Photo of Jamie McDermott by Gil Rodrigo
Since debuting "Two Men in Love" on Out on February 15, the video has had close to 45,000 views on YouTube. But you may not be aware that YouTube has also placed an "age restriction" on it so that if you're under 18 it is considerably more difficult to view. The Irrepressibles's Jamie McDermott sees this as a breech of free speech and a form of sexual discrimination.
"The whole focus of this album, Nude, is to speak to young gay people who are isolated and bullied for their differences. The likes of who chose to take their lives in the US and the likes who need to see happy gay couples who they can identify with. We need to fill young people with hope," McDermott explained. "The video for "Two Men in Love" contains nothing sexual: just kisses and love between two men and two women. It is truly discriminatory of YouTube to restrict it so it can't be viewed by anyone under 18 years old--especially when so many heterosexual music videos show dance moves simulating sex between a man and a women and often kisses that do not get this restriction."
It's true that many mainstream videos for pop singers show considerable sexual violence (just check out most of Rihanna's oeuvre), and McDermott hopes this issue will be raised with YouTube but there is no clear way of objecting to the action.
As he goes on to say: "I think it sends a very dangerous message that a forward-thinking organization like YouTube and Google isn't for equal rights. Children are killing themselves because they are being buillied for being gay. They are told they are not normal, in some cases they may be the only homosexual child in a school. It is important that for us as a band that they see that they can one day be free to be themselves and that there is hope. This is why we made these videos."
Watch the video below to see what "Two Men in Love" is all about.
