The late, inic sger-songwrer Juan Gabriel never officially me out as gay, but on the anniversary of his ath, LGBTQ Lato wrers reflect on the posive impact he had on their liv.
Contents:
- JUAN GABRIEL WAS MEXI’S GAY IN — BUT HE NEVER SPOKE OF HIS SEXUALY
- ANA GABRIEL GAY? MEXIN SGER ADDRS HOMOSEXUALY RUMORS AFTER CONCERT IN MIAMI
- ARE GABRIEL AND NATHAN GAY THE BASTARD SON & THE DEVIL HIMSELF?
JUAN GABRIEL WAS MEXI’S GAY IN — BUT HE NEVER SPOKE OF HIS SEXUALY
* gabriel gay *
Gabriel Gay is a French wrer and illtrator. He never spoke about his sexualy, yet was wily assumed to be ’s no surprise that the sger was an in Mexi’s gay subculture.
But how was that he me to be celebrated by the untry’s Catholic, nservative and often homophobic mastream? He mataed that posture to his later years spe a shift public opn on gay and transgenr never married, nceived four children via artificial sematn wh a female iend and repeatedly refed to answer qutns about his sexualy, even after a male former personal secretary wrote a book allegg they had a romantic 2002, a few years years before Mexi Cy legalized gay marriage, the famoly effemate sger shut down a journalist who asked if he was gay.
Although Gabriel never publicly claimed the gay muny, that muny certaly claimed him, wh his romantic Spanish-language ballads belted late to the night drag bars on both sis of the borr. Many gay fans saw d msag the lyrics of Juan Gabriel’s songs, such as “Es Mi Vida” (“It’s My Life. At some schools, his name was ed as an anti-gay lled Juan Gabriel subversive.
ANA GABRIEL GAY? MEXIN SGER ADDRS HOMOSEXUALY RUMORS AFTER CONCERT IN MIAMI
“You ma homophobic people sg and dance. ”Mexi has changed nsirably om the days Juan Gabriel was begng his 2005, the feral ernment stuted an anti-homophobia mpaign.
Gay and lbian characters now appear on Mexin ss and soap operas. And public opn polls show Mexin people are warmg toward gay marriage, which is legal several stat and Mexi Cy. “Homosexualy kd of me out of the closet, but Juan Gabriel never did.
Juan Gabriel transcend the fear of ridicule and exposure and somehow, he was and is still Gabriel — or Juanga — never officially me out as a gay man. When he me out 2010, his reer didn’t appear to suffer, and sudnly the word “gay, ” which had rarely been uttered on Spanish rad or televisn, beme dible and appld by LGBT groups as a step forward removg the stigma of gay inty, which was still palpable the Lato and Lat Amerin muni.
ARE GABRIEL AND NATHAN GAY THE BASTARD SON & THE DEVIL HIMSELF?
Gay men were outsts, clowns and predators. His charisma and flamboyance affirmed my own inty, and showed me that a shy brown boy uld be artistic, gay, and powerfully fluential. This is what Juanga do his mic wh credible far as his sexualy, personally, I believe Juanga om the leage of the gay poet Salvador Novo, who was also the chronicler of the pal cy life of Mexi Cy.
” --Gregg Barrs, Chino poet, journalist and playwright, thor of "I-DJ" (Hansen Publishg, 2015)One day, would be okayJuan Gabriel was the kd of gay my mother uld love and one I was not: a twirlg sequed sensatn who adored mothers and sang to them about their ad children. To her, he was that someone who told his lover to go to hell and al f que ni te quería anyway, ( the end he didn't love you anyway), all of which were songs she uld not sg me, Juan Gabriel's lns of adorg mothers sent a signal to the quiet queer girl me that one day, would be okay to say, Mami, you know how you don't re that Juan Gabriel is gay? By then, I was sgg his songs at gay bars, Esta Noche San Francis or Arena LA, wh all the rt of his queer fans who knew his songs by heart.