Photo via Twitter
Michelle Shocked, the self-proclaimed "most sophisticated hillbilly you ever met," is losing fans and upcoming gigs for her anti-gay remarks in San Francisco over the weekend.
The 51-year-old folk singer was popular in the late '80s and for her songs on female empowerment, which according to SheWired endeared her to an entire generation of lesbians before k.d. Lang, Melissa Etheridge or The Indigo Girls came out, but her recent performance at SF's Yoshi nightclub showed the born-again Christian's hateful thoughts.
"When they stop Prop 8 and force priests at gunpoint to marry gays, it will be the downfall of civilization, and Jesus will come back," she said, which reportedly propped much of the audience to walk out. "You are going to leave here and tell people, 'Michelle Shocked said God hates faggots.'"
Along with former fans turning on her--and with good reason to--cancelations have began, including a May gig at the Evanston, IL's SPACE club just outside Chicago. "After speaking with the promoter of that show about the nature of the remarks, it's clear that this is no longer a show we're willing to put our name on," the club reportedly announced on its website and Facebook page yesterday, offering refunds to ticket-holders.
Shocked became a born-again Christian in the late '90s, and this is not the first time she's shown her Right-winged colors. Over the years she's been rejecting her gay and lesbian fanbase. In 2011 at the Wild Goose Festival (a U.S. music fetsival the focuses on justice, spirituality, music, and the arts) she was asked her position on homosexuality, "Who drafted me as a gay icon? You are looking at the world's greatest homophobe. Ask God what He thinks," she said, according to Religion Dispatches, before shutting off her microphone.
If interested, Shocked's Facebook is available (linked right on her website) to send her messages to share your thoughts with her.
