LGBTQ+ Songs
We have only once had whole boxes of songbooks returned to us. At one point in the 1990s we had a religious summer camp returned the boxes of Rise Up Singing they had purchased because they said we had not advertised that our songbooks including songs that "promoted homosexuality".
A number of songs on LGBTQ+ songs in Rise Up Singing can be found in the "Unity" chapter, the "Women" chapter, and the "Men" chapter. Some significant songs are:
- The Woman in Your Life by Alix Dobkin
- Singing for Our Lives & other songs by Holly Near (written on the night following the assasination of Harvey Milk)
- Sister & other songs by Cris Williamson
- Glad to Be a Woman & other songs recorded by Meg Christian
- Testimony by Ferron
- Gay Spirit Moving by Charlie Murphey
- Homophobia by Geof Morgan
- Everything Possible by Fred Small
- Let the Woman in You Come Through by Peter Alsop
Several songs in Rise Again can be found in the "Dignity & Diversity" chapter.
- Home Is Where the Heart Is by Sally Fingerett
- We Won't Hold Back (on gay marriage) & other songs by Ruth Pelham
- Annie by Fred Small
- I Kissed a Girl rec by Jill Sobule
- Names by Cathy Fink - about the AIDS quilt
- The Power of Loving You by Kristen Olsen - about being an ally for LGBTQ+ people
- Sisters Are Doing It for Themselves - by The Eurythmics
- The Ones Who Aren't Here by John Calvi, rec by Meg Christian
Here are some songs that might be called "gay anthems":
- I Will Suvive as rec by Gloria Gaynor
- We Are Family as sung by Sister Sledge
- Over the Rainbow as sung by Judy Garland
- True Colors as sung by Cyndi Lauper
- YMCA sung by Village People
- It's Raining Men sung by The Weather Girls
(more songs to come for this page!)