November 9, 2010

Madonna: Gay Bashing is like Lynching or the Holocaust...


I was home this morning, and saw Madonna Madge Esther Material Girl on Ellen. She was talking about gay bashing and teen suicide, adding her voice, and seemed humble and real... I was impressed:

"I'm incredibly disturbed and saddened by the overwhelming number of teen suicides that have been reported lately because of bullying. Suicide in general is disturbing. Teenagers committing suicide is extremely disturbing, but to hear that teenagers are taking their lives because they are being bullied in schools and dormitories, what have you, is kind of unfathomable."

Madonna says she was bullied as a kid growing up in Michigan. "I still feel different," she says. "I can totally relate to the idea of feeling isolated and alienated. I was incredibly lonely as a child, as a teenager. I have to say I never felt like I fit in in school. I wasn't a jock. I wasn't an intellectual. There was no group that I felt a part of. I just felt like a weirdo."

It wasn't until her ballet teacher, who was gay, took her under his wing and introduced her to a community of artists that she felt "it was OK to be different."

The gay community "has been incredibly supportive of me. I wouldn't have a career if it weren't for the gay community."

She says she's been talking to her children about bullying. "We talk a lot about the importance of not judging people who are different -- not judging people who don't fit into our expected view of what's cool and what isn't," she says. "The concept that we are torturing teenagers because they are gay -- it's unfathomable. It's like lynching black people or Hitler exterminating Jews. Sorry if I'm going on a rampage right now, but this is America. The land of the free and the home of the brave...."

11 comments:

Kelly@TearingUpHouses said...

I like Madonna.

Kelly

Allen said...

I am happy that Madonna stood up and said that. If we could now stop talking about it and do something about it. Maybe this world would be a better place to live.

Lauren said...

Good for her! I always have a hard time with that line... land of the free, home of the brave. Kind of a horrible irony really.

Kevin said...

I love Madonna.

meleah rebeccah said...

I remember watching interviews with Madonna many years ago, where she discussed in great detail how she was bullied and and outsider in high school. She is walking proof that IT GETS BETTER! And, I love her for it!

Salt said...

I'm so glad she's lending her voice to this, because she's got quite a powerful one indeed. I've been a Madonna fan forever and this just adds another reason to the list of why.

Jabacue said...

Yes, it was a great interview with Madonna. Always loved her!
Jim

Ron said...

I am glad that Madonna has grown to recognize her voice is heard and it can make a difference. Whatever road she traveled to get here is fine with me because she is speaking out for the rights causes.

I'm just saying.

Saucy B said...

Loved Madge in 80's, still love her today for entirely new reasons.

Annie (Lady M) x said...

Blimey. I tell you what was good about what she said - she actually talked on a personal as well as humane level which really got the message across well. There was me thinking that she was an Armani-clad ball cruncher!

ladyfi said...

Madonna is a star in so many ways - this just goes to prove it. I agree with her - we should be nurturing people who are different, not putting them down.

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