Equality Texas announced yesterday, their Equality Texas Ally Individuals of the Year award recipients for 2012, the award recognizes individuals, businesses, and civic leaders that have advanced equality for all Texans, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression, during the past year. Adair Lion and Miss West Texas Kaylee Anne Keith are the first to receive these new awards.
Born and raised in the rough streets of central El Paso, Adair Lion once again proved his own sense of street-toughness by rapping that being “gay is okay” in “BEN,” a new music video released in advance of “Michael & Me,” Lion’s forthcoming album that includes tracks influenced by Lion’s idol, Michael Jackson. The new album will be released on the third anniversary of Jackson’s death, June 25, 2012.
The original music video version of BEN, which Time Magazine’s Tim Morrison said was “an astonishing thing by calling out the hip hop world’s endemic homophobia,” was blocked by music content company Universal Music Group (UMG) after just 13 days and 156,000 views on YouTube. Lion subsequently created a second version of the song that does not contain any Micheal Jackson samples and is an entirely original piece that is composed, written, recorded, mixed, and mastered by Lion.
Kaylee Anne Keith, Lion’s fiancee, was crowned Miss West Texas in 2011 with the platform “Bullying Awareness and Prevention.” Keith, who has spent countless hours raising funds for Children’s Miracle Network as well as other charities, has brought her message of anti-bullying to numerous schools all over the state of Texas and worked together with Equality Texas and other allies to help pass legislation to stop bullying in Texas schools last year. Together, Lion and Keith continue to fight for LGBT rights both in concert halls and classrooms across Texas and around the world.
Here’s the video and song that earned ADAIR LION this award – This is the Second version of the song, as stated before Univeral Music Group had the original video taken off YouTube. The Original Video received 156,000 views with in 13 days….
