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Lady Gaga received immense backlash from fans after sharing a photo with Dylan Mulvaney on International Women’s Day. American TikToker Dylan Mulvaney, who goes by she/her and they/them pronouns, underwent facial feminization surgery in December 2022. In the past, Mulvaney has been the target of transphobic comments regarding her transition.
Mulvaney previously faced a frenzy of hatred after one of her TikToks was sponsored by Bud Light for 2023’s March Madness. Later that year, Mulvaney spoke out about the outrage and claimed she felt disowned by Anheuser Busch.
Gaga’s International Women’s Day Post Stirs the Pot
To celebrate International Women’s Day, Gaga shared a lengthy post defending Mulvaney and trans rights. Mulvaney also shared the same image, among others, of herself and Gaga during a photoshoot.
“This is so degrading to REAL women,” one Instagram user wrote under Mulvaney’s collage.
“You are not a WOMAN. JUST SAYING. To celebrate yourself on International Woman’s Day is delusional,” another said.
In her own post, Gaga wrote: “It’s appalling to me that a post about National Women’s Day by Dylan Mulvaney and me would be met with such vitriol and hatred.”
“May we all come together and be loving, accepting, warm, welcoming. May we all stand and honor the complexity and challenge of trans life—that we do not know, but can seek to understand and have compassion for. I love people too much to allow hatred to be referred to as “backlash.” People deserve better.”
Gaga Wants the World to “Come Together”
As a bisexual woman herself, Gaga has been an avid supporter of the LGBTQ+ community for decades. She attributes much of her early success to the LGBTQ+ community and has been viewed as a gay icon. The turning point for “Mother Monster’s” career came with FlyLife, a Manhattan-based LGBTQ+ marketing company after she struggled getting radio airplay.
Her hit song “Born This Way” is a love letter to the trans community to celebrate their inclusion and equality. She has often expressed the importance of using her platform as a voice for the voiceless.
Many of Gaga’s recent posts have been littered with comments asking her to take action on the Israel-Hamas war, especially as a co-chair of President Biden’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.
In her post, Gaga asked fans to respect Dylan and the rest of the trans community, who “continues to lead the way with their endless grace and inspiration in the face of constant degradation, intolerance, and physical, verbal, and mental violence.”
Gaga hopes that the world will “come together [to be] loving, accepting, warm and welcoming.”
