The singer continues to show allyship with the LGBTQIA community
BY NIC CROSARA
On 30 July, a video from Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour was posted to TikTok and went viral. The recording showed a moment when the iconic singer is suspended above the MetLife Stadium crowd in New York on 29 July. In the clip, she’s thanking the audience and notices a pro-trans sign which is held up by a fan, and Beyoncé then declares “trans is beautiful.”
Orange Is The New Black’s Laverne Cox reposted the recording to Instagram and celebrated the moment, writing: “I started the Hashing #TransIsBeautiful in 2015 to empower trans and nonbinary people to see our beauty beyond cisnormative beauty standards. This wasn’t about me. This was and is for the people. Seeing it empower trans folks globally to embrace our special, anointed beauty lights me up on the inside. But hearing @Beyonce proclaim this trans affirming message, I don’t have words. I may have cried a little.”
With so much anti-trans laws, rhetoric and attitudes on the rise in the US and around the world, this is such a powerful time for Beyoncé to acknowledge and celebrate the community for all to see. This is notably far from the first time that the musician has stood by the LGBTQIA community during this tour.
The album is dedicated to her late gay Uncle Jonny and the LGBTQIA community. The revolutionary album features Black queer artists throughout and is a glorious celebration of Black and brown queer lives.
During her international tour, there were gender neutral bathrooms available at the selected venues along the way. The stage design for the tour has incorporated Pride flags into it with the progress Pride flag colours being used in intermission backdrops.
Sadly, O’ Shae Sibley – a Black gay dancer – was fatally stabbed at a New York gas station earlier this month while he was voguing to one of her songs. Beyoncé paid a tribute to O’Shae by posting a message on her website reading: “Rest in power O’Shae Sibley”.
With the onslaught of attacks on LGBTQIA lives, we need our allies more than ever. And Beyoncé’s allyship certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed or unappreciated.
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