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LGBTQIA+

Modern queer artists are helping to express the challenges and experiences of being queer in the United States. Two such artists are Max Binder and Mo Crist, whose performance of their work "Real Boy/Real Girl" speaks to the experiences and feelings of trans men and women, touching on expectations of gender and how they are often forced onto young trans, non-binary, and queer people. 


Kay Ulanday Barrett's "song for the kicked out" is another powerful piece about the queer experience:  

the streets are not paved with gold, they lied
I got a rough throat, i got a rough life
the streets are not paved with gold, they lied
I got too much queer in me to live their way tonight.  
 
she found me waist up in you
she had found me mouthful, drinkin’ you 

mama said that I was the devil, made this journey here a waste,
made too American and too unruly
couldn’t I just wear dresses, make money, and behave?  
 
mama said leave this house, her spirit broken by ache
all my belongings freckled the streets 
I slept outside, spirit stayin’ up, my journey isn’t self-made

I say all you laughin’ & jukin’ in the alleys
I say all you sleepin’ to roaches cries
I say all you couch surfin’ until the next night
I say all you kissin’ despite the fists and the fights 

together we are a prayer, a chant, a song, no matter what
together we are an anthem despite their cis hetero fuss
together we are stronger than the world’s unsaids
together we are as mighty as our ancestors up from the dead  

we are bigger than the skylines that hold us
we are bigger than the sirens that stab our hearts
we are bigger than the talk of boystown progress & bars
we are bigger than bleeding our blood to the stars 

together we are a prayer, no matter what
together we are an anthem despite their cis hetero fuss
together we are stronger than the world’s unsaids
together we are as mighty as our ancestors up from the dead

Finally, queer musical artist Semler produces music that speaks to the experience of growing up as an LGBTQIA+ person in the culture of U.S. Southern Evangelicism. Their music speaks to a generation of young people who grew up hearing that homosexuals had no place in Christianity, and "Jesus from Texas" in particular has become a sort of anthem for queer Christians and former Evangelicals.


My best friend found God so we lost touch
I hope she finds love and peace
And if her kid comes out I hope that she calls me
I guess a savior beats a friend who thinks you're good enough

References

Barrett, Kay Ulanday. "song for the kicked out." KayBarrett.com, November 12, 2012. https://www.kaybarrett.net/song-for-the-kicked-out/

Binder, Max, and Mo Crist. "Real Boy/Real Girl." YouTube.com, July 21, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK3qJ65WIwc

Semler. "Jesus from Texas." YouTube.com, June 7, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK22n2Vr7Jo

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