Kanye West says that finding out his cousin was gay opened his eyes to the homophobia present in hip-hop culture and the rapper called upon other artists to end the intolerance in a recent interview with MTV. “It was kind of like a turning point when I was like, ‘Yo, this is my cousin. I love him and I've been discriminating against gays.'”
Added West: “Not just hip-hop, but America just discriminates. And I wanna just, to come on TV and just tell my rappers, just tell my friends, ‘Yo, stop it.'” Thanks Kanye.
There are many people out there that will say they don't know any homosexuals. As this demonstrates, we are your cousins, your friends, your co-workers, your family. Visibility and coming out matters. Kanye West's words would never have been uttered had his cousin kept his sexuality to himself.
Kanye West Calls for End to Gay Bashing [ap]
(thanks jeremy, eddie)
