Is Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" Promoting the LGBTQ Community?

Lady Gaga released her song "Born This Way" in 2011. In this song, she discusses the self-empowerment of minorities such as the LGBTQ community as well as racial minorities by incorporating several rhetorical devices such as symbolism and allusion.

At the beginning of the video, Lady Gaga uses upside down, pink triangles, which were historically worn by homosexual men in Nazi concentration camps. She utilizes this symbol to suggest that although several people accept and support the LGBTQ community, there are still people who condemn them by stereotyping them with labels.

Shortly after, “Mother Monster” appears in the music video Although it seems like Lady Gaga is trying to put herself on the pedestal through the use of Mother Monster,  Mother Monster actually symbolizes as someone the society needs to makes progress for gay rights.

Mother Monster then gives birth to her ideal race, who are all identical to each other to represent equality. In this scene, Gaga encourages her fans to respect and love each other regardless of race, religion, appearance, or gender because they are all equal.

The video then conveys to the audience an alternate universe, in which “Mother Monster gives birth to evil things. This symbolizes that although there are a lot of good people, there are also bad people around us.

Lady Gaga suddenly walks towards the camera to join her monsters. This is symbolic because she reveals to her fans that although she is a celebrity, she is not above them and she is human like them. In this scene, she is dressed the same as everyone else. She also sends a message to the LGBTQ community that they are not alone and she is on their side.

The dancing scenes throughout the music video represent a celebration of several communities in our society. Not only they are celebrating the LGBTQ community but also diversity by showing people with different races.

After Lady Gaga sings the bridge, She and her monsters are surrounded with the same fluid that came out of “Mother Monster” when she gave birth. In this scene, Gaga suggests that people should treat the LGBTQ community with respect because we are equal and we are all humans.

While the evil “Mother Monster”  makes an appearance again, Gaga and the other monsters continue dancing without seeming to care about the evil “Mother Monster”. In this scene, Lady Gaga sends the message to the LGBTQ community that they should not care about what other people think about them because there are other people who are like them and who are willing to accept them for who they are.

Towards the end of the video, Lady Gaga makes an ode to Michael Jackson and Madonna. She does this because they also support the same things she supports such as self-love, LGBTQ community, self-expression, and humanity.

At the end of the video, the triangle is right side up. The gay community used the upside down triangle that represented homosexuals in Nazi concentration camps and turned it right side up. This symbolizes gay rights and gay pride. Although we have made significant progress in gay rights, we are still on our way to equality.

A cartoon image of the evil “Mother Monster” suddenly pops up, reminding us that there are still several changes we have to make and we must continue to fight evil if we want to achieve equality.

Works Cited

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV1FrqwZyKw