Slog

News & Arts

Line Out

Music & the City
at Night

« Eat a Book and Other Weekend Happen… | It Gets Better Lands on NYT Bestsel… »

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Homo It Gets Better: Columbus Gay Men's Chorus and Columbus Children's Choir

Posted by Dan Savage on Sat, Apr 2, 2011 at 3:55 PM

Partnering a gay men's chorus with a children's chorus to deliver the "It Gets Better" message—a genius idea. Beautiful.

FacebookShare

Comments (30) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

Indeed beautiful. Thank you for posting it, Dan.

Take care.

Posted by kim in portland

on April 2, 2011 at 4:07 PM

Wow,

That was great

Posted by Merchant Seaman on April 2, 2011 at 4:25 PM

Now that is progress. This would not have been possible perhaps just 10 years ago.

It is getting better.

Posted by Ophian on April 2, 2011 at 4:27 PM

Also--off topic--I just spent the last hour or two reading the thread from the 03/31 SLLOTD. Kim, Canuck, EricaP, Jenesasquatch, et al. You guys rock.

Posted by Ophian on April 2, 2011 at 4:32 PM

The Radical Religious Extremists must be horrified by this. Look at all those young Gay recruits singing their youthful Gay recruited hearts out.

Posted by Sargon Bighorn on April 2, 2011 at 4:32 PM

What a great idea! Lovely effort. Terrible arrangement, but ah well...

Posted by gloomy gus on April 2, 2011 at 4:41 PM

Somewhere in Montana a tea bagger is writing legislation to ban gay choruses from being within 1mile of children's choirs.

Posted by Heather on April 2, 2011 at 5:07 PM

Hey Ophian...yeah, it's kind of fun when those threads keep morphing in different directions. I think I've learned more on Slog in a year than I ever did in school...well, practical knowledge, anyway.

Posted by Canuck on April 2, 2011 at 5:11 PM

Wonderful. I love that kids are being educated earlier about bullying and the IGBP.

Posted by despicable me on April 2, 2011 at 5:36 PM

Wow that made my day. And can I say I am also happy about the ASL on the sidelines/

Posted by lone locust on April 2, 2011 at 5:54 PM

The Seattle Men's Chorus just finished singing a free children's concert this afternoon at McCaw Hall here in Seattle. They performed a free concert with Village Theatre's Kidstage group of kids (4-20y.o.) before several hundred children and their parents.

http://flyinghouse.org/SMC/childrens/

Posted by Justin on April 2, 2011 at 5:58 PM

LOVE this Dan, thanks for posting!

Posted by Lurleen on April 2, 2011 at 6:10 PM

Very cool! I only wish the interpreter had been visible in all of the video clip, but I was thrilled to see it was interpreted for the audience at least!

And yes, it has the double bonus of probably exploding lots of wingnut heads to see all those kids learning that TEH GAY is not the depths of depravity or whatever...

Posted by BEG

on April 2, 2011 at 6:31 PM

And I don't know if this has come up in the threads anywhere but I spotted this -- nicely done, I thought. I didn't need the audio to understand it, either.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrJxqvalF…

Posted by BEG

on April 2, 2011 at 6:35 PM

i almost can't believe this is real. i'm not that old, when did the world change so much?

Posted by Finish Tag on April 2, 2011 at 7:13 PM

That made me so happy.

Posted by Sandiai on April 2, 2011 at 7:18 PM

@15: I know, right? In 1991 when my girlfriend joined the army she spent months sweating bullets about the "so are you a carpet muncher" question she'd have to face. We even role-played how she'd answer it. ("No. Eww!") Now, if she hadn't turned out to be a complete cunt, I could have married her in some states. In 1991 I never, ever imagined such a thing would be possible in my lifetime.

Posted by TVDinner

on April 2, 2011 at 8:38 PM

Now, if she hadn't turned out to be a complete cunt, I could have married her in some states.

Oh, that's fantastic, TVDinner!

Posted by gloomy gus on April 2, 2011 at 8:46 PM

Fabulous! Thanks, Dan.

Posted by Johnston on April 2, 2011 at 9:49 PM

Beautiful indeed and from the Midwest as well. It definitely can get better.

Posted by mimilefay on April 2, 2011 at 10:17 PM

7 years ago and about 50 miles southwest of Columbus, I was in the Dayton Gay Men's Chorus when the Dayton Boys Choir invited us to participate in the All Ohio Boychoir Festival and then un-invited us because they realized we had the word "Gay" in our name (http://www.davidlauri.com/blog/2004-04#2…). Of course Columbus is more progressive than Dayton, but maybe 7 years makes a difference too.

Posted by dlauri

on April 2, 2011 at 11:06 PM

Thanks.

Posted by Vince on April 3, 2011 at 3:10 AM

1. It's beautiful to see a city's children's choir performing with a gay men's chorus for a pro-gay message.

2. This is the only version of Linda Perry's song that I have ever heard that makes sense. Heartbreaking.

Posted by cgd on April 3, 2011 at 5:16 AM

Thanks Dan. It got a little dusty around here while watching this.

Posted by Looking For a Better Read on April 3, 2011 at 11:56 AM

<--- crying like a former fat queer kid on the school bus

Posted by Violet_DaGrinder

on April 3, 2011 at 4:37 PM

As the former Executive Director of the Columbus Gay Men's Chorus, I am so proud of the work they've done over the years in the community. Two years ago the group also performed with the Columbus Children's Choir to produce "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." Some parents wouldn't let their children participate, due to the gay chorus. This time around (this song was an encore to a full concert that also included a chamber orchestra) no parents fought against it. It was an amazing accomplishment to behold.

Unfortunately I left CGMC and Columbus just two weeks before they performed this concert, but guess where I ended up? Seattle! It's pretty amazing to be in my new city and have them report on the great work of the Gay Men's Chorus in my former city. Thanks, Dan!

Posted by Nikomahs on April 4, 2011 at 9:39 AM

@15 i know, right? just... whoa

Posted by BEG

on April 5, 2011 at 12:13 AM

lovely. tissue please!

Posted by Yogapants on April 5, 2011 at 2:34 AM

I am the Artistic Director of the Columbus Children's Choir. In 2008, we collaborated with the Columbus Gay Men's Chorus for a production of JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT, because we felt that these two high quality community arts organizations could offer an outstanding artistic event for the community. The production surpassed everyone's expectations. The children had a fantastic time and asked when we could do something together again. This year, we did a three way collaboration with Columbus' ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, Columbus Gay Men's Chorus, and the Columbus Children's Choir. 'Beautiful' was performed at the close of the concert. We choose to do these artistic collaborations to highlight excellent choral and instrumental musicians in our city, to replicate a men and boys' choir (treble voices for us) - as we just did for Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, and to give our singers high quality musical experiences with a variety of musical styles. It has been very meaningful to receive positive comments and letters from community members, children, parents, and grandparents. These artistic projects have contributed toward breaking down barriers for our performers and audiences. Everyone is seen as the talented person he/she is. These collaborations have been some of the children's favorite experiences over the last three years.

Posted by zolkod4 on April 5, 2011 at 7:09 AM

When I realized what song they were singing, I nearly cried.

Posted by Brooklyngirl