Chart-topping lesbian love song divides gay community

She is frothy and catchy and fun or she is demeaning to gay people. Either way singer Katy Perry is expected to go to number one this weekend with a record about lesbian passion that is dividing parts of the gay community.

Perry's I Kissed A Girl is number one in the US and has been outselling all other singles in the UK, played all over the radio and in bars - straight and gay - up and down the country. The song - about her pleasurable guilt at kissing a girl - might have passed unremarked had it not been for Perry's previous single, UR So Gay: a rant against her boyfriend for "acting gay" when he's not.

Some bloggers in the US are decided. On the MSNBC site, contributor Tony Sclafani writes: "Well, it's official. It's cool to make fun of gay people again. How do we know? Because the folks in Medialand told us as much by relentlessly cheerleading two gay-unfriendly songs by newcomer Katy Perry." On UR So Gay she opens with the lines: "I hope you hang yourself with your H&M scarf/While jacking off listening to Mozart."

Jane Czyzselska, editor of lesbian lifestyle magazine Diva, admitted she was torn. "I don't think she's being homophobic. I think she might be a bit dumb ... a bit un-self-aware. The kind of behaviour you get from some privileged people - 'oh I didn't realise'. Perhaps she doesn't know any gay people who have suffered verbal or physical abuse."

She said the previous record was more problematic because of the issue of the word gay being used in such a pejorative way - as in unpopular - in the playground. The gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said he liked the music but found the lyrics dubious.

"They're not seriously homophobic but they can be read as implicitly demeaning gay people. I am sure Katy would get a critical reception if she expressed comparable sentiments in a song called 'UR so black, Jewish or disabled'. Should there be different standards for lyrics about gay issues, as opposed to race and disability issues? I don't think so. Having said this, the homophobia of some reggae, rap and ragga music is far worse. Some of these songs explicitly incite the murder of lesbians and gays. They are much more offensive than any lyrics sung by Katy Perry."

The chief executive of Stonewall, Ben Summerskill, said: "The lyrics are slightly demeaning to gay people but it validates the reality of a lot of gay people's lives."

He added: "Sometimes that degree of honesty is no bad thing and that's not for one moment to be taken as saying it's acceptable for some of the more extreme rappers to justify themselves."

Perry, whose parents are both Protestant pastors, has said she was not aiming to alienate gay listeners. In an interview with the US New Gay website, when it was put to her that she had annoyed many gay people, she said: "That's unfortunate. It's not what I came to do."

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