Throughout her 30-year-plus career, Cyndi Lauper has been known as an outspoken advocate of LGBT rights, so it comes as no surprise that the Grammy winner will be honored by Logo at its 2017 Trailblazing Honors event. Launched in 2005, the lifestyle channel is targeted to the LGBT community.
“The television network praised the 63-year-old singer-songwriter for her advocacy through song and theater,” Page Six writes. In 2008, the “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” singer co-founded the True Colors Fund “to help address homelessness among LGBT youth.” She’s participated in gay pride events across the globe and serves as a member of the Matthew Shepard Foundation Board, an LGBT nonprofit organization founded by the parents of Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student who was beaten to death in 1998.
When asked about what got her involved in the fight for LGBT rights, Lauper said, “My sister is part of the community, and my friends are part of the community … I started to see discrepancies and things that weren’t right, and I didn’t want to just shut my mouth, because I don’t believe in that.”
As for the impact of her advocacy, the singer observed, “Everybody can create change around them by changing their mind about someone else, and including people, and also… if you want to change the world, change what’s right around you.”
Lauper has sold over 50 million records.
The 2017 Trailblazer Honors will be held in New York on June 22. The event will air as an hourlong special the following day on VH1 and Logo.