Today, June 28th, 2023 it’s the worldwide Pride Day
The date is a commemoration of the Stonewall Riots, a gay bar in New York that the police raided on this date in 1969.
Here are some musicians who have achieved great levels of success, and they have put down barriers and represented bravery, freedom, and loving yourself. Showing others to be proud of who you are, as a person, and to be strong for yourself. Because, as Lady Gaga says in Born This Way another LGBTQ+ Icon, “God makes no mistakes”.
So, don’t let anybody judge you, for your sexual identity, race, religion, nationality, etc. And just like rock and metalheads were usually looked down on, we have to keep on keeping on and support ourselves because above all, we’re humans and we’re the same.
Music unites people, it has always been a place for unity and feeling understood, and that’s what rock & roll is for.
THE ARTISTS
ELTON JOHN
FREDDIE MERCURY
The legendary singer of Queen, one of the best frontman in rock, was one of the first rock musicians to die of AIDS.
DAVID BOWIE
This groundbreaking artist always had an androgynous image and stage presence, inspired also by his acting and theatrical background, which helped him create Ziggy Stardust, a fictional rock star that was also an alien and pansexual.
David was bisexual and had an affair with Mick Jagger from The Rolling Stones.
MICK JAGGER
The larger-than-life frontman and singer of The Rolling Stones is also known for having many lovers, which included David Bowie. The song Angie is supposed to be for Angela, an ex-wife of Bowie, who found that Bowie was cheating on her with Jagger. This song is a rock classic though.
GAAHL
ROB HALFORD
A legend of heavy metal, the singer of Judas Priest. The Metal God, started to impose the classic leather metal look at the end of the 70s. A style that he got from the gay clubs and became a super manly look within the rock and metal scene.
RODDY BOTTUM
Faith No More‘s keyboard player. He’s openly gay and has a band with his partner, Man on Man.
JOSH KISZKA
The singer of Greta Van Fleet recently came out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community and immediately received the support of Rob Halford.
RAMMSTEIN
The industrial metal band has always supported the LGBTQ+ community, waving the rainbow flag on their shows, and writing about these topics, like the song Mann gegen Mann about homosexual desires.
Paul Landers and Richard Z. Kruspe, the two guitar players, always kiss on some songs on stage. They even kissed at the end of Ausländer when they played it in Russia in 2019, a country that has strict anti-gay propaganda laws.
Although these are just a little sample, there are other musicians that belong to the LGBTQ+ community and many others that support it. The important thing here is to always remember that we are equal in rights, no matter what, and that music unites people, it helps create awareness and makes us tolerant. We only have one life to live, so we might as well live it the best way we can, being happy, being ourselves, and respecting each other.