When you join our Lez Hang Out family on Patreon you will gain instant access to 24 and counting full-length bonus episodes, ad-free weekly episodes, mp3 downloads of all our original songs, an invite to our exclusive Discord channel, and more! We can’t wait to see you there.  You can also support the podcast by buying our original merch at bit.ly/lezmerch and purchasing our original Lez-ssentials songs for as little as $1 each on Bandcamp. Welcome back to Lez Hang Out, the podcast that is having a resurgence of The Chicks in our lives. This week, Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida) hang out to talk about why the music of The Chicks, formerly known as the Dixie Chicks, should’ve been gay. For this episode, we will not be speculating about the sexuality of The Chicks themselves as human beings, but rather talking about why their songs give such a queer energy.  The Chicks write music from a political activist lens that is so incredibly different from the typical country music lens. To say their music resonates with queer people is a massive understatement. There are so many of their songs that were literally the gay music of the time. We didn’t have Chappell Roan or Hayley Kiyoko or those types of openly queer artists. So for us and other gays of a certain age (ie. over 35), Goodbye Earl is as gay as it gets. These ahead of their time icons write songs that feel inclusive, anti-patriarchal, and that have lyrics that sound gay af when we sing along.  We talk about the gay specifics of songs like Goodbye Earl, a song that Ellie’s extremely queer band The Femmes performs all the time. This song honestly should be a whole musical by now. The music video for it is so gay and so good and if you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor and watch it now. We also break down the lyrics in Long Time Gone, a song that is wildly gay for having been released in 2002. There is no straight explanation for this song, and to be honest… it’s giving Betty.  We know one thing for sure, The Chicks music Should’ve Been Gay. Remember, you can give us your own answers to our Q & Gay on Instagram and follow along on Facebook, TikTok, and BlueSky @lezhangoutpod.  Find your fav tol and smol hosts Ellie & Leigh at @elliebrigida and @lshfoster respectively. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices