I'm gay. And I'm a metalhead to the core. Paradox? No, not if you consider the fact that sexual orientation actually has nothing to do with personnality. Ghaal is gay and he freaks most people out because he looks like a demonic murderer. Yet, I come across homophobic comments like ten times every fucking time I visit this website.

So, I wonder if metalheads are homophobic. What do you think?

PS: PLEASE avoid gay-bashing, I'm trying to have an intelligent discussion, here. If you can't be open-minded, go back to the 18th century.

It's kinda hard to generalise, I don't see why it's paradoxical...what about metal suggests heterosexuality? anyone who is homophobic might as well be living under a rock...

I have come across a bunch of metalheads that are quite homophobic during my time as a metalhead, but not everybody. I'm not, but I can't speak for anyone else.

Will however admit that I am guilty of referring to albums that I don't like as "gay" occationally, but that really doesn't have much to do with the supposed sexuality of said album (such as the CD is attracted to other CDs, instead of being attracted to cassettes like normal albums, yeah you heard how ridiculous that would sound if it was meant that way). Thing is, the word "gay" as the deregatory term it is commonly used as nowadays has developed a meaning of it's own, usually not being related to sexuality. And for a lot of us younger people who grew up using the term in this way, it is easy to out of old habit call stuff that we don't like "gay", no matter if said stuff has anything to do with sexuality or not (I believe last time I used the word to describe something it was referring to song titles, which are entities completely incapable of having any kind of sexual relationship).

Not a justification, but it's an explanation. It's a bad habit, and that I admit.

A huge chunk of metalheads are morons. (made funnier by the fact that many seem to think metalheads are "smarter" than norms)

i don't think homophobia is rampant - the general reaction to Rob Halford's sexuality is "meh. who cares? he's awesome."

i think the words 'gay' and 'fag' are often tossed around because a bunch of metalhead's lack the vocabulary to express themselves any better.

Written by BitterCOld on 20.01.2011 at 22:00

A huge chunk of metalheads are morons. (made funnier by the fact that many seem to think metalheads are "smarter" than norms)

i don't think homophobia is rampant - the general reaction to Rob Halford's sexuality is "meh. who cares? he's awesome."

i think the words 'gay' and 'fag' are often tossed around because a bunch of metalhead's lack the vocabulary to express themselves any better.

I'd say you nailed it. Though one metal icon might be gay, being Rob Halford, some people just don't care or realize that it kind of makes sense (due to his leathery fashion style).

Now if you take someone like Gaahl, all the black metal kids will mock him. Since black metal is supposedly such an evil genre that it's supposedly wrong to be gay in it.

I think metal isn't as homophobic as other genres though, like say....gangsta rap.

Ever heard the new phrase the rappers are coining? No homo? It's dumb as hell but it originated in modern rap and hip hop. And I know for a fact there are some rappers who are vehemently opposed to homosexuals.

@ ForeverDarkWood: Yes, I guess many people throw the word "gay" in a negative meaning without even realizing what it means to homosexual people. It's very annoying, really. Even if you say this album is so gay without any homophobic afterthought, you should know "gay=bad" can be painful after a dozen time. Glad that you do realize it's a bad habit, though.

But I think there's more to it. When people call say, Cradle Of Filth, "gay" (and that happens fairly often), it's not as a synonym of "bad". They say it's a band for teenage girls (which I agree with for some songs at least), etc. WTF? A homosexual adult man is not the same as a teenage girl. Take me, for example, when I tell someone I'm gay they're like 0_o because they would never have guessed by themselves. On the other hand, I love Behemoth, yet no one would ever dare call Behemoth "gay" without fearing Satan's retribution...

Written by BitterCOld on 20.01.2011 at 22:00

A huge chunk of metalheads are morons. (made funnier by the fact that many seem to think metalheads are "smarter" than norms)

i don't think homophobia is rampant - the general reaction to Rob Halford's sexuality is "meh. who cares? he's awesome."

i think the words 'gay' and 'fag' are often tossed around because a bunch of metalhead's lack the vocabulary to express themselves any better.

Quit being a fag.

...But yeah, internet lingo has given a whole new meaning to "gay and "fag", it's pretty much at that point where it doesn't really refer to homosexuality anymore. As for metal being homophobic...A lot of fans are, but any genre that accepts this with open arms shouldn't be considered homophobic.

It's like any other situation, people will be outspokenly hateful toward it until it's in their own back yard.

Written by Doc G. on 20.01.2011 at 22:50

A lot of fans are, but any genre that accepts this with open arms shouldn't be considered homophobic.

lolll, this can't be called anything but gay, I agree!

Written by ForeverDarkWoods on 20.01.2011 at 21:58

it is easy to out of old habit call stuff that we don't like "gay", no matter if said stuff has anything to do with sexuality or not (I believe last time I used the word to describe something it was referring to song titles, which are entities completely incapable of having any kind of sexual relationship)

In fact gay means "glad, happy"... it's in fact annoying in general when normal words become so dirty in slang that you cannot use them any more in normal speech... for instance I sometimes find myself involuntarily speaking dirty things because in my language already so trivial words such as "to place" have become dirty in the slang of young people... luckily more mature people and the elderly people have no idea that an innocent phrase "to place something at the back of..." can refer to anal sex... really, it's annoying... I hate it... I hate swearing because normal words are becoming swear words in youth slang...

Written by BitterCOld on 20.01.2011 at 22:00

A huge chunk of metalheads are morons. (made funnier by the fact that many seem to think metalheads are "smarter" than norms)

i don't think homophobia is rampant - the general reaction to Rob Halford's sexuality is "meh. who cares? he's awesome."

Yep, that certainly is completely correct.

I have seen some really moronic comments from some metalheads regarding Rob being gay. You cant visit a single Priest video on youtube without seeing quite a number of comments reffering to his sexuality. A fair few of them, derogatory. I think the majority of fans though, dont care about his sexuality, and still think he is a great singer, and "the metal god". lol xD

A friend of mine who doesn't like metal, and is also gay actually expressed quite a lot of surprise when I told him about Halford being gay. I think he was of the opinion that the genre was very homophobic, and so wouldnt have any gay artists and musicians in it. He didnt exactly say that, but it was the impression I got. But then, I think a lot of non-metal fans are of the impression that all metalheads are boneheaded, satan worshipping barbarians.

Quote:
Is metal a homophobic genre?

no.

One could argue that Gaahl being gay makes him "more black metal". Black metal originally was a style of music which was supposed to be a form of rebellion against everything wrong about mainstream society, and about true expression of oneself. One thing that near every black metal musician disliked was Christianity. Well, Christians don't think to highly of gays. Lots of people don't think to highly of gays. Gaahl is a true black metal mucisian, unafraid to express himself despite how others will think of him.

Oh, and there's Rob Halford. He proves that you can suck dick and kick ass at the same time.

I don't get how any metalhead can be homophobic. If you go to a gig, half the time you'll be watching shirtless, sweaty guys on stage, probably have your shirt off yourself and/or be rubbing up against another shirtless male.
But metal is anti-everything pretty much, thats what it prides itself on, breaking away from the mainstream. Homophobia would be opposit of that end. Of course, however, you have metalheads who are simply too testosterone driven for their own good...

None of the metalheads that I personally know are homophobic. The ones that I see tend to be posers most of the time lol. Oh and ^^ good point.

Written by [user id=111774] on 21.01.2011 at 05:10

One could argue that Gaahl being gay makes him "more black metal". Black metal originally was a style of music which was supposed to be a form of rebellion against everything wrong about mainstream society, and about true expression of oneself.

Homosexuality is quite accepted in pop culture these days, sexually ambiguity is a fairly common topic amongst pop artists.

Or in the words of Bruno "Being gay is the new coolest thing!"

Written by [user id=111774] on 21.01.2011 at 05:10

One could argue that Gaahl being gay makes him "more black metal". Black metal originally was a style of music which was supposed to be a form of rebellion against everything wrong about mainstream society, and about true expression of oneself. One thing that near every black metal musician disliked was Christianity. Well, Christians don't think to highly of gays. Lots of people don't think to highly of gays. Gaahl is a true black metal mucisian, unafraid to express himself despite how others will think of him.

That's probably true. I've just noticed that a lot of his core fanbase has made fun of him a lot since coming out.

Written by [user id=111774] on 21.01.2011 at 05:10

One could argue that Gaahl being gay makes him "more black metal". Black metal originally was a style of music which was supposed to be a form of rebellion against everything wrong about mainstream society, and about true expression of oneself. One thing that near every black metal musician disliked was Christianity. Well, Christians don't think to highly of gays. Lots of people don't think to highly of gays. Gaahl is a true black metal mucisian, unafraid to express himself despite how others will think of him.

Ive said that right from the first moment I read about him coming out. lol I do think Gaahl seems more black metal because of him coming out. He has been upfront about who he is, and doesnt care what anyone else thinks. And I think he probably knew there'd be a big backlash to him from the black metal community, which there was. If black metal is supposed to be about being an individual despite what society thinks, than Gaahl is as black metal as you can get!

@Doc: There is still quite a lot of prejudice towards gay people, even in modern mainstream society. Its obviously a lot better than it was a few years ago, but the prejudice is still there.

Written by Angelic Storm on 21.01.2011 at 12:01

Ive said that right from the first moment I read about him coming out. lol I do think Gaahl seems more black metal because of him coming out. He has been upfront about who he is, and doesnt care what anyone else thinks. And I think he probably knew there'd be a big backlash to him from the black metal community, which there was. If black metal is supposed to be about being an individual despite what society thinks, than Gaahl is as black metal as you can get!

This is exactly what I was about to say.

This topic is gay.

And so is homophobia.

Written by Angelic Storm on 21.01.2011 at 12:01

Written by [user id=111774] on 21.01.2011 at 05:10

One could argue that Gaahl being gay makes him "more black metal". Black metal originally was a style of music which was supposed to be a form of rebellion against everything wrong about mainstream society, and about true expression of oneself. One thing that near every black metal musician disliked was Christianity. Well, Christians don't think to highly of gays. Lots of people don't think to highly of gays. Gaahl is a true black metal mucisian, unafraid to express himself despite how others will think of him.

Ive said that right from the first moment I read about him coming out. lol I do think Gaahl seems more black metal because of him coming out. He has been upfront about who he is, and doesnt care what anyone else thinks. And I think he probably knew there'd be a big backlash to him from the black metal community, which there was. If black metal is supposed to be about being an individual despite what society thinks, than Gaahl is as black metal as you can get!

lol exactly what I thought! Being a "sodomite" is quite evil in a Christian perspective, after all... Plus, Gaahl isn't exactly effeminate, which proves that prejudices about gays being female-like men aren't always true (though I agree there are lots of effeminate gays). He wouldn't look just as demonic if he was.

Written by Valentin B on 21.01.2011 at 01:42

Quote:
Is metal a homophobic genre?

no.

haha u got an answer right there

Meh, I don't think metal is more homophobic than any other thing. It would rather be oposite coz people tend to relate metal with freedom and open-mindness and "we accept everything"-mentality.

Some metalheads are homophobes and use "fag", "gay" as an insult. But so do non-metalheads.

I doubt there is a link between both.

Metal is, for the most part, a masculine type of music. The problem with this being translated to young people is that they may think that masculine means "tough" or "macho" or whatever. I'm never really surprised when the word gay is tossed around a lot by young metal fans but the thing you have to realize is that most of what you claim to be homophobia is just ignorance or insecurity. I believe these metalheads of which you speak are just trying to live up to an ill-conceived stereotype, and then come across as the oafish narrow-minded "metalheads" in hindsight.

It's not really the musics' fault that they're like this though I don't think. Probably just the media giving metal an a false image that some people will try to live up to.So I wouldn't worry about it.

Black Metal fans who diss Gaahl for beign gay are so stupid. Beign homophobic is so christian, and Black Metal is suppoused to be against christianity.

Written by SlaytanicGonzo on 25.01.2011 at 01:59

Beign homophobic is so christian, and Black Metal is suppoused to be against christianity.

Like Muslim countries that apply Sharia Law are "so Christian" ?

Written by Vombatus on 26.01.2011 at 23:53

Written by SlaytanicGonzo on 25.01.2011 at 01:59

Beign homophobic is so christian, and Black Metal is suppoused to be against christianity.

Like Muslim countries that apply Sharia Law are "so Christian" ?

ok, it's an expression. I meant so "right hand path"

I do not think there is any kind of connection. The uses of "gay" and "fag" are very common by everyone these days, not just in metal. There does seem to be a crowd of metalheads that see it as a very macho/masculine genre, and by macho, they mean lady loving. Anything that is pop, rock, or even classic metal is "gay" in their minds, and they seem to spew out those words a lot. However, as a whole, metal is definately not homophobic. Especially when so many greats are themselves gay.

No real problem with homosexual people on my side, unless they are trying to show me they are actually superior thanks to their...lets say difference

this applies either to metal or to the "real life"...this is how i see it

GOD OF METAL = ROB HALFORD

Metal is definitely one of the more accepting genres. I haven't met many gay bashing metal heads, but I know a guy who have dropped an "F bomb" because a homosexual dude wouldn't get the hint. I've known the guy since we were 14, he's not homophobic just letting him know he wasn't fucking around.