Added: 5 years ago
From: desertwalker
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  • fantastic performance!

    comming from a bisexual metal Fan ^^

  • I love his passion!

  • He has an awesome voice :)

  • My mrs swore that this song existed but could'nt remember who sang it. I said she must have dreamt it, but als no, here it is. One nil to her.

  • when was this song made? love it by the way! so true

  • @Surfarmia 1978. 

  • first heard this onthe film of secret policeman's ball. My big brother saw the pain on my face and said "coffee afterwards?

    He said to me 'I have heard a version with an extra verse. I won't go into details it talks about getting attacked in the street. Horrible. Promise me you will always be careful."

  • is this the pompey club song?

  • all that punky politics of 70s..what ever happened to rock against racism, no nukies & saving whales.

  • If you're in LA - you should see What's Wrong With Angry - a play from when the age of consent for gays was 5 years older than for heterosexuals CelebrationTheatre DooT com

  • How did I miss this song all these years? Glad for my friends being who they are! 20 people are scared gay people will find them attractive or, god forbid, not be interested in them at all.

  • 20 people refuse to Get Over It.

  • Sing if your glad to be gay! I'm not but I still sing!!!

  • Tom was a guest for Amanda Palmer at Heaven, London last week. I only knew him as a radio DJ on 6 Music, so didn't know what to expect. As an audience we were as one singing this at the tops of our lungs, regardless of sexuality. It was beautiful.

  • 20 people aren't glad to be gay.

  • Not what I was looking for, but hey! Cool!

  • Just amazing as it was back then

  • gay also means happy btw

  • @floorspeed I don't think that's what he's singing about...

    "searching their houses, calling them queer"

    (=

  • Still inspirational after all these years.

  • Power to all Oppressed! From a straight black man

  • good 4 u

  • I love this man. I love the fury on his face, in his voice, too. He should have gotten so many awards for this song.

  • @RoBert88321 you meant woman huh?

  • @kinea7 ... What? Tom is no lady.

  • @RoBert88321 then why he sangs glad to be gay? and com'on the most singers are gay!!

  • @kinea7 This song is about 30 years old.. I heard it in that time when I was 20 years old.. And I think he was the first who was coming out as a Gay of the singers, (there were some singers who were Bisexuell, but that was something else..) & even make a song about it, a Gay-Political Song..!!!! It was heavy in that time, you see.. and very important for us, Gay guys and girls...

  • @gayswedgirl61 ok i only found this from the site of billboard and i am straight so no comments!!!!!

  • @kinea7 It is ok for me too.. I have shared 2 Glad to be Gay-songs by Tom Robinson on F-b, 1 from -77 & 1 with a different textversion from -79. In Sweden it was, by the Law, a Psychical Sickness to be Gay, I was 16 years old -77, and they took away the Psychical-Sickness Law -79 here in Sweden, so that is such things he is singing about; Be Gay but be it in secret.!! About -95 when the young singers started to sing and kisses each other on MTV, the young kidz without prejudices, it changed..!!

  • I love how he sang this.

  • I'm not gay but this song is great and shows how little we've progressed as a society and how like schoolboys, political correctness deems that gay people are wierd and their not.

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  • @kirill33 yay

  • the pioneers of our time were before our generation today. they really set the standard for speaking out on what you feel. i'm inspired.

  • "It's a medical song. And it concerns a desease whose classification, according to the interntational classification of deseases, is 302.0." -Tom

  • I am not gay, but I am a big proponent for peoples' rights. While many tire of my arguments for such causes, my passion remains undiminished. I come back to this song often, not specifically for gay rights, but for rights for all. This was from an era before music was industrialized; when music was still a means to rally the people for important social causes. I fear those times are gone (popularly), so I come here to reminisce about what might have been had we stood for each other.

  • @mrshaunce

    > This was from an era before music was industrialized;

    If you're 29, then with all due respect, you weren't around when this song was in the charts. Music as a whole was just as commercial in the 1970s, as it is now. The likes of TRB, Billy Bragg, and Linton Kwesi Johnson with their protest songs were an exception rather than the norm. A lot of progress was made at the time on discrimination, but somewhere along the line the fight lost momentum.

  • I am so appaled that its not moved on much.. I am gay and its not much better than then.... I am singing coz I am glad!

  • Tom's expresses himself well, his lyrics have strength. I am not gay, but all people who are discriminated against should stand up and fight for equality, recognition, whatever they feel is missing.,

  • Islam will close down your pubs, no doubt.

  • @bblontrock then we fight islam

  • @lucastrinkler Shure thing, mate. I'm no Islam hater, nor a gay, but I'll be shure to join the right cause!

  • dude this song has a great melody and robinson's voice is so smooth. i'm glad to be happy, but i guess this song is about something else. oh well, nice song though.

  • always loved this song, always been a huge fan of tom robinson. used to write to him as a kid and he always replied. thanks tom xx

  • always loved this song, always been a huge fan of tom robinson. used to write to him as a kid and he always replied

  • Not quite so revolutionary, as this was released three years AFTER black American singer Valentino recorded "I Was Born This Way" (US/UK GAIEE records, 1975), a fairly well-known club record.

  • @drwhatson Thank you for the heads up on classic gay-positive music. I will definitely look it up. (Honestly hadn't heard of it until you mentioned it.)

  • understanding and empathy - powerful tools indeed.

  • Classic.

  • Always love this since i bought the "Rising Free" EP in 1978! I am straight and always will be but to write & shout this in 1978 took more than a lot of balls! Love you Tom!! x

  • Never gay, but probably one of the songs that made me political. Tom and Billy Bragg, Where does the youth of today go to get it's ideas? They must be going somewhere cos they're out on the streets again, and that can only be a good thing...If the state ever tries to oppress music, then we know they've finally woken up to the truth that we get our politics in our bedrooms listening to songs that stay with us for the rest of our lives.

  • The right are the protectors of the Gays in Holland and on the left are the abusers and muslims gay bashers. Let's stand firm.

  • This was the first pro-gay song I ever heard. At that moment ,I knew I wasn't alone! Yay, Tom!

  • All I know is that I am not gay, but I am certainly for standing up to oppression. For the second half of last century, music was a way of spreading messages about social issues, and probably the most effective way of communicating the direness of some topics to a larger audience. Everyone from Donovan, the Bee Gees, the Beatles, the Doors, Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa ... all making intelligent pleas, trying to fix the social injustices of society. Now look at what music has become. It disgusts me.

  • Wonderful song. I'm definitely happy this way

  • Lovely song! Can't believe it's not on my mp3 player yet!

  • when he says the line about police men calling dudes queer he actually looks pissed off. im glad to see a person who isnt in a metal band making music with a point and being pissed off about something.

  • Love the Militant fist...

    .... and the red star on his guitar!!!

  • @tellyontellyon It's a Rock Against Racism sticker

  • Follow Tom on Twitter - @freshnet !

  • I feel like using this song to come out to the rents. >:P

    <3

  • My incredible boyfriend makes me glad to be gay. Awesome song, as relevant and true now as it was then.

  • Sing up Tom :))

  • Not gay - but I would sing with my friends that are just to say I stand shoulder to shoulder with them because what has it got to do with anyone what your private life is all about? live love be happy whatever your choice of partner - as long as you love them and they love you that's all that matters.

  • @simnebrael

    totally agree

  • @Noisy666

    It is what I believe and I am happy to say it :D Thanks for your comment :D

  • @ixlnxs I think thatsa great point sexuality is private and shouldn't be flaunted that way gays shouldn't have their big parades ramming their sexuality down everyones throat.

  • @daveshow2 I used to think that about gay pride parades too, but I've come to realize that it is part of what happens when you've been hidden and put down for so long. They are not shoving it down everyone's throats (...lol) but are celebrating the freedom to express themselves. If it is over the top and flamboyant, I get it, I understand it is compensating for spending 99% of human history being misunderstood, turned into Frankenstein, and forced to hide who they were in the closet.

  • @daveshow2 Plus, we live in a sexual society to begin with, it's not fair to ask gays to not flaunt sexuality in public when all of their straight friends are allowed to do it. It's a double standard. I can understand wanting to not see something that offends you. But how often do you run into a gay pride parade vs the million other things out there that make us feel uncomfortable on a day-2-day basis (rebecca black, charlie sheen, homeless people, misogyny in rap/billboard advertisements)?

  • @ixlnxs

    Why oh why must people like you whatever their sexual orientation always see the irony to find a reason to provoke an argument?

    Guess what? You and your kind won't get an argument from me! Enjoy your life and I'll enjoy mine.

    Love & Light

  • this is an amazing song - im not gay but some of my friends are and its sad that some people still cant accept that

  • This song is entirely too catchy for my comfort. Heard it last night on the radio for the first time, and ended up singing along for the entire thing... Does that make me gay?

  • @Browncoat666 yep lol

  • Q: Did Ray Davies produce this Album?

  • best protest poetry song i've listened to ever. the emotion in his voice really adds to the mesage of the song. such a shame its still relevant.

  • Nice one!

  • Still remember when I bought Rising Free E.P. in HMV, London.

    I was 15 in 1978, and this song really made me think very much about injustice towards the ones that are different in any way, not just in sexual orientation. Great lyrics, great social statement, very brave words from Tom Robinson.

  • He didn't invent the telephone.

  • Finally.

    Shame this was banned in the UK. (According to Yahoo.)

  • There were very few direct references to homosexuality in British culture at the time (1978) except, of course, the camp 'humour' of people like John Inman, etc. Tom Rob deserves much credit for making gay rights an issue among the broader society. I was 14 when this song came out (no pun intended). Even though I knew I was straight, the song made me think about equality, discrimination and giving a shit about people who are victimised. It's a great tune and a great and brave social statement.

  • I heard this song for the first time tonight. I may not be gay, but this song moved me.

  • Respect! ..... but WOW, not a lot has changed. They're still raiding gay bars in the US ... and our magazines are still in the porn section, despite no nudity!

  • i laugh at the fact that people commented negatively on this video, seeing as they had to have searched proud to be gay in the first place....PRIDE!

  • I am not gay, not katholic also

    love has power against gay millitary killers

  • You can imagine the response from my mother when I bought this album when I was about 14. We were Argentine immigrants to NYC area. I am not gay either but I loved his bullocks. All the songs on this album were good and worth a hard look at the lyrics.

  • A dude at work was singing along to 2 4 6 8 yesterday, and I said to him, "Just about the rockiest gay band ever." He's still none the wiser. X¬D

  • Very powerful stuff. This is one of the best protest songs of the 20th century if you ask me. Why isn't there more songs like this demanding gay rights? This seems to be the only one that I know of. You'd think the issue would be addressed more than once.

  • I'm not Gay myself but you have no idea what people wen't through to give you guys freedom. You owe them big time! Most people back then regarded homosexuality as being abnormal and a target for ridicule. You may not go gay bashing but you certainly didn't want one in the family.

    I guess we can thank the AIDS virus for forcing us all to grow up and start talking about sexuality...well most of us!

  • I was a drummer in a school band, this was in our set list we used to play in morning assembly, along with all around the world (the Jam) paranoid and love gun, great days the seventies

  • kind of a dull song musically, but gives a strong message lyrically

  • I support Gay ;-)

  • amazing voice

  • First time I listen to this song was on Norwegian radio. I was 13 and gay.

    I was crying a lot in this period. I was so lonly and afraid for me feelings, but Tom

    Robinson was good for me and my mind.

  • Irons rule!

  • wtf i got this on mystery google.

  • This song is dedicated to the World Health Organisation...

  • WHO?

  • sorry - obscure reference, the song was sometimes introduced as a "medical song" because "it concerns a disease" - protesting the inclusion of Homosexuality in the list of Mental Disorders in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases no. 9 (1977)

  • "Glad to be gay" has been the most important song in my life, as a means of hope and endurance against injustice, prejudice and hate.

  • lyrics are great, was well advanced 4 its time

  • @youarealucky1 Well said!

  • the fact that this is still controversy shows how little as a people we've progressed.

  • @Xero there is no progression in uk only the thinly disguised veil of tolerance.

  • @Xero TOTALLY AGREE WE'VE GONE BACK TO THE 10TH CENTURY WHAT WITH THE CRUSADES IN THE MIDDLE EAST

  • I'm not gay but this song makes me gay. Pun intended.

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  • good for you! :]

  • Congratulations!

  • Well I happen not to be gay, but I love this song. Brilliant.

  • @conesuela1 I am not gay either, but I adore having sex with other rmen.

  • @MrManulover Mr Man(u)Lover lmao

  • @conesuela1

    haha, great, same here !!

  • @conesuela1 lol, song if youre not gay but you like this song

  • @conesuela1 - wish I knew how to operate the thumbs up thingy, but ditto, you just have to be human. Merry Christmas !!!

  • @conesuela1 Likewise, not gay. But Robinson did some fenomenal songs which really had the potential to lead the listener in just about any direction that he pleased. I don't agree with all of his ideas of the time (guess he wouldn't either today). In hindsight though, I think he was tougher than the Clash. It didn't last as long, but it was risky business so to speak, and it was, just as you say, brilliant!

  • Some people being gay never decreased the birth rate Robzes.

    Human overpopulation is the biggest threat to world. There far too many people on the Planet right now. There are around 6.794 billion now and by 2040 it is expected to rise to 9 billion. Such growth is simply unsustainable.

    Having said that, Tom Robinson is bisexual and he and his wife Sue have two children.

  • @GeriHew

    The elite is planning global genocide, with the aim of reducing the population to 500.000 according to the Georgia Guidestones (who's "orders" are followed by the Illuminati NWO-groups) :|

  • Robzes, be prejudiced if you want to but keep it to yourself. Europe's educational standards are falling even without your helping it along.

  • Classic!

  • Tom Robinson is bisexual isnt he?

  • You have to wonder, what kind of 'person' goes to a YouTube channel labeled Glad to Be Gay and write such juvenile comments? Is your life that horrible and damaged that you must infect other people with the poison that flows through your veins? You claim to be 36 years old, but I've seen more intelligent, adult comments written by someone 20 years younger than your supposed age.

  • "450Slash"is this song shit? No, this song is great. Gay liberation forever. Thank you.

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  • I guess it takes a scatty bastard to know a scatty bastard.

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  • Oh you sad scruff. Must be a horrible life for you then I bet. I'm sure you will find your definition of happiness somehere. Just keep away from children and animals.

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  • Yes Slashita. I want to be like you but I can not help walking erect. That damn evolution. When will you catch up?

  • This guy is totally unknown in the States. But I was reading a book about post-punk music and I learned about this song, so I had to look it up. The book said he has a wife and kids now, which seems kind of funny.

  • have you seen his caracter in "ashes to ashes" bbc? amazing amazing

    1981

    alex tells him: "you will fall in love with a woman"/

    cult

  • i'm totally diggin the base line

  • sorry bass... lol

  • Good song anyway,can vaguely remember this.

  • Check out the band, the cute bass player looks mortified!

  • Tom was playing bass; don't think he was too bothered!

  • hah i know!! lol

    he's thinking 'but i'm not gay!' :P

  • Uh.... you're half wrong there Kaaaboomm

  • Sorry I thought Tom Ribinson was the Bass player

  • Tom Robinson IS the bass player.

  • I know my friend I was being sarcastic - not my best trait but thanks for making it clear :-) Tom IS the bass player and long may he continue to be so!

  • Same name as me. Haha.

    Hes great.

  • Tow Robinson rocks. I was afan from the age o 16 and whether I have identified as straight, lesbian or Bi one thing hasn't changed Tom Robinson rocks!

  • Tom has female partner.  They have kids.

    His album Having It Both Ways" (Cooking Vinyl, 1996) is probably all the explanation he needs to give :D

  • The sun published the headline 'Glad to be Dad' when they found out he had a mrs and child. I don't like that paper but I must admit that made me laugh

  • the bbc banned this song from radio 1 and refused to let him appear on top of the pops- how times have changed!

  • @dwilpower They did go on TOTP, but the BBC wouldn't let them play Glad To Be Gay, they played Don't Take No For An Answer instead.

  • And an awesome perfomance of it.

  • Cool song.

  • ha, they should have sampled this for the "Surprise You're Gay" song...

  • I'm bloody glad to be gay

  • @whatawish Old Tom doesn't look very 'glad' though.

    Glad means slippery in Dutch.

    "Sing if you're happy that way",yeah that's some message.

    Glad to be cynical.

  • I saw Tom Robinson live way back in 1983. He was part of a weekend concert at Nostel Priory near Pontefract. Other acts included John Cooper Clarke and David Essex.

    When I heard this song I was shocked to the core. This was 1983 remember.

    He wouldnt need to write this song now would he ? We live in a much more civilised society I hope.

  • What a totally excellent amazing discovery! :)

  • wtf m8!!

  • This song is awesome, not to mention ahead of it's time.

  • huh?? are you nuts? good stuff.

  • he cant be that bad you're lookin his songs up on Youtube lol

  • It was essentially to "rick roll" my friend.

  • wow dude, you've seriously got some problems. This is a great song.

    But you are right, it Is a gay song, since it's called 'Glad To Be Gay'. lol

    But uh, I think this is great music. You must be into some bad music, dude.

  • Music taste it based on complete opinion and more so how much different diverse styles of music you listen and from which source and collection do you prefer. By not letting yourself listen to a variety of music I'd say that is more bad taste by concept.

    My favourite bands are Radiohead, The Smashing Pumpkins, Beck, the Fall of troy, weezer sufjan stevens, Jurassic 5, the work of quincy jones etc etc

    My music taste is ever evolving through listening to different music that I encounter.

  • The majority of the music I listen to now isn't necessarily my all time favourites. I have no idea if I can say the same thing about you. I find people that listen to the same type of music over and over again extremely narrow minded and in fact fact more lulz than christians.

  • Sorry about that comment.

    My sister got on to my account.

  • I completely agree. I listen to everything from classical to jazz and every kind of rock from soft rock to metal and hardcore punk. I don't care for everything, but I always want to find something else I have never heard. I read alot of stuff to find out about bands too.

  • He's a very talented musician. Both his daughters go to my school and he came in to give the music students a talk about the music industry. He really is a nice bloke, and really genuine.

    (And bloody brave to release this song in the 70's)

    x