News for Queer Women

Gloria Gaynor’s Gay Icon Status In Jeopardy Over Political Donations

August 28, 2025

The “I Will Survive” singer’s MAGA donation history has enraged queer fans and put into question the gay anthem’s legacy.

It’s hard to imagine a pride party playlist or a night out at a gay club that doesn’t include the classic disco hit “I Will Survive.” Gloria Gaynor’s iconic gay anthem might have to pack its bags and walk out the door after it was revealed that the disco songstress has donated almost $22,000 to Republican fundraising platform WinRed since 2023, according to FEC records.

Queer fans, who have felt connected the Gaynor’s song as an anthem of perseverance, began to question the singer’s politics when she stayed silent after being announced as one of Trump’s Kennedy Center Honorees. Instead of rejecting the honor as fans were pressuring her to, Gaynor stayed silent, accepting the honor.

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Even The View‘s Anna Navarro took to social media to beg Gaynor to turn down the honor, writing, “Look, the woman is a goddess and deserves all the flowers that come her way. But I wish she wouldn’t accept an award from the hands of a man who has attacked the rights and history of women, people of color and LGBTQ. The gay community in particular, helped turn her signature song into an anthem. Trump is a stain on the prestige and significance of the KCH. Don’t do it, Gloria!”

It was this questioning of her politics that led people to her political donations under her given name, Gloria Fowles. According to FEC filings, Gaynor has donated to both WinRed and to specific campaigns for lawmakers, including Ted Cruz, Mike Johnson, and Josh Hawley. Gaynor has not donated directly to Trump’s campaign.

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“So lemme get this straight, so the gays were booking Gloria Gaynor for years, in return that b*tch used the money that she made to donate to the Republican party. F*CK HER,” one X user wrote after the donation news broke. Many others on social media echoed the same disappointment that an artist propped up by the queer community since the ’70s had turned her back on them.

Gaynor has made her fair share of appearances at gay clubs throughout the years, even demanding that shirtless men be removed from her line of sight at West Hollywood gay bar The Abbey, due to religious, not homophobic, reasons, according to her people. Despite her song’s association with queer life, Gaynor has never been outspoken about her support for the community. In an interview with the BBC in 2007, Gaynor was asked if her born-again Christianity makes her have a “religious opposition to homosexuality,” given that her hit song had become such an anthem for the queer community. Gaynor responded, “I want to lead them to Christ and what He has for them. I want to lead them to Him; I want to lead them to truth.”

When questioned about that interview in 2022, Gaynor clarified that she’s “not against anybody.” “I have several gay brothers – I mean, not brothers, but nephews. My social media person sitting here with me right now is gay. I have several gay friends. My fan club president is gay. None of them have any misgivings or any misunderstanding about how I feel about homosexuality, OK? But they also know that I will go to my grave loving them,” she said. You know it’s not great when they pull the ‘I have a gay friend’ card. Gaynor ended by saying that none of her religious beliefs “taint [her] ability to love them.”

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Despite Gaynor’s ‘hate the sin, love the sinner’ energy, her 1978 hit still manages to make its way into queer culture, even being featured in a lip-sync on RuPaul’s Drag Race. For some who have grown connected to the song, this might be a separate the art from the artist situation. For most, however, this might be one thing Gaynor’s gay icon status will not survive.

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