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.

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

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. ”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”.

WHY JUDY GARLAND IS STILL SUCH A GAY IN

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.

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

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.

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?

WHY JUDY’S DIRECTOR ADD SCEN FEATURG HER GAY FANS

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.

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

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.

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

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. 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.

HOW THE RABOW BEME THE SYMBOL OF GAY PRI

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.