Kanye West Calls for End to Gay Bashing

"Everyone in hip-hop discriminates against gay people," Kanye West says. Kanye West says "gay" has become an antonym to hip-hop - and that it needs to be stopped. During an interview for an MTV special, the 27-year-old rapper launched into a discussion about hip-hop and homosexuality while talking about "Hey Mama," a song on his upcoming album, "Late Registration." West says that when he was young, people would call him a "mama's boy." "And what happened was, it made me kind of homophobic, 'cause it's like I would go back and question myself," West says on the show, "All Eyes on Kanye West," set to air Thursday night (10:30 p.m. ET). West says he changed his ways, though, when he learned one of his cousins was gay. "It was kind of like a turning point when I was like, `Yo, this is my cousin. I love him and I've been discriminating against gays."' West says hip-hop was always about "speaking your mind and about breaking down barriers, but everyone in hip-hop discriminates against gay people." He adds that in slang, gay is "the opposite, the exact opposite word of hip-hop." Kanye's message: "Not just hip-hop, but America just discriminates. And I wanna just, to come on TV and just tell my rappers, just tell my friends, `Yo, stop it."' West, whose debut disc "The College Dropout" won a Grammy for best rap album, will see his second record in stores on Aug. 30.

WELL IT’S ABOUT TIME! I'm shocked that a black male hip-hop artist is finally saying something about the foolish homophobia in hip-hop. Especially when there are so many gay/bi people involved in hip-hop off and on this stage (damn the Brooklyn Café used to get HOT back in the day **wink-wink**).

It's good to hear someone say something different ... no male artist has ever said something this progressive when it comes to sexuality in hip-hop. It's not just the "hardcore" rappers that have made extremely homophobic comments, but artists like Common and Mos Def joined the bandwagon. Just like Beyonce "Pop My Coochie for Jesus" Knowles - I think we need to stop supporting artists that do not support us. Many think we have to just accept our mainstream black artists being homophobic because "That's the way black folks are!"

One of the comments in the BEYONCE SUCKS entry someone said: “If it's about not supporting what doesn't work (well) for us, MANY things would be offline, out of business.” Well then make it offline – stand up for something. Are we going to let the white gay community be the only voice for the LGBT community? When 46% black men who have sex with men are HIV positive? It seems many of us don't take a stand for anything whether it's music or our lives.

I remember when Donna Summer, who has a massive white gay following, allegedly said that due to her newfound Christianity she did not support gays and AIDS was a plague punishing gays. The LGBT community attacked her – record sales plummeted and ticket sells for her tour vanished. Donna quickly did a press conference in tears saying how it was "taken out of context." While being gay is not a racial identity - being Black and gay has to be in the top five of the most hated groups in America. When someone is black and heterosexual they can fall back on their heterosexuality as a buffer. When someone is white and gay they can fall back on their “whiteness” as a buffer. There is no buffer for many LGBT people.

So congrats to Kanye for saying something different, which is rare in hip-hop. Lawd knows I wasn’t sure about him with the song “Jesus Walks” - I was waiting for him to shout-out in a remixed live version: “We at war with society, racism, terrorism and HOMOSEXUALS!”

Honestly though – many people support Kanye, straight and gay, so it's great that he's challenging these hypocrites in hip-hop. I guess with so many ORDINARY PEOPLE in Kanye’s camp it would make sense that he opened his mind …

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