#484: Lady Gaga, ‘Born This Way’
Interscope, 2011
I move a lot. I’m almost always the new person in the room and it bites. Without fail, someone from the queer community notices me and makes me feel like I belong.
Whether it is at Sundance Mountain Resort hating our jobs and the people we are making sandwiches for, in a data journalism class watching Felicity on the big screen after hours or at a Christman program at my church congregation, it is always someone from the LGBTQ+ community that saves me a seat next to them.
Instead of myself (a straight, white cis female) going off about this album, I asked two of my friends, who I know are fans of this album and also exceptional examples of living in their truth, to share their thoughts.
@whoiselvigmichael: “‘It doesn't matter if you love him, or capital Him.’ I had never heard an artist mention God and gayness in the same lyric, let alone a positive affirmation. Those words still continue to save little versions of myself tarnished from growing up queer and Catholic. And then she drops the beat and all my body wants to do is thrive and honor those tarnished little Jakes. The album was released at a time when queer people could not serve openly in the military when the Catholic church was still covering up their abuse and blaming homosexuality when murdered trans people did not receive national marches and mourning. And yet we DANCED. I remember listening to the album cover to cover while walking my college campus and feeling an immense sense of liberation and security.”
@dan.kitsell who is always seeking to be a kinder, stronger, and more loyal friend said, “1. That it’s an incredible album but 2. that the song born this way is beautiful because of the message that there are things that we are born with that we can’t change and that’s what makes us unique and beautiful but that it doesn’t detract from the fact that we can change things that we don’t like about ourselves and become our best selves.”
Top songs: Born This Way, Judas, Americano, SheiBe, Bad Kids, You and I