Lily Gordon is a junior in the University of Minnesota’s School of Nursing. She identifies as a lesbian woman, and says a 2022 experience at a Brandi Carlile concert was nothing short of “pure joy.”
“A lot of my great experiences with queer joy come from seeing queer artists and going to concerts in really queer environments. It’s such an environment of freedom and pure joy to me.
My favorite example of this would definitely be seeing Brandi Carlile last summer with my family. I ended up buying tickets for my mom for her Christmas present.
Brandi Carlile is a lesbian artist who I have basically grown up with as the number one artist listened to in my house. My mom is obsessed with her. I was listening to her music before I even really knew what a lesbian was. She was always such a prominent voice in our household. Being a lesbian myself, it’s very special to me that she’s someone my mom loves so much and was someone that was in our house as I was finding my queer identity.
Seeing this concert with my mom was a really special moment. I’ll always remember – Brandi ended the show singing “Over the Rainbow,” which is such an important song in queer culture. Judy Garland is a gay icon. The song is such a message of hope, especially when there are so many people putting laws and policies into place that are actively discriminatory toward queer people.
Works of art like that are really important. I really like thinking back to Brandi singing that song, with my mom, in a venue full of lesbians and other queer people. It was such a lovely moment with my family, and I just felt a lot of queer joy and acceptance and love.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Interview conducted by Emma Dehm.