27 Thgs You'll Only Know If You Grew Up Gay In The '90s

Contents:

• THE GAY '90S
• THE GAY 90S
• GAY 90S
• THE GAY 90S: MICHAEL LIEBERMAN ON QUEER CEMA AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY
• SPECIAL REPORT: THE GAY 90'S
• 27 THGS YOU'LL ONLY KNOW IF YOU GREW UP GAY IN THE '90S

THE GAY '90S

It was where what we now regnize as " nostalgia" was born, and The Gay Neti beme a popular settg for films of the 1930s, the 1940s and, to a lser gree, the 1950s and 1960s, by which time was seen as that nocent age before World Wars and atomic bombs. In fact, the "everybody's rich" stereotype stems om a nflatn of this perd wh "The Gild Age" (1876-1896), as the Gay Neti were also marked by enomic prsn and much labor agatn (see Panic of 1893 on The Other Wiki), not to mentn the Spanish-Amerin War.

Even then, the term "Gild Age" (as , "ated gold") was specifilly meant to dite that the good tim were only a surface veneer, wh ser problems lurkg jt beneath (as the Gay Neti themselv later monstrated).

THE GAY 90S

" Also, a French aristocrat by the name of Pierre Coubert would revive the Olympic Gam for the Gay Neti, which would be hosted Greece (the se of the origal Olympics). This wasn't ually done whout at least a b of irony (ually only satiril or Cloudcuckoolanr works), but wrers and artists returned to the Gay Neti well so often that s nventns beme even more stereotypil.

However, kooky Gay Neti stuff still pops up ocsnally, most often works directed at preteen children, or surreal edy seri such as The Simpsons or Fay Guy. Ironilly, real life, the Gay Neti were the perd where the world began to move beyond tradnal steampunk/gaslamp fantasy athetics bee of new technologi and movements such as Art Nouve. One Goln Age Batman story (wrten the 1940s) featured Batman and Rob visg an island where all morn technology was banned and the populatn lived like was The Gay Neti.

To Hartley's story: An Archie Comics om the eighti has Betty pg for The Gay Neti and fallg asleep, only to learn her dream that wasn't such a great time after all.

GAY 90S

Whilst Jeev and Wooster is set The Roarg '20s (or perhaps more accurately, Genteel Interbellum Settg), one story revolv around Sir Watks Basset's Compromisg Memoirs (and the multu of parti who sire the stctn thereof) of the var thgs he and other proment personag did durg The Gay Neti. Jack Fney's Time and Aga (1970) is set 1882, which is technilly outsi the time perd, but seems to f the ia of The Gay Neti almost perfectly anyway.

THE GAY 90S: MICHAEL LIEBERMAN ON QUEER CEMA AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY

The openg for Cheers starts off showsg the Gay Neti and then gradually go through the s — and one episo, Rebec disvers that the bar, which opened 1889, will soon have s 100 year anniversary. Though Disney lived there the early 20th century, the athetic of Ma Street is very remiscent of the Gay Neti, plete wh ice cream parlor, horse drawn and horsels rriag, and a barbershop quartet. The game also nstcts the ncept, as featur some of the ls pleasant parts of the Gay Neti, like blatant racism and thls robber barons nng Company Towns that keep people cshg poverty.

Is set the Prent Day, still borrows que a b of Gay Neti athetic, notably crowd scen, where the background extras are often gsied up top hats and dner jackets (for the men) and illy hats and long drs (for the women).

The fact that Lee is straight don't terfere wh his handlg of the subject matter, and he would go on to show his directorial expertise films as varied as <em>Sense and Sensibily, Life of Pi, The Ice Storm, </em> and of urse, one of the bt gay-themed movi ever, <em>Brokeback Mounta. I don't rell exactly, but I'm pretty sure that after the movie we went for drks at the Flame, a fun and iendly dive that was then Ann Arbor's only gay bar. The film is about a gay baret owner and his drag queen pann -- and 's not a tragedy, which is unual when put up agast many of s queer cema precsors.

SPECIAL REPORT: THE GAY 90'S

The film by Mike Nichols (<em>The Graduate, Workg Girl, Who's Aaid of Virgia Woolf</em>) proved to be a turng pot for society's evolvg views on homosexualy.

I didn't see the full film until many years later, but seeg the character of Cleo beg gay before I even knew what that word meant was all took. Dpe the potential danger, The Gay 90s aired as schled on March 26, 1993, and beme the untry’s first mercial live, “ll ” rad program by, for, and about the gay and lbian muny.

Given Cleveland’s history of settlg disput wh explosiv, upled wh the homophobic atmosphere surroundg lbians and gay men at the time, the threat was taken serly. It was, stead, the rad show self that blew down barriers, shattered myths and uned Cleveland’s gay, straight and “ between” muni a remarkably peaceful way. Lookg back, ’s not surprisg that the natn’s first gay and lbian talk show was hosted by Cleveland native Buck Harris, a man at ease beg the “first” a number of public rol.

27 THGS YOU'LL ONLY KNOW IF YOU GREW UP GAY IN THE '90S

In 1984, Governor Richard Celte appoted Harris as the Oh Department of Health’s gay health nsultant, the first state the natn to create such a posn rponse to the growg AIDS crisis. Shortly after his appotment, The Pla Dealer asked Harris for an terview regardg the crisis, sistg on referrg to him as a “homosexual” (as opposed to gay) nsultant, as was the newspaper’s policy at the time. Regardls of the topic, which ranged om lol polics to the art scene and everythg between, Harris matas that “a good slice of gay culture” was served, often wh a si of humor.

The first half of the weekly two-hour program volved gut terviews, and there were notable on cludg, Harris’s words, “movers, shakers and founrs of the gay civil rights movement. Congrsman Barney Frank; gay rights activist Frank Kameny; two-time Grammy Award wng sger/songwrer Janis Ian, and four-time Tony award wng playwright Harvey Fierste. Arbron, the rad ratgs agency, timated that 20, 000 listeners tuned to The Gay 90s on a typil night – perhaps more on a clear night when the AM signal strength was strong enough to reach listeners as far away as Akron or Canton, maybe even the “boondocks, ” Harris quips.