Let’s be frank: The vast majority of the time, anything that slips out of Kanye West’s mouth is at best, ridiculous, and at worst, hugely egotistical.No doubt, when people think of offhanded Kanye West quotes, they think of his appearance on NBC’s “A Concert for Hurricane Relief,” held shortly after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. While on the show, he ventured off script and blasted the Bush administration, famously saying, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”But recently, West has been talking more about a subject that his peers in the hip-hop industry rarely venture into: discrimination against gays.Except for one or two other stars in the industry, discrimination of this nature is rarely talked about, and never so candidly. If homosexuality is broached at all in hip-hop, it is used as an insult.West spoke candidly in past interviews about how black street culture idolizes masculinity and how this idolization in turn creates an environment hostile to gay people. “I wanna just come on TV and just tell my rappers, just tell my friends, ‘Yo, stop it,'” West said when asked further about the subject.Such a blatant plea to end gay bashing in song and in everyday life is something not common in the world of hip-hop.Mr. West’s critique of the industry and its attitudes toward gays is refreshing. It is quite bold of him to so adamantly declare his support for tolerance.More recently, West has decided to tour with Lady Gaga, an artist who identifies strongly with the gay community.In an interview last month, Gaga told West, “I’m gay. My music is gay. My show is gay. And I love that it’s gay. And I love my gay fans, and they’re all going to be coming to our show. And it’s going to remain gay.”While West’s actions and statements are bold, he is not the only industry heavyweight advocating for tolerance.Industry giant Russell Simmons recently wrote a letter to Democratic New York Gov. David Paterson urging him to support gay marriage, and R&B superstar Mary J. Blige recently co-hosted a fundraiser to raise money against Proposition 8, the gay marriage ban in California.Nevertheless, the vast majority of hip-hop artists either continue to perpetuate discrimination in their work or fail to condemn their peers who do.Artists such as Busta Rhymes, Eminem and 50 Cent have all used homophobia as a way to sell albums and perpetuate stereotypes. One cannot help but miss the irony in all of this. The industry grew out of the street and gang cultures, cultures largely plagued with poverty and crime, as a means to give a voice to some groups of people who were being    — and who still are being — discriminated against.Some people, including Kanye West and Russell Simmons, compare the struggle for gay rights to the Civil Rights movement of the ’60s.I respectfully disagree, as black people were discriminated against far more than the gays of today and because they lacked far more rights than the modern gay community.This is not to say discrimination today is so slight that it is not an issue.In Louisiana, it is still legal for employers to fire employees simply because they are gay. Our state even denies gay couples hospital visitation rights.Because of such things, I applaud West for coming out against such senseless discrimination, despite how I feel about the majority of his viewpoints.I guess the old saying, “beggars can’t be choosers,” rarely rings so true.Stephen Schmitz is a 19-year-old mass communication sophomore from The Woodlands, Texas. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_sschmitz.————Contact Stephen Schmitz at [email protected]