In a week where people who campaign against gay rights managed to get RTE to pay damages when an on-air guest called them homophobic, it's nice to be reminded that in some ways, things have been changing for the better.
If you had told me twenty years ago - or indeed ten years ago - that the Grammy Awards, that most mainstream of music events, would feature a big music number in favour of same sex marriage, I wouldn't have believed you. And if you'd told me that one of the main performers would be a slightly obnoxious white straight male star rapping for gay rights, accompanied by a lesbian woman singing about the woman she loves, I would have been even more surprised.
And if you'd told me that the whole thing would be followed by none other than Queen Latifah performing a mass wedding of both gay and straight couples, while Madonna serenaded them with 'Open Your Heart', I would have basically thought you were on drugs.
But that's what happened at the Grammys this week.
Is this the best wedding band of all time? (Image courtesy of Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)Yes, after an introduction from Latifah, Macklemore and vocalist Mary Lambert performed pro-equality anthem 'Same Love', featuring the line "A certificate on paper isn't going to solve it all/but it's a damn good place to start". Then Latifah announced that by the power vested in her by the state of California, she was going to marry 33 couples, both gay and straight, in a live mass wedding.
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And she did, while Madonna emerged, inexplicably dressed as Boss Hogg from the Dukes of Hazzard in a shiny white trouser suit, and a cane to perform a slow version of 'Open Your Heart'.
Now, whatever you think about Macklemore (and the fact that ever since Elvis the American music industry has a long history of lavishing more praise on white musicians when they adopt traditionally black music genres than on the black originators themselves), about Madonna and her questionable fashion choices (and wobbly singing - sorry, Madge, I've loved you since childhood, but your voice was all over the place) or even marriage, I was very touched by such a big and public display of support for same sex marriage.
(Image courtesy of CBS/Gammys)In fact, I may just have sat there with tears running down my face as the couples paraded down the aisle to a standing ovation from the delighted crowd. Because even though the fight for equality is a large way from being won, the fact that something like this is part of such a totally mainstream event shows that things really have shifted - and as far as I'm concerned, very much for the better.
Also, I'm a bit jealous that I wasn't married by Queen Latifah. She's awesome. Maybe my husband and I can renew our vows and get her to come over?
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So what did you think of the Grammys show?
