Give Me a F*#king Break

Straight pride parade to hit New York City

A group of reggae artists, backed by their record label, will openly embrace their heterosexuality this upcoming Labor Day weekend.

"Although reggae is known for its militancy and its resistance to injustice," TCOOO Productions proclaimed, "the reggae community has remained calm throughout the attack on the music by Peter Tatchell and other Gay activists (sic) groups."

Frequent reports of kidnappings, harassment and mob beatings of gays, particularly in Jamaica, provide the backdrop for the lyrics of reggae and dancehall artists such as Beenie Man and Buju Banton, assailed by Outrage! founder Peter Tatchell as part of his Stop Murder Music campaign, which spans two decades. One example of a song that has gained notoriety in its mentions of violence against gays is Buju Banton's "Boom Bye Bye," released in the early 1990s and cited as the catalyst to the campaign's birth.

"The Straight Pride Parade is a chance for Heterosexuals to gather together and proudly embrace their sexuality," said reggae artist Jango Fresh. "The Parade will also allow reggae and dancehall fans who are in New York City for the Labor Day celebrations to get together and celebrate reggae, dancehall and family in love and unity."

"Hit Them Hard," a song by TCOOO artist Stapler, is one recent example of a song the label laments as a chart-climbing "pro-family" hit taken down by Tatchell's campaigning.

The chorus is:

Jah Jah gonna hit them hard
All the men who visit men backyard
Leaving all the women to starve
One thunder ball and all of them pause

Yeah, those lyrics sound very pro-family to me. I had no idea that beating and killing gay men was a family activity. Move over Disney World, Kill the Faggot Theme Parks will be poppy up all over soon. Heteros freely attend gay pride parades and events all the time. I wonder if the GLBT community will be welcomed and embraced at this reggae hate fest??

UPDATE:

"They say it's a celebration of heterosexuality, but really it's a promotion of straight supremacism. The organisers are semi-literate frauds and liars. They falsely claim that the Stop Murder Music campaign was an attack on reggae music. Nonsense. It was an attack on a small number of reggae singers who have perverted reggae's message of peace, love and justice. They have betrayed the ideals of the reggae pioneers and are hijacking the genre to turn it into an anthem of homophobic hatred and violence. They are encouraging civil war in the black community." - Gay activist Peter Tatchell, on yesterday's announcement of a "Straight Pride Parade" in NYC.