![]() ![]() It was a watershed moment in sports for LGBTQ athletes and allies. She pioneered when others wouldn’t, by performing at the opening ceremonies of the first ever Gay Games in San Francisco in 1982. ![]() She has been a longtime supporter and adored queen diva of the gay and LGBTQ community forever. ![]() The outpouring of love and respect from the world’s LGBTQ population is deserved. She blazed a trail for the chosen identity, and who could deny that “Tina Turner” was not the real her? I’ve worked too hard for it, your Honor.”įor our transgender and drag brothers and sisters, hear her. I’ll give up all that other stuff, but only if I get to keep my name. She gave up everything to keep what she treasured. While she was a cisgender woman of color, and none of those descriptions were ever challenged, she famously stood to fight for something that was … her name. When, during their contentious divorce, and Ike sought to deprive her of the identity she had built for herself, she fought back and she fought back hard. With her humanness, her fight, and her willingness to be authentic, she spoke to, and for, many in the LGBTQ spectrum.Īs we enter an era where identities are valued and under siege, Tina Turner was a pioneer. She played an erratic prostitute who advocated prophetic LSD in an effort to cure the title character. While other “iconic” singers debuted in film as sweet innocents, Tina’s launch was as the Acid Queen in Tommy. She was not likely to be mistaken for Doris Day or Petula Clark, no, Tina Turner had grit, strength and even a tone of rage. Right from the start, she sang from the edge. Her voice was not one of sweetness and ice cream sodas. An up-and-coming musician named Ike Turner domineered her into his act and gave her the name “Tina Turner.” In classic “star is born” form, Tina Turner overcame her mentor in talent and popularity, and he married her. In case you missed her story told many times, written about and immortalized on film, she was born Anna Mae Bullock. She was the diva of rock, not just as in “Rock and Roll”, which was true, but as in “rocking your world.” When she borrowed Sir Elton’s “I’m Still Standing”, we knew she meant it. For the non-conforming male personas amongst us, and for the female personas among us, she was our phoenix rising from the ashes of toxic masculinity, over coming it, and becoming the epitome of the queen, the warrior, the triumphant. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |