The writer of this gay anthem has a heartwarming message for queer folks

With Chappell Roan’s latest release, she had an instant hit on her hands. “Good Luck, Babe!” is for any queer person who’s felt the pressures of compulsory heterosexuality and come out anyway, sometimes leaving lovers behind. And to those who will keep denying who they are? “Good luck, babe!” Roan sings on the chorus. Talk about gay pop — JoJo Siwa could take notes.

Naturally, gays across the internet are obsessed with the track. The bridge in particular has everyone’s jaws dropping: “When you wake up next to him in the middle of the night / With your head in your hands, you’re nothing more than his wife / And when you think about me, all of those years ago / You’re standing face to face with ‘I told you so.’” Those are words made for screaming in the car.

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With the song’s popularity skyrocketing, one of its writers took to TikTok to express their gratitude and share their story.

Justin Tranter has been a pop songwriter for more than a decade, working on songs for legends including Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, and Ariana Grande. Tranter is queer themself, and they’ve said they especially appreciate working with today’s queer artists. They’ve co-written modern gay classics including Reneé Rapp’s “Pretty Girls,” Janelle Monáe’s “Make Me Feel,” and now, Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!”

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“Don’t mind me, I’m just sitting here looking like trash, getting emotional watching all the videos of queer people, specifically queer women, dying for the new Chappell Roan song that I was lucky enough to co-write,” Tranter shared in a video. “This is very cool. It’s so cool to be gay. I came out in 1994. It was awful. This is so cool. This is amazing. It’s making me emotional; it’s really cool,” they continued through teary eyes, giving the camera a thumbs-up and saying, “Gay people!”

In a follow-up video, Tranter elaborated on their coming out story. In the midwest at just 14 years old, they came out of the closet.

“I grew up like 40 miles outside of Chicago,” Tranter said. “Gay as f*ck — way before I even came out, just giving them full high femme.”

The reaction to “Good Luck, Babe!”, Tranter continued, is just one sign of how far America has come on accepting queer folks.

“To watch the world change — I know there’s a bunch of f*cking annoying crazy legislation going on right now and like half this country hates us — but like, half of it doesn’t,” they said. “Half of it really loves us. And in ‘94, most of the f*cking world hated me.”

Moral of the story: stream “Good Luck, Babe!” and thank 14-year-old Tranter for helping in the chain reaction that made it a hit today.