Gay icon Tina Turner: She wasn't just a "rock grandmother", she was also the darling of LGBT+ people around the world. Not just because she was queer herself
The news of Tina Turner's death went around the world yesterday at lightning speed. Those who looked at social networks last night could not help but feel sad about the sad news of the passing of one of the greatest legends of modern music. "Tina Turner, the 'Queen of Rock 'n Roll', passed away peacefully at her home in Küsnacht near Zurich, Switzerland, today at the age of 83 after a long illness," her spokesperson informed the world of the singer's death.
But Tina Turner was not only an absolute rock star, but also an icon for generations of gay and other LGBT+ people around the world.
Gay icon Turner
One of the reasons for this is her incredible stardom and also the strength to fight for herself, which she showed when she left her relationship with her first husband, Ike Turner, who was her first musical partner in the 1960s - they performed together and Tina Turner launched her career with this. But she faced brutal domestic violence in the relationship. Ike beat her, abused her. "My relationship with Ike was sealed the day he realized I was going to be his money machine," Turner wrote in her biography, My Love Story. "He had to control me, economically and psychologically, so I could never leave him."
But she eventually did leave the relationship, divorcing in 1978. And embarked on a solo career that shot her to stardom. Even though she had to face the discriminatory and misogynistic environment of American show business. It was her strength to fight for herself and the success and happiness it brought her that became a motivation for LGBT+ people around the world.
But it's not just this story. Tina Turner has been an advocate for LGBT+ rights and a supporter of queer people. In a 2000 interview with The Advocate , she explicitly supported marriage for all. "I think it's wonderful when men marry men and women marry women. I think that's how God blesses them, I think."
But she supported queer people long before that, even where others had refused. She played a pivotal role for the LGBT+ movement when she spoke at the opening ceremony of the first Gay Games in San Francisco in 1982. Others were reluctant, she accepted. And she was also unafraid to give voice to people living with HIV at a time when it could have threatened her career.
She herself was queer
It was love on both sides. LGBT+ people loved her (and love her) and she loved us. She repeatedly expressed her gratitude to the LGBT+ community at her concerts and performances. And although she never emphasised her sexuality herself, she also didn't hide the fact that she was bisexual and had relationships with women. But at the same time, she never considered her sexuality a defining factor for her identity or her music. Just like no one queer wants to be seen as just one rainbow letter.
R.I.P., Tina. Rest in Power.
