Yes – Artists Should Speak Up for Their Fans

In many niche corners of social media, it’s widely recognized that LGBTQ+ listeners make up a significant share of today’s music audience. Female pop artists, in particular, benefit from this community’s support—and should, in turn, show their support back.

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It is necessary now more than ever for artists to protect and speak up for marginalized communities, especially under this current administration where hostility toward the queer community is rising. AP News reported that just this August, multiple cities in Florida were “ordered to paint over or remove so-called rainbow crosswalks, brightly colored street crossings meant to celebrate gay rights and LGBTQ pride.” In addition, over half of the 50 states in the U.S. currently limit gender identity care according to CNN. 

This year’s VMAs (MTV Video Music Awards) offered the perfect opportunity to take a stand, and many artists did just that. At the awards ceremony, which happened on Sept. 7, Sabrina Carpenter loudly made her support of the transgender community known during her performance of her song “Tears,” the second single from her new album “Man’s Best Friend.” Many of the dancers were in drag, holding signs that said things like “IN TRANS WE TRUST,” “LOVE EACH OTHER,” “IF YOU HATE YOU’LL NEVER GET LAID” and “PROTECT TRANS RIGHTS.”

It is comforting and encouraging, as a queer viewer to see a pop star – and a straight one at that – of Carpenter’s caliber, not only clearly advocate for a vulnerable community, but also to celebrate trans culture and queer joy. Making space and giving a platform for drag performers to celebrate and express themselves loudly is such a beautiful and necessary thing to do, especially as the 2025 VMAs reached its highest viewership in the last six years.

Carpenter’s actions speak louder than those who have accused her of being anti-feminist amidst the explosion of discourse surrounding the album cover of “Man’s Best Friend.” The accusations of Carpenter being a conservative who set back feminism are debunked by her VMAs performance. 

While Carpenter’s support of trans people drew the attention of most viewers, there was no shortage of support for the rest of the LGBTQ+ community.  KATSEYE, the global girl group that has recently launched into stardom especially with their viral ‘Better in Denim’ Gap advertisement, yelled, “We love the gays!” in a red carpet interview with Logo TV at the VMAs. The group is known to be vocal about advocating for the queer community, even singing, “God bless the T girls and all the in-between girls” on their song “Mean Girls.” Two members of KATSEYE, Lara Rajagopalan and Megan Skiendiel, are loud and proud about their identities. Rajagopalan is queer and Skiendiel is bisexual.

Ariana Grande, one of the most famous singers today, also gave a shout out to the LGBTQ+ community. Grande said, “Thank you to my therapist and gay people. I love you." 

Queer representation and acknowledgment at events like the VMAs create safe spaces for and let fans, particularly younger ones, feel comfortable taking up space. 

Queer artist Conan Gray performed the second single, “Vodka Cranberry,” from his album “Wishbone” at the VMAs as well. It was a dramatic performance that retold the final scene of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” but featured Gray’s close friend and actor Corey Fogelmanis. The subversion of heteronormativity, using one of the most popular plays in history spoke volumes about queer representation in entertainment.

While the amount of queer people in the music industry is growing, it is still a struggle for LGBTQ+ people, specifically queer people of color and queer women to be recognized and respected. It is essential to acknowledge that queer people comprise a large amount of fanbases. Support is a two way street. Artists would not be successful without these fans and it is the musicians’ duty to advocate for these marginalized communities. All musicians, queer or not, should be loud in their support of their queer fans – especially straight artists who have unique privileges available to them.