When lawmakers try to make LGBTQ+ people invisible, queer art and voices become more important than ever. Queer folks have always been a part of the culture, which was proven at the 2025 Grammy Awards — the gayest one in recent memory.
Case in point: Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” was nominated for three awards: Best Pop Solo Recording, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year. Though it did not win in these categories, Roan still triumphed as Best New Artist in no small part because of the track. And Justin Tranter — who cowrote the song with Roan and producer Dan Nigro — is immensely proud.
“This is for sure the crown jewel of my legacy,” Tranter says. “To be a tiny part of breaking arguably the first superstar who started their career out of the closet, to be a part of arguably the most famous gay song of all time so far…. The future is bright.”
“Good Luck, Babe!” reached the number-four spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the sixth most-streamed song in the U.S. on Spotify in 2024, cementing it as the biggest song of the year by an out LGBTQ+ artist. On top of being a certified banger, the lyrics are also remarkably gay, with Roan wishing luck to a queer girl trying to pray the gay away.
Chappell Roan sings "Pink Pony Club" at the 2025 GrammysEmma McIntyre/Getty Images
Tranter hopes the song’s massive success marks a shift in the industry. “No executive, no radio programmer, no editor, no one can ever say again that our stories aren’t relatable on a global scale,” he says. “We very gay people love straight stories when they’re amazing. Straight people love gay stories when they’re amazing. It’s not rocket science, and to finally in pop music have proof of that is amazing.”
The song’s mainstream triumph has given Tranter and other LGBTQ+ songwriters “a renewed sense of purpose,” he says. There’s a “never-before [felt] sense of excitement that these can reach the highest levels.” And in today’s political climate, that hope is more important than ever.
“Right now, art, no matter what art form it is, is so important because when you live in an oligarchy, they don’t care if we protest, they don’t care,” Tranter says. “Elon’s not an elected official. He doesn’t need to make sure that he gets reelected because he was never elected to begin. Making things that we love, that our community can relate to, is so important.”
Melody Walker, who cowrote Sierra Fennell’s protest song “American Dreaming,” which won the Grammy for Best American Roots Song, agreed with Tranter’s sentiment. “Changing the world starts with imagining better futures, imagining a more joyous connected community future,” she told Out on the Grammys red carpet. “I think what the current administration wants to do is strip away possibilities and imagination for what could be better.”
In response to Tennessee’s drag ban, Walker started a drag cover band for the Grateful Dead that tours the country. Their psychedelic music is “all about liberation and personal freedom, and I really think that that goes hand in hand with queerness. There have always been queer Deadheads, just like there’s always been queer musicians and queer everybody, so we’re just trying to stand up and represent and spread some joy.”
Queer music has power, which Walker knows firsthand. “When you’ve had a hard week, you come dance your ass off to some music with some community and remember that we’re here together, we’ve got this. There’s a narrow opening to get through this, but if we work together, we can do it.”
And then there’s INK, the out songwriter who worked on two songs on the Grammy Award-winning tour de force: 2025’s Album of the Year, Cowboy Carter by Beyoncé. The producer (who’s making her solo music debut later this year) was honored to lend her pen to a storyteller like Beyoncé.
“I’m here for everybody that’s loving themselves and loving everybody else and being authentically them, you know what I’m saying? No matter the label, no matter the title, I feel like it’s all about humanity.” She shared this wisdom on the Grammys red carpet with a contagious smile, her wife by her side. “Expressing yourself is expressing yourself with love, and that’s what I’m here for. I’m here for the love.”
Whether it was behind the songs or in front of the camera, the girls and gays showed out at the 2025 Grammys. Roan dragged up the stage with a glittery performance of her certified gay anthem “Pink Pony Club,” Doechii became the third-ever woman to win Best Rap Album, and Lady Gaga declared, “Trans people are not invisible” on stage while accepting her Pop Duo/Group Performance win for “Die With a Smile” with Bruno Mars.
“Trans people deserve love. The queer community deserves to be lifted up. Music is love,” said Mother Monster.
If LGBTQ+ folks were feeling defeated by Trump’s numerous attacks since taking office, the Grammys were a televised reminder of the power of love, joy, and community, which are what’s driving culture — whether conservatives like it or not.
“The reason there is such a cultural backlash,” Tranter observes, “is because the Grammys just proved how much culture has moved forward. That’s why the other side is so upset, because the proof is in the pudding. And the pudding is fabulous.”
This article is part of the Out March/April issue, which hits newsstands April 1. Support queer media and subscribe— or download the issue through Apple News, Zinio, Nook, or PressReader starting March 20.
