(RNS) 'I never wanted to be gay,' Trey Pearson said. 'I was sred of what God would thk and what all of the people I loved would thk about me.'
Contents:
- THE REAL STORY OF THE YMCA THAT INSPIRED THE VILLAGE PEOPLE'S GAY ANTHEM
- CHRISTIAN ROCK STAR OUT AS GAY. HERE’S THE LETTER HE WROTE TO THE WORLD
THE REAL STORY OF THE YMCA THAT INSPIRED THE VILLAGE PEOPLE'S GAY ANTHEM
* jeremy is gay song *
Part 2 of the first season of Netflix's origal fay seri No Good Nick was released earlier this week, and viewers were treated to a queer surprise when one of the show's characters officially me out as gay. In the 40 years sce the Village People released “YMCA, ” the song has bee a cultural touchstone: a gay anthem famo for s nuendos and double entendr about young, f men “havg a good time, ” as well as a staple at Yanke gam and bar song has also immortalized the Young Men's Christian Associatn pop culture.
Yet former rints of the McBurney Y Chelsea — the buildg that spired the song, and which was featured the vio released late 1978 — say the realy of stays at the YMCA those days was more plited than the lyrics portray, wh gay culture and workg-class workouts existg a sgle munal space. “There was certaly a party aspect to their vio and that time was the height of all the gay clubs Chelsea, ” rells Davidson Garrett, who lived at the McBurney Y om 1978 through 2000.
“[The YMCA] did have some overlappg of gay cisg. Garrett adds unrgraduate stunts and disabled men to the mix of ethnilly and racially diverse renters, about half of whom he timat were gay.
CHRISTIAN ROCK STAR OUT AS GAY. HERE’S THE LETTER HE WROTE TO THE WORLD
Often gay and their 20s or 30s, the weekend guts ed the YMCA “as a drsg room, ” and as a place to discreetly hook up, Garrett says.