I’ve been listening to Madonna’s new album Madame X all day and found a little free time to create this monogram to celebrate its release! This woman has inspired me so much and in the spirit of PRIDE (click for a more colorful version) I thought I would share a bit more than usual.

For me, this image represents our shared shape-shifting journey of identity through taught christianity, learned truth, and the strength in self discovery.

As a closeted teen in a conservative, oppressive, and damaging catholic high school, her album Confessions on a Dancefloor liberated my mind and had me dreaming of a world I could dance, be free, and find love in, as an accepted human rather than a repressed and hated diminutive being.

The lead single “Hung Up” featured an ABBA sample I recognized from the weekly disco nights of my childhood where my brother and I would dance along to the radio on our porch and in this new song I felt like I heard a familiar language for a real or imagined safe place where there might be people like me.

It’s taken a few years since then but I’ve found a safe queer haven to call home in Bushwick with my husband of 5 years (we’re celebrating 8 years together next week!) and when we’re out dancing mere blocks from our apartment and “Hung Up” or any Madonna track comes on, it’s hard to forget the kid who truthfully thought that being out and dancing was an impossible dream. I swell with gratitude for Madonna and everything she’s done to lift up and protect the LGBT community.

Thank you, Madonna, from my heart. 💜

Happy PRIDE, Queens!