Recently, when Madonna deleted every post from her Instagram profile, it was as if a gay flare had been fired around the world.

Cue a flurry of texts from gay male friends, with one declaring that this “purging of the Sistine Chapel” meant the release of Confessions on a Dance Floor: Part II was imminent, 20 years after her original disco masterpiece, because Madonna had pulled the same stunt on Instagram in 2023 before announcing our gay Christmas: the Celebration tour.

“I CAN’T BREATHE,” texted a friend, in all caps.

“She’s clearing the decks for the album,” wrote another.

“I’m screaming,” texted another friend as gay men across the internet lost their collective minds, posting endless videos about what it all meant.

Things went into gay overdrive when it was confirmed that Confessions II would be released on July 3 and Madonna sent our temperatures up even further by dropping the first single, I Feel So Free. Cue a new flurry of text messages.

Gay men, of course, have always claimed Madonna. She’s been their champion, particularly during the tragedy of the Aids epidemic when – along with Elizabeth Taylor – she was one of the few powerful voices to speak out publicly in support of the LGBTQ community. She also thrillingly showcased gay men’s lives – through her Blond Ambition tour dancers – in the culture-changing 1991 documentary Madonna: Truth or Dare AKA In Bed With Madonna, which at the time felt revolutionary.

While so much has been written about her over the past 40 years, missing from the conversation too often........

© The Guardian