The folk singer Billy Bragg explained why he has decided to change his lyrics for the iconic song “Sexuality”. He said that wanted to make it trans-inclusive. Billy Bragg said, “I want to be an ally to the trans and non-binary communities”
The track was released in 1991. Now Billy Bragg changed it to like, “Just because you’re gay, I won’t turn you away/ If you stick around, I’m sure that we can find some common ground”. Previously it was like, “Just because you’re they, I won’t turn you away/ If you stick around, I’m sure that we can find the right pronoun”.
However, the gender-critical activists didn’t approve of this decision to rework the song. Bragg explained about this rewriting, “Last week, I found myself under fire from gender-critical activists on Twitter, who were agitated to discover that I had changed the lyrics to my 1991 single ‘Sexuality’ when performing the song live on tour.”
He also added, “Although music cannot change the world – it has no agency – it can change your perspective and challenge your prejudices.”
Then he said, “Throughout my career, I’ve used my songs to promote allyship among my audience: for the female victims of male violence in songs such as ‘Levi Stubbs’ Tears’ and ‘Valentine’s Day Is Over, and for the gay community in ‘Tender Comrade’, as well as the aforementioned ‘Sexuality’.
The singer continued, “The latter was released at a time when a combination of the Aids epidemic and the Tories’ Section 28 legislation stirred up a moral panic against homosexuality. Thirty years later, however, encouraging your audience to find common ground with the gay community is no longer such a challenging statement.”