The Monster Ball tour starring Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga – artist, activist and role model

Lady Gaga (Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta) is a hugely successful American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor and activist. From the beginning of her success, she has been committed to LGBTQI+ rights worldwide, using her stardom to call for a queerer and kinder world.

She was a key role model for New Zealander Bella Simpson (born 1996), a young trans woman who came out socially as a transgender girl when she was 11 years old, and began a public life as a trans advocate when she was 12. At that time, Lady Gaga's sexuality and public persona confounded some people.

Bella went to Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball concert in Auckland in March 2010 which changed her life. Lady Gaga told the audience that they could be whoever they wanted to be. Bella recalls that at that time Lady Gaga was being labelled by some people as ‘weird and a freak, and that she would never make it in life’. Bella connected with Lady Gaga because she was also being labelled ‘a freak and a weirdo’. So when Lady Gaga achieved great success early in her career, this helped inspire Bella to lead a public life as a young trans kid.

This concert souvenir is precious because it’s key to Bella’s story as the timing of Lady Gaga’s emergence mirrored Bella’s coming out and ‘gave me a lot of strength going into high school’ (Simpson 2020).