User:Stephenjamesx/Lady Gaga as LGBT icon

Gaga, often considered a gay icon, delivering a speech at the National Equality March in 2009

American recording artist Lady Gaga is considered to be a gay icon. Attributing much of her initial success to her gay fans, Gaga herself bisexual, has fought and continues to fight for the LGBT community both personally and through her music, fashion, performance and music videos.

Gaga acknowledges her "tremendous" gay fan base adding that, "I'm always gonna be the most supportive chick on the planet of the gay community." She has responded extremely positively to her LGBT following and believes that there is "no fucking spirit in the world like in the gay community." Upon her attraction of her gay fans, she has stated that they have been "the greatest accomplishment of my life" in addition to stating that "gay culture is at the very essence of who I am and I will fight for women and for the gay community until I die."

Inspired by Andy Warhol, David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, Madonna, and Grace Jones, Gaga has been influenced by musical and artistic peers who are also considered gay icons.

Life and career as a gay icon

Gaga performing at Bazaar, a gay club in Altanta, Georgia, in the early days of her career

Gaga attributes much of her early success as a mainstream artist to her gay fans and is considered to be a rising gay icon. Early in her career she had difficulty getting radio airplay, and stated, "The turning point for me was the gay community. I've got so many gay fans and they're so loyal to me and they really lifted me up. They'll always stand by me and I'll always stand by them. It's not an easy thing to create a fanbase." She thanked FlyLife, a Manhattan-based LGBT marketing company with whom her label Interscope works, in the liner notes of her debut album, saying, "I love you so much. You were the first heartbeat in this project, and your support and brilliance means the world to me. I will always fight for the gay community hand in hand with this incredible team." One of her first televised performances was in May 2008 at the NewNowNext Awards, an awards show aired by the LGBT television network Logo, where she sang her debut single "Just Dance". In June of the same year, she performed the song again at the San Francisco Pride event. Gaga said that being invited to play at the event "was a real turning point for me as an artist."

Towards the end of 2008, comparisons were made between the fashions of Gaga and fellow recording artist Christina Aguilera that noted similarities in their styling, hair, and make-up. Aguilera stated that she was "completely unaware of [Gaga]" and "didn't know if it [was] a man or a woman." Gaga released a statement in which she welcomed the comparisons due to the attention providing useful publicity, saying, "She's such a huge star and if anything I should send her flowers, because a lot of people in America didn't know who I was until that whole thing happened. It really put me on the map in a way." Aguilera's statement sparked subsequent rumors that Gaga is intersex. Although she dismissed the claim as an urban legend in an interview with Barbara Walters in her annual ABC News special "10 Most Fascinating People of 2009" and admitted that "at first it was very strange and everyone sorta said, 'That's really quite a story!' But in a sense, I portray myself in a very androgynous way, and I love androgyny", she later stated in a French television interview that she was "fascinated" by "the rumor that I have a penis" adding that it strengthened her love "even more" for her fans "because 17,000 of them come to an arena every night and they don't care if I'm a man, a woman, a hermaphrodite, gay, straight, transgendered, or transsexual."

Gaga flying the rainbow flag at a Monster Ball concert in Vancouver

After The Fame was released, she revealed that the song "Poker Face" is about her bisexuality. In an interview with Rolling Stone, she spoke about how her boyfriends tended to react to her bisexuality, saying "The fact that I'm into women, they're all intimidated by it. It makes them uncomfortable. They're like, 'I don't need to have a threesome. I'm happy with just you'." She later regretted the comments she made of her sexuality, saying, "I don't like to be seen as somebody who is using the gay community to look edgy. I'm a free sexual woman and I like what I like. I don't want people to write that about me because I feel like it looks like I'm saying it because I'm trying to be edgy or underground." When she appeared as a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in May 2009, she praised DeGeneres for being "an inspiration for women and for the gay community". She proclaimed that the October 11, 2009, National Equality March rally on the national mall was "the single most important event of her career." As she exited, she left with an exultant "Bless God and bless the gays," similar to her 2009 MTV Video Music Awards acceptance speech for Best New Artist a month earlier. At the rally, she performed a cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" declaring that "I'm not going to [play] one of my songs tonight because tonight is not about me, it's about you." She changed the original lyrics of the song to reflect the death of Matthew Shepard, a college student murdered because of his sexuality. Her attendance at the rally provoked Dan Zak of Washington Post to describe her as "a champ" for gay activists claiming that at that event, she "accept[ed] her crown as the gay community's reigning pop culture icon."

Months later, in November 2009, came the release of her second album The Fame Monster which won Gaga her first GLAAD Media Award, an awards ceremony that "recognize[s] and honor[s] media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the LGBT community and the issues that affect their lives," for Outstanding Music Artist at their 21st annual awards ceremony. The album produced the hit single "Telephone" which paired Gaga with fellow recording artist Beyoncé Knowles. Its accompanying music video, released in March 2010 and described as "a landmark showcase of sexuality", caused controversy for its lesbian overtones and inclusion of other "groundbreaking" themes. A video described as a "lesbian prison porn" in which Gaga is stripped of her clothes by two transsexual prison guards while one says to the other, "I told you she didn't have a dick," and shares a lesbian kiss with a prison inmate. Gaga stood her ground and stated that because "there are transsexual women and transgender[ed] women [in the video]," it suddenly became "poisonous" for "some people in this world that believe being gay is a choice. It's not a choice, we're born this way." Her following single "Alejandro" paired Gaga with fashion photographer Steven Klein for a music video similarly as controversial. Described as "a military fetish film", Gaga explained that the video is "a celebration of my love and appreciation for the gay community, my admiration of their bravery, their love for one another and their courage in their relationships. In the video I'm pining for the love of my gay friends – but they just don't want me to be with them." Proving successful after her garnering of 13 nominations at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, an awards established to honor the top music videos of the year, she commented, "God put me on Earth for three reasons: to make loud music, gay videos and cause a damn raucous."

MAC work.

Gaga immediately responded with care and support to Cole Goforth, an openly gay high school student from Tennessee, when he drew the attention of his school's administrators in April 2010 after wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "I Heart Lady Gay Gay"; paying homage to Gaga and her large gay following. Voicing her opinion on Twitter, Gaga said, "Thank [you] for wearing your [T-shirt] proud at school, you make me so proud ... you are an inspiration to us all," adding that "I love you Cole, you just be yourself. You're perfect the way God made you."

Gaga in "sexed-up" performances alongside "scantily-clad" men at Monster Ball concerts

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thumb|Gaga in her meat dress Gaga attended the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards accompanied by four service members of the United States Armed Forces: Mike Almy; David Hall; Katie Miller and Stacy Vasquez. All of whom, under the US military's "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) policy, had been prohibited from serving openly because of their sexuality. In addition, Gaga wore a dress fabricated from the flesh of a dead animal to the awards ceremony. Gaga wished that the dress, more widely known as the "meat dress", was interpreted as a statement of human rights with focus upon those in the LGBT community adding that "If we don't stand up for what we believe in and if we don't fight for our rights, pretty soon we're going to have as much rights as the meat on our own bones."

“ Equality is the prime rib of America, but because I'm gay I don't get to enjoy the greatest cut of meat my country has to offer. ”

File:DADT rally Lady Gaga.jpg

Gaga addresses the crowd at SLDN's "Don't ask, don't tell" rally in 2010

She later released three YouTube videos urging her fans to contact their Senators in an effort to overturn the DADT policy. On September 20, 2010, she spoke at the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network's "4the14K" Rally in Deering Oaks Park in Portland, Maine. The name of the rally signified the number – an estimated 14,000 – of service members discharged under the policy at the time. During her remarks, she urged members of the US Senate (and in particular, moderate Republican Senators from Maine, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins) to vote in favor of legislation that would repeal the policy. Following this event, editors of The Advocate commented that she had become "the real fierce advocate" for gays and lesbians.

Her most recent single "Born This Way", from her forthcoming album of the same name has been hailed a gay anthem. Fellow musician Elton John called it "the anthem that's going to obliterate I Will Survive." Named "the gayest song ever", The lyrics, about equality and acceptance, include such lines "I'm beautiful in my way / Cause God makes no mistakes" and "Don't be a drag / Just be a queen" "Whether life's disabilities left you outcast, bullied or teased/ Rejoice and love yourself today." rgrsggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg srgryrg rg re gdr ggggggggggggggg rey 5eyer ghr grd g rrrrrrrrrlkjjgnrhbthweg hrbtjhbgsjdhzbgjhsrbngrsnjhnrsjgkwrg jkgnrjhbgjhrsbg sjhgnrsjhgbrs fjgbrejhbgjhsdg jgbnrjbgkjsbgjks wjhegvfhgjhvbsjhv jhbfjhewbgurwhbnvjksnkjrs kjngkjrng rgjbrekjgbnjhr gjksdbgjkrbngkndf jkdngkrejdnbgkejrdngkdjngksjngkjehtgjn ujngkriehgnkj djfkgnbkirjsbgdns gurbgjkrsbgjudzng jbnrskgjb dkjsgbkjrgbkjsngkj dsgbnkjbkjdsg krjngjkrbg dsgkjnrltbn skdbgnirg dsg

“ Let society and young people know that they are just as valuable as anyone else. ”

Gaga at Europride 2011

europride

recent: rupaul.

Gaga has been the focus of many current female impersonators