AJ McLean: The gay terview - Dallas Voice

Contents:

• BACKSTREET BOYS' A.J. MCLEAN TALKS GAY BAND MEMBERS, BEG A 'FAG HAG'
• BOY BAND MEMBERS WHO ARE OUT AS GAY, BISEXUAL OR QUEER
• MY GAY INTERVIEW WH A BACKSTREET BOY: ‘I’M THE FAG HAG’
• EXPLORG RUMORS TO DETERME WHICH BACKSTREET BOY IS GAY – BS ROUNDUPS
• GAYS ROANOKE ED TO HI WHO THEY WERE — UNTIL A ADLY BAR SHOOTG
• WHY THIS BACKSTREET BOY HOP HIS DGHTERS ARE GAY
• AJ MCLEAN: THE GAY TERVIEW
• MAN OPENS FIRE ON GAY BAR
• GAYS ROANOKE ED TO HI WHO THEY WERE — UNTIL A ADLY BAR SHOOTG

BACKSTREET BOYS' A.J. MCLEAN TALKS GAY BAND MEMBERS, BEG A 'FAG HAG'

The Backstreet Boys were at a drag show when they first realized they had a gay followg.

I was bi myself, and that was when we first knew that we had a big gay followg, " A. ' Thkg back on , I've been this bs sce I was 3 and I grew up mil theater, so I was raised and surround by gay men and gay women. As for any sort of gay mors surroundg him or the pop group, he don't re.

"Everyone always says, 'When you look at a boy band, one of them has to be gay.

BOY BAND MEMBERS WHO ARE OUT AS GAY, BISEXUAL OR QUEER

Instead of me beg gay, I'm the fag hag, " he said.

He's this olr gentleman om Tampa and he's gay, and he's been followg durg this whole tour om Cha to Japan and now through the U. I thk he really hop that Nick might have a ltle b of gay. " The 35-year-old McLean, who married 2011 and is the father of a ltle girl, long supported equal rights and the band's gay fan base.

"We have a huge gay followg -- 's awome, " he told Out magaze back 2010. "I, personally, am tryg to get more and more volved wh the gay and lbian movement, very much so. I've got que a lot of gay iends back L.

MY GAY INTERVIEW WH A BACKSTREET BOY: ‘I’M THE FAG HAG’

And we make our mic for everyone, and whether you're gay, straight, black, whe, don't matter.

EXPLORG RUMORS TO DETERME WHICH BACKSTREET BOY IS GAY – BS ROUNDUPS

The mastream populary of boy bands wtern mic almost ensur that one or two members of each group intifi as gay, bisexual or queer. Most out gay boy band members talk about their early reer days of havg dual personas - the public heterosexual teen male, and the private gay dividual - creatg an thenticy paradox.

GAYS ROANOKE ED TO HI WHO THEY WERE — UNTIL A ADLY BAR SHOOTG

There have been sporadic attempts to create succsful all-gay boy bands to ter to the LGBTQ dance club crowd. Neverthels, there is a group of notable boy band members who publicly intify as gay, bisexual or queer.

In 1975, at the dawn of dis, Backstreet officially opened for bs at 845 Peachtree Street the heart of the begng, the massive, three-level, 10, 000-square-foot space ( had hoed Lang’s Interrs the 1950s), tered almost exclively to the cy’s burgeong whe gay male populatn.

WHY THIS BACKSTREET BOY HOP HIS DGHTERS ARE GAY

Vara, ] my dad’s dad, owned the Punch Bowl, one of the most proment gay bars Boston.

AJ MCLEAN: THE GAY TERVIEW

My grandfather knew gay clubs were big money. Our dad, Carme Vara, ran gay nightclubs Boston and Provcetown. He also owned a place Provcetown lled the Crown & Anchor, which was a hotel, gay bar, and baret for female impersonators.

Gay clubs ma good bs sense. Gay people played hard, they drank hard, and they danced hard and had more money to spend than the straight crowd. He wanted to be a whe male gay club.

MAN OPENS FIRE ON GAY BAR

I learned, livg through the civil rights and the gay rights eras, how to al wh . The club wanted to mata a gay, male-domated bar.

GAYS ROANOKE ED TO HI WHO THEY WERE — UNTIL A ADLY BAR SHOOTG

I was om Tennsee—wh all those ty gay bars—and, sudnly, I’m standg si a three-story club.

RUSSELL BOWEN-YOUNGBLOOD: Atlanta gay nightlife photographer Bowen-Youngblood was a Backstreet ctomer om 1994 to 2004. They told me was a gay club, but that didn’t matter to me. It was my first experience si a gay club.

It wasn’t like I was attracted to gay men.