WHO IS SHE?: You’re kidding, right? She’s only the hottest international glam pop sensation going with over ten million albums and over thirty-five million singles sold worldwide.
BEST KNOWN FOR HER CHARITY WORK WITH: The Haiti earthquake relief effort. She donated all the January 24th proceeds from her Monster Ball tour and online store to Haiti relief—it was over $500,000.
WHY SHE MATTERS: She’s a spectacular pop-icon with a big love for the gay community which helped her get her start. Not only did she speak out for LGBT rights at the National Equality March, but she’s also done a lot of fundraising for homeless LGBT youth and against AIDS.
QUOTE: “I don’t want to sound presumptuous, but I’ve made it my goal to revolutionise pop music. The last revolution was launched by Madonna 25 years ago. When I’m writing music, I’m thinking about the clothes I want to wear on stage. It’s all about everything altogether—performance art, pop performance art, fashion. For me, it’s everything coming together and being a real story that will bring back the super-fan. I want to bring that back. I want the imagery to be so strong that fans will want to eat and taste and lick every part of us.”
During her Monster Ball Tour, Lady Gaga offered premium VIP tickets to fans who volunteered at homeless youth organizations, “which raised more than $80,000 in proceeds… and generated 30,000 hours of community service for hundreds of charities across the country.” She raised $35,000 in a benefit concert for Virgin Unite, an organization fighting to stop the spread of “the Big 3” (Malaria, HIV and AIDS) worldwide. She also called her participation at the National Equality March the biggest moment of her career, saying, “I’ve got so many gay fans and they’re so loyal to me and they really lifted me up. They’ll always stand by me and I’ll always stand by them… I will always fight for the gay community…” God bless you, you wonderful monster, you.
[Charity information collected via LookToTheStars.org]
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Nick
Thank you for giving Boy George some of the props he deserves. (As well as all these other fantastic human beings, naturally) It’s always annoyed me how fast most Queers are to forget about him – he was, after all, out while Elton John was still married to a woman.
jeem
Stephen Fry supports the FSF?!?!?!
*swoon*
GoodBoy
Surprised that Elton John’s HIV work was not mentioned.
Other than that, quite an informative and interesting list. : )
marksnyder
So sad Rachel Maddow wasn’t on this list. She’s the true queer super hero! She’s smart, politically queer to the point of critiquing the gay marriage movement, and she understands intersectionality of issues. Plus shes hot and quirky.
mk
@marksnyder: Maddow wouldn’t fit in on the list. It’s for people doing significant charity work who have their fingers in a number of pies outside their regular job. So far since becoming famous on TV Maddow has stuck to doing her regular job and the things you described like understanding issues has just been part of her doing that job.
Tommy
Boy George doesn’t deserve to be on this list. He wasn’t just arrested for drugs, he was arrested for violently handcuffing another person to a wall and beating them with a chain. He has never apologized or shown remorse for that. Why do we as a community Idolize people like that? It is just wrong. Committing a violent crime like that and going to jail does not make you a terrific human being. Also, George has continuously attacked other celebrities in the media and rarely shown any generousity towards anyone.
Also as far as charity work, he skipped out on gigs that were designed to benefit people with HIV and was sued by several AIDS care organizations. Hardly a charity role model. Yet he’s allowed to get away with that because he wears a lot of makeup.
Also, like Elton while he wasn’t married he wasn’t out at the beginning of his career, but said he wasn’t gay but bisexual. Elton has raised far more funds for AIDS than George has.
I agree Rachel Maddow would be a much better role model for young gay people than Boy George.
Tommy
Another thing people should know about George and his “charity” work is that he was dropped by MAC because he refused to do the required public appearances to promote AIDS awareness because he was too busy getting high and chasing after rent boys.
You should do your research before choosing role models.
Jake
Look I love GaGa’s music but enough already. I’m 25 but why are all the young gay guys under 30 so warped into thinking GaGa is the greatest female pop artist in the world right now? She’s receycled a ton of Madonna’s ideas and even though the songs are catchy and fun they aren’t deep and meaningful. When Madonna sang Express Yourself it MATTERED. She sang about topics and causes 20 years ago most artists wouldn’t even touch today. I love GaGa (then again I like Britney too) but comparing her to a true pop icon like Madonna is like saying a pimped out Toyota Camry (mainstream and extremely popular) is like a new Jagular (still sexy and timeless after all these years).
Brad
Where the heck is Rosie O’Donnell? Why isn’t she on this list? Certainly more worthy than Boy George. With everything she’s done promoting gay family rights, she has become the true definition of family values. “Love, not blood, makes a family.”
Jose
@Jake:
well she’s only been famous for about a year or so
considering what she’s done in all that time is pretty amazing
Yet Another
Oh god. It’s not your dam list. You’re not going to agree with them all.
Olga
Drew Barrymore is bisexual???
j
Amazing list, with the exception of boy george. Best thing on queerty in a long time.
James UK
I remember watching Culture Club on “Top of the Pops” in September 1982. I was just 15. Within a year I was officially out. Not that I was really ever in … I mean the boys at school knew I was queer before any of us knew what sex was.
Still, the sight of George on national TV, was amazing to me. He was just beautiful. And very clearly queer. Like me. And in that moment, I knew something that I didn’t know before. That I could carry on. And I have.
And I’ll always, always love George for that.
hudson
@James UK: James- you could almost take your experience and transpose it to my own growing up on a farm in the middle of Saskatchewan, in the same year (and the boys seemed to know about me too). I first saw him on the evening news as this phenomenon steamrollering across the music scene. He was flamboyant and exciting and he inspired me to be a bit more myself. He may have gone sideways in his personal life, but I’ll still cut him slack.
GuyDads
My list of Gay Jewish Heroes: http://guydads.blogspot.com/2009/04/remembering-gay-jewish-history.html
alan brickman
Boy George rules….should be knighted….
ted
Wait – what?
Gaga is not gay or bi or trans or anything, is she? Other than an over-rated piece of shite pop star, that is.
Daniel Villarreal
Gaga is openly bisexual. And I also agree that Elton John would have been a far better choice than Boy George. Oh well, live and learn, I guess.
Wes
Great list. But, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland didn’t come out in 2008. It came out just a few weeks back, in 2010.
adman
Hey, where’s Tim Gunn? All he has to do is be himself.
Tommy
@Brad I totally agree with you about Rosie O’Donnell. I don’t know why I didn’t think of her. Not only has she done a lot for gay families, she has also done a lot of work for other causes like chidren’s organizations and also promoted theatre.
She has done work in a lot of areas, tv, film. stand up comedy, theatre etc so she is multi dimensional
[email protected]
kele from bloc party, owen from final fantasy, ed from grizzly bear, rostam from vampire weekend. these guys are doing way more than ricky martin
Superman
Some superheroes have alter-egos (i.e., “hidden” identities). In that case, you can go ahead and add Ryan Seacrest, Anderson Cooper, and Oprah Winfrey to the list. And moi. Wink wink. 🙂
Larkan
Where the hell is Clay Aiken on this list?