From attacks on drag shows and a nightclub to viral moments of queer joy, this year was tly a mixed bag of lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer news.
Contents:
- THE GAY FIGURE ARTISTS ARE REIMAGG THE MALE GAZE
- THERE HAVE BEEN AT LEAST 39 GAY OLYMPIC FIGURE SKATERS. HERE’S THE LIST
- 16 GAY AND BI OLYMPIC FIGURE SKATERS
- AM I GAY?
- HOW TO KNOW IF YOU ARE GAY
- THREE OLYMPIC FIGURE SKATERS E OUT — 2 GAY MEN AND 1 QUEER WOMAN
- THE STORY BEHD GAY BOB, THE WORLD’S FIRST OUT-AND-PROUD DOLL
- TOM HOLLAND’S GAY SEX SCENE SETS SOCIAL MEDIA ALIGHT AFTER THE ACTOR SAID PLAYG THE ROLE ‘BROKE HIM’
THE GAY FIGURE ARTISTS ARE REIMAGG THE MALE GAZE
Guillme Cizeron is the sixth gay man to w Olympic gold figure skatg. * gay figure *
He also played a major role World War II, helpg break several German the '50s, he told police that he had homosexual relatns wh a man and was arrted for gross cency. Beyond that, the activist was important reversg the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn's belief that homosexualy was a mental illns. As a drag performer, a sex worker, and a self-intified transvte, Johnson played a major role the historic Stonewall rts 1969 that jump-started the gay liberatn the rts, Johnson beme a lear the muny and ed the power to open Street Transvte Actn Revolutnari, which helped transgenr youth.
AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTWorkg largely outsi the gallery system, a group of illtrators is revivg the disciple and refg how queer bodi are reprented MacConnell, “Ernie” 2014, waterlor and pen on paperLAST FALL, IN a ty apartment downtown New York, a 30-year-old gay physique mol named Matthew Williams stood naked agast a whe backdrop ont of the gay artist John MacConnell. Over the next 2, 000 years, pturg the naked male form beme an sential artistic skill, one that reached s apotheosis Wtern culture durg the Italian Renaissance, when homosexual sire was subtly exprsed Donatello’s bronze “David” (cir 1440) and Caravagg’s patg “The Micians” (1597), where the tradnal female me is replaced wh a band of boys, partially robed togas, referencg a Greek and Roman perd which homoeroti was a part of society.
THERE HAVE BEEN AT LEAST 39 GAY OLYMPIC FIGURE SKATERS. HERE’S THE LIST
Adam Rippon may be the first out figure skater to pete the Olympics, but he's not the only gay man to have land an axel on the world stage. * gay figure *
Classics profsor Andrew Lear, 59, who now ns Osr Wil Tours, a pany that offers excursns foced on implicly gay art and history major while some old masters fetishized the male body barely d ways, the ia of an openly queer artist exprsg his sir om a queer perspective was only born the last century.
16 GAY AND BI OLYMPIC FIGURE SKATERS
Are you qutng your sexualy? Fd out if you’re gay, straight, bisexual, or asexual. Learn what the terms mean and if they apply to you. * gay figure *
Ined, cricism of works like Cadm’s durg an era which homosexualy was still forbidn phed many of the artists to the unrground, om where they’re still beg unearthed today. (It’s perhaps not cintal that Alan Hollghurst’s latt novel, “The Sparsholt Affair, ” a gay retellg of Bra the 20th century, clus a 1940s-era artist tryg to pursue a classmate at Oxford by drawg his figure.
) Frato, “Tangere” 2016, lored pencil on paper, urty of the artist and Antoe Levi, Paris; Jordan Mejias, “Dare Me, ” 2017, monochromatic waterlor on paper, om the book “Of Art and Men” (Photograph: Hans-Ge Pospischil) © Jordan MejiasIN THE YEARS after Cadm, other gay perspectiv on the male body found their way to visual culture, though they’ve typilly been nsired taboo or hypersexual. And spe the “queer enlightenment” of the 1970s and ’80s, when Robert Mapplethorpe, the photographer Rotimi Fani-Kayo and others brought man-on-man sex to the mm, there rema few celebratory imag of openly gay men Wtern visual art.
Williams’s afternoon ssn wh MacConnell, fact, is part of a recent revival of male figure drawg among ntemporary gay artists — cludg Kou Shou, Mart Bedolla and Stephen McDermott — who all specialize stripped-down reprentatns of largely young whe men. MacConnell and Williams met 2016 at the artist Mark Beard’s drawg salon, which now attracts a rotatg st of about 30 gay artists.
AM I GAY?
After beg oted om the U.S. ary for beg gay, she beme an early fighter for gay rights and a proment figure the nascent L.G.B.T.Q. rights movement. * gay figure *
Outled his signature blue pen, ’s a tribute to the sorts of mundane gay moments that are rarely celebrated art or popular culture. Gay figure artists are followg the homoerotic tradn tablished by Mizer, Fland and the artist Tom Bianchi, whose photographic nus have seen a renaissance after he published “Fire Island P, Polaroids 1975-1983” 2013. ” In “On Send Thought” (2016), the ster’s mcular curv suggt early Roman statuary while ializg gayns the tradn of Cadm’s fabulist etchg “Y.
HOW TO KNOW IF YOU ARE GAY
* gay figure *
In this, Frato and the other ntemporary gay figure artists share a philosophy, spe their different athetics: They’re all mted to reflectg the mostly unseen terr liv of the men they admire, and to celebratg a diverse set of subjects who, taken together, stand opposn to a nonil history of art that has long ignored an openly gay view of the male body.
The MTV h spired Livg Dolls to produce a special le of real-life mart, cludg everyone's favore gay bass sger, Lance Bass. Dark Wch Willow actn figureIf you want to hunt down a figure of Willow, everyone's favore Buffyverse lbian, you may as well go wh this Cequt exclive Dark Wch Willow, sce she was the first gay pictn of the character on the show.
Rort Smhers -- and if you want your toy llectn to be extra gay, you have to get the Smhers om his vis to a Fire Island-style vatn the classic episo "Homer the Smhers" -- me wh a phone and a bag of peappl among his props, and he would teract wh Mister Burns's fireplace if you happened to have the set.
THREE OLYMPIC FIGURE SKATERS E OUT — 2 GAY MEN AND 1 QUEER WOMAN
Gandalf the GreyOK, so Gandalf technilly exhibed no sexual orientatn the Lord of the Rgs books or films, but he isn't not gay, and actor Ian McKellen certaly is sure gay.
After g out as gay an Instagram post 2020, Bank hop to show younger athlet “that they n be whomever they are, or want to be, whout discrimatn. Radford ma history as the first petive figure skater to e out as gay while still petg for champnship tl 2014, pavg the way for future LGBTQ+ athlet to e out.
THE STORY BEHD GAY BOB, THE WORLD’S FIRST OUT-AND-PROUD DOLL
There have been at least 39 gay men to pete figure skatg at the Wter Olympic Gam over the years, wh eight publicly out men petg 2022. LGBT historian Tony Scupham-Bilton has intified the men over the years, cludg a pastakg procs of intifyg who is gay. When Adam Rippon pet at the Olympics this year, will be the first time an openly gay figure skater reprents the Uned Stat an dividual event.
But figure skatg has always provid an athletic arena for gay men, even if most historilly waed to e out publicly after their Olympic reer me to a close.
But he kept his sexualy a private matter until 2014, when the Uned Stat sent a legatn to Rsia ma up of high-profile gay athlet. "I never felt like I need to before, so whether people figured out if I was gay or not, I had to make official, why I had to e out publicly.
TOM HOLLAND’S GAY SEX SCENE SETS SOCIAL MEDIA ALIGHT AFTER THE ACTOR SAID PLAYG THE ROLE ‘BROKE HIM’
But he never mentned beg gay until he started playg hockey for the Toronto Gay Hockey Associatn, where he started lerally wearg that part of his inty on his sleeve, somethg he discsed wh The Hockey News Curry, Uned Kgdom, Men's SglThe Brish skater, famo for brgg ballet and dance mov to men's sgl, won the gold at the 1976 gam Innsbck, where he also acted as flag bearer for his natn. Shortly before petg at Worlds that same year, the German newspaper Bild-Zeung outed Curry as gay, g a mor sndal Europe, but Curry went on to w the event anyway, makg him the first skater to w the European, Olympic and World champnships a sgle season, acrdg to the BBC.
While qutns about the flamboyant skater followed him through his reer -- two Canadian broadsters ught flak and spired a Pri Hoe prott after makg homophobic ments about Weir at the 2010 Olympics -- he did not e out until 2011, when he revealed he was gay his memoir, Wele to My World. Stt Haton his book Landg It later creded Pockar and Rob McCall for helpg him get over personal homophobia, but Haton also got cricized for posthumoly outg the O'Meara, USA, Ice DancgThe ice dancer reprented the Uned Stat at the 2006 gam Toro alongsi skatg partner Jamie Silverste. There is an abundance of talented LGBTQ dividuals the sport, though the list of proment dividuals is entirely populated by gay men.