Musician Michelle Shocked has ventured down an interesting road while trying to prove she’s not as queer as her butch exterior suggests.
The born-again alt-folk singer spewed a hate-filled tirade against gays over the weekend, in San Francisco of all places, and uttered words made famous by the Westboro Baptist Church: “God hates fags.”
Several venues have cancelled her upcoming shows, and Grammy-winner Janis Ian has publicly denounced Shocked’s comments.
“Our country is in large part founded on the concept of free speech — the right to speak your mind politically and socially. But there is a huge difference between ‘free speech’ and ‘hate speech,’” Ian wrote via her Facebook page.
“It is sad when a talented person chooses to use that talent in the service of their own misplaced rage, and their disappointment in their own life. I often wonder if people like this die and meet God, who will smack them upside the head and say ‘Did I really look like I needed your help?!’”
Ian is best remembered for her classic coming-of-age song “At Seventeen.” She came out as a lesbian in 1993. “At Seventeen” is now seen as an anthem for closeted girls everywhere.
“At Seventeen”
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