viva las lgbtq+ y las latines

Some important background knowledge for the two songs.

Si Yo Fuera Gay is a parody song of Si Yo Fuera El a Mexican Regional song. In "Si Yo Fuera El" it depicts the singer pining over a woman in a relationship. Essentially, it's if I were your partner, I wouldn't leave you, and our love would be so great that it would be a part of history. It's a typical yearning Spanish song. Si Yo Fuera Gay despite being a parody accurately follows the themes of the song. Where it turns out to just be a gay version of the song. Instead of yearning over a woman in the relationship it's yearning over the possibility of dating a person of the same sex and how great that relationship would be. Now the reason for the song was because there was some gossip over the singer being gay and that the guitarist was his lover and that the third member in their group would record them one handed (if you know you know). But to say that he (the singer) wasn't gay he would sing a song that would demonstrate how he would be in the relationship if he was gay. (There's more lead up but it's more for laughs and stuff like that it's on their Facebook if anyone is interested).

Now For Gay Thoughts by the Growlers. While it isn't inherently a joke/parody I would put it in the same category because of how it was may I would classify it as that. Now originally the title and lyrics were Bad Thoughts. Basically, switch out bad thoughts with gay thoughts and you get that song. How it got to Gay Thoughts was that one the members put gay instead of bad and it stuck. The song itself is about having gay thoughts and not wanting to accept them. That they have a partner that they don't want to lose due to the thoughts/or being gay. As the song continues it delves into how the gay thoughts are becoming more and more entrenched into the singer's life.

Now while both of these songs have some inherent humor about gayness they are both able to express valid emotions/experience when it comes to being gay.

For Si Yo Fuera Gay still has that yearning sentiment about wanting to be in a relationship with the other person. It is filled with if this happened, filled with a hope of what could be. But now the context has changed. Instead of it just being a yearning song, the connotations of gayness has been added. While yes, it is still yearning, being gay is often not accepted in the Latine community. It's often treated as something that is to be ashamed of or something that doesn't exist. Especially when it comes to gay Latinos gayness is viewed as something emasculating that you are somehow less of a man for it. So, some gay Latinos hide their identity not wanting to face this social backlash. With this context it's no longer just a yearning song about a partner but as well as if the singer could be open/accepting about their identity in general. It's the I'm not gay but if I was trope. Making this song very tragic, the narrator himself can't come to terms with his own identity whether it's due to outside factors, internal factors, or both. If he could come to terms with his identity his life would be improved because he would be able to love the person that either he loves or someone that loves him back.

For Gay Thoughts Narrator is struggling with his own thoughts about his sexuality. He wants to stay in the closet but can't because no matter what they are around 24/7. He does love someone and he doesn't want to lose them either because of the thoughts (implies the person he loves is a woman) or they don't want to lose them because of what society would do if they were found out (implies the person is a man). Add in the western background music and how his behavior gets far away from home, it demonstrates that he could only be himself if he was isolated or away from the people in his community. If he wanted to be himself he would have to abandon everything and instead of yearning for the freedom he fears it. He does not want to go towards it, instead he wants to be able to control his thoughts and have the person he loves aka have his cake and eat it too.

Both of these songs talk about gayness from the closet point of view. While one is hopeful for what life could be outside of it the other is more fearful and dreads it. And honestly, I think these are important perspective to bring up that isn't in the more pop genre. Especially when it comes for both of their respective categories. While the growlers are more rock this song as a more western feel than their other songs. Which Western queer songs aren't that big as say for other genre types. Then shift from western to Regional Mexican music there is less representation. It is starting to emerge it just isn't there yet. Therefore, to have a song that while yes is a parody still bring up an important queer perspective is meaningful. It is a perspective that is often left hidden and not talked about at all in Latine communities.