Madonna Tells Joe Fryer Why The Gays Are So Important To Her
An excerpt from a 2019 interview with NBC reporter Joe Fryer for Today has resurfaced on Threads and it’s worth revisiting because in it, the singer speaks about her bond with the LGBTQIA+ community, and the debt she says she still owes them.
A debt of gratitude
When Madonna first arrived in New York City, she felt “awkward” and out of place, she told Fryer. The queer community took her in. They gave her a safe space and a sense of belonging that, in her words, has stayed with her ever since.
That support is the through-line of her career. The music, the stage shows, the activism, all of it sits with a community that backed her before any chart did.
The mentor who started it all
At DNA, we love a good origin story. Madonna traced her inclusive worldview back to her teenage years in Detroit and her late ballet teacher, Christopher Flynn. He was the first person, she said, to make her feel truly special. Flynn introduced a young Madonna to the local gay club scene. She told Fryer that experience “changed her life”.
Decades of fighting for equality
That early acceptance fed decades of advocacy. She stood with the community at the height of the AIDS epidemic, when most pop stars at her level stayed quiet. Her work earned her the Advocate for Change honour from GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
In the same 2019 interview, she promised never to stop fighting for equal rights, and asked her supporters never to lose hope.
