During this year’s Pride parade in Los Angeles, a plane soared above the LGBT crowd and its rainbow-clad supporters marching down Santa Monica Boulevard. Trailing the aircraft was a banner advertising a concert for Lady Gaga. Several spectators pointed at the sight and laughed, while a few others rolled their eyes. On Facebook, a friend commenting on the plane comically remarked how Lady Gaga is “thirsty” for the gays, a term that usually refers to one in great need of loving attention.

More concrete evidence of this thirst was reported in a recent Variety article, which published a ranking of the public figures that gay men wanted to represent them as celebrity endorsers. Ellen DeGeneres topped the list, while Gaga was among the “least admired celebrities,” just barely beating Justin Timberlake, Hillary Clinton, and Channing Tatum.

But many pundits point to Gaga’s third album, Artpop, known in catty circles as “Chartflop,” as the most marked fall from gay grace. The lack of enthusiasm was reported last year by The Advocate columnist Neal Broverman in his opinion piece, “Is Gaga Over or Is Divadom?” Broverman remarked how a publicity stunt, in which Gaga did a bar crawl of West Hollywood, fell flat among the gay audience it was intended to titillate, noting that the album's lead single “Applause” was more of a “golf clap.” He proposed that the track may mark the end of an era where gay men will no longer idolize divas like Gaga due to the increasing acceptance of LGBT idols in the entertainment industry.

“The phenomenon may be a vestige of a time when gay men had few to no role models in popular culture — we want to identify with people like us who struggle and persevere, but there are very few gay male singers or actors, especially those with outsize personas, embraced by the mainstream,” he wrote. “Their ranks will likely grow at a glacial pace, so the gay male–female diva pact is safe for the next few decades or so.”

The cultural and political climates are also to blame. Just as the gays are leaving historically LGBT neighborhoods due to the ever-expanding options of gay-friendly real estate, so, too are their eyes wandering to the plethora of new musical possibilities to endorse. In 2008 Gaga was one of the only pop stars of her visibility to sing her support of the LGBT community, whether in the lyrics or at political events like the 2009 March on Washington. To further this support, her music progressed from party anthems to songs like “Born This Way,” which were tailor-made rallying cries for a civil rights movement. Today, she is (thankfully) not alone in this pursuit. Droves of straight musicians are actively courting the LGBT market as allies, in addition to out solo artists like Sam Smith and Adam Lambert who continue to break records as out gay musicians.

In a recent interview with The Advocate, Lambert acknowledged the existence of a fatigue among gay music fans, but maintains it's typical of the cycle of fame. It’s only natural that Gaga, who enjoyed record-breaking success with Born This Way, would experience a backlash from the exposure.

“I know exactly what you’re talking about,” remarked Adam Lambert with a laugh, when asked about the gay ‘tude toward Mother Monster. “I think most artists though, that’s just kind of the trajectory. If you hit really, really big and really, really hard, there’s going to be the other side of the peak. There’s peaks and valleys. Sometimes you’re on a high, sometimes you’re not on a high.”

“I think she’s incredibly talented, a brilliant artist, an amazing performer, and people either like her or they don’t,” he said, adding “sometimes, when something is ‘trendy,’ or ‘new,’ we are even more drawn to it.”

In addition to the bus, an online resource named the Born Brave Map also connects youth to local resources like counseling and health centers. Thankfully, its search function has improved significantly over the past few months, allowing help-seekers to refine their search based by need and location.

One of these locations is Gaga’s own concert, which becomes a pop-up community gathering for her “little monsters,” of which many are LGBT youth. And like a Pride parade, it will also attract antigay protestors.

During her summer performance in Los Angeles, a man wheeled a large cross in front of the Staples Center, and began shouting through a megaphone, “There is hope for the homosexual, the lesbian, the fornicator” to the waiting line of Gaga fans. In response, two young men dressed in drag walked in front of the heckler and unfurled a large rainbow flag. Galvanized, the crowd cheered them on, indicating that perhaps, redemption may be at hand for Gaga as well.

Originally posted by liberalmusiclover

Originally posted by liberalmusiclover

Originally posted by Scandal & Media

So they left b/c of ARTPOP's success, or lack thereof?