Special Report: The Gay 90's |

entertainment weekly the gay 90s

Ameri Se Shas of Gay: A Once-Invisible Group Fds the Spotlight

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SPECIAL REPORT: THE GAY 90'S

Five years ago, she siphoned om the homosexual g of Harlem an outrageo dance tradn lled "vogug" and spiked straight, whe, mastream dance clubs wh . Or maybe was Tom Hanks, acceptg an Amy Award for his portrayal of a gay lawyer Philalphia, and tearfully thankg his high school drama teacher and a classmate—"two of the ft gay Amerins that I had the good fortune to be associated wh"—before a billn movie fans around the world. But however all began, look at where 's led: Jt as Elvis and his ilk plumbed Ain-Amerin mil tradns and turned them to mastream rock & roll the 1950s, moviemakers, TV producers, media people, and rock stars have turned entertament on s head by eely mg the gay culture for s sarsm and style, s glter and gr, s secrets and celebratns.

CAN GAY STARS SHE?

In 1995, the gay stream flows eely to the mastream. Gay characters are multiplyg on screens big and small.

ENTERTAMENT WEEKLY: THE GAY 90S, SEPTEMBER 8, 1995

Comedy's most popular styl now utilize the gay sensibily—a reliance on irony that's omni-prent products as varied as Letterman (not him, jt his raised eyebrow) and The Ln Kg ( which Timon and Pumbaa are … well, whatever you want them to be).

The old-fashned gay-bag humor of Eddie Murphy and Andrew Dice Clay has been renred obsolete by gay-iendly entertament. On Broadway, gay-themed works are the most domant genre, and for three seasons, gay-themed plays by gay playwrights (Tony Khner's two-part Angels Ameri and, most recently, Terrence McNally's Love! ) But gay culture has brought about even more basic chang—sometim chang as fundamental as how thgs look.

FEEDBACK: THE GAY 90'S

Batman Forever is, fact, emblematic of the new, mutual clivens—the give and take and take back—of gay and straight dienc. A missn by Hollywood to (a) eradite all forms of bigotry and homophobia, or (b) to stroy the valu upon which society rts? Que simply, gay sells.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY THE GAY 90S

Special Report: The Gay 90's | .

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