Don't Question Ariana Grande's Gay Icon Status!
Many musicians show support for the LGBTQ community these days, but few have been as outspoken, as fiercely protective or as honored by earning the title of “gay icon” as Ariana Grande. The singer has been an ally her entire life, and from the moment she became famous, she has used her platform to advocate for equality, acceptance, fierceness and to raise awareness and money for the best of causes.
Grande isn’t just another friend of the community, she’s among the best of the bunch. Here are 13 times the “Positions” vocalist proved herself to be a true gay ally.
Photos from Instagram, Getty, Shutterstock, Screenshots.
1. That time she single-handedly ended the binary.
Ok, not single-handedly but she definitely didn't hold back on her thoughts about gender identity and supporting her fans all across the spectrum.
In a Q&A with the pop star uploaded to YouTube in celebration of the brand's one-year anniversary at Ulta Beauty, Grande said any of her fans, regardless of gender, could wear makeup. "Makeup is not gender exclusive, nothing is. What is the binary?” she said. “All makeup, any makeup, R.E.M Beauty. Everything you want to wear you should wear, it doesn’t matter. F**k the binary.”
Period!
2. Headlined Pride Events Around The World
Once she became a star and had a catalog full of pop hits, Grande began performing at Pride festivals and ceremonies. In 2015, she headlined Dance on the Pier, the biggest concert connected to New York City Pride. In the more than 30 years the event has been staged for thousands of LGBTQ attendees, it has been commanded by fellow pop titans like Cher, Demi Lovato, and even Madonna.
A few years later, Grande also headlined Pride in Manchester, in the U.K. Her performance was particularly important and moving, as a terrorist once set off bombs at the arena where one of her concerts had just finished, killing more than 20 people.
3. Brotherly Love
Anyone who has been following Grande even slightly knows by now that she has a brother who is openly gay and unafraid to live as flamboyantly as possible. Frankie has also made a career in the entertainment world, as a reality TV staple, singer and actor. Grande has not only helped raise her sibling’s profile and showered him with love publicly, but she doesn’t mince words with those who are unkind to him because of his sexuality.
In 2014, when a random person on the internet referred to Grande’s brother as “that homo” on Instagram, the chart-topper stepped in and shut him down. "That ‘homo' is the fiercest, most incredible, funniest, most intelligent, kind-hearted and most LOVED person on the face of the planet!" She went on to conclude her retort by saying, “Oh and also ‘that homo' gets more ass than you'll ever get in your life. k miss thing?"
4. “Break Your Heart Right Back”
Grande’s debut album Yours Truly was surprisingly successful, but it was her sophomore effort My Everything that turned her from an exciting new figure in pop to a household name. The full-length produced the smashes “Problem” with Iggy Azalea, “Break Free” with Zedd (more on that in a minute) and "Love Me Harder" with the Weeknd, but there was one song on the CD that’s known for being particularly, well, gay.
“Break Your Heart Right Back” is about a boy cheating on a girl with another boy. Grande said it’s written from her real life, as she’s “99% positive” that a man left her for another male suitor. As if that wasn’t enough to make the tune an LGBTQ anthem (and show that she supports those who have to go through this diffuclt situation), the cut also samples Diana Ross’ “I’m Coming Out,” one of the most iconic gay songs ever.
5. She Changed Religions
Grande was raised Catholic, but when she became old enough to understand the church’s position on homosexuality and to make decisions for herself, she booked it and found another way to worship, one that was far more accepting. “When my brother was told that God didn’t love him I was like, ‘OK, that’s not cool,’” she told The Independent in 2014. At the time, she decided to investigate the Kabbalah center that was being built near where she was growing up in Florida, and it didn’t take much for her to switch.
6. Her Support Of Marriage Equality
Marriage equality is the law of the land these days, but it wasn’t that long ago that it wasn’t legal for two men to get married all across the U.S. While performing at Dance on the Pier in 2015, Grande showed her support for the initiative, and also called out the Supreme Court justices who didn’t vote in favor of equality (the case, Obergefell v. Hodges, passed with a 5-to-4 majority).
“Make some noise if you think the Supreme Court justices who voted against gay marriage should get their heads out of their fucking asses and join the goddamn celebration. Make some noise if you've got one less problem without them motherfuckers," she shouted to the audience of thousands of LGBTQ+ fans.
Oh, and in a bit of coincidence, Grande’s birthday falls on the day the Supreme Court officially declared that states must support equal marriage.
7. Her Gay Anthems
Grande’s catalog is packed with hits, and several have earned the title of being “gay anthems.” Most artists are lucky to have just one tune be declared a favorite among the LGBTQ community, but with several in her arsenal, the Grammy winner’s collection is incredibly gay.
2016’s “Into You” is perhaps most rememebred as being a gay anthem, and many very-online fans are still mad it didn’t reach the top 10 (it peaked at No. 13 on the Hot 100 in America). Two years later, her comeback single “No Tears Left to Cry” was also instantly heralded as an important song for the community. She hit No. 1 in 2020 alongside fellow gay icon Lady Gaga on the Grammy-winning “Rain on Me,” which is still entertaining LGBTQ audiences everywhere.
8. The “Break Free” Music Video
Grande’s single “Break Free” is undeniably a bop, though it hasn’t quite earned the status of being a gay anthem…but perhaps that should be changed due to the tune’s music video. The visual is camp excellence, with a throwback sci-fi space age vibe powering the Zedd-featuring dance production. In the clip, two male aliens kiss, which must have pissed off some conservatives at the time (not that she cared).
9. Loves Being A Gay Icon
In 2014, Grande was interviewed by (seemingly now defunct) Australian outlet The Riff, and during the chat, she was asked her thoughts on being labeled a gay icon. Most artists would say something nice about the honor, but the singer took things a step further, commenting, “That’s my favorite thing anyone’s ever said to me in my entire life.”
10. Hates Homophobes
V Magazine recruited Ryan Murphy to interview Grande, as the two were busy promoting Scream Queens at the time. In the far-reaching chat, the singer and actress opened up about being an “old soul” and how some days she feels great pushing her sex appeal, while at other times, she doesn’t love it so much (which is very relatable).
Grande also talked about how she doesn’t understand people who hate the LGBTQ+ community. "I wasn’t raised in a household where it was considered abnormal to be gay" she said. "So for me to meet people who use the word f***** as an insult, with a derogatory meaning, I can’t take it. I don’t understand it. It’s so foreign to me.”
She went on to add that, "I hate the intolerance. I hate the judgment.” She took things a step further and commented, “When you see someone you love hurting, for such a superficial, bullshit reason, it’s like, how small and spiritually unenlightened and dumb as fuck can a person be? How much further can your head get up your ass that you’re actually judging someone as a person based on their sexuality before you even have a conversation with them?"
11. She Included her LGBTQ+ BFFs in the "Positions" Music Video
Grande released her latest track "Promises" alongside a music video for the song. The video, directed by Dave Meyers, is an incredibly fun twist on the track itself which is quite a sexy (but still fun) tune. While the words talk about being able to change positions for your man, the video is more about the versatility of women, being able to do everything at once. This is best illustrated with Grande posed as president, running the world, looking good, while also having time to make pasta.
For her cabinet, Grande reached out to a few queer friends! In the mix are Tyler Ford, Misha Lambert, Victoria Monet, and Tayla Parx. The four are friends and frequent collaborators for Grande. Parx co-wrote the massively successful "thank u, next" as well as "7 Rings," and "NASA" but has also written for other stars. Monet collaborated with Grande on "Monopoly" while also writing for tracks like "Be Alright" and "Let Me Love You." Lambert, who is a singer-songwriter as well, grew up with Grande in Boca Raton. Lastly, there's Ford who is a writer and editor, who also grew up with Grande in Florida and has maintained a close relationship with since.
12. She Features LGBTQ+ Dancers in Performances and on Tour
At the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2020, Grande premiered a medley of her thank u, next hits, and one of the dancers continually at her side is Darrion Gallegos. In a pink corset, silk short shorts, and heels, he is dressed no different than any of the other dancers. Neither is his choreography, and he’s definitely hitting it with the best of them.
This isn’t the first time Gallegos has danced for Miss Grande. In 2019 he went on the Sweetener World Tour with the star. “Thank you from every bit of my heart,” he wrote on Instagram in a message to Grande as well as some dancers and choreographers from the project. “You helped me see so much more within myself and become the man I needed when I was younger. Also thank you for allowing me to gender bend the fak out of this world nd[sic] contribute my part for the LQBTQIA+ community. You allowed me to be a part of something so huge and for that I am forever thankful.”
13. Raising Money For Trans People
In March 2022, Grande took her support of the LGBTQ community a step further and started putting her money where her mouth is. She announced on Instagram that she was raising money “to support organizations providing direct services and advocating for the rights of trans youth !” She went on to explain her timing, saying, “Right now there are hundreds of disgraceful bills pending in state legislature that target trans youth and aim to curb their rights. this will provide critical funds to organizations advocating for the rights of trans youth. please share & swipe to find out more about where exactly our money is going !!!”
Grande stated that she was hoping to raise a total of $3 million, with $1.5 million of that coming from her own pocket as she matched the $1.5 million she was aiming to get her followers to donate.
11 times J.K. Rowling did something wildly transphobic, ranked
J.K. Rowling attends day four of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse on June 20, 2025 in Ascot, England.
This story originally appeared on Out.
For almost a decade now, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has been spreading transphobia and has become the poster child for the UK’s troubling movement of TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists). She has gone on transphobic tirades on social media, written a nearly 4,000-word anti-trans manifesto, donated some of her fortune to anti-trans causes, regularly misgenders trans women, and gleefully celebrates every time the transgender community has their rights stripped away.
The author, once revered for creating an inclusive fantasy world where good triumphs over evil, let her LGBTQ+ fans down by consistently doubling down on her transphobic rhetoric. She has painted trans women as predators who are lying about their gender to take away women’s rights and enter women’s spaces under false pretenses. This dangerous vitriol has even caused many of the stars of the Harry Potter franchise to come forward and call her out for her anti-trans takes.
For queer and trans fans of Harry Potter, this abrupt turn was jarring and has undermined their love of a fictional world where marginalized groups are loved and fought for. But Rowling hasn’t just disappointed her fans by spreading her hateful views; she’s also done so in some of the most bizarre ways, leaving many people not just outraged, but scratching their heads.
11. Tone deaf Dolly Parton tribute
Rowling joined the world in mourning Dolly Parton by posting a tribute on X that backfired when the country music legend’s fans came out in droves to point out that Parton loved the LGBTQ+ community and wouldn’t have supported Rowling’s TERF views.
After Parton fans flooded Rowling’s comment section with messages like, “She certainly would have thought of you as a nasty, hateful woman. Nice little tweet though,” Rowling attempted to hit back after a user called her “a fucking monster” by posting, “Well, joke’s on you, because neither of us want Jolene to take our man.”
10. Accidentally wrote “f*ck up some TERFs” on a child’s drawing
Seemingly by mistake, Rowling replied to post on X about a nine-year-old kid’s drawing of Ickabog, a monster from her children’s book, by including text she likely meant to copy and paste elsewhere.
“I love this truly fabulous Ickabog, with its bat ears, mismatched eyes, and terrifying bloodstained teeth! In court, Wolf claimed the Facebook post in which he’d said he wanted to ‘f*** up some TERFs’ was just ‘bravado’. #TheIckabog.”
Internet sleuths figured out that in the post, Rowling was misgendering Tara Wolf, a trans woman accused of assaulting Maria MacLachlan, who was at an anti-trans protest in 2017.
9. Accused Olympic boxer Imane Khelif of being trans
When Algerian boxer Imane Khelif took home gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Rowling joined fellow wealthy bigot Elon Musk in spreading the rumor that the cisgender boxer was secretly a man, leaning hard into the ever-present transphobia and anti-intersex hate in women's sports.
Even after both Rowling and Musk were named in a criminal complaint filed with French authorities over alleged “acts of aggravated cyber harassment,” Rowling refused to let it go and continued to post anti-trans posts accusing Khelif of lying about her gender.
8. Transvestigated another athlete
Less than five months after harassing Olympic boxer Imane Khelif for supposedly being trans, Rowling joined in on another transvestigation of a woman in sports when she accused cisgender Zambian soccer player Barbra Banda of secretly being a man — she is not.
Rowling took exception to the BBC naming Banda the 2024 Women’s Footballer of the Year. “Presumably the BBC decided this was more time efficient than going door to door to spit directly in women's faces," Rowling wrote on X.
7. Smoked a cigar to celebrate being a TERF
After donating £70,000 (roughly $88,200) to the anti-trans group For Women Scotland in 2024 to help them fight against a 2018 Scottish law that legally recognized trans women as women, Rowling celebrated in a ghoulish way when the U.K. Supreme Court decided that trans women aren’t considered women under the nation’s Equality Act.
Rowling responded to the court decision by posting a photo of herself with a drink in one hand and smoking a cigar with the other. While people like right-wing commentator Megyn Kelly commented “God bless you,” the post was also full of people slamming her for her cruelty in the face of people having their rights taken away. Pedro Pascal even called her out for doing “Voldemort villain s---" and referred to Rowling as a "heinous loser."
6. Accidentally turned herself into a meme
Rowling accidentally turned herself into a meme when she changed her profile pic on X to a photo that showed what looked like black mold-covered walls inside her mansion.
While the photo most likely shows wallpaper and not mold, users ran with it and began joking that the black mold had infected her brain as an explanation for her hateful anti-trans views.
5. Whined about being doxxed
On the eve of Transgender Day of Remembrance in 2021, comedian Holly Stars, actor Georgia Frost and drag king Richard Energy protested Rowling’s anti-trans views by staging a demonstration and posting a photo holding signs in front of the author’s home near Edinburgh, Scotland.
Rowling took exception to her house numbers being visible in the photo and accused the “actor activists” of “doxxing” her in an eight-tweet rant on X. But is it doxxing if the information is already public? Rowling claimed she received “so many death threats I could paper the house with them,” but both of her residences are historical landmarks, and one even has its own Wikipedia page.
4. Wrote a transphobic character that sounds an awful lot like herself
Under her pen name Robert Galbraith, Rowling wrote The Ink Black Heart, where a character gets harassed and doxxed because of their transphobic and racist views.
Rowling claimed that the character wasn’t based on her own experience, despite Rolling Stone writing that the character is doxxed “with photos of her home plastered on the internet” and subjected “to death and rape threats for having an opinion,” which probably sounds pretty familiar to people who have been following the author’s anti-trans outbursts.
3. Called David Tennant the "gender Taliban"
Rowling called Harry Potter actor David Tennant and people like him the “gender Taliban” in a post on X after he spoke out at the British LGBT Awards, where he called transgender critics “a tiny bunch of little whinging f*ckers who are on the wrong side of history, and they’ll all go away soon” and said they are on the “wrong side of history.”
In response, Rowling leaned into hateful anti-trans rhetoric that conflates being transgender with being an abuser of women. “This man is talking about rape survivors who want female-only care, the nurses currently suing their health trust for making them change in front of a man, girls and women losing sporting opportunities to males and female prisoners incarcerated with convicted sex offenders,” she wrote.
2. Dared police to arrest her
Rowling spoke out against Scotland’s new hate crime act in 2024 by daring police to arrest her for misgendering trans women. The act criminalizes “stirring up hatred” regarding age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity and variations in sex characteristics, which can result in a fine or a seven-year prison sentence.
Rowling then went on a lengthy tirade on X — something she is known for at this point — where she accused lawmakers of protecting trans women at the expense of “the rights and freedoms of actual women and girls.” She finished by telling the police to come and arrest her if what she wrote “qualifies as an offense” under the new law. “I look forward to being arrested when I return to the birthplace of the Scottish Enlightenment,” she wrote.
1. Posted an upskirt photo
Rowling, who claims to be a protector of women and rails against trans women being allowed in women’s restrooms, targeted a transgender British podcaster who she disagrees with by posting an upskirt photo of her. Freda Wallace became Rowling’s latest target when she refused to engage with the transphobe online.
Rowling responded by misgendering Wallace and posting a photo of her originally taken by anti-trans activist and fellow transphobe Maya Forstater, from slightly below Wallace to show her upper thigh. Rowling said that Wallace refused to debate her but to prove she has “no hard feelings” she posted the photo of another debate. “I hear he left an indelible impression on the audience. And the chair,” Rowling wrote.