- [Woman] Talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing,
showstopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique,
completely not ever done before,
unafraid to reference or not reference,
put it in a blender,
shit on it, vomit on it, eat it, and give birth to it.
That's Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta in a nutshell.
The singer, artist, performer, actor, writer, activist,
pop queen, and queer icon is beloved by many
and known by all as Lady Gaga.
But Gaga's found a particularly large fan base
within the queer community.
To understand the community's obsession with Lady Gaga
we need to travel back down a long rainbow timeline.
Some of Lady Gaga's critics have said her homages
to pop culture history are unoriginal
and have even accused her of ripping off other artists.
Madonna, herself, once called Lady Gaga's work reductive.
But when viewed through a queer lens,
Gaga's not a con artist but a drag queen in her own right.
Drag has long been a part of the queer and trans community,
particularly the Black community.
In the late 1800s, William Dorsey Swann, a former slave,
was the first self-proclaimed queen of drag.
Swann hosted drag balls and took political action.
Also, a first to protect the community.
According to writer Brian O'Flynn,
"Drag today is about borrowing cultural references
"to construct a persona."
Many drag queens take inspiration from,
and impersonate, beloved icons.
O'Flynn states, "She borrowed tropes to construct
"the persona that accrued her fame,
"figuratively lip syncing along to legacies of Cher,
"Madonna, and the stars she imitated.
"She invented Gaga in the same way that drag queens
"do their own alter egos."
Gaga is not the first pop star to utilize dag fundamentals
to cultivate and reinvigorate her career.
For instance, take Cher or Janet Jackson or even Madonna.
These women have constantly reinvented themselves
decade after decade drawing on
cultural inspiration to do so.
Additionally, performances that would exaggerate
effemininity, like those of Cher and Gaga,
border on that of drag performance
according to the professor Dr. Katrin Horn.
Let's not forget Gaga's overt drag performance
at the 2011 VMAs where she appeared
as Jo Calderone, Gaga's lover.
In her performance as Jo, lasting the entire evening,
Gaga makes many statements on masculinity.
She began her performance with a monologue
in which Jo laments his relationship with Gaga, stating,
"I want her to be real but she says, 'Jo, I'm not real.
I'm theater.
You and I, this is just rehearsal'."
During a backstage interview with Jo,
confusion amongst the journalists can be heard
while Jo continues spewing hyper masculine answers.
In this performance, Gaga critiques not only on masculinity,
but gender as a whole,
pointing out its theatrical nature,
including the sexualization and objectification of herself,
Gaga, by herself, Jo.
Gaga's been open about her appreciation of drag
and the way that she utilizes it in her life.
In the 2018 film "A Star is Born",
Gaga's character Ally first performs as a part of dragnet
amongst real life drag queens, of which at least one,
Shangela, was specifically requested by Gaga.
Ally does her own pseudo-drag
while she belts out "La Vie in Rose".
He use of drag has a profound impact on her audience.
As O'Flynn states,
"Every person needs references to inform
"their social performance,
"to do a sort of drag in their daily lives.
"She taught a new generation of young queer people
"how to drag up and identity out of a barrenness
"around them, by looking to history and pop culture."
The drag queens have often been compared to the divas
of the opera and at the heart of the connection is camp,
something that's begun to cross over
from the queer community and into the mainstream,
so much so that in the 2019 Met Gala,
the theme was Camp: Notes on Fashion,
co-chaired by Lady Gaga.
And as pointed out by Lena Waithe's outfit at the Gala,
"Black drag queens invented camp."
But defining the word camp remains easier said than done.
One option is, "A style or mode of personal
"or creative expression that is absurdly exaggerated
"and often fuses elements of high and popular culture."
Or in a word artpop.
I mean, Lady Gaga.
Gaga comes from a long line of divas beloved
by the gay community.
One of the earliest gay icons in the modern era
is Judy Garland, who rocketed to fame
in "The Wizard of Oz" in 1939.
She became so iconic in the queer community
that the term, "Friend of Dorothy,"
became slang for being gay.
Following her would eventually be her own daughter,
Liza Minnelli, along with many other musical icons
like Barbara Streisand, Donna Summers, Grace Jones,
Bette Midler, Dolly Parton, Tina Turner,
Madonna, Whitney Houston, Cher, Diana Ross,
Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Britney Spears,
Christina Aguilera, Beyonce, and the list goes on.
According to psychotherapist Joe Kort,
there are several theories for the connection
between pop stars and, in particular, gay men,
ranging from gay men living vicariously through
the glamorous and resilient starlet
basking in male attention
to acting as a mother figure to men
whose real mothers left something to be desired,
or to starting as an escape
from the pressures of masculinity placed on boys
of all sexual identities that blossoms into
a lifelong attachment.
Where straight men might place those feelings
into romantic partners,
gay men have Mariah.
And while Lady Gaga may serve as any, all,
or none of those to her fans,
for many she holds an almost religious space in their lives,
with many stating that she saved them.
But maybe our love for our mother monster
isn't rooted in opera, camp, or drag.
Perhaps our adoration stems from her unabashed love
and support for us.
After all, she's been an out and proud bi-woman
since the beginning of her career.
When she confirmed her queer identity
during a 2009 national interview,
it was seen as momentous for some.
She's since spoken on bi-erasure within the community
and hinted on her own feelings of not belonging
in the very community she works hard to uplift.
She's spoken of creating space for her fans,
"I guess what I'm trying to say is I want to liberate them,
"I wanna free them of their fears
"and make them feel like they can create their own space
"in the world."
She's gone on to speak about LGBTQ rights,
do charitable work,
including the creation of her own foundation,
the Born This Way Foundation,
to help on bullying and provide support to LGBTQ youth,
and even created a physical space for her fans
during her Born This Way Ball
and the Born Brave Bus to connect
and share their experiences.
Not to mention her music which often celebrates
individuality, queerness, and self-love,
most notably her song "Born This Way",
which was partially inspired by queer music history
and became a near instant LGBT anthem.
However, the song was not met with universal approval
within the community.
Many felt it pandered to queer audiences.
"The song was chosen for us as an anthem
"as opposed to us finding on our own."
And others noted that Gaga profiting off of a song
intended to uplift us
and essentially commercializing the community
did not sit well with them.
Despite these criticisms, the song has been blared
in many queer spaces for the last decade.
But it is the acceptance and celebration she created
within all her music and persona that not only creates
a safe space for queer people,
but also challenges and queers the heteronormative culture
of pop music.
While Lady Gaga is certainly not the first pop icon
idolized by the queer community,
and will definitely not be the last,
the worship of divas and camp will always be a part
of the queer community's DNA,
as it has been for years.
Gaga's impact on the youth of the 21st century
will be long lasting.
And we'll be dancing to her bop songs till the 22nd century,
or at least we'll have a world
(upbeat instrumental music)