Photo by Robin Marchant/Getty Images

Lady Gaga’s affiliation with the LGBTQIA community, regardless of its sincerity, validity, or necessity, exists. The masses have come to pair Gaga’s eccentric pop act with liberal and progressive ideals primarily in terms of the ongoing fight toward societal acceptance and legal equality for those with marginalized sexual orientations. No individual or organization has ever actually crowned Lady Gaga as “Queen of the Gays”, but an undeniable bridge has been built connecting Gaga and the very pertinent sociopolitical matter. 

I cannot accurately pinpoint the origins of these ties with the LGBT+ community and I lack the wherewithal to compose a timeline of its manifestation, but the link has a clear basis. Gaga often discusses her bisexuality and has publically advocated against anti-LGBT+ legal policies like Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. More recently, she has sought to deny the role of “gay icon”, explaining in her 2013 Huffington Post interview, “I never said I was a gay icon. When did that happen? Are those lyrics on the album? Absolutely not…I’m a gay supporter.” Even so, the 2011 hit anthem “Born This Way” is attributed with the notion of equality worldwide. 

Instead of further commenting on on the Gaga-gay relationship, I want to attack Lady Gaga’s paramount mantra. She sings, “I’m on the right track, baby, I was born this way.” When unpacked, the words translate to a firm assertion about the fundamental debate of nature versus nurture, in respect to sexual orientation that I just can’t seem to get behind. 

Despite being confident and comfortable in my own homosexuality, I do not believe that it exists solely as the result of biology. I do not believe that I was born any sort of definitive way that grants me with no control over my sexual choices. There is a moderate heap of evidence for a “gay gene,” but the findings are inconclusive. Even if such genetic differences between homosexuals and heterosexuals exist, (there probably are some differences) it is genetic predisposition that further requires an environment to “activate” or prompt homosexual behavior. A psychology professor of mine once remarked, that when it comes to nature versus nurture: “You’d have to be an idiot to think it’s strictly either one.” 

It is also human nature to reimagine strict determinism with notions of autonomy and free will. Simply put, we may be perceptually blinded by a passionate desire to have some control over our lives—even if everything is already mapped out. We can easily condemn the alcoholic who thinks he can stop drinking at will, but is actually controlled by neuropsychological forces of addiction. 

So, my beliefs may be conveniently bringing me to a conviction that we are not entirely “born this way” to harness control. Still, it is easy to imagine a thousand different life courses that might not have compelled me toward homosexuality. It is even easier to conceive of an alternative childhood with only a few things playing out differently. If I hadn’t been so chubby and if my mom bought me actual Uggs in the seventh grade, would I have gotten in with the popular girls? Would their friendship have been more conducive to a straight lifestyle? What if I had a boyfriend at a young age?  (Highly recommended song accompaniment, Freecious, What If). The “what if game” damns us in the obvious, selfish way that leads to a good, emotional cry over potentials, but it also slams us into the horrific brick wall that is the debate over determinism and free will. 

My advice that follows from asking if we have control over anything is: pretend that we do! Though there probably exists forces that determine our fates, we must remember that this anticlimactic answer does not account for why we still care. We do not cease to participate, become utter blobs, or pull a Carrie Underwood and just let Jesus take the wheel without questioning, “Whoa, Jesus, where are we going?” We care about where our lives go! There may be too many variables to grasp, in a situation akin to the viral Adult Swim infomercial Too Many Cooks. However, life’s complexity does not spoil our stew! It makes it all the more fun. 

As humans, we praise ourselves for our superiority over other animals by citing our reasoning capacities, morality, and higher sentience. The “Born This Way” claim should not be the fundamental reason for acceptance or equality. Those who identify as political lesbians (women who opt for lesbianism to align with their political and feminist ideologies) deserve these same rights. Arguing that those of sexual minorities simply can’t help it is irrelevant. By whatever combination of nature and nurture, these people deliberately elect to identify as such. This is what matters. Like the care for our own lives that keeps us each going forward, the tremendous conviction it takes to come out as a sexual minority is reason enough to command respect.

So, why do we need to throw our hands up in the air and our minds away, singing along to Lady Gaga and insisting that we were born this way to argue for equality? Though admittedly not as catchy as Gaga’s poppy tune, we should be bellowing, “I may be biologically inclined this way, I may be cultured this way, but regardless, I am this way, and do not need to have been born this way to be granted legitimacy.”