Madonna as a gay icon

Madonna has been recognized as a "pioneering ally" by different media outlets, including The New York Times and Associated Press (AP), after a special emphasis in the AIDS crisis when the community or its subcultures were notably stigmatized and she was one of the first artists to advocate for the cause, according to publications like The Hollywood Reporter.

[5] After moving to New York City in the 1970s to pursue a career in modern dance, Madonna would be surrounded by gay men, including art-world figures such as the plastic artist Keith Haring.

[4] Christopher Glazek explains: "Madonna has been intimately connected to a wide community of gay men for decades, as an artistic collaborator, as a political ally, as an employer, as a friend, and as a sister".

[8] By the end of the 1980s and early 1990s, media "romantically linked" her name with various women, including Sandra Bernhard, Ingrid Casares, and model Jenny Shimizu.

[18] Nerdist's Eric Diaz considered her as "the biggest" and "relevant" among young people talking about these problems when government initially ignored the "thousands of mostly gay men dying of AIDS".

[50] Commenting about her then-massive appeal, Pamela Robertson from University of Notre Dame, wrote in Guilty pleasures (1996), that critics argue that many gay men and lesbians identify with "Madonna's power and independence".

[64] Others have had conflicting or mixed views as well, including Mickey Boardman, although he gave her praise for offer work to ballroom dancers,[65] while Jose Xtravaganza retorted the criticism by saying "she didn't steal it, she did it with us".

Musto said that the term "gay ally" gets tossed around too much, as "if we're supposed to turn somersaults of joy just because someone famous thinks we're actually acceptable human beings who deserve equal rights".

[69] In 2015, Glazek suggested that censuring Madonna for "ransacking gay subcultures could be viewed as just another variation on the time-honored practice of devaluing the accomplishments of female recording artists".

[70] In 2020, Gonçalves explained that since her early career, Madonna opted for diversity, hiring homosexual dancers, Latinos and Blacks further playing with identities that were largely ignored in mainstream culture.

[76] On Internet, Madonna caused social media reactions after a TikTok video posted on October 22, in 2022 with the on-screen caption, "If I miss, I'm Gay"; she then throws the panties toward a nearby wastebasket, and "intentionally" failed.

[77] Similarly, in 2014, Madonna caused internet reactions by using the word "gay" to define Russian president Vladimir Putin and vegetables kale, in a BuzzFeed associated-word game.

[83] Madonna's popularity among young audiences, her embrace of sexuality, and her support for the community drew additional criticisms and raised cultural concerns in some sectors; different pro-family, political, and religious groups accused her of promoting homosexuality and immorality, including in 1993 during her Girlie Show, leading an unprecedented debate in the Mexican Chamber of Deputies.

[84] Similarly, during 1990's Blond Ambition World Tour and 1991's Truth or Dare, she wadded into debate of the 1988's section 28 by Margaret Thatcher, a law that prohibited the intentional "promotion of homosexuality" in the United Kingdom.

[4] In this decade, an author commented that "certain segments" of society found comfort in identifying her as a carrier of the AIDS virus, establishing her "moral guilt" as the disease was perceived "[...] as a punishment for immoral behavior".

[92] However, in 1995, Los Angeles Times reacted skeptical with The Advocate naming Madonna "Sissy of the Year", as she presented to her audience "ambiguous" and "mystical" about many things, including sexuality.

She drew criticism from the Russian government and caused opponents of gay-rights to sue her as the claimants argued that Madonna's performance would adversely affect Russia's birth rate and therefore its ability to maintain a proper army.

[96] To various Western viewers it reaffirmed, if not initiated, the connection between liberal gay rights issues and Pussy Riot, according to authors in Rethinking Gender in Popular Culture in the 21st Century (2017).

For instance, Christopher Rosa from Glamour felt and stated "she faced several of these battles alone",[101] and in similar remarks, Tiago Manaia from Portuguese magazine Máxima highlighted her "mainstream" status.

[105] In 1991, writing for LGBT newspaper San Francisco Bay Times, Don Baird said: "Never has a pop star forced so many of the most basic and necessary elements of gayness right into the face of this increasingly uptight nation with power and finesse.

[4] "When other artists tried to distance themselves from the very audience that helped their stars to rise, Madonna only turned the light back on her gay fans and made it burn all the brighter", felt and commented Steve Gdula for The Advocate in 2005.

[4] In Listening to the Sirens (2006), music professor Judith A. Peraino proposes that "no one has worked harder to be a gay icon than Madonna, and she has done so by using every possible taboo sexual in her videos, performances, and interviews".

[111] The staff of The New York Times also called her a "pioneering ally" in 2018, recognizing her advocacy saying: These days, there's barely a female pop star alive who doesn't loudly broadcast her unwavering, if sometimes exploitative, support for LGBT rights.

[116] Virtel said that Madonna accomplished something astounding with "Vogue": She ushered an "audacious", "unapologetically queer art" form into mainstream America, and that means gays everywhere got to witness (and recognize) a rare kind of performative ebullience.

[121] British writer Matthew Todd, in 2020, recalled her celebrity status, saying she "brought gay culture directly into the living rooms of the public", having "men dance together in her tours ... all the time speaking about homophobia in interviews".

[120] Mark Bego commented that her exploration of traditional gender roles helped make lesbianism more acceptable to mainstream society,[130] in various cultural contours.

In 2019, GLAAD's Sarah Kate Ellis said: "Her music and art have been life-saving outlets for LGBTQ people over the years and her affirming words and actions have changed countless hearts and minds".

[137] When Kim Petras became the first openly transgender woman to win a Grammy Award in February 2023, she thanked the singer in her acceptance speech for fighting for LGBTQ rights, saying "I don't think I could be here without Madonna".

[146] In 2016, to pay tribute to her contributions to the LGBT community, contestants of the eighth season of reality competition show RuPaul's Drag Race were asked to render some of prominent Madonna looks on the runway.

[157] Musicologist Sheila Whiteley wrote in her book Sexing the Groove: Popular Music and Gender (2013) that "Madonna came closer to any other contemporary celebrity in being an above-ground queer icon".