Growing up as a closeted queer Black kid in South Texas, LGBTQ+ representation was lacking, to say the least. I didn’t have any role models. I didn’t feel safe expressing myself at home or at school for fear of rejection, harassment, or worse. That’s why music was a form of escapism for me – it allowed me to visualize a world outside of my own, one where I could love and live freely.

The year was 1984.

Friday, September 14, to be exact. It was the very first time the MTV Video Music Awards aired. I was 9 years old at the time. MTV had become my channel of choice — a place where I could dance and imagine. After school and on weekends, I’d reach for our clunky 1980s remote and push the buttons one and six. The cable box perched atop our TV would glow with red digital numbers – channel 16, my passport to hours of musical escape. I would immerse myself in the music and artistry for hours on end. But September 1984 was the first time I witnessed it live. While I didn’t understand my queerness then, something about the award show made me feel free, liberated and rebellious. I found myself longing to embody the fierce individuality of Madonna and the edgy charisma of Billy Idol simultaneously.

Still, as a teen, there were no musicians that looked like me or made me feel truly seen. I often wonder how my youth could have differed if I grew up watching Janelle Monáe or Lil Nas X. What impact could it have had on my young, confused, insecure self to see Black LGBTQ+ artists living out and proud?

Now, in 2024, it brings me endless joy to see the new wave of LGBTQ+ artists openly thriving as their most authentic selves.

Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the VMAs, and the show was unapologetically queer. Your favorite drag queen’s favorite drag queen Sasha Colby introduced Chappell Roan for her debut VMAs performance. Chappell went on to win Best New Artist and her acceptance speech was a love letter to the queer community: “I dedicate this to all the drag artists who inspire me, and I dedicate this to queer and trans people who fuel pop… And for all the queer kids in the Midwest watching right now – I see you, I understand you, because I am one of you. And don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t be exactly who you want to be.”

Bi visibility took center stage last night, with presenter Tinashe and performances by Halsey and Anitta. Billie Eilish won the award for Video for Good and bisexual nominees included Victoria Monét and Cardi B.

In accepting her Video Vanguard Award, LGBTQ+ ally Katy Perry thanked “the LGBTQ+ community, who I recognize I would not be here without.” The night was truly a celebration of our vibrant, talented, and beautiful community.

The VMAs have a long history of shaping pop culture as we know it, and many of those iconic moments have been rooted in queerness. In 1990, Madonna introduced the ballroom scene and voguing – a highly stylized form of dance originated by Black and Brown queer and trans folks in Harlem – to a global stage for the first time. (And while we’re on the subject, I’d be remiss not to mention that infamous kiss in 2003).

In 2011, Lady Gaga attended the award show dressed as her drag king alter ego, Jo Calderone, never once breaking character. The following year, Frank Ocean performed a vulnerable, stripped-down version of “Thinkin Bout You,” shortly after coming out as bisexual in an open letter. Fast-forward to 2022, when Lil Nas X, The Trevor Project’s 2021 Suicide Prevention Advocate of the Year, used his performance to spotlight HIV awareness in the South and the stigma surrounding it.

MTV has also been vocal in its support of the LGBTQ+ community over the years. In 2017, MTV invited six transgender military members to walk the red carpet in a powerful political statement against a directive to ban transgender people in the military. That same year, MTV announced that they were renaming the “Moonman” trophy to a gender-neutral “Moon Person” to make the award more inclusive. At the time, MTV’s president Chris McCarthy said, “It could be a man, it could be a woman, it could be transgender, it could be nonconformist.”

These moments in pop culture aren’t just headline-grabbing; they can have real-life, positive mental health impacts on the young people who are watching. In fact, The Trevor Project’s research found that 79% of LGBTQ+ young people reported that musicians coming out as LGBTQ+ made them feel good about their own identity. Even more, 89% of LGBTQ+ youth reported that seeing LGBTQ+ representation in TV and movies positively affected how they feel about themselves. When LGBTQ+ youth have possibility models to look up to, it enables them to envision a bright future that they may not have known was attainable.

These findings are crucial, especially considering LGBTQ+ young people are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide compared to their straight, cisgender peers and at least one attempts suicide every 45 seconds. And, in another record-setting year of anti-LGBTQ+ policies being passed and the dangerous rhetoric surrounding them, it’s more important than ever for LGBTQ+ young people to see themselves represented in a world trying to erase them.

So far in 2024 alone, The Trevor Project found that hundreds of anti-LGBTQ+ bills were considered in state legislatures across the country. LGBTQ+ young people, particularly trans and nonbinary youth, are being treated as political pawns as their very right to exist has become a national topic of debate. We know that young people are listening – a staggering 90% of LGBTQ+ youth said their well-being was negatively impacted due to recent politics.

That’s why award shows like the VMAs can be so powerful – it provides a global platform for LGBTQ+ artists and allies alike to advocate for change, inspire dialogue, challenge the status quo, and show LGBTQ+ young people that they are not alone.

Last night, LGBTQ+ musicians’ artistry and creativity was on full display. It was a testament to not only how far LGBTQ+ representation has come since the first VMAs in 1984, but how impactful and inspiring LGBTQ+ icons have always been to our culture and the young people watching.

Photography: Getty