Sitting up on the roof at our parents’ house
counting the days until we could get out
One more Monday coming on fast
For the small town survivors at the head of the class.
They asked were we fine
We said yes every time
Hoping that someone would see through the lie
Chorus:
We were the other girls
raised on pretending
that there was a part for us
in that storybook ending
Now that we’re grown
we see we’re not alone
and what did we find?
The other girls were here all the time
Pushing on through, keeping our heads down
Dodging sticks and stones with our hearts on the ground
Running out of places to keep all that shame
Until just one someone calls us by our name
And says I see who you are
and I know your scars
because they’re the same ones I’ve got on my heart
Chorus
Sitting up on the roof of your parents’ house
Counting the days until you can get out
Amanda is in gym class where the kids go to get fit,
But her eye’s not on the ball at all — it’s on Ms. Foster’s tits.
She’s got a dirty little secret (“shhh”) that everybody knows.
She came out, but she wishes she had left the closet closed.
And here is little Davey hiding in the piano room,
Playing Wicked, Rent, Chicago, Cats and Brigadoon.
He’s hiding from the locker room and jocks who roam the halls,
Where he’s safe from wedgies, shiners and destruction of his balls…
But when they call you weirdos, fags, and rejects, flamers, gays and hags,
Baby dykes and homotikes, Lesbos, homos, and queer bags,
It might seem like it’s hopeless and will never be ok,
But listen to the ones who care — believe them when they say:
IT GETS BETTER
One day you’ll look back and you won’t give a fuck
When your swimming through your pussy vault like Scrooge Fucking McDuck.
And when you’re snatching your first Grammy — super glammy lookin’ slick –
It won’t be much time till they get in line for a chance to suck your dick.
IT GETS BETTER
It wasn’t long till they told Johnny that he wasn’t normal
When he wore a strapless gown and high heels to his junior formal.
But the cool guys they felt passionately that his chosen fashion
Was a rationalization for a rash of Johnny bashin’.
Everyone made fun of Shannon cause she kissed a girl.
So she hid her head and closed her mouth and shut out all the world.
She is brilliant, smart and funny, kind and talented — but hey –
It doesn’t matter what she is cause all she is to them is gay.
But when they call you carpet munchers, fudge packers, and queens,
Lesbians in training, Marys, Nelly, Nancy teens,
It might seem like you’re different, weird, unusual or strange,
But hang in there cause things have always and will always change.
IT GETS BETTER
Jon’s a stylist and he’s gotten pretty far.
Now he doesn’t get his ass kicked but his ass kissed by the stars.
And when Shannon got to college she met people just like her,
And she realized who the d-bags and the fuckheads really were.
IT GETS BETTER
Jane Lynch, Boy George, Versace,
Adam Lambert, Liberace,
Elton, Tim Gunn, Michael Stype,
Ellen, Rosie, Wanda Sykes.
Jodie Foster, Linda Perry
Gandalf the Wizard? — actually a fairy.
Simon Amstell, K.D. Lang.
Even Brando like some wang.
Rachel Maddow (huge muff diver),
Richard Hatch who won Survivor,
Nathan Lane, Truman Capote,
Even Obiwan Kenobi.
Billy Joe from Greenday’s bi,
Ricky Martin — big surprise!
Doogie Howser — what a showman.
Dave Hyde Pierce and all the Romans.
Tommy Tune and Alvin Ailey,
Meredith Baxter, Leisha Hailey.
Lohan, Paquin both are bi.
Boy George and George Takei.
Cher has a transgendered child.
George Michael and Oscar Wild,
Everyone involved in Glee,
One-tenth of everyone you know — and me!
All of them were just like you.
It got better for them, and it will for you too.
IT GETS BETTER
If you’re gay or bi or something in between,
There’s no one who is meaner than a bunch of asshole teens.
Those assholes are the first people that you will soon forget
When you’re living life and learning how much better it can get….
I like Dana International. As I have said in the past, her winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998 was a giant leap for gay acceptance in general and particularly for transsexual visibility. As a judge on Israeli Pop Idol in recent years, just by appearing in the living rooms of millions of Israelis, I believe she does more for LGBTQ equality than any Supreme Court decision could ever do.
But this post is not about her. It’s about 012 Smile, the Israeli telecommunications provider and their recent TV spot featuring Dana and Israeli comedian Eyal Kitzis who play themselves in a kind of alternative reality:
You see, LGBT acceptance is not binary; It has different shades, different grades. At the very far end there are those who define their so-called progressiveness with letting queer people live their lives just as long as they themselves don’t have to hear about it. The other side is closer to what 012 show us:
- In the ad Dana International is not asexual. This particular M2F has a male boyfriend, Kitzis, who is straight, and whom she fondly calls “Kitzi-Kitzi”.
- She also has a home, a family, a father that, much like ours, got mad when we talked too much on the telephone.
This parallel-universe-Dana seems to have had a childhood in the eighties quite similar to ours, and while all this may seem trivial to progressive-thinking-homo-lovin’ readers, it is probably not trivial to their parents.
You see, I complain quite a bit about Israeli advertising, about its lack of creativity and its sexist undertones, but for putting this ad on Israeli Channel 2 at prime time, all I can say is: Bravo! Bravo, 012, bravo!
If advertising is harmful in its core, I believe this ad does quite a bit of good.
Go back to being fabulous
Ignore the pain inside
Find some compensation
for all the love denied
After all that we’ve been through
only tears can tell the truth
- - “For All of Us” – from the musical “Closer To Heaven” by Pet Shop Boys
Last Saturday a masked gunman opened fire in a gay youth club in Tel Aviv, killing a 26 year old male and a 16 year old female and injuring eleven others, before fleeing the scene. The event rendered me speechless. I have been searching for the right words ever since and just now decided to give up that and use this platform to call people to action instead.
This coming Saturday a demonstration will be held in Tel-Aviv, supporting the gay community. Titled ‘Continuing With Pride’ this event will mark one week since the shooting and will be a more organized event, as opposed to the impromptu rallies that were held all over the country in the last few days. Singers will sing (Rita, Ninet, Ivri, Margol, Dana), speakers will speak (Mayor, ministers, MKs), but most importantly people will stand. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and loads of straights will make a stand for democracy, pluralism and freedom. Worldwide solidarity events are planned for the same time in Warsaw, Paris, Berlin, Bern and Madrid.
What: LGBT Demonstration Where: Rabin Square, Tel-Aviv, Israel When: Saturday, August 8, 2009 at 8:30pm Why: Stand against homophobia and transphobia Who: You, me, all of us How much: Admission is free
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Last Saturday a masked gunman opened fire in a gay youth club in Tel Aviv, killing a 26 year old male and a 16 year old female and injuring eleven others, before fleeing the scene. The event rendered me speechless. I have been searching for the right words ever since and just now decided to give up that and use this platform to call people to action instead.
