Oz - "Friends of Dorothy: Why Gay Boys and Gay Men Love The Wizard of Oz" by Author Dee Michel

Contents:

• THE GAYS
• CHRIS MELONI HAS PERFECT RPONSE TO BEG FAN'S GAY SEXUAL AWAKENG
• NEW ORLEANS' #1 GAY DANCE CLUB
• OVER THE RABOW: THE GAY MALE OBSSN WH THE WIZARD OF OZ
• FRANK OZ WEIGHS ON 'SAME STREET' WRER SAYG BERT AND ERNIE ARE GAY
• GAY RIGHTS GROUPS RIP 'DR. OZ SHOW' OVER EPISO ON REPARATIVE THERAPY
• 'HELLO YELLOW BRICK ROAD' — SF GAY MEN'S CHOS PAYS HOMAGE TO ELTON JOHN AND OZ
• WHY IS JUDY GARLAND THE ULTIMATE GAY IN?
• IS DR OZ GAY
• TEXAS PASTOR SAYS GAY PEOPLE SHOULD BE 'SHOT THE BACK OF THE HEAD' SHOCKG SERMON
• DR. OZ, SELF-PROCLAIMED GAY ALLY, TO HOST RALLY AT VENUE THAT BANS SAME-SEX MARRIAG

THE GAYS

They are viewed as one of the weakt gangs Oz, both bee the majory of mat Oz are homophobic and bee they are not ntrol of anythg. He's no doubt servg as a sexual awakeng for a ton of gay teens scrollg through Instagram the days, as he has for untls people over the years through rol on televisn. It is, of urse, mon knowledge that Judy Garland is a gay in — beloved and worshiped by gay men of a certa age and class — but what else explas the ubiquo referenc to “Oz” drag performanc and the nam of bars and bs terg to the muny?

It would be a mistake to nfe a discsn of The Wizard of Oz to a certa class of gay men, but seekg a pot of orig, there is a domant narrative of queer history which “Oz” and Garland were important parts of a mostly whe, middle-class, urban gay male subculture by the 1950s. The orig of the exprsn “Friend of Dorothy, ” which beme a phrase ed by gay men to intify themselv to each other, is lost to history — may have predated this era, and may not even refer to Garland’s role the movie, but the belief that do is wispread (another possibily is that refers to Dorothy Parker, who was also a iend to gays).

Acrdg to “Oz” scholar Dee Michel, who is wrg a book on “Oz” and gay men, there are certa beliefs about the film and the LGBT muny that persist spe of a lack of clear historil evince.

CHRIS MELONI HAS PERFECT RPONSE TO BEG FAN'S GAY SEXUAL AWAKENG

“The beliefs, ” he said, “overlap and rerce each other and have bee part of gay folklore, creasg our sense of history and rercg gay inty. Other prt referenc to “Oz” as an unrground culture shared by gay men seem to show up the 1970s and ’80s, lookg back and attemptg to expla the appeal of the film.

The explanatns often take the form of an intifitn of gay men and others wh a girl om a small muny who is misunrstood by her fay, who is whisked away to a place where she be iends wh characters who seem like they uld be gay men (pecially the Cowardly Ln, who refers to himself as a “sissy” and “dandy ln”). The story beme a metaphor for the real-life dreams and experienc of gay men who left middle Ameri for the gay muni of New York Cy and San Francis, which were analogized to Oz or the Emerald Cy. Garland’s stggl seemed to mirror those of gay men at the time, and she was admired for risg above her problems performance, although as she noted herself, she was never able to get over the rabow her life off the stage or screen.

NEW ORLEANS' #1 GAY DANCE CLUB

Neverthels, gay folklore and film ntue to tell the story, que possibly imposg the perspective of whe, cisgenr gay male historians on an event that was largely the work of queer and trans people of lor. Ten years later, at the 1979 March on Washgton, acrdg to Michael Bronski, lbian sger Holly Near end her set wh Over the Rabow, llg the gay natnal anthem. The Wiz, a Broadway mil produced by a black gay man and adapted as a film starrg Diana Ross, occupi an important place both black and gay culture, as evinced by the muny-watch parti and Twter rpons to the recent live broadst on NBC.

After the suici aths of several young people the fall of 2010, cludg Rutgers Universy stunt Tyler Clementi, crowds gathered for a vigil New York’s Washgton Square Park, wavg rabow-lored glow sticks while openly gay Broadway star Cheyenne Jackson led them sgg Over the Rabow. Early on, durg my first ial days wh the gay culture of San Francis, I was bemed by the near reverential treatment paid to the film “The Wizard of Oz.

The atmosphere around the theater was one of a relig procsn; all seemed like harmls fun; but, as wh all public spectacl gay culture – beyond the revelry was always a pervasively tragic overtone.

OVER THE RABOW: THE GAY MALE OBSSN WH THE WIZARD OF OZ

At the time, for myself, was the send wave of gay aths om AIDS: wh the mic om the movie servg as some horrific funeral dirge. Most remarkably, is the homosexual male intifitn wh Dorothy herself; perfectly embodied by the equally happy and sad Judy Garland – whose untimely ath 1969 advertently sparked the Stonewall Rts. Along wh other glamoro, but ultimately self-stctive screen legends, like Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford, and Marilyn Monroe, gay men saw Garland the mirror for their own manic-prsive reali: feigng a perfect exuberance to the adorg mass while gog home alone and nursg the fterg wounds.

FRANK OZ WEIGHS ON 'SAME STREET' WRER SAYG BERT AND ERNIE ARE GAY

Remds me of the strobg lights, imprsive sounds, and pyrotechnics at the San Francis “gay” dance clubs, or on a larger sle, at a Madonna ncert. Furthermore, the three characters of the Srecrow, the T-man, and the Cowardly Ln, are also metaphors for the gay male fantasy: of fdg their perfected selv; nstantly dogged by a feelg of aquacy and missgns, that is forever and unntrollably throwg before your ey a sensatn that you are lackg; though cintly, as the characters fally fd out – was not wantg at all, but was wh them.

GAY RIGHTS GROUPS RIP 'DR. OZ SHOW' OVER EPISO ON REPARATIVE THERAPY

Yet, the longgs are flawlsly realized and fulfilled the film; while gay men never really reach that sheltered existence of safety back at home.

'HELLO YELLOW BRICK ROAD' — SF GAY MEN'S CHOS PAYS HOMAGE TO ELTON JOHN AND OZ

Bee, “The Wizard of Oz” is sentially the daydream of gay fulfillment: that someone, or somethg, out there will offer the cure for all that ails. Acrdg to one letter om 2001 the Los Angel Tim, the source is Dorothy Parker (1893–1967), a wty member of the Algonqu Round Table, who equently ved gay men to fashnable soiré durg the 1920s and 1930s.

Daniel Harris’s The Rise and Fall of Gay Culture (1997) matas that Garland (1922–1969) served as a “lostone” for gay culture: “When Judy me onto the stage, we were the loust and most exuberant part of that dience. Dee Michel’s Friends of Dorothy: Why Gay Boys and Gay Men Love ​The Wizard of Oz (2018) expands the spe to expla gay culture’s fascatn wh more than Garland—but the land of Oz self. Mickey Weems the Qualia Encyclopedia of Gay People not that Harvey Milk adopted this same exprsn to mpaign agast a proposed California iative that would have banned gays om workg public schools.

WHY IS JUDY GARLAND THE ULTIMATE GAY IN?

The character of the Cowardly Ln, portrayed by Bert Lahr a manner that some crics have termed effemate or stereotypilly gay. It's based on the novel by gay thor Gregory Maguire, who's wrten several other books about the Oz while many of will always go over the rabow wh Judy Garland, 's clear there will be plenty of other yellow brick roads leadg to Oz. Frank Oz is voice of dozens of puppets and muppets as one of Jim Henson's earlit llaborators — and now the storied puppeteer is lendg his voice to the bate over whether or not "Same Street" characters Bert and Ernie are gay.

IS DR OZ GAY

"Director/producer/puppeteer Frank Oz pos for a portra at the "Muppet Guys Talkg - Secrets Behd the Show the Whole World Watched" at the 2017 SXSW Wkelmeyer / Getty Imag for SXSW fileOz ntued to go back-and-forth wh people rpondg to his tweet who asked why the lorful puppets uldn't be gay. Bert and Ernie were created to be bt iends, and to teach young children that people n get along wh those who are very different om themselv, " the workshop said a statement emailed to NBC ntued to take to Twter, tellg followers he felt he uldn't ll Bert and Ernie gay bee his md wasn't asked why he felt the need to intify the puppets as "not gay, " Oz replied: "The same need I would feel if Bert were intified as a lebacker for the Colts. Gay men have taken the 1939 MGM movie to heart, g to munite, personal ways such as recg l om the movie and cultural ways such as namg anizatns and bs wh Oz terms.

Hi Your Gays: Not really hidn, as the flamboyant Fna and Torquemada and the very tall Tony do stand out, but the entire group has very ltle the way of storyl throughout the entire seri.

Left Hangg: He has a grand plan to take over Em Cy's dg tra and make the Gays a powerful gang, even tryg to make an alliance wh Chucky Panmo, lear of the powerful Italian gang. While he was absolutely guilty, the tective charge of the se adms he fed evince and one of the jurors voted to nvict out of blatant homophobia. The lead vtigator the se fabrited forensic evince bee he had known the se agast Jason wasn't strong enough, and the jury Jason's first trial nvicted him after a homophobic juror went on a tira and bullied his fellow jurors to votg guilty.

TEXAS PASTOR SAYS GAY PEOPLE SHOULD BE 'SHOT THE BACK OF THE HEAD' SHOCKG SERMON

He wears a black leather biker jacket several tim, and is the most mascule and aggrsive of the gay mat, but don't show other biker and BDSM tennci that most leathermen show.

DR. OZ, SELF-PROCLAIMED GAY ALLY, TO HOST RALLY AT VENUE THAT BANS SAME-SEX MARRIAG

” The view that gay men love The Wizard of Oz is so prevalent, fact, that has bee part of the received wisdom about homosexuals, and even the gay ngrsman Barney Frank found ocsn to refer to the Oz–gay nnectn on the floor of the Hoe of Reprentativ. The stereotype is ed to humoro effect mastream venu also, such as a 1996 Hollywood movie, My Fellow Amerins, where an “All Dorothy Marchg Band” appears a gay pri para. Gay bars and dance clubs, long a fol pot of gay muni, equently e Oz their nam (bars and clubs are lled Oz Seattle; New Orleans; Ws, Wisns; Fort Lrdale; and Toronto).