Councillors in Brighton are calling for an unprecedented city-wide boycott of reggae and rap music which contains anti-gay lyrics. It is part of that increasingly vocal campaign against artists who allegedly incite violence against the gay community. As previously reported, while hip hop has long been criticised by the gay rights community, it is the dance hall genre that is under most pressure in the latest campaign.
Green Party councillors in Brighton are proposing the city council should put pressure on music retailers in the town to stop selling music by allegedly homophobic artists, including Buju Banton, Beenie Man, Elephant Man, TOK, Vybz Kartel and Bounty Killer. Conservative Party councillors in the city propose similar pressure should be put on music venues and libraries.
Justifying the proposals, which will be discussed by the council on Thursday, councillor Simon Williams told reporters: "Brighton and Hove is regarded as the gay capital of England. We decided we should take a stand against the record stores. Whilst freedom of expression is valid in most cases, it ceases to be valid when you are talking about incitement to murder people. The fact that albums containing such lyrics are readily available contributes to a climate where homophobia and other forms of prejudice are seen as acceptable. By targeting large, specialist music stores, we hope to put pressure on the music industry to clean up its act."
A spokesman for HMV told reporters that most of the specified albums were not stocked in their Brighton stores anyway because there was no demand for them. But they warned against complete bans on these artists, observing: "If you try to ban something it can enable the artists to promote themselves as being cool victims. It could really boost sales. By giving retailers responsibility [in this area], you are encouraging them to make subjective decisions and encouraging censorship. This could set a dangerous precedent."
Daniel Shaw, manager of Brighton's branch of MVC said his staff had already removed the highlighted "anti-gay" albums from display, although they were still available if people specifically asked for them.
A spokesman for Virgin Megastore said it would seriously consider the proposals, should Brighton Council back them, however they added: "Of course we do not agree with what is said in some of those lyrics, but we agree with the freedom of choice, tolerance and the right to choose what music you want to buy. Retailers are caught right in the middle of this. We sell music, we are not there to defend Jamaican society and what's right or wrong with it". In what might as yet turn out to be our quote of the week, they added: "If we did not stock anything that might offend somebody somewhere, our shelves would be pretty empty."
Needless to say, the proposals are supported by British gay rights group OutRage! Their spokesman, Peter Tatchell, told reporters that his group were planning to take the proposals even further: "Records that incite murder are criminal offences, and it is illegal for record stores to promote this music. If the stores refuse to remove these CDs we will be pressing the police to prosecute them. We hope that other cities around the country will follow Brighton's lead by pressing local stores to take these CDs out of their stores."