7 times Adele proved herself a gay icon and ally
Adele might be well known for writing sad, emotive heartbreak anthems for the straight masses, but she’s also adored by queer people everywhere.
The English singer-songwriter has won acclaim from critics, but as we all know, it’s the opinion of the gays that really matters – and the general consensus is very much in her favour following the release of her new single “Easy On Me”.
The emotionally crushing anthem sees Adele directly address her son Angelo, asking him to go easy on her over her decision to divorce his father. The music video is a dramatic, cinematic follow-on from her 2015 song “Hello”.
Immediately after Adele dropped her new single, swarms of queer people rushed to social media to share their thoughts – and to say they were blown away would be an understatement. Gay Twitter immediately proclaimed that Adele exists “for the glam girls and gays”, while others praised it as “a bottom anthem”.
“Easy On Me” might have brought a new legion of gays to the icon that is Adele, but her LGBT+ fanbase has stuck firmly by her side for years. Why? Well, she’s a legend, an earth-shatteringly brilliant vocalist, hilarious – and all of those things have combined to make her a gay icon for sad queer people.
Below, we bring you seven reasons why queer people love Adele.
Adele loves the LGBT+ community, and we love her back. The singer has never made a secret of her support for queer people’s rights and dignity – in fact, she has (as you would expect for Adele) been quite outspoken in her allyship.
In 2016, following the massacre of LGBT+ people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, Adele spoke out in support of the community.
Speaking on stage in Belgium, Adele said: “I would like to start tonight by dedicating this entire show to everybody in Orlando and at Pulse nightclub last night… The LGBTQ community, they’re like my soul mates since I was really young, so I’m very moved by it.”
She also proved her dedication to the LGBT+ community in 2011 when she performed for free at Pride in London. Plenty of other artists have demanded hefty fees for performing at Pride festivals, but Adele’s decision to do it for no monetary reward showed that she really wanted to give back.
2. ‘Set Fire to the Rain’ was actually written to be a gay anthem
“Set Fire to the Rain” is one of Adele’s most dramatic songs – and that was exactly what she intended it to be.
After the song was released all the way back in 2011, Adele revealed that the title came to her “in the middle of the night when I got up for a wee”. The song, she said, was a personal one – but it was also supposed to be a “gay anthem”.
The singer revealed that she wrote the song after one of her gay friends told her that “Chasing Pavements” wasn’t enough of a gay anthem. Adele saw that comment as a challenge, apparently, and she set out to create a song that would delight queer people for years to come.
It worked, too – a decade on, “Set Fire to the Rain” remains one of Adele’s most karaoke-worthy songs, and it’s still beloved by queer people.
3. Adele is no stranger to partying in gay bars
Adele made global headlines when she and Jennifer Lawrence turned up at Pieces, a gay bar in Greenwich Village, New York, for a night on the town.
The pair apparently danced, drank booze, hugged shirtless men and took selfies while the crowd applauded. Proving that she is the ultimate gay icon, she even had a little boogie to Kylie Minogue.
Hilariously, Adele went on to take part in a game show hosted by a drag queen. She introduced herself as a married, stay-at-home mother.
Pictures from the night quickly went viral on social media, and LGBT+ fans were overjoyed to see Adele and her pal Jennifer Lawrence living it up in one of New York’s most renowned gay venues.
4. She knows that her son might not be straight – and we love her for it
Most queer people will remember growing up and having adults assume they were straight. It’s a painful, frustrating experience for LGBT+ kids who know they’re different, but maybe haven’t quite figured out exactly why.
In an interview with Time magazine in 2015, Adele proved in a simple but effective way that she wasn’t prepared to follow that old, well-worn route in her own parenting.
When speaking about her son Angelo, Adele said: “I can’t wait to know who his best friends are going to be, who his girlfriend or his boyfriend is going to be or what movies he likes… Whatever my kid wants to do or be I will always support him no matter what.”
5. Adele helped a gay couple to get engaged – and she offered to be their surrogate
Back in 2016, Adele was performing in Denmark when she invited fans Andre Soderberg and Simon Carlsson to join her on stage.
The singer was shocked and blown away when Soderberg decided to seize the opportunity and propose to his partner on stage. Adele responded in the best possible way – she jumped up and down excitedly and embraced the couple, before asking: “Should I be your surrogate if you have children? I’d love to have a baby with someone Swedish.”
Amazingly, that wasn’t the only time Adele helped a gay couple get engaged. The following year, she was performing in Melbourne, Australia when she noticed a fan sobbing uncontrollably in the audience.
She invited him and his partner up on stage while she was singing “Hello” – and then, Wade got down on one knee and proposed to Chris.
“I had no idea that was going to happen… that wasn’t planned!” Adele declared afterwards.
6. Her music has helped queer people to come out
In an interview with Out magazine in 2016, Adele revealed that she has received countless messages from LGBT+ fans thanking her for her incredible music, with many saying her songs had helped them come to terms with their identities.
“I get a lot of mail from people who tell me that I make them really happy to be themselves, and really comfortable with who they are, which I love,” she said.
She went on to tell the story of a 15-year-old fan who approached her after a gig and told her that her song “Someone Like You” helped him to come out.
“He fancied someone at school, but he wasn’t out,” Adele explained. “And he listened to ‘Someone Like You’ and came out to his best friend and then to the boy he fancied, and it turned out that he was gay as well, and now they’re together – he’s like 15. I had to leave so I didn’t burst into tears.”
The adorable exchange proves that Adele is not only a gay icon, but she’s also an all-powerful sorceress who can rid queer people of their fears about not being accepted for who they really are.
7. She literally became an ordained minister so she could marry Alan Carr and his husband
Other stars have voiced their support for same-sex marriage, but Adele took it a step further when she became an ordained minister so she could play an active role in Alan Carr’s wedding.
The singer famously paid for Carr’s wedding to husband Paul Drayton and hosted the entire event in her own back garden.
“It was a very special day,” Carr told Mail Online in 2018. “She was amazing. She got ordained. I said, ‘Let me pay for something,’ and she said: ‘No, I’m paying.’ She paid for the whole thing.”
The wedding was Adele’s way of returning a favour to her gay friend. She stayed with him for a period of time following the release of 21 in 2011, where she slept on the floor – even though she was already a global superstar.
As Adele finally makes her long-awaited comeback, it’s clear that her gay icon credentials are only going to keep getting stronger as the years roll by.
Fans can pre-order Adele’s highly anticipated album on various vinyl editions, CD and more from Amazon, HMV and Rough Trade.
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