Lady Gaga talks about importance of gay pride

Singer-songwriter Lady Gaga spoke about the importance of Gay Pride during her SiriusXM show at Harlem's Apollo Theatre on Monday night.

The 'Born This Way' pop star gave a heart-moving speech about the importance of asking people's pronouns and the significance of gay pride, reported Variety.

She also referenced transgender activist Marsha P. Johnson who was credited with throwing the first brick that sparked the Stonewall riots in 1969.

"So it's pride week. I wish it could exist 365 days of the year, but I'll take a f-ing global week. Wow on Friday, the 50th anniversary of Stonewall. Yeah, that was when our community said enough is enough," Gaga said.

"And all hail to so many including miss Marsha P. Johnson. What bravery, what courage. In the spirit of acceptance, the spirit of tolerance, the spirit of courage to be seen as you see yourself. I have learned so much over the years from all my fans. I feel so blessed, thank you for showing me and teaching me," she added speaking of Johnson.

"And I've learned something very important to those people now, and I wish to share this with everyone who's listening, not just in this theatre, but around the world," she continued.

Given that June is LGBTQ Pride Month, the singer, who has long identified as bisexual, repeatedly used the opportunity to lift up the queer community.

"Ask the question: 'What. is. your. pronoun.' Because for a lot of people, it's really hard, and their pronouns aren't respected or they're not asked, and for me I've grown and changed over the years in a lot of different ways -- I've felt misunderstood in different ways," she said.

"All our hardships are different; I don't mean to compare; I just mean to say we're in this together, and I've had a million reasons to want to give up, and sometimes if you're lucky you just need one good reason to stick around," she added.

Of course, no Gaga performance would be complete without 'Shallow', her iconic 'A Star is Born' duet with actor Bradley Cooper that bagged the award for best original song at this year's Academy Awards. The singer performed the rousing power ballad solo, as she played the piano.

On the personal front, rumours of a romance between Gaga and Cooper have swirled in recent weeks amid his split from supermodel Irina Shayk.

Cooper was linked to Gaga after their intimate Oscars performance of 'Shallow' in February and their undeniable chemistry in the critically acclaimed film. However, Gaga shut down the romance rumours on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!'.

( With inputs from ANI )