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MUSIC
Grammy Awards

Macklemore kicks off anti-discrimination campaign

Korina Lopez
USA TODAY
Macklemore, left,  Mary Lambert, Madonna, Ryan Lewis and Queen Latifa celebrate the marriages of 33 couples during the 2014 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.
  • USA Network%27s Characters Unite month runs through February
  • Macklemore %26 Ryan Lewis kick off the campaign with a PSA set to their hit song %27Same Love%27
  • Fans are urged to declare what they won%27t stand for at join.charactersunite.com

Talk about music with mileage.

In 2013, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' power ballad Same Love became the year's anthem for gay rights. On Jan. 26, Same Love also became the wedding song for 33 couples during the Grammy Awards show. There's also the small matter of the rap duo winning four Grammys, including best new artist. No big deal.

In a PSA that will begin airing Saturday for USA Network's Characters Unite month, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis leverage their celebrity to create a groundswell of support to fight all discrimination, not just gay rights. Same Love is again the beating heart of this battle cry, with Macklemore urging fans to turn up the volume by sharing what "I Won't Stand For" at join.charactersunite.com.

"It's clear that there's a lot more work to be done to fight discrimination. We hope that through our music and by being part of campaigns like Characters Unite, we can help start conversation that leads to greater empathy and understanding," Macklemore & Ryan Lewis told USA TODAY in a statement.

Joining the campaign are such USA Network stars as White Collar's Matt Bomer, Suits' Gina Torres and Royal Pains' Reshma Shetty, as well as NFL stars Victor Cruz, Ray Rice, Randall Cobb, Nick Mangold, Mark Herzlich, Charles Tillman and J.J. Watt. Having all been on the receiving end of bullying and discrimination, the players will focus on tackling bullying issues.

The power of celebrity, however, is not the main driving force. Rather it's people like 19-year-old college student Joey Kemmerling, a victim of homophobia for years, whose stories will keep the momentum going long after the month-long campaign ends. When Kemmerling was 13, he came out to five friends in confidence. Overnight, everyone knew. "I didn't know that until I walked into the locker room and everyone was staring at me. The harassment continued to get worse and I even went to the principal to ask for help," he says. "He said that if I acted less gay then the other kids would leave me alone. In the classroom, a lot of teachers turned their backs, pretending they didn't hear anything."

He changed high schools four times, finding relief only in New Jersey, which has anti-bullying laws. "If just one kid would have stood up for me, then maybe there would have only been two people laughing at me, not 15," he says.

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