>Subject: Singer Michelle Mayfield, Homophobic?
>Date: Tu, 29 Aug 2002 23:14:53 -0700
>
>
>
>Subject: Singer Michelle Mayfield, Homophobic?
>
>
>
> Prior to this email, I had never heard of Michelle Mayfield. Apparently
> she is a musician who is (was) up and coming and had acquired a rather
> large gay/lesbian fan base. Her heterosexual fans were unhappy with the
>public displays of outwardly gay behavior at her shows, so Ms. Mayfield
>felt inclined to write the following email to her "friends and fans."
>Following her email, is a response from one very angry lesbian.
>
> Another ironic tidbit of information that you might be interested to know
>is that if you go to Ms. Mayfield's website and view her available
> CDs, you'll see that she has a live CD on which she covers various
>artists. Strangely enough, #8 is Melissa Etheridge's "Like The Way I Do."
>
> Please do your best to keep this email circulating and feel free to email
>Ms. Mayfield with your thoughts at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
> The letter from Michelle:
>
> A Letter to My Fans;
> Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2002
>
> Dear Fans and Friends,
>
> First of all, I want to thank all of you for your continued support of
> me and my music. I have enjoyed the past year and am very excited about
> what is in my future. However, there is a situation that has been
> brought to my attention that needs to be addressed.
>
> At the present time, within my fanbase there is a significant group of
> people who have alternate sexual preferences. Please know that I
> appreciate my fanbase no matter who or what they are - I, in no way,
>shape, or form am complaining. However, as an artist, I am continually
> wanting to expand that fanbase - to mothers and fathers, to college
> students, to teenagers, etc. I honestly believe my music has the appeal
> to be able to do that. It is not only important to me personally, but
> it is imperative for my future ~ record executives are looking for artists
>with an established and significant following - they don't do very many
>"developmental" deals these days.
>
> However, I have had several complaints from bar owners, friends, fans,and
>potential fans regarding the outwardly show of affection that has taken
>place at my shows. This type of behavior, right or wrong, reflects on me as
>the artist who has brought you to that club. Let me give you some examples:
>
> 1) I have several friends who will not ask their families, friends or
>coworkers to shows because of this behavior and the potential negative
>reflection that may be projected upon them as fans of mine.
>
>2) A gentleman from a show at "The Six of Clubs" made a comment in the
> men's bathroom, "What's going on here tonight? I thought this was a
> straight bar."
>
> As an artist, I want to be known for my MUSIC. It is VERY IMPORTANT to
> me to NOT be stereotyped, pidgeonholed, or categorized in a way that will
>alienate anyone from listening or coming to see my shows. I do not want to
>become a Melissa Etheridge or a Patrice Pike (although I love them both and
>respect them very much as artists) - most people don't think about their
>music first.....they think of their sexual orientation - whether right or
>wrong, that's the way it is. Whether I am straight or gay, it is no one's
>business in the first place and I, personally, am not open to making that
>anyone's business. It should be about the music...period.
>
> I cannot control the behavior of anyone, however, I am respectfully
> asking all of you as fans and friends to please be respectful of what I
> am trying to accomplish as an artist. Please be respectful of the places
>where I am performing by being aware of the actions that can possibly turn
>potential fans away from my music or from my future shows.
>
>I want EVERYONE to feel comfortable coming to my shows - and from what I've
>been told, people are not comfortable because of this behavior. If this
>means you cannot continue to support me or come to my future shows, then I
>will understand and respect that decision. I appreciate your support up
>until this time.
>
> I sincerely hope you will understand the purpose of this letter and will
> respect my request.
>
> Thanks for your continued support ~
>
> Michelle
>
>
> The response:
>
> An Open Letter to Michelle Mayfield 8.13.2002
>
>H, Michelle
>
> I got a copy of your note written to your friends and fans asking that your
>gay and lesbian fans, the "significant group of people who have alternate
>sexual preferences," do their best to hide their sexual orientation when
>they come to hear you perform.
>
> You say that you are worried for your heterosexual fans who might be
> subject to "the potential negative reflection that may be projected upon
> them as fans of mine" if people realize you've got a lot of queer fans.
>
> Gosh, I'm sure it must be hard on you to have to deal with "the outwardly
>show of affection that has taken place" at your shows and all those badly
>behaved lesbians and gay men. All those dykes humping each other's legs to
>the rhythm of your music and whatnot; it must be terrible. So, just to show
>you how concerned I am about this awful situation, me and my friends doing
>everything we can to make sure that all the queer-acting folks stay away
>from your shows in order to make sure that your squeamish heterosexual fans
>feel okay about being there.
>
>In fact, I'll even work on convincing the queer-acting people who do go to
>your shows to make sure that everyone in the venue knows they are *not* a
>fan of yours. That should make you really happy.
>
> How are we going to do this? First, we'll send out the e-mail to everyone
>we know, so they get the idea. Then we'll also send it to e-mail groups,
>like Austingrrls, SublimeAustin, AustinFeminists and the NOW lists and other
>gay and lesbian lists around the state. I'll even make sure to send it to
>Aggie Pride, the gay and lesbian list for former A&M students, since, like
>you, I'm a graduate of Texas A&M (Class of '91. Whoop!) and Aggies like to
>help each other out, right? And I'll make sure to put a link to it on my
>website.
>
>But we might miss a few people if we just rely on the internet, so we'll
> send your letter out to publications that gay and lesbian people read,like
>the Texas Triangle, the Houston Voice, The Austin Chronicle, The Dallas
>Voice, Ambush, and whatever else we can track down. We'll also make sure to
>contact radio stations that gay people listen to, like KGSR and KLBJ and Mix
>94.7, and get them to make sure they play your music less during the
>dayparts in which they have gay and lesbian listeners, thus making it less
>likely that queers will come to your shows. I'm not sure how effective this
>will be in keeping all those queer-acting people out of your shows, but I
>think it should work pretty well, since most of these people, like me, think
>it is "VERY IMPORTANT ...to NOT be stereotyped, pidgeonholed, or
>categorized" as someone who should be forced to hide who they are so as not
>to project "negative" associations on the people they are standing next to
>at a club. In fact, most of the people who see this will never come to your
>shows or buy your albums or say anything nice about you to anyone again once
>they see the bigoted and insulting e-mail you sent out to your "fans and
>friends."
>
> And, you're right, it would suck for you to have the success of Melissa
> Etheridge. What the hell were we thinking?
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