"Born This Way", the new single by Lady Gaga represents a sea change of sorts in music culture, and the larger culture. Not only is it the 1000th song to enter the Billboard Hot 100 at #1, but it is simultaneously the first single to utilize the word "transgendered". It is the most overtly supportive #1 single in the history of music of LGBT people. As such it represents a milestone. It is something we can point to to gauge the progress of our people from this point forward.
When I was a boy, I recall riding in a hot car, headed for California, on a vacation with my family. On the radio came the song, "Lola" by the Kinks. It is a similar milestone, as it was the first Top 40 hit to feature a transsexual as the title character. Ray Davies sang," I'm not the world's most masculine man, But I know what I am, I'm a man, I'm a man, and so is Lola", even though he was ordered by RCA Records to change the lyrics. Davies slipped it by them anyway.
To a queer boy in 1970, "Lola" was a life preserver. It is still a touch stone in the music of my band, Boys' Entrance. "Born This Way" will be the same life preserver to queer youth today and generations to come. It will literally keep kids alive. It will give them courage to carry on, FIERCELY!
Gone are the days when a label dictates to an artist what the content of their music will be. Lady GaGa is straight- but she is a straight ally. My hope is that her "Little Monsters" reach out now and learn about Queer Artists like me.
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