Screaming ‘Gay Rights’ at a Switchfoot Concert
Last week, Baldridge set out on a mission to get her question answered by attending a Switchfoot concert. Her plan was to scream out “gay rights” after they played their song “Dare You to Move” to see what type of reaction it invoked.
The independent singer documented her social experiment on TikTok. When Baldridge and her friend pulled into the parking lot, she immediately said, “Everyone here. Everyone here looks like the person that hated me the most in youth [group].”
“We are breaking into church camp after we have already been asked to leave,” she told the camera as the group walked into the concert.
During the band’s set, Foreman said, “If we disagree, then chances are we’re human.” Baldridge saw this as her big moment. She belted out, “Gay Rights!” The chance that Switchfoot heard her is slim, given that the band was still playing music and members all have in-ear monitors that muffle crowd noise.
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Baldridge had hoped that when she yelled “gay rights,” the crowd would have reacted and Foreman would have chimed in, affirming the band supports gay rights. This was, as she describes it, her “delusional dream scenario.”
When Baldridge’s friend asked why she needed to hear that, she responded, “Because in Christian spaces, Switchfoot’s music was the safe music. Jon Foreman was like that message of safety…then you learn about the bait-and-switch, and for so many of us it was like ‘Jon wouldn’t do that,’ because he was such a leader. The Christian community is so disproportionately harmful to LGBTQ+ people, so you can’t just be like lukewarm on it.”
In reference to Foreman’s statement, “We might disagree,” Baldridge made it clear that this isn’t an area in which she’s willing to agree to disagree.
