Equality Rocks
Musicians Inspire a New Generation for Equality Tegan and Sara, Phoenix and Others Join HRC as Equality Rocks Expands
Musicians Tegan and Sara (above) and Lauren Verussio, a member of HRC’s Board of Governors, in Huntington, N.Y.
By Shannon Greenwood
Photos: Noel Vasquez / Getty Images, Maureen McCarty (inset)
T
egan and Sara, Phoenix, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Animal Collective all think equality rocks. These popular musicians, and many others, have collaborated with the Human Rights Campaign in the fight for fairness. The effort, known as HRC’s Equality Rocks, is a public engagement campaign featuring videos of musicians in support of marriage equality and other initiatives for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. HRC’s Equality Rocks started off as a benefit concert in 2000 with performances by George Michael, Melissa Etheridge, Garth Brooks and others, bringing national attention in a new kind of way to fight for LGBT civil rights. Equality Rocks has morphed into a series of videos of artists voicing their support. “Musicians, artists and performers have often loudly and boldly stood on the right side of history, particularly when it comes to LGBT rights,” says Cassidy Karakorn, HRC’s deputy director for consumer marketing. “Now, we’re seeing a new generation of artists take their message of equality and support to the stage.”
It’s also drawing a new audience to HRC’s important advocacy work, says Karakorn, who DJs in her off hours in New York and Washington. The indie-pop duo Tegan and Sara were recently featured in another Equality Rocks video, released by HRC. The Canadian twins, who are both openly lesbian, have been involved with HRC in the past, and headlined a benefit concert in New York in July. Florence Welch of Florence + The Machine joined longtime Equality Rocker Dev Hynes of Blood Orange at an HRC benefit concert in New York City in May to perform a stripped-down ballad cover of Icona Pop’s “I Love It.” When HRC later released a video of the performance as part of Equality Rocks, it immediately went viral. Welch also posted the video to her 5 million-plus Facebook and Twitter followers. HRC also created an Equality Rocks T-shirt that includes the original Equality Rocks logo from the 2000 benefit concert. Elle Dee, a Brazilian-born New York
musician and DJ, was recruited by Karakorn to be the brand ambassador for Equality Rocks and help promote the campaign and encourage more artists to join in. Dee is popular in the fashion world, having DJ’ed parties for Vogue, Elle and Glamour magazines and having opened for The Dead Weather, The Black Keys, Guns N’ Roses, Courtney Love and The Kills. As Equality Rocks expands and grows, so do the number of musicians involved, notes Karakorn. Most of the original artists involved in Equality Rocks were allies, but now they include members of the LGBT community. Check out www.hrc.org/EqualityRocks for more. Greenwood, a former HRC intern, attends the University of Missouri.
WWW.HRC.ORG
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