Anti-Homophobia
Finally, Rise Against addresses the topic of homophobia. The band promotes a lot of
anti-bullying and anti-homophobia ideas. They recently teamed up with the
It Gets Better Project to create a song called “Make It Stop” from their most recent album Endgame,
which is the band’s anti-bullying anthem. They created a music video that is
described on the It Gets Better Project’s official website as follows: “The video depicts the band
performing the song in the high school gymnasium alongside moving scenes of
individuals from the LGBT community experiencing and coping with bullying from
their peers in high school. The music video also includes snippets of multiple
YouTube submissions provided by the It Gets Better Project” (Rise Against and It Gets Better). The band is raising
awareness of the bullying going on throughout schools across the nation towards
individuals who are a part of the LGBT community. The lyrics to the song “Make
it Stop” bring up a situation very real to Americans, as it makes us remember
Columbine, “The schoolhouse halls/The shotgun is loaded/Push me and I’ll push
back, I’m done asking, I demand” These lyrics help depict the desperation among
the young LGBT communities. They are done asking for things to get better and
are now demanding it. They are turning to suicide and lashing out at others
become they have become so desperate to be accepted. Common
Sense Media included in their review of “Make it Stop”, “The point of the
song and video are clear: Bullying is never OK, and only we can make the hate
stop. It's a powerful way to get a dialogue going with your kids and show the
next generation that every life is worth living and loving” (Dawson). The author
comments on Rise Against’s ability to look towards the future and to
pave a new path of thinking about each human life as being equal and the opportunity
to feel like they belong somewhere. We see this in both their support of
immigration-reform and anti-homophobia movements and for what McIlrath
believes as punk music’s responsibility, “punk has a responsibility to keep the
doors open to this sanctuary of free thought, so kids will have somewhere to go
to be a part of this community” (Cooper). His goal is to provide this to kids through his music.
anti-bullying and anti-homophobia ideas. They recently teamed up with the
It Gets Better Project to create a song called “Make It Stop” from their most recent album Endgame,
which is the band’s anti-bullying anthem. They created a music video that is
described on the It Gets Better Project’s official website as follows: “The video depicts the band
performing the song in the high school gymnasium alongside moving scenes of
individuals from the LGBT community experiencing and coping with bullying from
their peers in high school. The music video also includes snippets of multiple
YouTube submissions provided by the It Gets Better Project” (Rise Against and It Gets Better). The band is raising
awareness of the bullying going on throughout schools across the nation towards
individuals who are a part of the LGBT community. The lyrics to the song “Make
it Stop” bring up a situation very real to Americans, as it makes us remember
Columbine, “The schoolhouse halls/The shotgun is loaded/Push me and I’ll push
back, I’m done asking, I demand” These lyrics help depict the desperation among
the young LGBT communities. They are done asking for things to get better and
are now demanding it. They are turning to suicide and lashing out at others
become they have become so desperate to be accepted. Common
Sense Media included in their review of “Make it Stop”, “The point of the
song and video are clear: Bullying is never OK, and only we can make the hate
stop. It's a powerful way to get a dialogue going with your kids and show the
next generation that every life is worth living and loving” (Dawson). The author
comments on Rise Against’s ability to look towards the future and to
pave a new path of thinking about each human life as being equal and the opportunity
to feel like they belong somewhere. We see this in both their support of
immigration-reform and anti-homophobia movements and for what McIlrath
believes as punk music’s responsibility, “punk has a responsibility to keep the
doors open to this sanctuary of free thought, so kids will have somewhere to go
to be a part of this community” (Cooper). His goal is to provide this to kids through his music.