The Bilerico Project | Daily experiments in LGBTQ

Switching gears from the hilariously awkward ad fail I posted earlier this morning, I now present one of the sweetest, most tender things I've seen in a long time: a 72-year-old Tennessee grandmother performing an original song about marriage equality.

Sherri Gray of Nashville, Tennessee has a lesbian niece who's marrying her fiancée in August. Inspired by the love the couple shares, Gray took to the piano and composed a song about marriage equality as a wedding gift. She titled it "What If We Are Just Like You? (Shannon and Lisa's Song)," and last month posted a YouTube video of herself performing the song while wearing a shirt reading "Straight But not Narrow."

When Gray's niece and her fiancée heard the song, they called it "the best wedding gift ever" and asked Gray to perform it at their wedding reception.

Gray told Gay Star News that while she doesn't go to church, she believes her moment of inspiration may have come from divine intervention:

I'm not a religious nut but I think the universe, God, someone said "OK here you go kiddo, here's another song." It just came to me.

My belief is who are we to say what is a soul? What color, what gender, what nationality is a soul? How can we put a label on anybody?

Gray said that she envisions her song being sung by a group, and that her dream is to have the song performed by an LGBT organization.

Watch Sherri Gray, grandmother of eight, perform her poignant tribute to marriage equality after the jump. I've transcribed the lyrics there as well. Fair warning: have tissues handy. If you're a sap like I am, you'll need them.

What If We Are Just Like You? (Shannon and Lisa's Song)
by Sherri Gray

Little children have their dreams,
No matter who they are.
And growing older, they wish for love
Upon an evening star.

The world will bless the wedding of
A woman to a man,
While he and he, and she and she,
Are told they never can.

Chorus: We laugh, we cry, we die and live
We've tried to fit, we work, we give.
We have a goal, we have a soul
Yet you say we're not like you.

Some say we're different, that we're wrong,
They want us set apart.
We say we're equal and we're strong
With human minds and heart.

Like you, we dream of homes and kids
And blessings from above.
Yet still so many shake their heads
And say we should not love.

Chorus: We laugh, we cry, we die and live
We've tried to fit, we work, we give.
We have a goal, we have a soul
Maybe we are just like you.

We pray that reason and respect
Will take away the fear.
That light and love will lift the dark
And then the world will hear.

We hope things will be different soon,
Not as they've always been.
So that he and he, and she and she
Can wed like her and him.

Chorus: We laugh, we cry, we die and live
We've tried to fit, we work, we give.
We have a goal - please, see our soul.
What if we are just like you?