plague, we think of a widespread disease that affects hundreds and causes worldwide scare. He is saying that this pain is what they have in their heart every day. By using pathos to appeal to the emotion of love in every chorus, “my love, she keeps me warm,” Macklemore successfully tugs at a listener’s heartstrings because most can relate to the feeling of love in some way or another. Another phrase that he uses that applies to pathos is “some would rather die than be who they are.” In today's society, the topic of suicide is extremely emotional, which is what this lyric refers to. Macklemore uses a great deal of pathos appeal to reach out to his listeners and get his argument across.

look and point at gay couples, it is human nature to feel singled out and targeted. This song states that We are beautiful no matter what they say/ Yes, words can't bring us down, oh no. It is trying to help the stereotypes understand that being beautiful is more than the image, it is the inner beauty. Gay people may become ashamed of there orientation because the socially acceptable way to be is straight. This is a double standard of the lyrics, because it states that even if people do act in rude and unkind manners, the gay people will still consider themselves beautiful. But this

The lyrics from this part of the song also relate to people who are feminists or what Conley writes as “a consciousness raising movement to get people to understand that gender is an organizing principle of life. The underlying belief that women and men should be accorded equal opportunities and respect.” However, everything in this song says that it is easier to be a boy because in a relationship it is easier for them to not care. In turn the song is demeaning the feminists in the world who want to have equal rights or opportunities. Along with those who believe you can put yourself first or make their own rules even if it's not what society deems as an actual rule to fit in. We don’t have to be under men in society, but we can’t just assume that we know everything about boys. Especially for a song that follows the societal norms of what a boy should do in a relationship. We have to see that yes boys tend to do this, but it doesn’t mean you could be any better if you were suddenly that