Yes, Michelle, We Are Shocked By Your Homophobia

According to news and social media reports coming out of San Francisco, long-respected singer-songwriter Michelle Shocked–known for such songs as “Anchorage” and “If Love Was a Train,” went on a stunning anti-gay marriage rant during her show last night at the club Yoshi’s.

She reportedly said to audience members, “You can go on Twitter and say ‘Michelle Shocked says God hates fags.” Tweeter @anile02 also reported that “She said she lives in fear that the world will be destroyed if gays are allowed to marry.”

People started walking out as she went on, and the club ended the show by turning off her mic and shutting off the lights.

Twitter has responded today with such comments as this one from @HollyFigueroa: “Love IS a train, @MSchocked, and so is marriage equality. You can’t stop it. I can stop buying your records, though.”

Last night Shocked tweeted, “Truth is leading to painful confrontation,” then went social-media-silent. Other than knowing that she had become a member of a Pentecostal Christian church (but was still active in progressive causes such as Occupy), one can only speculate where she was coming from with her hateful commentary (and why she chose San Francisco, of all places, to spread such a message). More will certainly be revealed, but the blowback has already begun to affect her professionally: Hopmonk Tavern in Novata, CA, has announced it’s cancelling Shock’s March 29 show there because of her remarks, and ETown in Boulder, CO, has cancelled her May 3 concert.

Photo of Shocked performing in November in Duluth, GA, by Flickr user Carl Black under license from Creative Commons 2.0

 

 

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About

The late Michele Kort—a dedicated feminist—was the senior editor of Ms. magazine for 13 years. She died June 26, 2015, after a long battle with ovarian cancer. She worked for decades in field of journalism, covering sports, music, culture, art and feminist issues for publications like LA Weekly, The Advocate, Shape, Redbook, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Songwriter, InStyle, Living Fit, Fit Pregnancy, Vegetarian Times, Fitness, UCLA Magazine, Women's Sports and Fitness and more. She is the author of four books, including a biography of singer/songwriter Laura Nyro, Soul Picnic: The Music and Passion of Laura Nyro. Rest in power, Michele.