Gay Characters on Children’s TV, om Bert to SpongeBob

Contents:

• 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
• GAY BOB DOLL AD: “COME OUT OF THE CLOSET WH GAY BOB” (1978)
• 29 CELEBRI WHO SOME BELIEVE ARE GAY
• NICKELOON JT ANNOUNCED THAT SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS IS GAY
• GAY CHARACTERS ON CHILDREN’S TV, OM BERT TO SPONGEBOB
• THE STORY OF GAY BOB, THE NTROVERSIAL 1970S DOLL THAT WOULD BE JT PLA OFFENSIVE TODAY

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

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. In 1914, Magn Hirschfeld wrote of the revolutnary potential of rpected gay women and men g out en masse.

By the late 1960s, g out was treated wh the utmost importance wh the gay rights movement. It was the same year that Harvey Milk beme the first openly gay man elected to public office California.

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.

WHAT ABOUT GAY BOB?

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.

Dpe Gay Bob havg a realistic penis, the snazzy fashn talog ntaed the doll's packagg was distctly child-iendly:. Hi boys, girls and grownups, I’m Gay Bob, the world’s first gay doll.

But remember, if Gay Bob has the urage to e out of his closet, so n you!

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

Dpe his optimistic msage, nservative groups of the era viewed Gay Bob as a threat to fay valu. 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. 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.

GAY BOB DOLL AD: “COME OUT OF THE CLOSET WH GAY BOB” (1978)

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. ” In the song, a robotic voice tells a human man: “I share this apartment wh a modified Gay Bob doll. Today, Gay Bob is simply an amg quirk on the timele of LGBTQ+ history.

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. Thirteen ch tall and plastic, Gay Bob was marketed as the first openly gay doll and ma his retail but mail-orr talogs.

29 CELEBRI WHO SOME BELIEVE ARE GAY

Gay Bob's packagg proudly (and wordily) explaed what “g out of the closet” meant:. "Hi boys, girls and grownups, I’m Gay Bob, the world’s first gay doll.

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.

NICKELOON JT ANNOUNCED THAT SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS IS GAY

Gay Bob’s story is ceptively plited and tertwed toy and LGBTQ+ history. Gay Bob was created by an advertisg executive named Harvey Rosenberg. Rosenberg put $10, 000 of his own money to gettg Gay Bob manufactured through his pany, Gizmo Development.

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.

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 CHARACTERS ON CHILDREN’S TV, OM BERT TO SPONGEBOB

Gay Bob dolls were sold via mail-orr advertisements gay magaz and a few boutique shops New York Cy and San Francis. Consequently, ten thoand more dolls were produced, and Gay Bob was btowed wh Esquire magaze's "Dub Achievement Award" 1978.

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. 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!

THE STORY OF GAY BOB, THE NTROVERSIAL 1970S DOLL THAT WOULD BE JT PLA OFFENSIVE TODAY

Perhaps most notably the sign of Gay Bob is that he has anatomilly rrect genals. When Gay Bob was removed om the slidg se packagg, he was, effect, g out of the closet.

Gay Bob was, acrdg to Rosenberg himself, a “cheaply” ma doll, packaged cleverly. It's safe to say that Gay Bob's sign was over the top-- 's mp. 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.