Lady Gaga unleashed a righteous invective against the ugly responses to her International Women’s Day post with trans actor/influencer Dylan Mulvaney. “I feel very protective in this moment, not only of Dylan, but of the trans community who continues to lead the way with their endless grace and inspiration in the face of constant degradation, intolerance, and physical, verbal, and mental violence,” Gaga said on Instagram. “I certainly do not speak for this community, but I have something to say.”
On Sunday, Mulvaney shared a photo of herself and Gaga with the simple caption, “Happy international women’s day.” This triggered a torrent of transphobic comments from the usual suspects, both in the comments of Mulvaney’s posts and in some far-right or conservative-leaning press outlets.
In her post, Gaga delivered a solid media literacy lesson as she pushed back on the way some outlets characterized the anti-trans uproar as a “backlash.”
“When I see a newspaper reporting on hatred but calling it ‘backlash’ I feel it is important to clarify that hatred is hatred, and this kind of hatred is violence. ‘Backlash’ would imply that people who love or respect Dylan and me didn’t like something we did. This is not backlash. This is hatred.”
Gaga went on to admit that such a response was “not surprising given the immense work that that it’s obvious we still have to do as a society to make room for transgender lives to be cherished and upheld by all of us.” She went on to say that she hoped “all women will com together to honor us ALL for International Women’s Day,” and that all people are “celebrated equally.”
She closed out: “Because people of all gender identities and races deserve peace and dignity. May we all come together and be loving, accepting, warm, welcoming. May we all stand and honor the complexity and challenge of trans life — that we do not know, but can seek to understand and have compassion for. I love people too much to allow hatred to be referred to as ‘backlash.’ People deserve better.”
Mulvaney, unfortunately, has been the target of this kind of vitriol before. Even before her Bud Light sponsorship caused an anti-trans uproar last year, conservatives like Senator Marsha Blackburn and trans Olympian Caitlyn Jenner had criticized her “Days of Girlhood” series, in which she documented her transition. She’s also been a frequent topic of conversation among right-wing figures like Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Mulvaney spoke about coming to see these remarks not as “constructive criticism” but “pure hatred. She added: “I’ve now made a little bit of peace with the fact that people have a problem with my transness or with my joy. “And that’s on them. That has nothing to do with me, and I have to think about the people that I look up to that celebrate this version of myself. Those are the people I should be listening to.”