The Story Behd Gay Bob, the World's First Out-And-Proud Doll - Atlas Obscura

Contents:

• 1977 ORIGAL GAY BOB DOLL - RARE - ANATOMILLY RRECT
• MEET GAY BOB, THE 1977 DOLL THAT URGED PEOPLE TO COME OUT OF THE CLOSET
• WHAT ABOUT GAY BOB?
• THE STORY BEHD GAY BOB, THE WORLD’S FIRST OUT-AND-PROUD DOLL
• HOW GAY BOB, THE WORLD’S FIRST OPENLY GAY DOLL, CAME TO BE
• DEFINITIONS FOR GAY BOBGAY BOB
• BOB GAY | TEAM | HGGC
• GAY BOBS MEANG
• GAY BOBS ENGLISH DICTNARY
• GAY MOSW · CY GUI

1977 ORIGAL GAY BOB DOLL - RARE - ANATOMILLY RRECT

1977 Origal Gay bob Doll - RARE - anatomilly rrect 1977 Origal Gay bob Doll - RARE - wh origal shippg box {[currentAmount|currency]} {[em. Jun 12, 2020Failed to save articlePlease try agaThis article is more than 3 years 1860s Germany, Karl Herich Ulrichs urged other gay people to publicly reveal their sexual orientatn.

And while Milk was urgg his iends and muny to e out of the closet, the “World’s First Gay Doll” was dog the exact same thg. Digned to look like a batn of Pl Newman and Robert Redford and packed to his own rdboard closet, Gay Bob was the brachild of former advertisg executive Harvey Rosenberg.

Rosenberg wanted Gay Bob to normalize the g out procs, while also actg as a fun accsory for those who were already out and proud. In an terview to promote Gay Bob, Rosenberg once said, “Bob’s perfect for an executive’s sk, dash board ornament, the attache se, the bathtub rim, a health club gym bag.

MEET GAY BOB, THE 1977 DOLL THAT URGED PEOPLE TO COME OUT OF THE CLOSET

Dpe Gay Bob havg a realistic penis, the snazzy fashn talog ntaed the doll's packagg was distctly child-iendly:. Edward Rowe, the executive director of Protect Ameri’s Children, was quoted a 1978 issue of the Ptsburgh Post-Gazette scribg Gay Bob as “another evince of the speratn the homosexual mpaign has reached s effort to put homosexual liftyle, which is a ath style, across to the Amerin people. I n only hope that the children who are given the Gay Bob dolls will not prehend the meang and tent of the mpaign.

WHAT ABOUT GAY BOB?

Attempts to get the doll to partment stor were largely a failure, so Rosenberg primarily sold Gay Bob via mail orr ads gay magaz.

Two thoand people snapped up their own Gay Bobs the first two months of the doll beg available, and Bob was later stocked San Francis and New York boutiqu. In addn to wng Esquire’s “Dub Achievement Award” 1978, Gay Bob got his very own storyle Frank Zappa's 9-mute o to sexual experimentatn, “Sy B.

At the time he was ma, tongue--cheek though he was, Bob was meant to crease the visibily of gay people everywhere. “We had somethg to learn om the gay movement, jt like we did om the Black civil rights movement and the women’s movement, ” Harvey Rosenberg once said.

THE STORY BEHD GAY BOB, THE WORLD’S FIRST OUT-AND-PROUD DOLL

Adam* said was dangero to e out as gay his home untry and feared beg forced to an arranged marriage wh a said he was "so lucky" to wed his soulmate, Ray, Manchter and wish everyone uld marry who they love. There are more than 60 untri wh laws that crimalise same-sex sexual acts acrdg to the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn, cludg Sdi Arabia.

HOW GAY BOB, THE WORLD’S FIRST OPENLY GAY DOLL, CAME TO BE

'Authentilly myself'Ray said he had also stggled growg up gay the 1970s and 80s England, which was "tough" said his relig school "dmmed to you, 'you are gog to hell'" Adam returned home to Sdi Arabia, spe beg more than 3, 000 apart and later rtricted by the Covid-19 panmic, they kept touch daily and the romance years ago, Ray proposed on a vio ll and after succsfully applyg for a UK fiancé visa, Adam moved to Manchter December 2022. Adam said he had been aaid to even wear lours his home untry so the first thg he did when he moved was start to "grow my mullet, got my ears pierced and booked appotments for tattoos" relled how, ntrast, one of his gay iends Sdi had been forced to marry a woman, addg: "It has ed not only his life but the life of his wife.

The uple, who live London, said a "really betiful memory" was on the way home when one of their sons shouted out of the black b wdow to Trafalgar Square, "My dads jt got married" and cheered "Yay, gay marriage".

Disney sued DeSantis late April, allegg the ernor waged a "targeted mpaign of ernment retaliatn" after the pany opposed a law crics ll "Don't Say Gay. Thirteen ch tall and plastic, Gay Bob was marketed as the first openly gay doll and ma his retail but mail-orr talogs. At face value, Gay Bob’s msage about the mers of g out seems earnt, pog the valu of urage, honty, and livg thentilly; however, the brandg and sign of the Gay Bob doll are brash.

DEFINITIONS FOR GAY BOBGAY BOB

We had somethg to learn om the gay movement, jt like we did om the black civil rights movement, and the women’s movement and that is havg the urage to stand up and say, ‘I have a right to be what I am. While Rosenberg did not intify as gay, he stated that he had created the doll to liberate men om tradnal sexual rol.

BOB GAY | TEAM | HGGC

Acrdg to Rosenberg, regardls of a person’s sexualy, Gay Bob uld serve as an example for havg the urage to “e out of the closet” and be your te, thentic self. Durg a prs blz for the doll’s release, Rosenberg also dited that Gay Bob was a spoof of other “amorpho, sexls dolls, ” which was undoubtedly a reference to Mattel’s KenTM and BarbieTM. He had plans to release addnal dolls that would have ma up the rt of Gay Bob’s fay (a mother, father, and two brothers); however, the other dolls were never produced.

Gay Bob dolls were sold via mail-orr advertisements gay magaz and a few boutique shops New York Cy and San Francis.

GAY BOBS MEANG

Consequently, ten thoand more dolls were produced, and Gay Bob was btowed wh Esquire magaze's "Dub Achievement Award" 1978.

GAY BOBS ENGLISH DICTNARY

A handsome and mascule doll, Gay Bob had a short feathery blon crew cut and was signed to look like a cross between Pl Newman and Robert Redford.

GAY MOSW · CY GUI

He had a preprogrammed voice rerdg that played the earnt msage, “Gay people are no different than straight people… if everyone me ‘out of their closets, ’ there wouldn’t be so many angry, trated, ightened people.

” This reerated msagg om his fashn talog that fed “g out of the closet” as what uld be scribed as Gay Bob’s manifto—be urageo by g out of your closet and livg hontly, like Gay Bob! But Gay Bob was more than jt clever packagg; he also promoted the ia that g out of the closet, beg open and hont wh the people your life, was a powerful and urageo act.

“It’s a real giggle and kd of fun, ” said Bce Voeller, executive director of the Natnal Gay Task Force said at the time, “I thk we should al wh lightly and enjoy . Many nsir Stonewall, a New York Cy uprisg to prottg police harassment at the Stonewall Inn, as the start of the Gay Rights movement the Uned Stat. Los Angel has a long history of Gay Rights Protts and anti-gay ordanc, such as the Anti-Masqueradg Ordance of 1898.