Fw: TX Performer Asks Her Gay GLBT Fans to Hide Their Orientation (fwd)
grady
do in pursuit of the kind of "wider audience" that goes along with
major-label contracts, read on:
>> > ... she is a musician who is (was) up
> and coming and had acquired a rather large gay/lesbian
> fan base. Her heterosexual fans were unhappy with the
> public displays of outwardly gay behavior at her
> shows, so Ms. Mayfield felt inclined to write the
> following email to her "friends and fans." Following
> her email, is a response from one very angry lesbian.
> Please do your best to keep this email circulating and
> feel free to email Ms. Mayfield with your thoughts at
> michelle...@hotmail.com.
>
>
> The letter from Michelle
> A Letter to My Fans; Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2002
>
> Dear Fans and Friends,
>
> First of all, I want to thank all of you for your
> continued support of me and my music. I have enjoyed
> the past year and am very excited about what is in my
> future. However, there is a situation that has been
> brought to my attention that needs to be addressed.
>
> At the present time, within my fanbase there is a
> significant group of people who have alternate sexual
> preferences. Please know that I appreciate my fanbase
> no matter who or what they are - I, in no way, shape,
> or form am complaining. However, as an artist, I am
> continually wanting to expand that fanbase - to
> mothers and fathers, to college students, to
> teenagers, etc. I honestly believe my music has the
> appeal to be able to do that. It is not only important
> to me personally, but it is imperative for my future ~
> record executives are looking for artists with an
> established and significant following - they don't do
> very many "developmental" deals these days.
>
> However, I have had several complaints from bar
> owners, friends, fans, and potential fans regarding
> the outwardly show of affection that has taken place
> at my shows. This type of behavior, right or wrong,
> reflects on me as the artist who has brought you to
> that club. Let me give you some examples:
>
> 1) I have several friends who will not ask their
> families, friends, or coworkers to shows because of
> this behavior and the potential negative reflection
> that may be projected upon them as fans of mine.
>
> 2) A gentleman from a show at "The Six of Clubs" made
> a comment in the men's bathroom, "What's going on here
> tonight? I thought this was a straight bar."
>
> As an artist, I want to be known for my MUSIC. It is
> VERY IMPORTANT to me to NOT be stereotyped,
> pidgeonholed, or categorized in a way that will
> alienate anyone from listening or coming to see my
> shows. I do not want to become a Melissa Etheridge or
> a Patrice Pike (although I love them both and respect
> them very much as artists) - most people don't think
> about their music first.....they think of their sexual
> orientation - whether right or wrong, that's the way
> it is. Whether I am straight or gay, it is no one's
> business in the first place and I, personally, am not
> open to making that anyone's business. It should be
> about the music...period.
>
> I cannot control the behavior of anyone, however, I am
> respectfully asking all of you as fans and friends to
> please be respectful of what I am trying to accomplish
> as an artist. Please be respectful of the places where
> I am performing by being aware of the actions that can
> possibly turn potential fans away from my music or
> from my future shows. I want EVERYONE to feel
> comfortable coming to my shows - and from what I've
> been told, people are not comfortable because of this
> behavior. If this means you cannot continue to support
> me or come to my future show! s, then I will
> understand and respect that decision. I appreciate
> your support up until this time.
>
> I sincerely hope you will understand the purpose of
> this letter and will respect my request.
>
> Thanks for your continued support ~
>
> Michelle
>
> The response:
>
> An Open Letter to Michelle Mayfield 8.13.2002
>
> Hi, Michelle: I got a copy of your note written to
> your friends and fans asking that your gay and lesbian
> fans, the "significant group of people who have
> alternate sexual preferences," do their best to hide
> their sexual orientation when they come to hear you
> perform.
>
> You say that you are worried for your heterosexual
> fans who might be subject to "the potential negative
> reflection that may be projected upon them as fans of
> mine" if people realize you've got a lot of queer
> fans.
>
> Gosh, I'm sure it must be hard on you to have to deal
> with "the outwardly show of affection that has taken
> place" at your shows and all those badly behaved
> lesbians and gay men. All those dykes humping each
> other's legs to the rhythm of your music and whatnot;
> it must be terrible. So, just to show you how
> concerned I am about this awful situation, me and my
> friends doing everything we can to make sure that all
> the queer-acting folks stay away from your shows in
> order to make sure that your squeamish heterosexual
> fans feel okay about being there. In fact, I'll even
> work on convincing the queer-acting people who do go
> to your shows to make sure that everyone in the venue
> knows they are *not* a fan of yours. That should make
> you really happy.
>
> How are we going to do this? First, we'll send out the
> e-mail to everyone we know, so they get the idea. Then
> we'll also send it to e-mail groups, like Austingrrls,
> SublimeAustin, AustinFeminists and the NOW lists and
> other gay and lesbian lists around the state. I'll
> even make sure to send it to Aggie Pride, the gay and
> lesbian list for former A&M students, since, like you,
> I'm a graduate of Texas A&M (Class of '91. Whoop!) and
> Aggies like to help each other out, right? And I'll
> make sure to put a link to it on my website.
>
> But we might miss a few people if we just rely on the
> internet, so we'll send your letter out to
> publications that gay and lesbian people read, like
> the Texas Triangle, the Houston Voice, The Austin
> Chronicle, The Dallas Voice, Ambush, and whatever else
> we can track down. We'll also make sure to contact
> radio stations that gay people listen to, like KGSR
> and KLBJ and Mix 94.7, and get them to make sure they
> play your music less during the dayparts in which they
> have gay and lesbian listeners, thus making it less
> likely that queers will come to your shows. I'm not
> sure how effective this will be in keeping all those
> queer-acting people out of your shows, but I think it
> should work pretty well, since most of these people,
> like me, think it is "VERY IMPORTANT ... to NOT be
> stereotyped, pidgeonholed, or categorized" as someone
> who should be forced to hide who they are so as not to
> project "negative" associations on the people they are
> standing next to at a club. In fact, most of the
> people who see this will never come to your shows or
> buy your albums or say anything nice about you to
> anyone again once they see the bigoted and insulting
> e-mail you sent out to your "fans and friends."
>
> And, you're right, it would suck for you to have the
> success of Melissa Etheridge. What the hell were we
> thinking?
>
> Another ironic tidbit of information that you might be
> interested to know is that if you go to Ms. Mayfield's
> website and view her available CDs, you'll see that
> she has a live CD on which she covers various artists.
> Strangely enough, #8 is Melissa Etheridge's "Like The
> Way I Do."
>
>
>
>
>
Corey3rd
audience to quit moshing and crowd surfing?
And how come Jane's Addiction had no problem with ladies making out on stage?
And Guns 'N' Roses puts women kissing on the big screen - especially if they
remove their t-shirts.
Todd Morman
todd I'd love to visit her/his Web site morman
tedpossum
grady wrote/forwarded:
> If anybody wants to see firsthand proof of what artists think they have to
> do in pursuit of the kind of "wider audience" that goes along with
> major-label contracts, read on:
>
>> The letter from Michelle
>> A Letter to My Fans; Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2002
>>
>> Dear Fans and Friends,
>> As an artist, I want to be known for my MUSIC. It is
>> VERY IMPORTANT to me to NOT be stereotyped,
>> pidgeonholed, or categorized in a way that will
>> alienate anyone from listening or coming to see my
>> shows.
Walter Pidgeon was gay?
-whit
waiting for the answer with baited (sic) breath