This song really spoke to me. I feel very strongly about gay peoples' rights and I always have believed that they should have just as many rights as straight people, and the rapper Macklemore obviously shares these beliefs with me because his uncle is gay and he is very close with him.
This music video is almost like a movie because it shows the entire life of a gay man who falls in love and gets married to his partner. He is really trying to convince the people who voted against gay marriage that it is the "same love" (hence the song's title) as straight couples, and also that gay people are not any different than everyone else besides their attraction to the same sex. In the very beginning of the song, it discusses stereotypes of gay men. It says: "When I was in the third grade I thought that I was gay, cause I could draw, and my uncle was, and I kept my room straight". This is him trying to tell people that just because someone is neat, artistic, and have relatives that are gay it does not mean that they are. It also says that he told his mom that he thought he was gay while crying, showing his knowledge of how unaccepting the world is of gays at an early age and how scared he was that it was possible he could be one.
In another part of the song, he says "America the brave still fears what we don't know, and God loves all his children is somehow forgotten, but we paraphrase a book that was written thirty-five-hundred years ago, I don't know." This is explaining how some Americans don't understand that gay couples love each other the same way that straight couples love each other, therefore they are afraid and disgusted by it. They use the bible to back them up, saying that "marriage is between a man and a woman", but Macklemore says that this is paraphrased. He also reminds us that God loves all people, so we shouldn't think otherwise.
Lastly, in the chorus, it says "And I can't change, even if I tried, even if I wanted to." People still believe that being gay is a choice. Obviously it is not. Why would anyone choose a life of discrimination and being bullied? This is what Macklemore is portraying. Some religious extremists try to send gays into programs to turn them straight, which obviously won't work because they can't change who they love or find attractive.
This is one of my favorite songs right now, and I would recommend that anyone who does or does not support gay rights should definitely give it a listen. Maybe it will help explain things more to those who do not, and will move those who do.
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