Erase Hate

Erase Hate

Thursday the21st of June 2007 I had the great pleasure of attending the Cindy Lauper concert at Atlanta’s Chastain Park. The concert was amazing and well worth the money and effort to see it.

I’ve been trying to see Cindy Lauper perform for the past eight years and this was the first opportunity to successfully experience a show. Cindy was opening for the Cher’s farewell tour and I paid to see Cher five times over the course of that tour. Due to business and personal obligations, I never saw any of the five shows. The last three shows I purchased knowing that I would have to travel to other locations for the shows, but I was willing to do that in order to see Cindy Lauper and Cher together. It came as a welcomed respite that I paid for tickets to see her and actually was able to experience the concert first hand.

One of the leading indicators that had me pursuing Cindy in concert is in part to pay tribute to a woman who has created alternative listening music since I was a young boy. Her first major album (She’s So Unusual) moved a generation of young people to their feet; not just in dance clubs, but in protest. She was the radical voice telling us as youth that it was OK to challenge authority when it is wrong. That the voice of reason didn’t always come from your mom and dad and the lyrics to her songs taught a new generation to start accepting the people around us for who they were. She explained how it was OK to be a punk girl, a gay boy or even just a singer who just wanted to have fun.

As the years marched to different sounds, Cindy Lauper stepped behind the scenes helping other young artist make their own sounds. She saw in other people what they couldn’t see in themselves. People like Hulk Hogan who was giving up on professional wrestling when Cindy became his Manager and Producer. He is now a household name. Cindy has created an empire for herself but along the way she never gave up the voice that taught us so many lessons about acceptance, peace and love. She has married and brought wonderful children into this world and every step of the way she has been a beacon – a light that shines on the gay, lesbian and transgender community.

I guess that is why I felt it was fitting that her concert be a starting place for the 2007 Atlanta Gay Pride festival. She is not a lesbian, but she has always stood up for our community. She has given her voice to causes like Gay Marriage, Equal Rights and now Erase Hate in conjunction with the Human Rights Campaign and Matthew Shepard Organization.

The focus of this tour is to bring awareness to the Hate that is fueling parts of our country via fear and intolerance. Each person in North America needs to stop and accept that it takes all of us to make this world revolve. It takes our diversity to make every day interesting. If we can accept the differences in the man, woman and child who sits next to us, the world would truly be a much better place.

Most importantly we must thank people like Cindy Lauper, Judy Shepard and the countless other heterosexuals that stand up on the behalf of all gay, lesbian and transgender people in the world trying to make it a better, safer and more accepting place. They are truly heroes and deserve our recognition, admiration and undying support. The message they push – “Erase Hate” is one that fits in perfectly with my own mantra, “Love, Honor & Respect” and both need to be in the faces of every person. Each human being loss due to a Hate Crime is far too costly for us to bear. Cindy is right when she reminds us that as hate crimes are committed, the victims are not the only people harmed by these senseless crimes, but so are the perpetrators. Each person harmed due to hate is truly a burden that we all must carry because each and every one of us can stop hate long before it becomes and issue like Matthew Shepard tied to a fence and left for dead.

Stop Hate Crimes – Erase Hate