Why ?. . . (M.C.A)

Straight Guy,

Last week, I heard an NPR news brief that the YMCA has decided to rebrand itself simply as the "Y." (Coincidentally, National Public Radio recently announced that it was rebranding itself simply as "NPR." I guess if that's what people usually call you anyway, you might as well go for it. FedEx certainly proved it works.)

YMCA said it was shedding "MCA" to better reflect its priorities of youth, community development and healthy living. I don't follow the argument. I'd get an argument that they want to de-emphasize "men," "Christian" and "Association" to show that the Y is for everyone, regardless of sex, religious affiliation or membership.

You knew it was inevitable: the Village People have weighed in with "dismay" over the name change. Read news coverage.

I think the band is taking this a bit too personally. It's not going to cut into their business.

Y or why not, "Y.M.C.A" will still be the workhorse not only of a Village People concert tour, but of every wedding, class reunion and bar mitzvah in America, if not worldwide. At least I hope so. I try to imagine a dance floor, filled with grandparents to preschoolers, arms angled out beside their heads forming a "Y" . . . and then silence, like a malevolent game of musical chairs.

Tragic.

--Gay Guy

9 comments:

straight in upstate said...

Disco will never die because we all love it too much. Even SG. We don't want to admit it but it's true. YMCA can call themselves Jazzy Jeff's Muscle Emporium but it will never change the popularity of THAT song.

J9 said...

The song will live on long after the "Y" is dead and gone.

Brutalism said...

A world without YMCA (the song) is not a world in which I want to live.

(I owned a Village People album back in the day...)

Straight Guy said...

Yeah. I'm not getting it either. What does the Y stand for now? It's only for the young?

And Brutalism, I read your post as saying that you once owned a Village People ALUM. Good for you.

Dorn said...

I think you're right, it's probably more about de-emphasizing the C&M.

If you've ever moved a business and had to re do all the stationary and what not because of the address change, you might have a small idea of what this really will mean to a non-profit/government supplemented organization.

The change to just the Y will require more than just pulling a few letters off the sign. I wonder who's footing the bill.

Village People have nothing to worry about as long as folks keep getting married and insist on having dance floor fillers!

Oddyoddyo13 said...

I'm not entirely sure I'd believe that argument about why they're changing the name...but hey, more power to ya.

Whether or not that place is called the "Y. M. C. A.", I'll still hear that song at every school dance.

SteveA said...

The "Y" might be catchy. But the YMCA will live on as part of gay history - after all that dance with just the "Y" would be pretty lame!

Gay Guy said...

The votes are in and the consensus is clear: Y.M.C.A will live forever. God bless us, everyone.

Michael said...

The "Y" chromosome? Perhaps the Young Men part at least, isn't quit dead yet.

Gay Guy / Straight Guy Archive