Kacey Musgraves will receive the Vanguard Award for LGBTQ Allyship at this year’s GLAAD Media Awards.
The six-time Grammy Award-winning singer will join previous honorees like Beyoncé, Janet Jackson, Britney Spears, Cher, and Elizabeth Taylor.
Her song “Follow Your Arrow” includes the lyrics: “make lots of noise, kiss lots of boys, or kiss lots of girls if that’s what you’re into…just follow your arrow wherever it points.” She went on to perform the song at the GLAAD Media Awards in 2014, becoming the first country artist to perform at the ceremony.
Musgraves also worked with GLAAD in 2021 to raise awareness around anti-LGBTQ bills proposed in the Texas state legislature. Texas, a historically conservative state, recently passed a law that establishes gender-affirming care as child abuse.
As a native Texan, Musgraves has used her music and platform to support the LGBTQ community throughout her career and has openly spoken about the homophobic ideology she was exposed to growing up.
In a love letter to the LGBTQ community Musgraves wrote for Billboard’s Pride month campaign, she described the rural Eastern Texas stance on homosexuality as “archaic and behind the facts.”
After appearing as a guest judge on the fourth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars, Musgraves invited the winners to join her on stage for a performance of her disco-country song “High Horse.” Her music video for the song “Rainbow” was called an “ode to queer youth” by The Advocate. Her movie star-crossed: the film features many LGBTQ voices including Princess Nokia, RuPaul’s Drag Race season 13 winner Symone, and Hacks comedian Meg Stalter.
“From speaking out against anti-LGBTQ legislation in her home state of Texas, to raising awareness about bullying affecting LGBTQ youth, to uplifting the work of LGBTQ artists, Kacey continues to raise the bar for what it means to be an authentic ally and to inspire her fans to do the same,” said GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis.
Musgraves ended her Billboard letter writing: “To my friends in the LGBTQ community: thank you. While the career stuff is great, it’s fleeting. You changed me as a human.”
She joins Pose icon Michaela Jae (Mj) Rodriguez who will also be honored at the GLAAD Media Awards by her tick…tick BOOM! co-star Andrew Garfield with the Stephen F. Kolzak Award.
Hosted by Bob the Drage Queen, Eureka O’Hara, and D.J. “Shangela” Pierce, the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards will be held in Los Angeles on April 2.
