Macklemore's "Same Love" : Ally or Exploitation?

[*Anya*]

“Any time you are speaking about or for a community that is inherently not yours, a group that you are not a part of, you have to be careful,” Macklemore says. “So ‘Same Love’ had to be a very personal song for that reason. I think that’s how it came out.

Though he credits the couple for being his model of a committed and loving relationship, the rapper admits he was initially very reluctant to play the track for his uncle. “These were some of the hardest words to write on a piece of paper, knowing that people were going to hear this,” Macklemore says, adding that playing the song for his uncle and his partner, let alone to thousands of fans, meant exposing himself.

However, after learning that his father had already shared the song with the couple, Macklemore was so moved that he decided to change the artwork for the single. The original concept, a collage of two same-sex couples and rainbow clip art, wasn’t gelling with him—“It didn’t represent what the song is,” he says.

Instead, the final artwork for “Same Love” shows his two uncles posing in a stark, classic family portrait: One sits resolutely in a chair, while the other stands behind him, his hand on his lover’s shoulder. The photo is simple but elegant and powerful."

I included more of the article for context.

Macklemore has a gay uncle, in a committed relationship. I believe he is in an ally.

*My Opinion*

I only watched part of the Grammy's and did not care for the publicity stunt of wedding straight and gay couples but hell: same love, right? Not in my wildest dreams did I think I would see gay couples getting married on TV in my lifetime.

I came out New Years, 1978. My first girlfriend and I, dancing in a gay nightclub all night, as our statement to ourselves and to those present, that we were lesbians.

I Will Survive or some other straight song the gay boys had co-opted as their anthem, blasting and we all sang our hearts out. I felt such joy.

Your anthem is whatever song speaks to you.

The first time I heard Same Love on the radio, I cried. I sat in awe that a song about the love I have for another woman was actually being played on the radio.

I also thought about a kid struggling with his sexuality, no matter his culture or race, who might be immersed in hip-hop, hearing a song that tells him that same-sex love is OK. To me, that is powerful.

When I came out, I never heard Holly Near being played on top 40 radio. We all had to listen to "our songs" on cassette tapes or vinyl records in our homes.

*I* do not care who sings a song or raps to a song. As long as their doing so will encourage straight people to have their eyes or heart opened, even a kernel, to my right to love, live, keep a job or marry the woman that I love.

In my wildest dreams, some 36 years ago when I first came out, did I ever expect to see the changes that have occurred! We were still sneaking into gay clubs 36 years ago!

I will take change, in micro steps, if need be, in any way that it comes. I don't care how self-serving it is for the artist, politician or anyone that it may be; if it ultimately helps all of us.

That is how I feel.