Lately I have noticed hostility within the gay community toward our straight allies, both through the Tumblr and the Facebook posts of a few select friends. The negativity is not always directed at a specific individual, but more often than not, it is directed toward the current figurehead of the straight white male ally: Macklemore.

Like it or not, Macklemore’s “Same Love” has probably changed the view of gay marriage for a lot of people. The song bluntly addresses the fact that in our society, some “would rather die than be who they are,” and Macklemore released it with the hope of abating the intolerance that leads to the cold, hard truth of this statement. I don’t see the message of the song as problematic.

Monetarily, I hope that the rapper donated at least some of the song’s profits to a charitable Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) cause. For example, when Lady Gaga blatantly exploited every minority group for “Born this Way,” she at least partially made up for it by bringing the Born Brave Bus to over 18 cities. The bus connects fans to mental health services, organizations and other important resources. She plans to take it out on the road again during her 2014 tour. But that’s a story for a different op-ed.

Back to the song’s message. At its core, the song aims to do nothing more than advocate for the right for gays and lesbians to be themselves freely within our society, beginning with marriage equality. Sure, it has some clunky lyrics, but they shouldn’t distract from the main point.

Take for instance its heavily contested opening line: “When I was in the third grade, I thought that I was gay, because I could draw, my uncle was and I kept my room straight.” Some have accused this line of being exploitative of gay stereotypes, whereas its true purpose is to demonstrate that gay stereotyping (which inherently leads to bullying) begins at a young age.

If you are a young boy who can draw or likes to keep his room tidy, you are different, you possess feminine traits: you are gay. If bullying begins as young as third grade, it’s no wonder people are taking their own lives before they even graduate high school.

Just because Macklemore is a straight white male does not automatically invalidate his words. As YouTube user Arielle Scarcella pointed out in a recent video response to his performance at the Grammys, it is selfish to be ungrateful for the rapper’s efforts. As a straight white male, he has the privileged platform to spread a message, one with a further reach and greater likelihood of being taken seriously, than that of any LGBT artist.

Sure, gay rapper Le1f’s declaration, “I’m getting light in my loafers, and I stay gettin’ life until life’s over” in the song “Wut” is a great motto for LGBT youth, but the song’s video has just under two million views on YouTube. “Same Love” has 108 million.

Furthermore, Macklemore invited lesbian singer Mary Lambert to perform the song’s hook, adding an LGBT perspective and using his influence to give exposure to a great LGBT artist who wouldn’t have reached the same audience otherwise.

One of the things that intrigues me about the hostility toward straight allies from the gay community is the sense of difference between the two. On the basis of sexual orientation, “gay” and “ally” are two completely different identities fighting for the same cause.

In a different – but in some ways interconnected – movement, a feminist can be any person regardless of gender. Men are welcomed openly to identify as feminists. Their views and statements advocating for gender equality are not invalidated simply on the basis that they do not identify as women. So why are the views and statements of a white heterosexual male invalidated when he is fighting for the equality of sexual orientations?

Let’s look at rap from a new perspective, taking feminism into account rather than homosexuality. Throughout most of the genre’s history, there has always been at least one female artist that can perform on a same platform equivalent to that of one male rap artist. Ten years ago, Missy Elliott and Lil Kim represented only a small part of the male-dominated rap world. Today, even as Nicki Minaj’s fame grows, she is still just one female rapper in a male-dominated genre. Minaj might have an audience equivalent to that of, say, Drake, but her voice is drowned out overall by Drake, Kanye West, Jay Z and many other famous male rappers.

Additionally, we live in a society that has yet to overcome prejudices against women’s behavior. So as much as Minaj can impart observations like, “When I am assertive, I am a b***h. When a man is assertive, he’s a boss,”  it might take a while for society to reach a point where such statements are taken seriously by the general population. The culture of hip hop is deeply misogynistic, so if a mainstream male rapper were to release a song advocating for the equal treatment of women, I imagine he would be praised for leading the rap community by example.

And yet, we are critical of Macklemore for trying to steer rap in a different direction than artists like Eminem, who bragged about his ability to “break a m***********g table over the back of a couple of f*****s” in 2013’s “Rap God.”

As such, I have a hard time seeing why some in the gay community take such issue with “Same Love.” Macklemore has utilized his influence to sway the public opinion of an issue important to our fight for equality and to bring a talented LGBT artist to the mainstream.

And whether you like it or not, history books will probably mention his Grammys performance, 33 marriages and all, as an important moment in the fight for marriage equality. At the very least, the same-sex marriages that took place during the performance will go down as some of the best gay weddings in history. Who else can say they had their nuptials officiated by Queen Latifah and ushered in by a performance by Madonna, the patron saint of the gays herself?

Jake Reed is a Collegian contributor and can be reached at [email protected].