For starters, says one expert, “A gay in is somebody who reprents the termatn to be who they are — and [is] unapologetic for ."
Contents:
- BARBRA STREISAND’S ONLY SON FELT UNFORTABLE AFTER HE DECID TO COME OUT AS GAY TO HIS MOM
- HOW BARBRA STREISAND AND ROBERT REDFORD’S ‘THE WAY WE WERE’ WAS INSPIRED BY A REAL-LIFE GAY ROMANCE (BOOK EXCERPT)
- THE WAY WE WERE'S SECRET GAY BACKSTORY
- WHAT MAK JUDY GARLAND A GAY IN? EXPERTS EXPLA WHAT SHE AND OTHERS, OM DIANA ROSS TO MADONNA, HAVE MON
- STREISAND 'KNEW' SON WAS GAY
- HOW THAT BARBRA STREISAND ‘YENTL’ JOKE WOUND UP THE YEAR’S BIGGT GAY ROM
BARBRA STREISAND’S ONLY SON FELT UNFORTABLE AFTER HE DECID TO COME OUT AS GAY TO HIS MOM
Although never hid the fact that he was gay as he is fortable wh his sexualy, was unfortable for him seeg the media pat an unte story about himself.
At the time when Gould me out as gay, his mother was already nsired one of the biggt gay ins the world. Gore Vidal was yet another famo homosexual bedazzled by Hatcher’s looks, and knowg Lrents’s taste handsome Gentile men, the novelist remend that his fellow wrer iend pay a vis to William B. As the MoMA crowd learned that summer on Quoque, Lrents was gay but his lover was a very bisexual man.
As the first few hntg not of the tle song sound and the unmistakable voice of Barbra Streisand ton “mem’ri, ” most of n’t help but settle for yet another viewg of The Way We Were, even though we know how the turbulent romance of Katie Morosky and Hubbell Garder turns few of know about the beloved 1973 film’s behd-the-scen drama or s gay origs. In other rearch, he terviewed s two still-livg, inic stars, Streisand and Robert rult is a tale of clash between Lrents, Pollack, and producer Ray Stark, the differg styl of Streisand and Redford, and how a gay Jewish man, Lrents, channeled his love of betiful Gentile men to the years, Lrents said the character of Katie, a polilly radil Jew who falls love wh and marri apolil Gentile Hubbell, was based on a woman he knew llege. He had reason to make this statement; the 1960s and ’70s, gay wrers were often cricized for turng their experienc to fictnal heterosexual romanc.
HOW BARBRA STREISAND AND ROBERT REDFORD’S ‘THE WAY WE WERE’ WAS INSPIRED BY A REAL-LIFE GAY ROMANCE (BOOK EXCERPT)
So he set out to thoroughly explore the gay angle of The Way We Were. “There always has to be a gay angle, or I’m not terted, ” says Hofler, a gay don’t thk Hubbell is a directly fictnalized versn of any of the men Lrents loved, but he do thk the character was fluenced by the wrer’s relatnships wh some of them, cludg his longtime partner, Tom Hatcher, and actor Farley Granger. Gould me out to his parents as gay the 1980s.
He add, "I never was hidg the fact that I was gay. From her official Twter acunt, Streisand blasted the out, gay, newly-elected Reprentative for New York’s third district.
THE WAY WE WERE'S SECRET GAY BACKSTORY
He has prevly said he me out as gay a ago. Related: Marjorie Taylor Greene fends Gee Santos, says lefti hate him as he’s gay. Gay ins through the ag, clockwise om top left: Madonna, Liza Mnelli, RuPl, Barbra Streisand, Beyoncé, Judy Garland.
(Photos: Getty Imag; llage by Nathalie Cz for Yahoo Life)Throughout the s, LGBTQ people have ed the term “gay in” to scribe a specific kd of public figure: typilly a larger-than-life diva whose life, work and allyship has ma a signifint impact on queer culture and s voted what mak a gay in, well, inic?
“A gay in is somebody who reprents the termatn to be who they are — and [is] unapologetic for , ” Bce Vilanch, the legendary Hollywood wrer and culture cric, tells Yahoo Life. They're all gay ins bee they reprent part of our stggle — and they acknowledge . ” (Learn more about some of the most well-known gay ins the teractive AR, below.
WHAT MAK JUDY GARLAND A GAY IN? EXPERTS EXPLA WHAT SHE AND OTHERS, OM DIANA ROSS TO MADONNA, HAVE MON
Goln Age stars like Joan Crawford, who was reportedly bisexual, and Bette Davis were revered by queer fans not jt for their mpy performanc, but also bee they were surround by gay people their personal ’s easy to e blanket terms like “mp, ” “diva” or “glamor” when attemptg to scribe such ins, the gay-culture cric Michael Mto explas that not all of them explicly fall to the tegori — jt as all are not pop sgers or movie stars.
The two women suffered those thgs … but they endured, they survived, " and wh humor, which Wilson lled "the life-rilient force of the gay muny. ") Or they n be royalty, like Prcs Diana, whose mix of glamour and activism has ma for an endurg reputatn as a gay in.
“Queer people are opprsed, by nature, so we rely oftentim on gay ins to lift up, to elevate , to te and spire , ” explas Mto, who creds such ins for providg queer people tharsis tim of trma — whether durg the height of the AIDS crisis or amid the anti-trans culture war to fully grasp the ncept of the gay in, 's important to go back a b, to the mother of all gay ins: Judy Garland. Friends of DorothyAs Vilanch explas, the morn archetype of a gay in is monly unrstood to be the legendary Garland, who would have turned 100 this year (promptg celebratns cludg -theater Wizard of Oz screengs and a perfume lnch). The star’s image, as a tortured soul who suffered for her art, layered wh credible talent and unwaverg loyalty to her gay fanbase, stck a chord wh the long-opprsed LGBTQ muny — and still do a time when beg out was dangero, Garland’s ncerts were well-attend by out gay men, lbians and trans people alike.
STREISAND 'KNEW' SON WAS GAY
“There was much ment at the time about her gay fanbase, and was never pleasant, ” Vilanch explas. ”Judy Garland, seen here performg at Carnegie Hall 1961 to an array of adorg male fans, is the morn archetype of a "gay in. " (Photo: Frank Rso/NY Daily News via Getty Imag)She's even thought to be nnected, at least tangentially, to the phrase "iend of Dorothy, " d slang, and the way gay men sometim referred to each other as far back as World War II.
The term probably refers to the misf pals of Dorothy The Wizard of Oz, as portrayed on screen by Garland (although the term has also been associated wh the Amerin satirist of the 1920s Dorothy Parker) any event, Vilanch says of Garland, “There was a tremendo amount of simpati, a back-and-forth, between her gay fans and herself. ”Gay ins through the ag, clockwise om top left: Lil Nas X, Joan Crawford, Cher, Mariah Carey, Diana Ross, Laverne Cox. “Liza has a lot of siar quali that make her a gay in, ” Mto says.
HOW THAT BARBRA STREISAND ‘YENTL’ JOKE WOUND UP THE YEAR’S BIGGT GAY ROM
Of urse, Mnelli won the hearts of queer fans for her reer-turng role 1972’s Cabaret, which earned her an Amy Award, as well as for her reputatn In the 1970s for “partyg wh the gays” at Stud 54, cludg wh her ar iend Halston (not to mentn that two of her ex-hbands, Peter Allen and David Gt, were mored to be gay).
Vilanch pots out that divas like Bette Midler, Barbra Streisand and Diana Ross were also grabbg their share of attentn, displayg a sensibily that ronated wh gay, who was raised Hawaii before startg out on her reer 1970s New York Cy sgg at a gay men's bathhoe, is a unique example of an in who earned her reputatn the gay muny before makg to the mastream.
’”Barbra Streisand, siarly, “has always known the value of her gay dience, ” Mto explas. Pl, she’s long been an outspoken advote for equaly (no doubt fueled by support for her son, Jason Gould, a gay man) the same ve, Ross's mic has been a bean for LGBTQ fans through the s, startg wh her glamoro start wh the Suprem.