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The last time we talked about Lady Gaga was when her boyfriend, Michael Polansky, gifted her a huge basket of roses for her 35th birthday. Gaga is currently celebrating the 10th anniversary of the release of her Born This Way single and album. To honor Gaga’s activism for the LGTBQIA community, the mayor of the city of West Hollywood gave Gaga the key to the city. They also named May 23rd Born This Way day. Gaga said that black gay minister and LGTBQIA activist, Carl Bean, inspired the album. Below are a few highlights from the event from People:
“You’ve been the motherf—ing key to my heart for a long time,” the artist told the crowd, who cheered for her. “I’ll honor this and I’ll cherish this, and I promise that I’ll always be here for this day… to celebrate with you. To feel joy with you, to cry with you, to laugh with you. Because you know what we are? We’re poets and we’re just talking to each other.”
Mayor Lindsey P. Horvath said, according to the WeHo Times, that “through her music and activism, Lady Gaga has become a cultural icon for our generation.”
“The anthem ‘Born This Way’ has become an out-and-proud declarative stance for countless LGBTQ people. The Born This Way Foundation fosters honest conversations about mental health with young people and seeks to eradicate the stigma around mental health struggles. I’m overjoyed to declare today ‘Born This Way Day’ and, on behalf of the entire City Council, give a Key to the City to Lady Gaga as we launch Pride this year in West Hollywood!”
“Born This Way, my song and album, were inspired by Carl Bean, a gay black religious activist who preached, sung and wrote about being ‘Born This Way.’ Notably his early work was in 1975, 11 years before I was born. Thank you for decades of relentless love, bravery, and a reason to sing,” she wrote in the caption. “So we can all feel joy, because we deserve joy. Because we deserve the right to inspire tolerance, acceptance, and freedom for all.”
I am so happy for Gaga. She really is coming into her own. She shared her story of trauma and mental health in The Me You Can’t See following a sexual assault at 19. I honestly hope she is healing and knows she is loved by so many of us “monsters.” Despite not being part of the LGBTQIA community, I was moved by Born This Way as I have friends and family in the community. In fact for about three years straight, several friends and a cousin made me the first person they came out to. I also went with a friend who was transitioning to have surgery. I am not saying I know what it is like to be in the LGBTQIA community but I know what it is to support someone to come out. I remember how my queer friends felt seen and heard because of Gaga’s Born This Way album. I am excited to finally find out that Carl Bean was the inspiration for Born This Way and forward to learning more about his life. Anyways, I am patiently waiting for a new Gaga album (she released Chromatica in 2020). Hopefully Gaga won’t turn into Rihanna. I’m just saying.
I’ve always been a Gaga fan (I like her songs in general, but I love ones like Born this Way and Edge of Glory where you can really hear how good her voice is) but I wouldn’t have classified myself as a monster – I like her music and her costumes but don’t really follow her that closely, don’t know the names of all her albums, etc.
But “The Me You Can’t See” made me really love her. She’s been so through much, and is still going through it, and still lifts others up with her songs and activism. So far I think her segments may have resonated the most with me, with Ginny’s a close second (my SIL suffers from OCD).
Edge of Glory is amazing!
Yeah, I wish she would do more stadium pop rock songs like Edge of Glory and You and I were she shows off her vocals.
Agreed Becks, her segment on The Me You Can’t See is the one I remember the most aside from Oprah and Harry. (They’re all excellent of course.) I just remember a lot of social media long ago excoriating her and spreading rumors. I don’t doubt that she had some big problems, but those are what happens when someone has been traumatized and they’re acting out in various ways. I just felt like her segment was the most complete in terms of describing the entire issue.
She seems so dear. An incredibly talented, compassionate human with a heart of gold.
I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for Gaga. She has her flaws, but she means well and does a ton of philanthropy. She gave a speech not that long ago that kind of resonated with me where she was like “I’ve made mistakes, I’ve f*cked up, but I’ve educated myself because it’s never too late to learn and better yourself and it’s never too late to reach out to the people you love and let them know you love them.” As someone who gets bogged down in thinking about mistakes from the past on occasion and feels awkward about reaching out to people sometimes, it just clicked.
I also appreciate how she openly talks about mental health, her psychotic breaks in the past, etc. It’s good to remove the stigma from those situations. That story about the abusive record producer and how it impacted her for years was heartbreaking. Sad thing is that is very common in the music industry ranging from Dr. Luke to Russell Simmons and allegedly L.A. Reid and some other Swedish producer whose name I forgot (Gaga was briefly signed with Reid, but apparently he wasn’t the one as he never was her producer).
Also, Born this Way is still her best album imo.
Well over a decade ago, a friend of mine was the DJ for a gay circuit party in Palm Springs when a petite woman approached and handed my friend a CD and asked if her song could be played (then came back 30 minutes later to remind him!). She specifically wanted to see how the crowd would respond to the song. It was Lady Gaga. Her hustle is the real deal.
She looks amazing ala Amy Winehart. Love it.
I love this so much!!! She is exactly the person WeHo should celebrate, so the rest of us know things are getting a bit better.
I really cant get over her strength in not omlh talking aboit her rape but also her PTSD in Thr Me You Can’t See especially after that trash Piers Morgan came for her a few years ago so publicly with no recourse given over his very public abuse. I personally cant relate to that level of trauma but i really appreciated her sharing her story and the fact that she acknowledged in her segment how frustrating it can be to deal with a mental health issue for years and still have to fight through it but that’s its worth it. Ive been dealing with stuff for years and its really exhausting but i was really comforted by her words. Wishing her all the best.
I love that last photo, where you can see she’s a wee little thing wearing really enormous boots.
Always loved Gaga; still do!