Equality Magazine Summer 2009 : Page 11
davematthews O HRC Partner in the Fight for Equality By Janice Hughes ne early afternoon last fall, Kurt Staiger — clipboard in hand — was standing in front of a local co-op grocery store in Seattle. Staiger saw a guy walking toward the en- trance. He approached him, asking him if he was interested in gay rights. The man glanced over, smiled and promised to stop by on his way out. Sure enough, he did. Staiger, a canvasser for the Human Rights Campaign, began chatting and the two ended up talking for nearly 10 minutes, about everything. Civil rights. Hate crimes. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Workplace laws. Virginia. The Carolina mountains. Living in Seattle. Kids. The guy immediately agreed to make a contribution to HRC. He signed up, in fact, for HRC’s monthly giving Partners program. His name? Dave Matthews. TheDave Matthews, Staiger said to himself. Of the Dave Matthews Band. One of the country’s most popular singer-songwriters. Alternative rock. Millions of albums sold. Well, he really is just a regular guy, Staiger thought, as the two stood outside the co-op. “And so nice.” The musician told Staiger that he wasn’t happy at all about the lack of acceptance for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgen- der community. Last month, Equality magazine contacted Matthews. Less than a day later, he re- sponded — despite the fact that he and his band had hit the road that very week >> See www.hrc.org/monthly for more. WWW.HRC.ORG SUMMER 2009 11 on one of their signature, blow-out sum- mer tours. This time, it would be four full months across the U.S. and Europe for their latest album, “Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King,” hailed by critics as one of their best ever. Matthews, who was born in South Africa and started his band in 1991 in Charlottesville, Va., is very clear about why he supports LGBT equality and same-sex marriage. “To deny one group the right to marry threatens the institution of marriage more than it does anything else,” the 42-year-old musician told Equality. “To deny the rights of some people while protecting those same rights for others threatens the freedom of every single person in this country.” “I know of no single compelling argument against equality for all,” he continued. “It is a perversion of justice to suggest one person’s right to marry whomever they please is a right denied another person.” In fact, he said, “I often find myself irritated with the whole thing.” “Thanks for your efforts,” Matthews said. Then he was off — on summer tour. Photo: Matt Sayles / AP
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