Dear David Bowie,
Over the years, you have encouraged so many of us. You validated bisexuality when you came out and openly performed as someone who claimed a bisexual identity. As the poster child of Glam Rock, you made all of us — bisexual or otherwise — feel a bit more comfortable in our own skin. “Suffragette City” empowers strong women to stand up against patriarchal harassment and oppression, to tell them “Hey man, don’t lean on me, ‘cause you can’t afford the ticket.” I have heard more than one closeted gay friend say that they were partly inspired to shake the chains of heteronormativity because of the lyrics to “Boys Keep Swinging.” The challenges to male identity within the song drove them to “unfurl the colors,” and “unfurl the flag” to become who they truly were on the inside.
But most of all, your androgynous superstardom has inspired transgender youth for decades and across borders. “Rebel Rebel” gives the trans community an anthem to abide by and to identify with. “We like dancing and we look divine” is a description that just about every transgender individual could fall under because I have never met a more unapologetically flamboyant and loving demographic. You took on your own androgynous identity in the form of Ziggy Stardust for the album “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars,” and composed tunes that made the transgender community feel normalized for once. “Soul Love” reminds us all that anyone can love in their own way, because “love is careless in its choosing.” Gay or straight, black or white, your song was a first embodiment of the “Love is Love” movement.
“It Ain’t Easy” addresses the frustrating judgments non-heteronormative, cisgender people receive, acknowledging religious prejudices in the line, “it ain’t easy to get to heaven when you’re going down,” but assuring listeners even so that God loves every person by turning the criticism right back on the hecklers: “Well all the people have got their problems, that ain’t nothing new, with the help of the good Lord, we can all pull on through.” Those words encourage struggling religious worshipers of all identities that they are loved indefinitely and that they are not alone.
Even your collaborations and productions have taken the transgender community under your wing. Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” gives their lifestyle and identities a sense of excitement and trendiness, rather than keeping them squashed under the cruel label of “the unnatural.” “Take a walk on the wild side” easily rings in the ears of LGBTQ+ members who are questioning themselves, reminding them to embrace sexuality, no matter the identity.
Though we know you will never read this, on behalf of LGBTQ+ communities, feminists and music lovers alike, we say thank you. Thank you for validating us, empowering us, and reminding us that just like Lady Stardust, “[We] will be alright and [our] song will go on forever.” We know we will be alright because your song will never die.
@megshulse
Photo Courtesy of: Nesster