That Eric Alper

You know the songs before you even hear them. A beat, a lyric, a shimmer of synth or a scream of freedom—and suddenly, you’re not alone. These anthems didn’t just climb the charts, they built homes. Homes for identity, homes for community, homes for joy, resistance, survival, and love in all its forms.

Here are 20 tracks that helped shape, celebrate, and soundtrack the LGBTQIA+ experience. And yes, you better believe Bronski Beat made the list.

Bronski Beat – “Smalltown Boy”
A synth-pop masterpiece soaked in melancholy and defiance. Jimmy Somerville’s falsetto told every queer kid in a nowhere town: you’re not broken, this place is. It’s an escape song, a survival anthem, and a beautiful cry for belonging.

Lady Gaga – “Born This Way”
Gaga dropped a mission statement. “Born This Way” arrived like a glitter bomb in 2011, declaring self-love and LGBTQIA+ pride with the subtlety of a Pride float blasting Cher. A Gen Z rallying cry and a disco sermon.

Robyn – “Dancing On My Own”
A lonely heart at the club becomes a holy spirit on the dance floor. Robyn’s anthem gave us permission to feel everything—heartbreak, longing, joy—at once. It’s a mood, in every sense of the word.

RuPaul – “Supermodel (You Better Work)”
This track built a runway for generations of queens, queers, and everyone who ever wanted to twirl in their truth. RuPaul brought drag to the mainstream with a wink, a strut, and a beat you could vogue to forever.

George Michael – “Freedom! ’90”
A closet-exploding anthem, crafted with swagger and soul. George Michael’s declaration wasn’t just about industry control—it became a message for anyone breaking free from expectations. And those supermodels in the video? Icon behavior.

Diana Ross – “I’m Coming Out”
If the trumpet intro doesn’t make you throw your hands up, are you even alive? Ross gave us the most joyful declaration of liberation ever recorded—and gave drag queens the ultimate walk-on track. Pure, golden emancipation.

Frank Ocean – “Bad Religion”
Frank Ocean cracked his soul open on this track, quietly rewriting the rules for what a Black gay man could say in R&B. A gospel of unrequited love, whispered in a cab, aching with truth and beauty. Vulnerability never sounded so brave.

Erasure – “A Little Respect”
Synth-pop with a side of heartbreak and a full serving of hope. Andy Bell’s voice is pure longing—and that chorus? Begging for dignity, begging for love, begging to be seen. Still hits like a lightning bolt.

Troye Sivan – “Bloom”
A euphoric ode to queer intimacy that’s sexy, sweet, and subversively tender. Troye Sivan flips pop’s hetero script with grace and glitter, giving boys who love boys a slow-blooming, sun-soaked anthem.

Sylvester – “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)”
Disco royalty. Sylvester didn’t just sing, he testified. With falsetto soaring above thumping bass, he transformed dancefloors into sanctuaries. This is freedom. This is ecstasy. This is what being mighty real sounds like.

Melissa Etheridge – “Come to My Window”
Raw, raspy, romantic. Melissa Etheridge turned a simple lyric into a longing anthem that echoed through bedrooms and barrooms alike. Her voice was a lighthouse for many in the 90s trying to find their way home.

Tegan and Sara – “Closer”
Joyously queer and unapologetically pop. Tegan and Sara brought indie cred into a dance-pop moment and made it their own. “Closer” is the sound of falling in love in the front row of a DIY show and texting all your friends about it.

Queen – “I Want to Break Free”
Freddie Mercury in a vacuum cleaner dress is only part of the story. This song is rebellion disguised as an earworm. From personal liberation to political protest, it’s a flamboyant fist in the air.

Janelle Monáe – “Make Me Feel”
A pansexual power surge that pays tribute to Prince while sounding like the future. Monáe’s groove is magnetic, electric, unapologetic. It’s bisexual lighting in song form—and we’re all under the spell.

Sam Smith – “Stay With Me”
A hymn of yearning that resonated with anyone who’s ever wanted someone to stay, even for a night. Sam Smith’s vulnerability put heartbreak on every radio, and we cried in traffic accordingly.

Tracy Chapman – “Fast Car”
Before representation was buzzworded, Tracy Chapman wrote raw, real love stories that crossed lines and broke boundaries. “Fast Car” isn’t explicitly queer—but it feels queer. It speaks to escape, survival, and dreaming of a different life.

Scissor Sisters – “Let’s Have a Kiki”
This is not a drill, this is a KIKI. Scissor Sisters turned queer inside jokes into an all-out anthem of survival, celebration, and sheer fabulousness. If you’ve danced to this at a drag show, you’ve lived.

Cyndi Lauper – “True Colors”
Gentle, aching, affirming. “True Colors” is the arm around your shoulder when the world feels cold. Cyndi Lauper became a lifelong ally, activist, and fierce friend to the LGBTQIA+ community.

Patti Smith – “Gloria”
“Jesus died for somebody’s sins… but not mine.” Patti Smith broke every rule and built something freer. “Gloria” is rage, power, reclamation—set to a garage rock prayer.

Kim Petras – “Heart to Break”
Pop perfection with an unapologetically trans voice front and center. Kim Petras brought heartbreak to the dancefloor with sparkles, high notes, and the kind of confidence that screams: I belong here.

It’s sometimes worth remembering that songs are lifelines. Anthems that lit the way through closets, clubs, heartbreaks, and Pride parades. Whether they whispered in your headphones or shouted from festival stages, they reminded us all:
You are seen. You are heard. You are loved.