Let’s revisit Madonna’s stardom & queer allyship through the decades

Madonna has lived at the peak of stardom for most of her life, but her heart remained grounded in the queer community.

The first to achieve the title of “Queen of Pop,” Madonna reinvented herself with 14 studio albums and achieved nearly every imaginable feat in the music industry, including becoming the female artist with the most number 1 singles.

However, there’s no shortage of worthy gay bangers in her 40-year-spanning music catalog.

Through her music, LGBTQ+ folks have found tunes for shameless love, resilience, and wild child rebellion. So many pop stars today have their publicists working tirelessly to sell them as gay icons, but Madonna sang queer liberation when it could ruin your career.

Despite the different eras of Madonna’s discography, her passion for the queer community burgeoned with her artistic evolution.

The “Like a Prayer” singer comforted people diagnosed with HIV when the world ostracized them, including honoring her close celebrity friends who died at the hands of the virus. She advocated for gay rights while the United States government snoozed indefinitely on equality.

Her career has been intertwined with gayness since the world first learned her name in the 1980s; she got her start performing at gay clubs, where her worth was immediately noticed.

Let’s roll back the camera on some of the pop legend’s most significant moments throughout the decades.