Metro Weekly

Lady Gaga Speaks Up For Trans People At Her Vegas Residency

Lady Gaga doesn't waste an opportunity to speak up for the LGBTQ community, especially not during her Las Vegas residency.

Lady Gaga (instagram.com)
Lady Gaga – Instagram.com

Renowned pop sensation Lady Gaga is using her Las Vegas residency as a platform to reaffirm her status as a beloved queer icon. She’s always been very vocal about her love and support of the LGBTQ community, and that certainly isn’t changing now that trans people are under attack like never before.

The pop superstar is in the middle of another run of her Jazz + Piano residency, and she recently made sure that the audience heard loud and clear the words of one of her biggest hits.

She chose to include her single “Born This Way” during a recent Jazz + Piano show, which all LGBTQ people know well. The residency is focused largely on jazz songs and tracks that are part of the Great American Songbook, but she deviated from standards and put a fun classical spin on the dance-pop tune. 

During a moment captured on video from the show, Gaga sat at her piano and spoke to the crowd before and in between lines from “Born This Way.”

“I’ve got something to say about trans rights in this country,” Gaga declared with conviction, before commencing the opening chords of her former Hot 100 No. 1 smash. “When you’ve got something to say, you’ve got to speak up, right?” The comment was met with applause and cheers, of course.

As she crooned the lyrics, “There’s nothing wrong with loving who you are / ’cause he made you perfect, babe,” Gaga turned toward the audience, inviting them to join in, and encouraging them to sing along to the empowering lyrics.

Later, she went on to speak further about the state of the world and how people are treating LGBTQ people.

“And you know, sometimes you hear people say things like, ‘I don’t know what to say,'” Gaga said.

She had a piece of advice for everyone in the audience when they run into such a situation: “Just listen! Don’t say anything. Listen to the stories of real people’s lives,” she added, leaving a profound impact on all those in attendance.

Gaga is currently in the middle of the seventh official leg of her Jazz + Piano residency. She initially announced the shows years ago alongside a different residency titled Enigma.

While that run of concerts was electronic in nature, she’s continued with Jazz + Piano ever since, adding new dates here and there. She recently returned to Las Vegas in August with just a few weeks of warning. The Grammy and Oscar winner has concerts running into October, and more may be on the way.

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