The Gayest Wins & Controversies at the 2023 Grammy Awards

Last night was the 63rd annual Grammy Awards and it was quite the star-studded event – and one hell of a night for LGBTQ+ musicians.

Laverne Cox, Big Freedia, Gus Kenworthy, Omar Apollo, Anitta, Tom Daley, and TJ Osborne and more strutted down the runway. Gay icons Adele, Bad Bunny, Lizzo, Harry Styles, Jennifer Lopez, Taylor Swift, Kacey Musgraves, and even Shania Twain were all in attendance as well.

Before the ceremony even started, Americana singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile won for best rock performance and best Americana album, and alt-rocker Steve Lacy snagged the win for progressive R&B album. Beyoncé won the Best Dance/Electronic Recording, Best Traditional R&B Performance, and Best R&B Song categories then accepted the award for Best Dance/Electronic Album category live on television, which officially pushed her over into the most-awarded person at the Grammys of all time with 32 wins. She won for her very gay 2022 album Renaissance, and she thanked her gay uncle who died of AIDS as well as the LGBTQ+ community in her speech.

“I’m trying not to be too emotional, and I’m trying to just receive this night," she began. "I wanna thank God for protecting me… thank you God. I’d like to thank my Uncle Johnny, who’s not here, but he’s here in spirit. I’d like to thank my parents, my father, my mother, for loving me and pushing me. I’d like to thank my beautiful husband, my beautiful three children who are at home watching. I’d like to thank the queer community for your love, and for inventing the genre. God bless you. Thank you so much to the Grammys, thank you."

Kim Petras and Sam Smith took home the Grammy for Best Pop Group/Duo Performance for their song "Unholy" and Petras took the opportunity to acknowledge the transgender folks before her in her acceptance speech. “I just wanted to thank all the incredible transgender legends before me who kicked these doors open for me so I could be here tonight,” she said. “SOPHIE, especially. My friend who passed away two years ago, who told me this would happen and always believed in me. Thank you so much for your inspiration, SOPHIE. I adore you and your inspiration will forever be in my music.”

Petras is one of 8 transgender/nonbinary artists to be nominated for a Grammy and only the second transgender artist to win the award. The first was Wendy Carlos who won three Grammys in 1968 for revolutionizing synthesizer music. Smith won three Grammys before they identified as nonbinary.

Smith and Petras later performed their #1 hit song "Unholy", which is already pissing off conservatives. The song was introduced by Madonna who asked the crowd, “Are you ready for a little controversy?” She added, “Here’s what I’ve learned after four decades in music. If they call you shocking, scandalous, troublesome, problematic, provocative or dangerous, you are definitely on to something.” Drag Race stars Violet Chachki and Gottmik performed on stage with the duo.

The biggest upset of the night was the Album of the Year award. Many fans expected Beyoncé to receive the honor for the masterpiece that is Renaissance, especially since she's been nominated four times over the last 14 years and lost. It an upset, it went to Harry Styles for his album Harry's House over Beyonce, Adele's 30, Lizzo's Special, and Bad Bunny's Un Verano Sin Ti. Many Bey fans are upset that Styles' queer approximations won over actual queer music and stylings, and his acceptance speech has gone viral (derogatory) after he claimed "this doesn’t happen a lot to people like me very often."