*Count Jay-Z among the celebrities backing President Obama for his support of gay marriage.
“I’ve always thought it as something that was still holding the country back,” the rapper told CNN, referring to bans on same-sex marriage. “What people do in their own homes is their business and you can choose to love whoever you love. That’s their business. [It] is no different than discriminating against blacks. It’s discrimination plain and simple.” [Scroll down to watch the clip.]
One of the president’s most skeptical constituencies, in fact, is the African American community, as many of its religious leaders are skeptical of gay marriage; ABC News reported on Monday that Obama reached out to many of the top pastors to explain himself on the issue, with many calling themselves “conflicted.”
For his part, Jay-Z shrugged off the potential loss of support — not because he didn’t believe it would happen, but because he said that backing gay marriage was more important than winning votes.
Speak on it Jay Z. People can love who they want.
I agree with Jay but he’s going to upset the black community when he compares discrimination with the gay community to the black community.
Everybody is entitled to their opinion and that’s ok. Some agree, some won’t. Deal with it, get over it. Obama doesn’t have the power to change the laws. It is left up to the states to decide. The media is reaching to far fetch and it is getting tiresome by the day. I just hope this won’t be the main focal for the Black community when we have a high unemployment rate for Blacks, high incarceration rates, poor schools, discrimination on housing, bank loans, etc., etc. and I can go on with topics that effects us in a negative way. Why we are not jumping on the bandwagon to demand change from our President over those issues instead of harping over Gay Rights? People act like it is the end of the world. I mean anybody has the right to defend what they don’t believe in but why can’t we have the same passion for those other issues that truly hits us at home. Pastors? Black Church? Black community at large. IJS. Personally, I can care less about gay marriage. I don’t have time to worry who is with who.
Speak on it! I don’t care about gay marriage either. Let them get married if that’s what they want. There is bigger fish to fry. Frankly, I don’t know why people are making a big deal about what Jay Z says. He’s not the most ‘politically astute’ person to begin with. Most celebrities are apolitical to begin with. They just hop on any bandwagon that appeals to the masses. There seems to be a belief that because somebody has money, they are become ‘authorities’ on all things. If Jay Z was still slinging dope on the corner, would he have actually cared about gay marriage, the President or even Black people (which it seems he really doesn’t)? I know people can redeem themselves but something about Jay Z does not seem right.
What doesn’t seem right about him? The fact that he left the streets of BK for Wall Street? Seems ok to me.
when we have a high unemployment rate for Blacks, high incarceration rates, poor schools, discrimination on housing, bank loans, etc., etc. and I can go on with topics that effects us in a negative way. Why we are not jumping on the bandwagon to demand change from our President over those issues instead of harping over Gay Rights?
Because doing so will put you in the Tavis/West category.
I don’t look at how much money a person has when it comes down to their character. I am speaking about his character. No, don’t know him personally but something about him is kinda off to me. I was never a fan of him or his music to begin with. Just something about him turns me off.
Ok but you haven’t indicated anything about his character (negative or otherwise). If you say that there’s “something” about him that turns you off, it’s reasonable to think that you would be able to say what that “something” is.
Whether you like his music or not aside. You hafta identify something as the root.
It’s like saying, there’s something about that black guy I just don’t like w/o coming clean
Mus, it’s not that serious. It really isn’t. He just turns me off. What ‘it’ is, I can’t put my finger on it. Everything does not nor is there always an explanation. He just turns me off. That’s that.