section_path: Activism/LGBTQ advocacy
section_name: LGBTQ advocacy
paragraph_text: LGBTQ advocacy
  
  A bisexual woman, Gaga has been actively supporting LGBTQ rights worldwide. She has attributed much of her early success as a mainstream artist to her gay fans and is considered a gay icon. Early in her career, Gaga had difficulty getting radio airplay, and stated: "The turning point for me was the gay community." She thanked FlyLife, a Manhattan -based LGBTQ marketing company which worked with her label Interscope at the time, in the liner notes of The Fame. One of her first televised performances was in May 2008 at the NewNowNext Awards, an awards show aired by the LGBTQ television network Logo.
  
  Gaga spoke at the 2009 National Equality March in Washington, D.C., to support the LGBTQ rights movement. She attended the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards accompanied by four gay and lesbian former members of the United States Armed Forces who had been unable to serve openly under the US military's " don't ask, don't tell " policy, which banned open homosexuality in the military. Gaga urged her fans via YouTube to contact their senators in an effort to overturn the policy. In September 2010, she spoke at a Servicemembers Legal Defense Network 's rally in Portland, Maine. Following this event, The Advocate named her a "fierce advocate" for gays and lesbians.
  
  Gaga appeared at Europride, an international event dedicated to LGBTQ pride, in Rome in June 2011. She criticized the poor state of gay rights in many European countries and described gay people as "revolutionaries of love". Later that year, she was referenced by teenager Jamey Rodemeyer in the hours prior to his death, with Rodemeyer having tweeted "@ladygaga bye mother monster, thank you for all you have done, paws up forever". Rodemeyer's suicide prompted Gaga to meet with then-President Barack Obama in order to address anti-gay bullying in American schools. She later endorsed him during the 2012 US presidential election. In 2011, Gaga was also ordained as a minister by the Universal Life Church Monastery allowing her to officiate the wedding of two female friends.
  
  In June 2016, during a vigil held in Los Angeles for victims of the attack at the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Gaga read aloud the names of the 49 people killed in the attack, and gave a speech. She also appeared in Human Rights Campaign 's tribute video to the victims of the attack. Following Joan Jett, Gaga was the second of nearly 200 musicians and music industry executives to sign Billboard ' s Open Letter on Gun Violence, demanding that Congress enact universal background checks on all gun buyers. She subsequently supported the 2018 March for Our Lives gun-control rally in Washington, D.C. Gaga opposed the presidency of Donald Trump and his military transgender ban. She supported former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for president in 2016. In 2018, a leaked memo from Trump's office revealed that his administration wanted to change the legal definition of sex to exclude transgender Americans. Gaga was one of the many celebrities to condemn him and spread the #WontBeErased campaign to her Twitter followers.
  
  In January 2019, during one of her Enigma shows, she criticized Vice President Mike Pence for his wife Karen Pence working at an evangelical Christian school where LGBTQ people are turned away, calling him "the worst representation of what it means to be a Christian". Gaga also stated: "I am a Christian woman, and what I do know about Christianity is that we bear no prejudice, and everybody is welcome". Gaga made a congratulatory speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots and the LGBTQ community 's accomplishments at WorldPride NYC 2019 outside the Stonewall Inn, birthplace of the modern gay rights movement. Following Trump's win in the 2024 US presidential election, in which Gaga endorsed Kamala Harris, she voiced her support for the transgender community after his rollback of their protections.
  
  A bisexual woman, Gaga has been actively supporting LGBTQ rights worldwide. She has attributed much of her early success as a mainstream artist to her gay fans and is considered a gay icon. Early in her career, Gaga had difficulty getting radio airplay, and stated: "The turning point for me was the gay community." She thanked FlyLife, a Manhattan -based LGBTQ marketing company which worked with her label Interscope at the time, in the liner notes of The Fame. One of her first televised performances was in May 2008 at the NewNowNext Awards, an awards show aired by the LGBTQ television network Logo.
  
  Gaga spoke at the 2009 National Equality March in Washington, D.C., to support the LGBTQ rights movement. She attended the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards accompanied by four gay and lesbian former members of the United States Armed Forces who had been unable to serve openly under the US military's " don't ask, don't tell " policy, which banned open homosexuality in the military. Gaga urged her fans via YouTube to contact their senators in an effort to overturn the policy. In September 2010, she spoke at a Servicemembers Legal Defense Network 's rally in Portland, Maine. Following this event, The Advocate named her a "fierce advocate" for gays and lesbians.
  
  Gaga appeared at Europride, an international event dedicated to LGBTQ pride, in Rome in June 2011. She criticized the poor state of gay rights in many European countries and described gay people as "revolutionaries of love". Later that year, she was referenced by teenager Jamey Rodemeyer in the hours prior to his death, with Rodemeyer having tweeted "@ladygaga bye mother monster, thank you for all you have done, paws up forever". Rodemeyer's suicide prompted Gaga to meet with then-President Barack Obama in order to address anti-gay bullying in American schools. She later endorsed him during the 2012 US presidential election. In 2011, Gaga was also ordained as a minister by the Universal Life Church Monastery allowing her to officiate the wedding of two female friends.
  
  In June 2016, during a vigil held in Los Angeles for victims of the attack at the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Gaga read aloud the names of the 49 people killed in the attack, and gave a speech. She also appeared in Human Rights Campaign 's tribute video to the victims of the attack. Following Joan Jett, Gaga was the second of nearly 200 musicians and music industry executives to sign Billboard ' s Open Letter on Gun Violence, demanding that Congress enact universal background checks on all gun buyers. She subsequently supported the 2018 March for Our Lives gun-control rally in Washington, D.C. Gaga opposed the presidency of Donald Trump and his military transgender ban. She supported former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for president in 2016. In 2018, a leaked memo from Trump's office revealed that his administration wanted to change the legal definition of sex to exclude transgender Americans. Gaga was one of the many celebrities to condemn him and spread the #WontBeErased campaign to her Twitter followers.
  
  In January 2019, during one of her Enigma shows, she criticized Vice President Mike Pence for his wife Karen Pence working at an evangelical Christian school where LGBTQ people are turned away, calling him "the worst representation of what it means to be a Christian". Gaga also stated: "I am a Christian woman, and what I do know about Christianity is that we bear no prejudice, and everybody is welcome". Gaga made a congratulatory speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots and the LGBTQ community 's accomplishments at WorldPride NYC 2019 outside the Stonewall Inn, birthplace of the modern gay rights movement. Following Trump's win in the 2024 US presidential election, in which Gaga endorsed Kamala Harris, she voiced her support for the transgender community after his rollback of their protections.