After receiving offensive comments to her post featuring transgender actor and influencer Dylan Mulvaney on International Women’s Day, Lady Gaga unleashed a righteous tirade. Gaga wrote on Instagram “I certainly can’t speak for this community, but let me share my thoughts that trans community always make their graceful & inspirational ways.
Mulvaney posted a picture of herself and Gaga on Sunday, wishing everyone a happy International Women’s Day. The usual suspects unleashed a barrage of transphobic remarks in response to Mulvaney’s posts, as well as in some far-right or conservative-leaning press outlets.
In her post, Gaga refuted the notion that the anti-trans outcry was a “backlash,” offering a sound lesson in media literacy. Also she said “I think it’s important to make it clear that hatred is hate and that this particular kind of hatred is violence when I see a newspaper reporting on hatred but labeling it “backlash.”
“Backlash” would suggest that something Dylan and I did didn’t sit well with those who love or respect us. This isn’t a reaction. This is animosity. Gaga went on to say that she was “not surprised” by the response, considering how much work society still needs to do to create space for transgender people’s lives to be respected and supported by all.
She said in closing “Everyone deserve peace and dignity irrespective of gender identities”. May we all unite in love, acceptance, warmth, and hospitality. Let us all take a moment to recognize the intricacy and difficulty of transgender life, which we are ignorant of but can try to comprehend and show empathy for. People ought to be treated better.”
Regretfully, Mulvaney has experienced this kind of hate speech in the past. Conservatives like Senator Marsha Blackburn and trans Olympian Caitlyn Jenner had criticized her “Days of Girlhood” series, in which she documented her transition, even before her Bud Light sponsorship sparked an anti-trans outcry last year.
Mulvaney said in a Rolling Stone interview that she had come to consider these comments as “pure hatred” rather than “constructive critique.” “I’ve now made a small amount of peace with the reality that people have an issue with my joy or my transness,” she continued. And they are to blame for that. That has nothing to do with me, and I need to consider the role models who embrace this aspect of who I am. That’s who I ought to be paying attention to.