{"id":34,"date":"2011-02-18T12:50:20","date_gmt":"2011-02-18T12:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/the_prophet_of_pop\/2011\/02\/dont-be-a-drag-just-be-a-queen.html"},"modified":"2011-02-18T12:50:20","modified_gmt":"2011-02-18T12:50:20","slug":"dont-be-a-drag-just-be-a-queen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/the_prophet_of_pop\/2011\/02\/dont-be-a-drag-just-be-a-queen.html","title":{"rendered":"Lady Gaga&#8217;s &#8220;Born This Way&#8221; Causes Internet Fights"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Lady Gaga has always been a performer who pushes people&#8217;s buttons.&nbsp; Typically it is her bizarre dress and ambiguous sexuality that have caused an uproar, not her music.&nbsp; With the release of her latest single &#8220;Born This Way&#8221; she tackles the issue of identity head on and &#8211; shocker! &#8211; it has caused yet another outbreak of internet fighting and awkward dinnertime conversations.&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p>While the song&#8217;s core refrain of&nbsp; &#8220;I&#8217;m beautiful in my way\/&#8217;Cause God makes no mistakes\/I&#8217;m on the right track baby\/I was born this way&#8221; is being taken by many conservatives as a direct challenge to their belief that sexuality is a choice, I think those clamoring against it are missing the point.&nbsp; There is no getting around the issue if you happen to disagree with her, but does that render the song meaningless?&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p>Consider these lyrics from the bridge:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t be a drag, just be a queen<br \/>\nWhether you&#8217;re broke or evergreen<br \/>\nYou&#8217;re black, white, beige, chola descent<br \/>\nYou&#8217;re lebanese, you&#8217;re orient<br \/>\nWhether life&#8217;s disabilities<br \/>\nLeft you outcast, bullied, or teased<br \/>\nRejoice and love yourself today<br \/>\n&#8216;Cause baby you were born this way&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>While the issue of sexuality may be the hot button topic, the real beauty of the message lies in the lyrics about disability, race, and bullying.&nbsp; Whether you agree or disagree with her that people are &#8220;born this way&#8221; with regard to sexual issues, there is no denying that there are many people suffering because of who they are.&nbsp; There is also no denying that homosexuals and transgendered people are often made to feel less by those around them &#8211; Christians included.&nbsp; This is <b>especially<\/b> true amongst teenagers.<\/p>\n<p>You may not be one, but there are millions of people who feel bullied, marginalized, and alone.&nbsp; There are millions more who are broke, struggling with their sexuality, and mistreated for their skin color.&nbsp; They can all find some solace in these lyrics, whether you can or not.&nbsp; Just because a song doesn&#8217;t resonate with you doesn&#8217;t mean it isn&#8217;t worthwhile!&nbsp; It just means it isn&#8217;t for <i>you<\/i>.&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p>For many people this song is positive and encouraging &#8211; something those railing against it are not.&nbsp; Perhaps the greatest irony then, is that this song is having more of a positive impact on people&#8217;s lives than the words of those bashing it.&nbsp; <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/theprophetofpop\">Click here to follow the Prophet of Pop on&nbsp;<b>Twitter<\/b><\/a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/prophetofpop\">on&nbsp;<b>Facebook<\/b>!<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lady Gaga has always been a performer who pushes people&#8217;s buttons.&nbsp; Typically it is her bizarre dress and ambiguous sexuality that have caused an uproar, not her music.&nbsp; With the release of her latest single &#8220;Born This Way&#8221; she tackles the issue of identity head on and &#8211; shocker! &#8211; it has caused yet another&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[149,151,153,88,150,152],"class_list":["post-34","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musings","tag-born-this-way","tag-gaga-god","tag-homoesexuality","tag-lady-gaga","tag-lady-gaga-born-this-way","tag-lady-gaga-grammys"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lady Gaga&#039;s &quot;Born This Way&quot; Causes Internet Fights - The Prophet of Pop<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/the_prophet_of_pop\/2011\/02\/dont-be-a-drag-just-be-a-queen.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lady Gaga&#039;s &quot;Born This Way&quot; Causes Internet Fights - The Prophet of Pop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lady Gaga has always been a performer who pushes people&#8217;s buttons.&nbsp; Typically it is her bizarre dress and ambiguous sexuality that have caused an uproar, not her music.&nbsp; With the release of her latest single &#8220;Born This Way&#8221; she tackles the issue of identity head on and &#8211; shocker! &#8211; it has caused yet another&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/the_prophet_of_pop\/2011\/02\/dont-be-a-drag-just-be-a-queen.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Prophet of Pop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-02-18T12:50:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"S. Russ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lady Gaga's \"Born This Way\" Causes Internet Fights - The Prophet of Pop","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/the_prophet_of_pop\/2011\/02\/dont-be-a-drag-just-be-a-queen.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lady Gaga's \"Born This Way\" Causes Internet Fights - The Prophet of Pop","og_description":"Lady Gaga has always been a performer who pushes people&#8217;s buttons.&nbsp; Typically it is her bizarre dress and ambiguous sexuality that have caused an uproar, not her music.&nbsp; With the release of her latest single &#8220;Born This Way&#8221; she tackles the issue of identity head on and &#8211; shocker! &#8211; it has caused yet another&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/the_prophet_of_pop\/2011\/02\/dont-be-a-drag-just-be-a-queen.html","og_site_name":"The Prophet of Pop","article_published_time":"2011-02-18T12:50:20+00:00","author":"S. 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