One Town’s War on Gay Teens – Rollg Stone

Contents:

• COUNTRY MIC HAS NEVER BEEN MORE GAY
• ONE TOWN’S WAR ON GAY TEENS
• WHAT MAK A ‘GAY IN’?
• ‘PUMPG’ IS DANGERO NEW FAD AMONG GAY MEN
• IS TOM CISE GAY? ROLLG STONE FOUNR REVEALS THE 'SUPER-SECRETIVE' REASON WHY HE THKS SO
• ROLLG STONE CONFIRMS: ULTRA-RICH GAY ACTIVIST IS TARGETG ‘WICKED’ CHRISTIANS
• ALL POSTS TAGGED "GAY"

COUNTRY MIC HAS NEVER BEEN MORE GAY

Clark has been at the foreont of that shift and creds her iendship wh Shane McAnally — one of Nashville’s most succsful songwrers, who is also gay — wh givg her the nfince to pursue a solo reer.

ONE TOWN’S WAR ON GAY TEENS

“Though a lot of people that work the dtry support me om a distance, there’s a difference between that and actually takg some steps to ph that further and sign some [gay artists], ” Homan says. While some classics do appear on our list, others do not – sorry, Gloria Gaynor, Kylie Mogue, RuPl, Brney and Cher, we still adore you — here are 25 sential pri songs om the 1970s to today. Somewhat rctively lled the “Queen of Dis, ” the virtuosic, openly gay sger approached genr ( his performative and private liv) as a fluid, non-bary ncept a pre–Judh Butler era.

Although seems most of Queen’s fans were cluels as to how openly gay and subversive ontman Freddie Mercury was – spe the unabashed swank of his stage prence – he also never really tried to hi . Much of Erasure’s disgraphy embodi not precisely celebratory gay pri but gay romantic realy – a ankns about the emotnal, if not overtly sexual, liv of gay men toward the end of the 20th century.

WHAT MAK A ‘GAY IN’?

So when out Brish duo Andy Bell and Vce Clarke’s plative yet buoyant sgle beme a worldwi h gay-uniendly 1988, felt quietly revolutnary to anyone the know.

‘PUMPG’ IS DANGERO NEW FAD AMONG GAY MEN

The Bay Area gay punk pneers found a ht of mastream fame when they toured wh Green Day on their Dookie n 1994, but was their sexy lyrics and who-giv-a-fuck attu that enared them to a generatn of queer kids – before that term was even fashnable. It’s difficult to pick one song that f them – wh songs like “Dick of Death, ” “Groovy Unrwear” or their classic ver of Prce’s “Jack You Off” – but we went wh one that seems to fy the ia of a gay “anthem” no matter how you thk of . I thk, over time, some of them are ls specifilly gay than they were at first bee seemed like, when we had the chance that was really what we wanted to sg about and that was really unique.

Ltle did she know that her wgirl blu would not only w her the Grammy for Bt Female Rock Vol Performance but would also yield an empowerg theme for the gay muny. As both voutly straight edge and proudly homosexual, their substance-ee stance ma them stand out a time when bars, clubs and other toxitg spac prised the few safe havens for LGBTQ people. When I me to the pot where I was actively gay took a b of time to get fortable and e out but I felt ready for whatever me my way.

” Although only a actn of the band’s succs Europe translated to the Uned Stat, “Take Your Mama” remas a staple gay bars across the untry. Butler later told The New York Tim that “Bld” relled “growg up a gay kid, my immediate fay and social group rejectg me, and askg why I was born to this suatn. The tr would later make headl after the 2014 Grammy Awards, where their landmark performance of the song would soundtrack a mass weddg between 33 gay and straight upl.

IS TOM CISE GAY? ROLLG STONE FOUNR REVEALS THE 'SUPER-SECRETIVE' REASON WHY HE THKS SO

” Sgg “No fay is safe when I sashay, ” he slks to a nference room and gyrat his hips for a room full of sus – a sly riposte to the legns of homophob who weaponize their fears agast LGBTQ people, om wh board rooms, Congrs, or out on the streets.

ROLLG STONE CONFIRMS: ULTRA-RICH GAY ACTIVIST IS TARGETG ‘WICKED’ CHRISTIANS

Nashville native Cys is an unniable pop and rock star, fond of sgg vers by the Cranberri and Soundgarn, but her gut list at the Ryman was 100 percent untry: Brothers Osborne, Ltle Big Town, Mickey Guyton, Maren Morris, and the gay masked wboy Orville Peck. Bee the very ia of a gay untry star once seemed like a fantasy — the assumptn beg that untry mic’s fan base was overwhelmgly nservative and perhaps even bigoted. Homan, who’d left his ral Kansas home at 18 to e to Nashville to pursue both mic and an tn, hadn’t imaged there would be a time when the untry-mic dtry would be welg to gay artists.

When Christian activists who nsired gays an abomatn forced a measure through the school board forbiddg the discsn of homosexualy the district’s public schools, kids like Brtany were unknowgly thst to the heart of a clash that was about to bee tertwed wh tragedy. She would have been shocked to know the tth behd the adults’ actn: No one would e to her aid for fear of vlatg the districtwi policy requirg school personnel to stay “ntral” on issu of homosexualy. Sam was even helpg to start a Gay Straight Alliance club, as a safe haven for misfs like them, although the club’s progrs was stalled by the school district that, among other thgs, was queasy about the club’s flagrant e of the word “gay.

ALL POSTS TAGGED "GAY"

“Let’s stop this dangero nonsense before ’s too late and more young boys and girls are enuraged to ‘e out’ and practice their ‘gayns’ right their own school’s homosexual club. The tragedi e at a natnal moment when bullyg is on everyone’s lips, and a vastatg number of gay teens across the untry are the news for killg themselv.

Suici rat among gay and lbian kids are ightengly high, wh attempt rat four tim that of their straight unterparts; studi show that one-third of all gay youth have attempted suici at some pot (vers 13 percent of hetero kids), and that ternalized homophobia ntribut to suici risk. Agast this supercharged backdrop, the Anoka-Hennep school district fds self the spotlight not only for the sheer number of suicis but bee is acced of havg ntributed to the ath toll by cultivatg an extreme anti-gay climate. “LGBTQ stunts don’t feel safe at school, ” says Anoka Middle School for the Arts teacher Jefferson Fietek, g the acronym for Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr and Qutng.

The Southern Poverty Law Center and the Natnal Center for Lbian Rights have filed a lawsu on behalf of five stunts, allegg the school district’s polici on gays are not only discrimatory, but also foster an environment of unchecked anti-gay bullyg.