Iggy Azalea Delivers Powerful Speech On Transgender Equality At Chicago Pride

“This shows you exist and you are valid.”
Just a few days after announcing the release date and title for her upcoming album, Iggy Azalea took the stage for Chicago’s pride celebration at Butler Field and delivered a powerful speech on equality for transgender individuals. The “Fancy” music maker took a break from her set to explain some statistics about transgender people, particularly one fan.

“To a lot of people, you guys are still invisible and you have to fight every day just to be who you are. That’s why we’ve gotta be here tonight because we gotta be loud as fuck. This shows you exist and you are valid,” Iggy told her adoring crowd, leading her to discuss her special fan Michelle who is a trans woman of colour.

“I see the struggle she goes through every day just to be herself just to walk out the door, the shit that I have the privilege to do every day,” she explained. Iggy then dropped numbers, detailing the 11 trans women who have died this year and how most trans women like Michelle have a life expectancy of 35-years-old.

“I want to read everybody that’s going to watch this online statistics quickly about trans people that a lot of people need to hear. 50 percent of trans people have been raped or sexually assaulted. 41 percent of trans people have attempted suicide. 80 percent of trans students feel unsafe at school,” she said.

Watch her full speech below.

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