Dove Cameron Gives Love To Queer Kids In Her VMA Acceptance Speech

Sunday was an incredible day for out singer Dove Cameron. Not only did she perform an incredible and moving medley of her hit singles “Boyfriend” and “Breakfast” during the MTV VMAs but she also took home the award for best new artist at the awards ceremony.

It was a tough category as Cameron was up against K-pop group Seventeen and Eurovision winner Måneskin, the latter of which made major waves last year when the duo, Damiano David and Thomas Raggi, shared a passionate kiss on stage in support of LGBTQ+ rights in their home country of Poland.

Cameron, a queer artist herself, used the opportunity (and the literal stage) to give love to the other artists in her category, whom she “worships,” but most of all she wanted to take the time to dedicate her win to queer kids everywhere.

“I want to dedicate this to all the queer kids out there who don’t feel that they can take up space and inhabit the fullness of who they are,” Cameron began, receiving cheers from the audience. “Thank you for getting an overtly queer song onto mainstream radio. Thank you for supporting me as the artist I am, and I hope you can give others the same privilege as myself.”

Cameron channeled that same energy on stage during the awards show, with a very queer medley performance of “Boyfriend” and “Breakfast,” both of which speak to the singer’s queerness and political beliefs (the former is about the singer seducing away from her male lover and the latter was written in response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade). Naturally, she ended the performance with an overt political statement. Her dancers, who had been paired up with same-sex partners, punctuated the latter song by pulling down their tuxedo jackets and revealing the message “your voice is your power. Vote.”

Watch Cameron’s MTV VMA performance below. 

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