2014 Grammys Reflect a Not-So-Subtle Cultural Shift

Beyoncé's Erotic
Performance

Only if you never watch TV or read newspapers would you not know that the cultural highlight of the Grammys two weeks ago was a mass marriage ceremony (conducted by Queen Latifah) that included 33 straight and gay and transgendered couples. During the ceremony, the song “Same Love,” aka, the gay marriage anthem, was sung by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. This Grammy moment was a not-so-subtle reminder of the cultural shift that has taken place in the last decade. 

Most Americans opposed gay marriage just ten years ago (both Presidents Clinton and Obama did), but now it is not only acceptable; it is celebratable. And, anyone who espouses, pun intended, a conservative biblical standard of marriage is said to be (phrases from the song “Same Love”) “playing God,” and “paraphrasing a book written thirty-five hundred years ago.”
                               
Yet, the Grammys didn’t just reflect a shift in views about marriage. The level of sensuality throughout the evening seemed to reach a new high—or should I say ‘low.’ Do the Grammys reflect the values of mainstream America? Probably not. But they do impact them. One wonders what cultural shifts lie ahead in 2014.