ORIANS: Bands must use celebrity for social change

We Are The Union was supposed to play a show in Wichita, Kan., the other night. When the group showed up, it happened upon the sound engineer and show promoter engaged in a homophobic conversation, throwing slurs around. The band confronted them and were given a basic "mind your own business" response, "keep your opinions to yourself." The band members didn't take kindly to those responses and felt it wouldn't be right to help homophobic people make money off their talent. They went outside, many hours before the show was to start and discussed the issue.

In the greatest sign of badassery since George Takei called that guy a douchebag in his YouTube video, We Are The Union left the show without playing. The band gave both parties involved one more chance to settle the situation, and when it received no remorse or apology, the band members loaded up and left. Just like that, end of story.

They posted a blog on their Tumblr titled "We Fight For What We Believe" detailing the incident. The final line sums it up: "IF YOU HATE GAY PEOPLE, PLEASE DON'T BOOK OUR BAND."

Very rarely do bands put their money where their mouths are. We can go on and on and on about politics or how we need social change, but honestly, until bands physically do something about it, like what We Are The Union did, it'll all just be meaningless rhetoric.

This is what we need. I went to a show once where the lead man went on and on about the Transcanada Pipeline. Dude was from Brooklyn and was telling us how stupid we were for letting it happen and that it needed to be stopped. That's great and all, but get off your soap box and do something about it. Shut up about anarchy and "punk rock," and do something.

We Are The Union decided that being accepting of homosexuals was more important than being paid for a show. The group members actively want to make the world a better place by dissociating themselves from hate in a way that could possibly be detrimental to their own success. However, they took that risk to make a statement. And as a gay punk rock boy, myself, that means something to me.

We need action to create progress and we need allies.

neilorians@dailynebraskan.com