10 Martyrs That Furthered The Civil Rights Cause

‘Mama, just killed a man. Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger now he’s dead.’

A 1975 audience will have been confused by these lyrics in Bohemian Rhapsody. After all, Queen weren’t a death metal band so why would they make a song about killing? In any case, the most prominent interpretation of these ‘cryptic’ lyrics was that it was Freddie coming out to the world; killing his old self as a man fighting his homosexuality in line with social norms and transforming into one that accepted and was proud of it.

Thenceforward, controversy followed the band, namely upon the release of I Want to Break Free, with Freddie dressed as a woman, singing about social enchainment. The group were banned in a huge number of radio stations, but Freddie proved himself unbowed and unbroken, increasing his flamboyancy and sexually charged performances, despite growing opposition to a band accused of ‘promoting gay values’.

To the denigrators’ joy, in 1991, after decades of facing a hostile media, Freddie died from AIDS at age 45; a disease ignored in mainstream culture as ‘God’s revenge on gays’.

Perhaps his most fitting song would become We are the Champions; the martyr had spent his career fighting for his freedom of expression, championing over a hurricane of discrimination whilst changing the lives of many gay musicians facing similar abuse, and even though he did not champion over the stigmatisation of the disease, his legacy would go a long way in doing so.