Fun. Say Being Straight Makes Them 'Powerful' Advocates for Gay Rights

New York trio fun. -- the indie outfit who recently took their stylistic combination of Queen, Weezer and Sha Na Na to number three on Billboard's pop album charts, not to mention the industry organ's front cover -- may have unintentionally made a concept album with 'Some Nights,' their sophomore offering on Fueled by Ramen.

Seconds into the gospel tang of the title track, lead singer Nate Ruess croons the call-to-arms question: "What do I stand for?" Next up, their current number one smash 'We Are Young' -- recently covered by the disenfranchised students of 'Glee' -- is a youth uprising anthem and preludes songs like 'Carry On' and 'It Gets Better,' the latter of which is named after Dan Savage's viral video campaign.

Which is to say this album seems tailor-made for fun.'s charitable new partnership with LGBT rights organization Revel & Riot, despite being fully baked before the two joined forces.

"Revel & Riot are educating people from a real forward place," fun.'s guitarist Jack Antanoff tells Spinner. "It's almost a rebranding of the entire movement."

Revel & Riot is an organization that promotes LGBT rights, awareness and equality through art, design and education resources, and their wares will have a formidable presence on fun.'s spring tour which runs until June, including their collaborative t-shirt that reads: "It's all fun. and gay 'til someone loses their rights."

An advocate for equal rights and marriage equality, Antonoff recently published a blog for Huffington Post's Gay Voices, titled 'Straight Allies: The Importance and the Realities,' and believes this issue is as important as the civil rights struggles of the '60s.

"Being part of a band of three straight men, we felt there was an inherent power in the fact that we aren't gay, and yet we still care and we have a voice -- there's a responsibility there," says Antonoff. "There are moments in history where it's vital [to have a voice] and anyone that is not standing up for the LGBT community is a huge part of what's holding them back."


While Antonoff did receive some red state-fueled damnation in digital ink, the overwhelming response to his blog has been incredibly positive -- especially from those young voices, like a 19-year old transgender girl who reached out to him personally.

"It meant the world to me to connect to the people that I was writing about," says Antonoff, who will continue to blog on the subject. "Every letter is important, even the ones that told me I was going to hell.

"We want [our fans] to know where we stand on this topic, what we won't tolerate, and to put out a lot of great information. There is still a lot of ignorance out there on this issue, especially for the transgendered community. The more we talk about it, the more we teach it, the less scary it is, the less angry people have to be at it -- and more importantly, the less people have to be in the closet."