How Judy Garland beme a gay in — and why she endur as one |

Contents:

• WHY IS JUDY GARLAND THE ULTIMATE GAY IN?
• HOW JUDY GARLAND BEME A GAY IN — AND WHY SHE ENDUR AS ONE
• WHY JUDY GARLAND IS STILL SUCH A GAY IN
• THE MANY, MANY REASONS WHY JUDY GARLAND WILL FOREVER BE A GAY IN: HER TRIUMPHS AND STGGL
• WHY JUDY’S DIRECTOR ADD SCEN FEATURG HER GAY FANS
• ‘FRIENDS OF DOROTHY’: HOW JUDY GARLAND BEME A GAY IN
• WHAT MAK JUDY GARLAND A GAY IN? EXPERTS EXPLA WHAT SHE AND OTHERS, OM DIANA ROSS TO MADONNA, HAVE MON
• HOW THE RABOW BEME THE SYMBOL OF GAY PRI

WHY IS JUDY GARLAND THE ULTIMATE GAY IN?

Gay magaze The Advote once lled her the “Elvis of homosexuals”, and a 1967 review of Garland's ncert at New York Cy’s Palace Theatre, Time Magaze observed that a “disproportnate part of her nightly claque” was gay. The buzz surroundg the release, partnered wh the 2018 remake of A Star is Born – the inic showbiz drama that earned Garland an Amy Award nomatn 1954 – has brought her distctly gay legacy back to bpic Judy, Renée Zellweger plays Garland – and is a favoure for next year’s Osrs (Cred: David Hdley/ LD Entertament / Roadsi Attractns)To many gay men, Garland is the mother of all ins.

Analysg her story, om upbrgg to ath, helps unrstand how and why some gay men look to famo women to help them navigate the town to Tseltown In 1922, Garland was born Franc Ethel Gumm – named after her parents Frank and Ethel – Grand Rapids, Mnota. He theoris that turng out to be abnormal after beg “saturated wh the valu or ordars” is a pot where Garland and Dorothy’s stori align wh the experience of some gay men, enuragg those who perceive themselv as ‘different’ to gravate towards troubleGarland’s arrival as a major Hollywood star was plited by a seri of disastro personal relatnships, most notably wh herself.

In the book, Changg Gay Male Inti, Dr Andrew Cooper suggts that the body n be a plex battleground for many gay men: that the body be a key se for projectg a “succsful” sense of self to gay peers, but also for embodyg succs the ey of wir society. A Star is Born further blurred the le between her work and life, wh Richard Dyer intifyg this as the moment where Garland’s image of beg “damaged goods” be an sential part of her star persona and gay in stat.

HOW JUDY GARLAND BEME A GAY IN — AND WHY SHE ENDUR AS ONE

”Gay men often reject gay cultural figur that they perceive as geared towards straight people – such as the st members of Netflix’s Queer EyeBut ntrastgly, the book How to be Gay, queer historian David Halper scrib a tensn wh the “mastream” that leads gay men to be “highly cril, if not ntemptuo, of their own artists, wrers and filmmakers”. This some gay men to reject gay cultural figur that they perceive as geared towards straight people – such as, to e two very current exampl, the st members of Netflix’s Queer Eye and gay Democratic printial ndidate Pete Buttigeig.

Instead many embrace subcultural – and their ey, more subversive – female narrativ like Garland’ seen the new film Judy, Garland found a new niche as a live sger towards the end of her life (Cred: David Hdley / LD Entertament/ Roadsi Attractns)So, pendg on which way you look at , “disintifyg” wh Garland is eher gay men’s way of feelg aligned to mastream culture – or, fact, rejectg in athIt is an unavoidable tth that Garland’s tragic and untimely ath has also ntributed to her stat as a gay in, makg her a timels figure.

” But s later, you don’t have to look far to see how Garland was the first a ntug leage of ‘tragic’ female celebri who have acquired the stat of gay would e to a Judy Garland ncert and then scream at her when she was too dnk to fish – Dr Michael BronskiElements of Garland’s story n be found that of Diana, Prcs of Wal, and her mistreatment at the hands of the prs; Prcs Margaret, wh her ongog substance issu, and marriage to an exploative man who was moured to be gay; and Brney Spears, whose child stardom culmated a very public divorce and mental health stggl. As Dr Michael Bronski, a Harvard Universy profsor and the thor of books on queer history and gay culture, asserts a recent article on the dark si of “stan” (superfan) culture: "There is a long history of gay male fan culture latchg onto famo women and then turng on them.

WHY JUDY GARLAND IS STILL SUCH A GAY IN

Whether ’s Katy Perry beg, as journalist Brian O’Flynn wr, “gay Twter’s punchg bag”, or gay fans drsg as ‘bald Brney’ for Halloween and turng up to meet-and-greets drsed stume om Spears’s famo 2007 breakdown, gay men n be creasgly fickle towards famo a former child sat who has endured mental health stggl, Brney Spears is one of many female celebri whose experienc rell Garland’s (Cred: Alamy)Idolisg the women is one thg, but we shouldn’t treat them like playthgs for our entertament. And om the streets of Wisteria Lane to Big Ltle Li and the Real Hoewiv anchise, pop-culture enurag to love female characters when they’re screamg hysterilly, so we n nnse their pa to hilarly mp GIFs and say “yassss kween” as they smash up their is a huge part of what draws gay men towards women like Garland. The term "Friend of Dorothy, " referencg her The Wizard of Oz character, beme popular among gay men to self-intify, and mors still persist that was Garland's 1969 funeral that sparked the epoch-fg Stonewall rts, the begng of the morn gay-rights movement.

THE MANY, MANY REASONS WHY JUDY GARLAND WILL FOREVER BE A GAY IN: HER TRIUMPHS AND STGGL

That sense of 'There's somethg there but n't que be said' is such a part of the emotns her image and her performanc, that is dramatizg that very moment of movg om beg the closet to beg open about beg gay. Judy Garland has long been nsired one of the world's most regnised and celebrated gay ins, somethg that has been reaffirmed this year by what is about the sger and actrs, once dubbed, that mak her cultural legacy so endurg, particularly for members of the LGBTIQ+ muny? In the review, the cric noted that a "disproportnate part of her nightly claque seems to be homosexual" - addg that "[t]he boys the tight troers" would "roll their ey, tear at their hair and practilly levate om their seats" as Garland Garland ntu to leave her mark on popular culture today.

Source: Getty Imag, NBCThis particular review was published at a time when the gay rights movement was reachg boilg pot the Uned Stat - only two years before Garland's ath 1969, which (though others disagree wh this asssment) her throngs of gay fans 1967 didn't e om nowhere. They were the so-lled 'Friends of Dorothy (a gay men sometim ed to intify each other when was otherwise dangero to do so); those who had found solace and regnn Garland's portrayal of Dorothy Gale The Wizard of Oz. "Frank boiled down Garland's stat as a gay in to "gay men’s willgns to embrace and fd value the kds of movi and characters that the rt of the public viewed as outsirs or wh disgt" - drawg a parison to the queer muny's celebratn of Joan Crawford durg her late reer, when the general public's opn of her was wang.

Her mannerisms and inic performanc also ntue to be shows like Will & Grace, which, turn, has been creded wh movg the p forward on gay reprentatn the mastream media sce premierg the years, emergg tails of Garland's ght personal life have only served to further cement her ronance for members of the LGBTIQ+ muny. But this year, the film Judy, Garland's gay fans have fally been regnised for havg a strong impact on the sger small characters the film, the geoly named Stan and Dan, are shown wag for Garland outsi a nightclub London. Lonely, the star v the pair to jo her for on the night, Garland fds herself at Stan and Dan's apartment, learng all about the challeng faced by gay people London at a time where homosexualy meant persecutn.

WHY JUDY’S DIRECTOR ADD SCEN FEATURG HER GAY FANS

Charl Kaiser’s 1997 book The Gay Metropolis has been creded as one source that popularized the theory that heightened emotns over Judy Garland may have ntributed a signifint way to the outcry at Stonewall Inn hours later, “No one will ever know for sure which was the most important reason for what happened next: the hns their mds of Judy Garland’s funeral, or the example of all the prev rebellns of the sixti — the civil rights revolutn, the sexual revolutn, and the psychelic revolutn, each of which had punctured gapg hol cmblg tradns of passivy, puranism and bigotry, ” he wrote. Get your history fix one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter “No eyewns acunt of the rts wrten at the time by an intifiably gay person mentns Judy Garland, ” argu David Carter Stonewall: The Rts That Sparked the Gay Revolutn.

” He also pots out that a reference to Judy Garland an Esquire article published later the year on the emergence of the “New Homosexual” clearly refers to her as emblematic of the “Old Homosexual” and “symbolilly allied wh the old orr the rts end. ” Mark Segal, a wns to that night and founr of the Philalphia Gay News, wrote an op-ed 2015 nouncg the emphasis on the Garland theory the Stonewall movie, which he scribed as “the most disturbg historil liberty” the film and “downright sultg to as a muny. ” Some experts on LGBTQ history like Corbman worry that focg too much on Garland, an entertaer, trivializ “the ma talysts for the Stonewall uprisg”: abe, harassment, homophobia and the growg regnn of gay and lbian activism an era of nscns-raisg — problems that still rema today.

Garland’s ath by an accintal barburate overdose on June 22, 1969 has been ced as one of the subtexts of the Stonewall rebelln six days later—the uprisg that fed the morn LGBT movement, so ’s many ways ftg that Garland has found a new home durg Gay Pri Month. ”Lorna Luft (whose mother Judy Garland died the night rts broke out standg up for gay rights at The Stonewall Inn on the night of June 28, 1969) pos at the Stonewall Inn at the kick-off to New York Cy Gay Pri Month on June 1, 2017 New York Cy. Related: For Gay Pri, Don’t Jt Remember: Kick Up Your Heels and Get LoudLiza Mnelli’s Style Evolutn, From Stud 54 to TodayMnelli appeared alongsi her mother 1963 on the Judy Garland Show, both matchg outfs.

‘FRIENDS OF DOROTHY’: HOW JUDY GARLAND BEME A GAY IN

I maybe have wrong but I was readg about her life (went down a rabb hole) and there is no mentn about her beg any relatn to the LGBT muny, but she's apparently seen as a gay in (spe her hband havg a gay affair and not her). Renee Zellweger stars as the tle character, and recently explaed why the fictnal characters Stan and Dan were add to the Osr hopeful Judy, Stan and Dan are a gay uple who are massive fans of Judy Garland, gog to see multiple performanc durg her sold-out n London.

WHAT MAK JUDY GARLAND A GAY IN? EXPERTS EXPLA WHAT SHE AND OTHERS, OM DIANA ROSS TO MADONNA, HAVE MON

I had the chance to speak wh Renee Zellweger about Judy at the Toronto Internatnal Film Ftival, where she explaed the meang behd those n see my nversatn wh Renee Zellweger below, specifilly related to the cln of Garland's gay fans is a movie that tri to look at s tle character hontly, balancg both her flts and greatt strengths durg the film's 118 mute ntime. Judy, a new bpic ncerng Judy Garland, was adapted om Peter Quilter’s stage play End of the Rabow, a work that wrer Robert Lelx has characterised as “a gay versn of Passn of the Christ” film, which featur a big, showy turn om Renée Zellweger, is reful to clu two fictnalised gay super-fans who have bought many tickets for Garland’s five-week bookg at the Talk of the Town nightclub London 1969, jt months before her ath om a barburate overdose, aged ’s the latt maniftatn of Judyism, the gay, quasi-relig worship of The Wizard of Oz star.

Charl Kaiser’s 1997 book The Gay Metropolis: The Landmark History of Gay Life Ameri not that the Stonewall protts happened hours after Garland’s spectacular funeral, an event that saw 20, 000 New Yorkers le the streets to see her whe glass ff – the biggt funeral Manhattan had wnsed sce Valento’s ath Garland a promotnal still for Prentg Lily Mars (1943). ”This ia of Judy Garland's repertoire, pecially her Grammy-wng live rerdg Judy at Carnegie Hall (1961) – the first double album to sell more than a ln uns – as a dramatisatn of gay life, is not was “the Elvis for homosexuals”, Barry Walters once wrote The Advote, “a symbol of emotnal liberatn, a woman who stggled to live and love whout rtrat. The boys the tight troers roll their ey, tear at their hair and practilly levate om their seats, particularly when Judy sgs Over the Rabow” same review quot om “Manhattan psychiatrists’ terpretatns of the gay-Garland nnectn, ” ncludg that: “Judy was beaten up by life, embattled and ultimately had to bee more mascule.

HOW THE RABOW BEME THE SYMBOL OF GAY PRI

“This event, ” wrote Dyer, “nstuted for the public a break wh Garland’s unplited, ordary MGM image, [and] ma possible a readg of Garland as havg a special relatnship wh sufferg, ordars, normaly, and is this relatnship that stctur most of the gay readg.

By the early 1960s she often relied on late night sh--hand turns at gay piano bars to get her through the next was a heartbreakg tragedy that was appealg for gay men stgglg through a crimalised phrase “iend of Dorothy” – a slang term for gay men that refers to Garland’s character The Wizard of Oz – dat to the send World War and likely relat to the Cowardly Ln, an avowed sissy, and the alternate, rabow fay that Dorothy gathers around her. ”Wrg The Atlantic 2000, unr the headg “The Queen Is Dead: Once a gay in, Judy Garland has bee an embarrassment”, Michael Joseph Gross suggts that: “Judy Garland began losg her power over gay men bee we got that msage and started beg more tegrated characters than the screamg queens of yore. (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?

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. “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.