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same love

The Generation of Change

by Alex David Jimenez

Roughly six years ago, when my now fiancé and I had just moved in together, the United States Presidential election of 2008 made history. Just under a year earlier, when we began dating, I recall him saying that he didn’t believe that Barack Obama stood a chance of winning the election. He told me, though he hoped otherwise, that he didn’t believe that we would see a black U.S. president in our lifetime.

Ten months later it came to pass.

In the same respect, another remark my partner made, amid our many deep conversations during candlelight dinners and Sunday mornings-in, was that he didn’t wholly believe that we would see an America with full recognition and legal marriage equality among gay and lesbian couples. I argued otherwise. At that point of exchange, one state legally allowed and acknowledged same-sex couple’s right to marry. DOMA was however still constitutional – the federal government could legally overlook many of those rights.

Same Sex Marriage 2014
via nbcnews.com

Today, six years later, nineteen states legally allow and acknowledge same-sex couple’s right to marry, and DOMA has been eradicated.

Same-sex marriage is easily one of the most controversial and bare-knuckled fights any group of any respective community has ever fought. In our lifetime, and stretching back into the history of American rights, the gay marriage campaign is quickly becoming as divisive and as landmark as those of the abolition of slavery and women’s rights. While many did concur with my partner in his vision of a limited America within the span of our lives, and while many still do believe as such, it can be said that the shift in favor of a tolerant America is certainly in occurrence – right before our very eyes.

Why?

Just over ten years ago there were no U.S. states that recognized marriage as anything but between a man and a woman. In the span of only one decade, that number has gone from zero to 19. In each state where gay marriage is still illegal, there are lawsuits pending to challenge the fundamental ethics of the bans enacted. In these past ten years, something has changed. Something came about in the broad scope of politics and the voice of the people. There are certainly many factors at play, and ultimately there is an avalanche of causes leading to the change in overall American attitude. Yet what I believe is simpler: one event largely began to create transformation. Just beyond the past decade, the millennials began to vote. The millennials began to join the workforce. And the millenials were far more unafraid to come out as openly gay and lesbian than those generations before them.

© The Washington Post
© The Washington Post

The statistics are simple and speak for themselves. Since about 2004 there has been a rapid shift in the public opinion across America. The popular opinion that gay marriage should be illegal in America has sharply dropped in the last ten years from 55% down to below 36%, and falling. Contrastingly, the opinion that it should be legal has risen from 41% in 2004 to over 58% today. And climbing.

Ages
© The Washington Post

Where is this opinion coming from? Well, according to statistics, the majority of the rise is attributed to America’s youth. The millennials contribute a staggering 81% in favor of the legality of gay marriage, as opposed to the 44% of those who are in favor over the age 65.

Do politics play a part? Certainly. As does religion of course. And yet regardless of conservatism and strict dogmatic ties, the youth is still bringing forth the turn of the tide. The generations over the years have been very clearly changing in their position and stance on the idea that all couples should be granted the fundamental and constitutional right to marry in this, a free country of tolerance and diversity.

via the Public Religion Research Institute
via the Public Religion Research Institute

Many have no faith in the millennial generation. They believe that integrity and responsibility is veritably non-existent in the course of their futures. Yet it cannot be argued that they are certainly the generation of change, be it for the better or the worse. In the capacity of this particular argument, for those who have gay family and gay friends; for those who have been too afraid to come out of the closet in the past and have done so recently because of the upswing of acceptance nationwide; for those people, it is certainly for the better.

I for one believe that my country, the United States, will legalize and recognize gay marriages in each of its 50 states in my lifetime.

Filed Under: LGBT, OPINION Tagged With: 2014, change, Equality, gay marriage, generation y, lgbt, manhattan digest, millennials, opinion, politics, same love, same sex marriage

Is Macklemore’s Agenda Pro-Macklemore or Pro-Gay?

by Ryan Shea

Macklemore, Manhattan, Manhattan Digest
Macklemore, Manhattan, Manhattan Digest
Credit to: Esquire Magazine

Macklemore- Gay Crusader or Selfish Poser?

Tonight will be a big night for rapper Macklemore and his sidekick Ryan Lewis.  They are at the top of the leader board in Grammy nominations with 7, including the illustrious Best New Artist and Album of the Year, something that they are both heavily favored to win.  As if that isn’t big enough, he is now doing something on tonight’s show that has never been done before.

According to NewNowNext, 34 gay and straight couples will be wed during Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ performance of “Same Love”, which is up for Song of the Year.  Further than that, Queen Latifah, a devout supporter of the gay community will be officiating this group wedding.  Crazy right?  As awesome as this has sounded to some, it doesn’t sound that great to many others.  Funny part is that the ones that aren’t down for this quote unquote “prop” are gays themselves.  Here is why.

There have been people who think that what he is doing, on top of the song “Same Love” is just an agenda for him to further push his career into being the next big “pop hop” superstar (their words not mine).  They believe that it doesn’t come from an authentic place, even having someone write- “Straight pop-rappers are ruining the sanctity of homosexuality”.  There needs to be a bit more depth in that very honest quote, but I get where they are coming from because in a sense there isn’t a gay one out there that can speak their mind freely the way that they do without the words “fag” or “homo” being put into it.  Why is this?  Because hip-hop remains a very homophobic industry, and even with the support from huge stars like Macklemore, it shouldn’t be him that is speaking the message- it should be us.

At the same time, the song and what he is doing is groundbreaking in so many different ways.  He is publicly said that the reason why he did this was to further help the state of Washington legalize same-sex marriage, which has now completely come to fruition.  So in a way I don’t think what tonight is going to be is a prop.  Now, if we look back 12 years ago when Elton John joined Eminem on stage for their performance of the controversial “Stan”, that to me is different.  That was Eminem’s way of saving his ass because so many organizations like GLAAD were after him for his spewing hatred of gays in his songs on top of his misogynistic lyrics.  Suffice to say, it was a well received performance, but it is like apples and oranges in comparing the both of them when it comes to pushing someone’s agenda.

So there is two very different sides to how people view Macklemore, how would you view him?  Pro-gay, or pro-himself?

 

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT Tagged With: Elton John, eminem, gay marriage, Grammys, macklemore, mary lambert, queen latifah, ryan lewis, same love

Grammy Predictions 2014: Best New Artist

by Ryan Shea

Manhattan, Manhattan Digest, Lorde, Grammy, Grammy Nominees

As award season has truly kicked into gear, many of us entertainment fans await with baited breath to see who is going to be nominated for each award show. The one that I particularly look forward to every year is The Grammy’s, which is set to take place in early February. This happens to be the biggest social networking event of the year, besting other award shows and even The Super Bowl.

Now with nominations expected to be announced on December 6th, I wanted to share with you my predictions on who is most likely to be nominated at next years ceremony. My first category is Best New Artist, an award that has gone to Adele, Maroon 5 and most recently Fun! (Something I truly don’t agree with). Here is who I think will be the 5 up for the big award this year.

Credit to: Wikipedia
Credit to: Wikipedia

Lorde- talk about a late in the game entry. The 16 year old New Zealand native blasted onto the scene in the late summer of 2013 with her hit “Royals” which has been at the top of the alternative charts as well as dethroning the current cockroach of pop Miley Cyrus’ song “Wrecking Ball”. Lorde has a great deep falsetto  and is reminiscent of everyone from Etta James to Amy Winehouse. A good contender in my books.

Credit to: HipHopDX
Credit to: HipHopDX

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis- The Grammys tend to nominate people who aren’t necessarily new in this category, yet if these two are eligible they are a shoo in to be nominated and I believe win. This will be their night unless JT has something to say. “The Heist” is an incredible effort by these two, churning out hits like “Same Love”, “Can’t Hold Us” and hrs pivotal “Thrift Shop”. Expect these two to take home Grammy gold that night.

Credit to MMusicMag
Credit to MMusicMag

Florida Georgia Line- the perennial country nominee but won’t win, they never do. FGL had quite the year with their platinum selling album “Here’s To The Good Times” which features their huge hit “Cruise”. The song became even bigger with the help from Grammy winning hip hop artist Nelly, whom in my opinion made the song that much better. Expect at least a win in the country portion for this song, but they are the long shot for this one. Sorry guys.

Credit to Wikipedia
Credit to Wikipedia

Imagine Dragons- Alternative is slowly making it’s way back into the mainstream thing, and this band has done a pretty great job in aiding that. Fueled by the biggest alternative song of the year “Radioactive” from the almost double platinum selling “Night Visions”, these guys plan on making a name for themselves on Grammy night. Expect “Radioactive” to be a huge contended in Record and Song of the year categories as well.

Credit to: XXLMag
Credit to: XXLMag

Kendrick Lamar- usually in the BNA category there is only one hip hop nominee, yet if they don’t nominate Kendrick they are fools. Dude is the best thing to happen to hip hop in a long freaking time and he deserves credit on Grammy night. “Good Kid M.A.A.D. City” is one of the best hip hop albums in a long time and I am really hoping that the nomination committee recognizes him in this category and many more.

Honorable Mentions-
Kacey Musgraves
Avicii
Ellie Goulding
Emeli Sande
Capital Cities

Who do you think will be nominated this year? Voice your thoughts and check out the official Grammy site for more info.

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, MUSIC, OPINION, REVIEWS Tagged With: 2014 grammy nominations, avicii, capital cities, ellie goulding, emeli sande, florida georgia line, grammy, grammy nominations, imagine dragons, kacey musgraves, kendrick lamar, lorde, macklemore, nelly, radioactive, royals, ryan lewis, same love, thrift shop

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