Sam Smith has a new video out for his latest single ‘Lay Me Down‘, a video that’s likely to cause some controversy as it shows Smith, an openly gay man, in a church first at a funeral, and then getting married to another man.
Smith says he deliberately decided to go with the gay marriage theme as a political statement:
This video shows my dreams that one day gay men and women and transgendered men and women all over the world, like all our straight families and friends, will be able to get married under any roof, in any city, in any town, in any village, in any country. I hope you enjoy it. I love you all.”
While the video is beautifully shot and the song is gorgeous (Come on, who sings like Sam Smith? What a voice he has, and what control over it), something even more important struck me about it when I looked at the comments on YouTube. Comments that were mostly positive and supportive of Sam Smith, and with 32,166 thumbs up as oppose to only 310 thumbs down.
Now, compare that to any video Conchita Wurst releases. Her alter ego, Tom Neuwirth, is also a gay man, and yet if she had released a video that was similar in content to Sam Smith’s ‘Lay Me Down‘, simply because of her appearance (beard, make-up, heels and a dress), she would probably have the reverse. 310 thumbs up and 32,166 thumbs down.
And that tells me right there, it’s not just the talent or the person that’s important, because Sam Smith and Conchita Wurst are equally talented and equally lovely people.
What is more important to so many bigots and homophobes on the internet is how someone who is gay looks and how ‘acceptable’ is their message to straight people.
Sam Smith, a clean cut handsome white gay man, is obviously more acceptable than Conchita Wurst, a clean cut handsome white gay man who just happens to wear make-up, heels and a dress when he performs and, oh yes, sports a rocking beard.
Sad that the world still operates that way, and that so many homophobic and bigoted people still think it’s perfectly acceptable to let it.
Do, however, watch Sam Smith’s new video of ‘Lay Me Down‘ below and give it all your support. It’s beautifully filmed, and he has an incredible voice.
Then, of course, head over to Conchita Wurst’s channel and maybe give her some of that thumbs up support and video views you don’t mind giving Sam.