Without a doubt, Kylie Minogue is an institution in the LGBTQ community. Whether it’s her music or her allyship, she has always been known as a pop legend who has achieved iconic status.
In a new, wide-ranging interview with GLAAD’s Anthony Allen Ramos to celebrate Pride and uplift the LGBTQ community, global superstar Kylie Minogue talks about deep commitment to supporting the LGBTQ community and her subsequent road to becoming an LGBTQ icon. The performer also shares inspiring stories from her LGBTQ fans, discusses her new wine, and reveals her personal all time favorite fashion moment.
As a prominent figure in the LGBTQ community, Minogue is truly an ally and she recognizes the issues that our community has faced in history – specifically in the past couple of years. She strives to continue to help amplify the message of inclusivity.
“In all different communities everyone has to be heard — understood might not be easy,” she explained. “I think within acceptance is also acceptance that it might take a minute for other people to understand.”
Kylie Minogue performed at the GLAAD Media Awards in New York City in 2014. Watch her performance here:
Minogue continued to say that as times change we can only keep working. “Keep up the noise [and] find the joy within the noise ,” she added. “Try to be the best version of our true selves. We’re changing all the time…but I think the community is strong, more than capable and I am a very proud ally.”
She continued to talk to Ramos about her role as a queer ally and what that has meant to her. Throughout her career, she has seen her relationship with the community grow – not only for her, but also for her sister, Dannii Minogue.
“I love the fact that my shows and my work [are] inclusive,” she said. “It’s something I’m very proud of but also something that’s very natural but I do appreciate that all of our voices help.”
The singer, who has sold more than 80 million records also says that it’s truly touching when she realizes how her music has helped her queer fans over the years. “The thing is I hear that a lot or I read it on [social media] or I get letters and my heart kind of swells with pride – and sometimes sadness that it’s taken something other than the people closest to allow you to know, find yourself and express yourself and be accepted. How on earth I’ve had anything to do with it mystifies me but I guess music and voice can be powerful and it means a lot to me when I hear that.”
She also shared with Ramos a story from back in the day, where she realized that the LGBTQ community was bestowing her with a “gay icon” status. “I think it was 1990 and I was in Sydney and there was a very famous gay bar on Oxford Street, and they were doing a ‘Kylie’ night – which I’d never heard of and never been to…I heard there were people dressed as me and it sounded like a good time. So that was the first moment I thought ‘Wow, something’s kind of happening’…over the years I think I’ve just always tried my best. I’ve tried to be myself. Anyone in this industry knows there’s obstacles [with] how to be accepted as yourself and that’s just what I try to do with anyone.”
Speaking of her style, Kylie Minogue has a multitude of memorable looks from the gold hot pants in “Spinning Around” to the plunging white jumpsuit with hood from “Can’t Get You Out of My Head,” to the Grecian-inspired armor looks from the “Aphrodite” era. But what is her all time favorite? “The video for ‘Slow’ in that Balenciaga dress is hard to beat!” she shared with Ramos.
Minogue has also been in the wine business with her own line of wines appropriately called “Kylie Minogue Wines” and the brand has been thriving overseas and now her line of wines are available stateside just in time for Pride.
The idea for the wines came when she was recording her album “Golden “ in Nashville. It was in the middle of summer and it was a million degrees. One night she was drinking some Rosé after a long day of recording amidst the summer heat and she looked at the glass and was inspired.
“I was holding this glass of Rosé and just the way the light was coming through it — it was just a beautiful time and beautiful moment,” Minogue told Ramos. I said I would love to have my own Rosé one day.”
She started to do some research and investigating. One thing led to another and she met a team that at the start of 2020 that would help her. She added “It was just a bit of kismet…we found each other and realized we had the same values. We wanted to put quality in the bottle and make it fun, exciting and make it genuine.”
The wine was an instant success with over five million bottles sold in less than two years. Now that her wine is available in the United States, the consumption of it will surely grow because there are plenty of her fans – a lot of them in the LGBTQ community – who will be celebrating with glasses of her Rosé and Prosecco for Pride and beyond.
You can purchase Kylie Minogue Wines HERE