The month of June doesn’t only mark the start of summer, but also the celebration of the LGBTQIA+ community. In honor of Pride month, we’re looking at songs throughout the decades that have lent themselves as anthems to those who identify as LGBTQ. The songs on this list are well-known hits that topped the charts, but take on a new meaning when placed in the context of the LGBTQ+ community. Check them out below.
Videos by American Songwriter
1. “Beautiful” by Christina Aguilera
Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful” is one of the most empowering LGBTQ anthems of the past 20 years. Written and produced by Linda Perry, the song quickly established itself as a message of self-love and acceptance as Aguilera genuinely sings, You are beautiful no matter what they say/Words can’t bring you down, oh no/You are beautiful in every single way/Yes, words can’t bring you down.
“Beautiful” is widely known as an LGBTQ anthem, especially since the video released in 2002 features gay and transgender people. A poll conducted by United Kingdom-based charity and LGBTQ rights advocacy group, Stonewall, found that “Beautiful” was voted the most LGBTQ-empowering anthem in the past decade.
Aguilera also received GLAAD’s Advocate for Change Award in 2023. “So much of who I am and what I do is because of each of you, and the shared experience of having to fight for equality and freedom in some capacity,” she said in her acceptance speech addressing her friends and fans in the LGBTQ community. Sam Smith released a cover of “Beautiful” in honor of Pride month in June 2023.
2. “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga
When thinking of LGBTQ+ anthems, Lady Gaga’s hit “Born This Way” is likely to come to mind. The superstar co-wrote the song with Jeppe Laursen with the mission of writing a “freedom song.” Inspired by Carl Bean’s 1977 hit, “I Was Born This Way,” the lyrics offer a direct message of support to Gaga’s largely LGBTQ fanbase, including Don’t be a drag / Just be a queen, and Whether life’s disabilities left you outcast, bullied, or teased / Rejoice and love yourself today / ‘Cause, baby, you were born this way.
“Harkening back to the early ’90s, when Madonna, En Vogue, Whitney Houston, and TLC were making very empowering music for women and the gay community and all kinds of disenfranchised communities, the lyrics, and the melodies were very poignant and very gospel and very spiritual and I said, ‘That’s the kind of record I need to make,’” Gaga explained to Billboard in 2011 about the song’s inspiration.
“Born This Way” is one of her career-defining hits and its messages resonated worldwide, hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S.
3. “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor
When it comes to overcoming obstacles, no one knows that better than people who are part of the LGBTQIA+ community. Despite being released in 1978, Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” has a message that continues to resonate today with motivating lyrics like, Oh, as long as I know how to love / I know I’ll stay alive / I’ve got all my life to live / And I’ve got all my love to give and I’ll survive / I will survive. “I Will Survive” arrived on the scene just before the AIDS epidemic emerged in the U.S. in the 1980s, the song lending itself as a timely anthem.
“It was especially significant for me because I’d just come out,” University of Southern California Professor Karen Tongson told NPR in 2019. “The song had long associations with the LGBT community as an anthem … but in my newfound activism, in my new awareness around the different struggles the community faced—particularly around the AIDS crisis—I heard the song with new ears.”
The song topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and Dance Club Songs charts. Its impact on the culture is so significant that it was inducted into the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry in 2016.
4. “Unholy” by Sam Smith ft. Kim Petras
In 2022, Sam Smith and Kim Petras teamed up to offer a new LGBTQ anthem with “Unholy.” This gritty, queer-friendly hit puts a family man at the center of the story who lives a debaucherous lifestyle behind his wife’s back, as evidenced by such lyrics as I hear them whispering ’bout the places that you’ve been / And how you don’t know how to keep your business clean. “This song is about liberating oneself from the clutches of other’s secrets,” Smith described at the time of its release.
The song made history, as it marked the first time a non-binary solo artist (Smith) and an openly transgender solo artist (Petras) hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Petras also became the first openly trans woman to win a major category at the Grammy Awards when she and Smith won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance in 2023.
5. “Follow Your Arrow” by Kacey Musgraves
Country music has long had a complicated history when it comes to LGBTQ acceptance. But Kacey Musgraves broke those boundaries when she released “Follow Your Arrow” as a single off her debut album, Same Trailer Different Park, in 2013. Co-written with openly gay singer-songwriters Shane McAnally and Brandy Clark, the Texas native doesn’t shy away from her support for the LGBTQ community with such lyrics as, So make lots of noise / Kiss lots of boys / Or kiss lots of girls / If that’s something you’re into. In the decade since its release, the song continues to be a gay country anthem that fans wrap their arms around.
“I feel a kinship and a friendship with that community,” Musgraves told Taste of Country in 2019. “They really opened my eyes up to a lot of different things that I wasn’t aware of growing up in a small town in Texas. I will always be an ally and a strong supporter.”
Photo by Lucas Oleniuk/Toronto Star via Getty Images
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