Is Gloria Gaynor a Trump supporter, and what has she said about LGBTQ+ rights?
President Donald Trump speaks during an event at the Kennedy Center on 13 August, 2025 in Washington. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump speaks during an event at the Kennedy Center on 13 August, 2025 in Washington. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Gloria Gaynor, whose hit “I Will Survive” is seen as a gay anthem, has been awarded a lifetime achievement award by Donald Trump, leaving many people speculating about her stance on LGBTQ+ rights.
The US president, who is the centre’s chairman, announced the first group of Kennedy Center Honors recipients back in August, and the awards presentation ceremony was held on 6 December.
Recipients of the honour include country star George Strait, Rocky actor Sylvester Stallone, singer Gloria Gaynor, rock band Kiss and actor, comedian and singer Michael Crawford.
A senior administration official said Trump ‘took a personal interest’ in shaping the list and rejected several nominees he considered ‘ideological’ or ‘too woke’.
According to the Daily Mail, Trump gave the honourees newly designed gold medallions with blue ribbons, rather than the rainbow-colored ribbons used since 1978.
The honour was created to celebrate lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts and was traditionally decided by a bipartisan advisory committee. However, in true Trumpian fashion, he has appointed his own board of trustees.
His decision to choose Gloria Gaynor as an honouree comes amid increased criticism of his attack on the LGBTQ+ community and their rights in the US.
Although there is no public record of Gaynor endorsing or supporting Trump, unfortunately, her past comments about the LGBTQ+ community have been problematic.
The Christian singer has refused to confirm if she thinks being gay is wrong. She was previously asked about how she feels about being a gay icon, to which she responded: “I feel good about it because I feel it is a platform for my purpose, which is to bring the love of Christ to all of my fans. Because they trust me, I think.”
Asked if she has a religious opposition to homosexuality, she said: “I want to lead them [her fans] to Christ and what he has for them. I want to lead them to him, I want to lead them to truth.”
Why is “I Will Survive” considered a gay anthem?
Gloria Gaynor’s disco classic “I Will Survive” continues to be considered as a gay anthem owing to its overt themes of resilience, which resonate with the LGBTQ+ community.
The song, which is about moving on after a bad relationship, has been described by Gaynor herself as “empowering,” while its 1978 release later became associated with the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s.
As reported by Smooth Radio, musicologist Nadine Hubbs previously wrote that people in the LGBTQ+ community have said they identify with “I Will Survive” because the “textual message of defiant and enduring presence was already well-tailored to queer identification needs, but this message and the song’s titular statement took on even deeper meaning with the dawn of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s”.
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