Being homosexual in the rock world was a taboo subject for the longest and often went either unnoticed or was hidden under the covers (no pun intended). However, Pansy Division, a “Queercore” band out of San Francisco, fuses the two worlds together in a tongue-in-cheek manner, by exposing the bigotry of homophobes while poking fun at themselves. The members, Jon Ginoli, Joel Reader, Chris Freeman and Luis Illades, have recently reunited for a series of shows in support of their new album, That’s So Gay, and we here at BYT decided to spotlight their catchy pop tunes, which have deeper messages about homosexuality than one may expect.

AVERAGE MEN – Based on a true incident on tour. After a gig one night, pretty late, we went to eat at Denny’s. As soon as we sat down, four redneck guys at the next table started making comments about us. We’d barely noticed them, but their murmurs and mutters were designed to goad us. I noticed that their hats and jackets were covered with corporate logos, so I jotted them down. We practiced avoidance but were worried that they’d try to pick a fight with us while we headed to our van. We left abruptly as a group and had no trouble, thankfully. (Jon Ginoli)

PAT ME ON THE ASS – I had been thinking about homophobia in sports, and how there are no American pro athletes that are out. I wrote a fairly serious song about it, but it was more like an essay than a song. Instead, I distilled it down to its essence, added humor, and voila! (Jon Ginoli)

OBSESSED WITH ME – When we last toured in 2007, I noticed gay graffiti everywhere, some pro-gay, some anti-gay, but gay-obsessed. Around that same time the Larry Craig and Ted Haggard scandals were making headlines. Though I rarely use topical references in songs, I don’t want these hypocritical f*ckers to be forgotten. (Jon Ginoli)

SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS – When I first joined Pansy Division and became the “token hetero” of the band, it wasn’t a given that I’d be contributing any songs of my own: I certainly wanted to have a creative voice within the group, but felt like everything hinged on finding my own perspective on the gay experience as a straight male. I think I cracked that code when I came up with the title: “Some of My Best Friends.” From there I reverse-engineered lyrics about my relationship with the other guys in the band and the sense of fraternity I feel with them when it’s us against the world. Hopefully in some small way I’m helping prove with this song that a Breeder like me can be just as pissed off by casual homophobia, and that if you’re going to be narrow-minded you might want to keep that shit to yourself or suffer the consequences! I especially enjoy singing this line at our live shows: “I’d rather fuck an asshole than be one …” (Joel Reader)

THAT’S SO GAY – More and more I hear the word “gay” used as a derogatory term to mean “lame” or “stupid,” as in the new film, The Hangover where one of the characters has a voicemail that says, “ don’t text me, it’s gay.” GRRR! This infuriates me! Whenever I hear anyone say it I correct them, and this song was meant to correct anyone who hears it. (Christopher Freeman)