Opinion: Billie Eilish’s “Lunch” is the Pride anthem we so desperately need | CNN (2024)

Editor’s Note: Allison Hopeis a writer whose work has been featured in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, Slate and elsewhere. The views expressed here are her own. Readmore opinionon CNN.

CNN —

Billie Eilish’snewsong, “Lunch” is the definitivequeer anthem of 2024.

At the beginning ofPride Month and in the throes of yet anotherexhaustive legislative seasonwith LGBTQ people under attack, the paradox of queer celebration and terror dance in the shadows of the ferociously sexy and affirmative “Lunch.”

Allison Hope

From her new album,“Hit Me Hard and Soft,” Eilish serves up an unequivocally queer-centered sexuality that does not mince words as she describes how she wants to perform oral sex on her female lover.

“Lunch” is bold, provocative, confrontational. Itsounds liketrans activistMarsha P. Johnsonon the frontlines at Stonewall Inn in New York City’s Greenwich Village; likeBilly Porterunapologetically rocking a dress on the red carpet at the 2020 Oscars; like every woman who has ever kissed a woman in broad daylight, no matter the consequences.

Eilish’sevolutionas an out and proud member of the LGBTQ community, as reflected in her album andrelated interviews, mirrors how farsociety hascome in allowing celebrities to reflect their true selves.

At just 22, Eilish has already tasted more fame than most could ever hope to achieve.She’s wonnumerous Grammys, including Record of the Year,Billboard music awards,MTVandPeople’s Choice Awards, as well as twoAcademy Awards for best original songs with “What Was I Made For?” from the “Barbie” movie last year and “No Time to Die,” from the film of the same name in 2021. Many of these awards she accepted alongside her brother and co-writer and producer, Finneas O’Connell. Yet, she is still so young and just coming into understanding herself and her sexuality.

In addition to her accolades, the lyrical explicitnessin Eilish’s “Lunch”evidences thestrides our community has madein authentic and overt LGBTQ content and marks a tangible moment in which to celebrate our progress.

Throughout history, LGBTQ creators and private citizens alike, have had to hide, to suppress our desires, to cloak our true selves in heteronormative veneers, whetherthroughsham marriagesorencoded literature, or subtle references in scripts and lyrics. We’ve been the strange aunts who live in the city, the curious college students going through a phase, or the confused housewives needing a respite.

Artistsincludinglate singerWhitney Houston,k.d. LangandTracy Chapmanare part of a long list of performers who have had to tuck their true identities away in a closet for part ofor all of their career in order to “make it.” Actorssuch asJodie FosterandElliot Pagewere in the closet for years before they felt secure enough in their careers to come out.

Eilish’s “Lunch” symbolizes the seismic evolution in queer women expression in music. It eats Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl”well,for lunch.

It’s just the recent song lyrics that inspire the LGBTQ imagination. Eilish’stomboy grunge-meets-artiste looktranscends the binary gender norms for women A-listers. Oversized t-shirts and sneakers take the place of ball gowns and heels, offering a respite for any listener who has not quite fit into societal standards of gender or sexuality.

As queer people and as women,communities thathave long been socialized to silence our sexuality; to subjugate ourselves into the object of the male gaze if our beauty permits, or else mute ourselves in the background as undesirable. The double whammy of being women who also love other women, has rendered usyet more invisible, though it has, conversely, also gifted us the opportunity to rewrite the script, or the lyrics, as it turns out.

Eilish’s “Lunch” is a brilliant reinvention of our freedom of queer expression, and it comes at a most desperate time.

In states across the country and countries around the world, anti-LGBTQ hate is alive and well, underscoring the need to create a counternarrative that leans into love and queer joy. More than500 anti-LGBTQ billshave been introduced in state legislatures across the US. And other countries that were already hostile to LGBTQ peoplehave escalated their attacks targeting our community, includingRussia, which enacted a law that makes LGBTQ expression illegal,Ghana, which passed a law on February that punishes LGBTQ relationships and even supporting the community with jailandUganda, which imposes up to 20 years in prison for identifying as LGBTQ and even death penalty for some crimes.

In Italy, which elected a far-right leaderin 2022,efforts are underway tomakegestationalsurrogacy a crime, claiming the practice is “inhuman” and, if passed, would disproportionately preventsomeLGBTQ people from becoming parents.

Earlier this month, the US State Departmentissued a travel warningfor LGBTQ people visiting other countries for Pride events, citing a heightened threat without naming specific jurisdictions. The warning came on the heels of anFBI and Department of Homeland Securityannouncementa week earlier alerting travelers of potential violence targeting LGBTQ events.

Four lesbians wereset on firethis monthin Buenos Aires and at least three have died. Thedeath of nonbinary teen Nex Benedicton Marchmade national news and its circ*mstances remain hazy and suspect. Thekilling of Black transgender woman Starr Brownlast month in Memphis is one of the at least14killings oftransgender and gender-expansivepeoplein the US reported this year. And these are just a few of many examples of LGBTQ people killed this year alone that point to the broader trend of a sociopolitical climate in which LGBTQ people are less safe.

These statistics have names, families, potential that was snuffed out far too soon.

The Trevor Project, an anti-bullying and suicide prevention organization, recentlypublished a reportthat quantifies the harm the negative environment is having on our LGBTQ young people. Ninety percent of LGBTQ young people said their wellbeing was negatively impacted due to recent politics and half have experienced bullying in the past year. We are failing our children and at grave risk of losing all that we have gained over the past generation in terms of equal rights and psychological and physical safety.

It’s due time our leaders pay attention to the state of distress and danger they are putting their most vulnerable constituents in by peddling lies and disinformation that LGBTQ people are somehow a threat to the social order. Around the world, LGBTQ people are contributing to societies and helping to evolve and expand our understanding of love and human expression.

If only we lay down our swords and open our hearts and minds. If only we tune into Eilish’s song and to its inherent humanity — carnal, raw, authentic — and recognize in it our own hidden desires that we should face with the same openness she does.

Eilish’s unashamed lyrics and vocal omnipotence create emotional air cover. When millions of adoring fans, LGBTQ and allies alike, raise their fists into the air in support of her same-sex love and desire laid bare, it beats back, even if just a tiny bit, against the hom*ophobic and transphobic epithets that right-wing officials and armchair activists sling our way.

In a world where LGBTQ people are still forced to shove these most intense and beautiful parts of ourselves and our self-expression into whispers, to swallow our desires for fear of familial or societal rejection, or worse, the power of being bold and explicit cannot be understated. Eilish’stop 40 hitscreams from the rooftops that it’s OK for a woman to want another woman and to make those desires known.

Eilish isn’t an anomaly when it comes to out celebrities. Starssuch asLily Tomlin,Rosie O’Donnell,Ellen DeGeneres,Melissa Etheridgeand others paved the way for the proliferation of out, queer entertainers. What Eilish has achieved, though, with her latest album and particularly with the song, “Lunch,” is to raise the bar on the unabashed expression of queer and women’s sexual desire. This Pride Month, she’s going to get her lunch and eat it, too. The rest of us are going to turn the volume up when that song comes on and hopefully get a bit closer to our own truth.

If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters, please call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988 to connect with a trained counselor, or visit the988 Lifeline website.