Released as the first single from his aptly titled second solo album Listen Without Prejudice Vol. Rumors had been swirling for years around Michael’s sexuality but nothing was ever confirmed by him prior to this song’s release (shortly thereafter he came out as bisexual, before coming out as gay further down the line). We kick off our list with two iconic ones, George Michael and Boy George of Culture Club. The ’80s may not have been the best time to be living as an out LGBTQ person, except apparently for English pop stars. TIE: George Michael “Freedom! ‘90” (1990) and Culture Club “Karma Chameleon” Below we have our top 12 list of LGBTQ anthems from the 1980s and 1990s:ġ2. We’ve broken it down into 3 lists: Pre-1980, the ’80s and ’90s, and the 2000s.
Many are by LGBTQ artists others have been adopted by the LGBTQ community from straight, cisgender artists whose song was either inspired by our community or spoke to us at a time when we really needed it. While some have looked on it with a critical eye, we’ve decided to celebrate it, along with all the gay anthems that came before it. It also just won the Video of the Year Award at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards last week. Back in June, Taylor Swift released her single, “You Need to Calm Down,” which served as her take on making an LGBTQ anthem for 2019.
