Lady Gaga Says Ambiguity About 00s Transgender Rumours Was To Keep Trans Kids Safe

In an interview with billionaire Bill Gates for his new Netflix series, Lady Gaga has addressed decades-old rumours that she’s trans. While it’s something that most LGBTQIA+ people or allies would know today as harmful and in extremely bad taste, in the noughties it was a topic commonly thrown around that Gaga was ‘born a man’, or had a penis.

“In my early 20s there was a rumour that I was a man.” she said.

“I travelled for tours, promoting records, and almost every interview I sat in … they were like ‘well there’s this rumour that you’re a man, what do you have to say about that?’”

The rumours first surfaced in the late 2000s, peaking in 2009 after a performance at the Glastonbury Festival. Speculation around a supposed bulge in Gaga’s costume led to a wave of online theories, with some fans claiming she had a penis. 

Rather than addressing the allegations head-on, Gaga took a more humorous approach, famously responding to Anderson Cooper in 2011 with the iconic line: “Maybe I do. Would it be so terrible?” 

Lady Gaga “concerned” about the impact young trans people

However, during her conversation with Gates, Gaga revealed a more strategic and empathetic reason for her silence.

“The reason I didn’t answer the question was because I didn’t feel like a victim with that lie,” she said. 

Gaga went on to explain that she was concerned about the impact her denial might have on young people facing similar accusations.

“What about a kid who is being accused of that, who would think that a public figure like me would feel shame?” 

“I’ve been in situations where fixing a rumour was not in the best interest of the wellbeing of other people, so in that case I tried to be thought-provoking and disruptive in another way. I tried to use the misinformation to create another disruptive point.”

Gaga’s ambiguity a ‘way to keep trans and intersex fans safe’

Gaga’s ambiguous answers to these persistent rumours were a way to keep her trans and intersex fans safe, she clarified.

In that 60 Minutes interview with Anderson Cooper she pushed back against his questioning, retorting, “Why the hell am I going to waste my time and give a press release about whether I have a penis? My fans don’t care and neither do I.”

In 2009, the BBC’s Jonathan Ross questioned a clearly exasperated Gaga about her lyrics, “I’m bluffin with my muffin”, to which she replied “I do have a really big donkey dick.”

In response to questions, Gaga’s manager told American ABC News at the time “This is completely ridiculous.”

Gaga later leaned in to the rumours, developing a drag king persona called Jo Calderone, complete with packer.

While ‘transvestigations’ scrutinising the bodies of celebrities have become a hobby for some internet users, the flurry of speculation around Lady Gaga’s biological sex was unprecedented for its time. 

Then, as now, a lack of understanding about the differences between intersex and trans experiences had the potential to paint gender diverse people as duplicitous, rather than a normal human variation.

Lady Gaga interview reignites discussions about misinformation in media about transgender people

The interview, which comes ahead of Gaga’s upcoming role in Joker: Folie à Deux and the release of her new single, has reignited discussions about gender and misinformation in the media. 

“People assume that someone like me that performs, that my performance is what’s not real, but to me that’s the most real thing that you’ll see about me”