Lady Gaga used the Grammys stage to declare that transgender people are “not invisible” on Sunday after President Donald Trump’s attacks on the community since his inauguration.
“Trans people deserve love. The queer community deserves to be lifted up. Music is love,” said Gaga after winning the Grammy in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category for her Bruno Mars collaboration “Die With a Smile.”
The shoutout from Gaga, who identifies as bisexual and is known as an LGBTQ+ icon, arrived after a sea of executive orders from the president that target the trans community.
The Trump administration has blocked gender-affirming care for those under age 19, declared that there are only two sexes and seeks to send trans women to men’s prisons while blocking their gender-affirming care (the prison order has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge).
Gaga has previously spoken out against Trump’s attacks on the trans community and, in an interview with Elle UK published last week, vowed that LGBTQ+ allies were “not going down without a fight” after the president’s election win.
“We will stick together. It’s going to be hard but I’m up for it. We’re up for it. And I just want everyone to know how deeply they’re loved and not invisible,” Gaga told the magazine.
Chappell Roan, who won Best New Artist among her six nominations, also used the occasion to acknowledge that it’s “brutal” for LGBTQ+ people before focusing her attention on the trans community.
“Trans people have always existed and they will forever exist, and they will never, no matter what happens, take trans joy away,” said Roan in an interview with GLAAD red carpet correspondents Chrishell Stause and Anthony Allen Ramos prior to the show.
The artist — who identifies as lesbian and is seen as a champion of the queer community — added, “I would not be here without trans girls, so just know that pop music is thinking about you and cares about you, and I’m trying my best to stand up for you in every way that I can.”
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Roan criticized Trump in a viral TikTok when she clarified why she wasn’t endorsing a presidential candidate last year, noting that there were “problems on both sides” and that the Democratic Party had “failed people like me and you.”