As Edgars Rkēvičs be the first openly gay print Latvia’s history, here’s a glimpse at other openly gay heads of state om around the world.
Contents:
- THE 10 BT GAY MILS OF ALL TIME
- WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE GREAT GAY PLAY? EVERYTHG.
- JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
- OPN: ARE MILS ONLY FOR GAY MEN?
- LATVIA BE 7TH NATN TO BE LED BY AN OPENLY GAY HEAD OF STATE
THE 10 BT GAY MILS OF ALL TIME
Gay-themed Broadway mils have e a long way the past fifty years. The on are the bt. * musicals with gay leads *
The Tony awards have always been a gay affair, plete wh out hosts like Neil Patrick Harris and wners like David Hy Pierce famoly thankg their partners at the podium. The story revolv around a group of gay iends g together for a iend's birthday party Manhattan, and ends wh stori about long-lost lovers, and one character g out to his wife. Created by out playwright John Cameron Mchell, Hedwig spired a feature film and a Broadway revival, wh gay actors like Neil Patrick Harris and Andrew Rannells takg on the Home This crilly-acclaimed Broadway mil was adapted by Lisa Kron and Jeane Tori om Alison Bechl's 2006 graphic memoir of the same name.
Each act foc on a different time Arnold's life, om his relatnship wh a bisexual man, to adoptg a child wh his partner, to beg a sgle dad raisg a gay son. The storyle was a darg productn for the time -- even though alt wh a lbian romance, was weled by the public and beme a huge Sex Another award-wng play by Harvey Fierste, Safe Sex premiered on Broadway 1987 and took dienc to the life of a gay man rg for his lover as he succumbs to AIDS-related illns. After his partner's ath, the protagonist mt meet his lover's wife and Pri Set both the 1950s and 2008, The Pri, wrten by Alexi Kaye Campbell, parallels two gay love stori two very different eras.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE GREAT GAY PLAY? EVERYTHG.
In recent shows, ias of gayns are expandg, bg and disappearg all at once. * musicals with gay leads *
The play foc on gay uple Ge and Alb, and the adventur that ensue when Ge's son brgs home his fiancee's ultra-nservative parents for the first time.
As most know, the stage productns were adapted for numero French films and a very famo Amerin remake, starrg Rob Williams and Nathan This 1979 play, wrten by Mart Sherman, revolv around the persecutn of gays Nazi Germany, and tak place durg and after the Night of the Long Kniv, the vlent 1934 uprisg that brought Hilter to power. Fun Home n bt be scribed as a “memory play” that s non-lear plot piec together var moments om Alison’s life, particularly focg around her relatnship wh her gay father.
JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
Kev Maxen, an associate strength ach wh the Jacksonville Jaguars, has bee the first male ach a major U.S.-based profsnal league to e out as gay. * musicals with gay leads *
Peter later falls love wh Judy’s dghter, Liza Mnelli, but he later to terms wh his sexualy, embracg the fact that he is gay. AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTCric’s NotebookIn recent shows, ias of gayns are expandg, bg and disappearg all at WisemanI don’t know whether was bee my parents were jt generally open-md, or bee they had a specific, kdly yet mortifyg agenda, but one of the first Broadway plays they took me to, June of 1977, was way too gay for fort.
OPN: ARE MILS ONLY FOR GAY MEN?
* musicals with gay leads *
The first phas of the gay play, ccial their moment, which broadly speakg enpassed the send half of the 20th century, are over. Some, like “A Strange Loop” and “Fat Ham, ” dramatize how the experience of racism amplifi that of homophobia, and vice fy expectatns by makg sexual orientatn a distctly sendary ncern among characters who “happen to be” gay or lbian, as “A Case for the Existence of God” and “At the Weddg.
When a (male) love tert enters the picture, and they sg Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” as a duet, you feel somethg new has happened, as ntroversy melts to a blissful cloud of nonbary bubble is the equalizg, homogenizg fluence of pop culture at work — an fluence that some queer people unrstandably mistst. Jackson’s “A Strange Loop” go further, makg the cross-pollatn of inty the prime source of s nflict, as the ma character nonts both the homophobia of his Black fay and the racism of his queer one. ) Its body, race and orientatn issu are left a kd of stalemate that suggts what might happen if a foundatnal gay play like “The Boys the Band” (which had only one Black character) were multiplied fun hoe mirrors ad fum.
That the Hamlet figure, lled Juicy, is Black and gay, wh an termtent csh on a Laert-like iend, suggts that the queer theme will domate, yet don’t; “Fat Ham” is really a play about Black masculy and, even more broadly, the vlent herance all men mt renounce.
LATVIA BE 7TH NATN TO BE LED BY AN OPENLY GAY HEAD OF STATE
A clean-cut U.S. Army pta vtigatg a btal murr; a scrappy boxer fightg for regnn and remptn; a slick rerd producer fakg his way to the top; and a young gay man navigatg his way through church, bars and motel rooms. Delve to a variety of plays and mils featurg pellg and gutsy rol wrten specifilly for Black actors. * musicals with gay leads *
” Beltran portrays a gay Black man hopg to adopt the young girl he’s been Klwich/The New York TimMy other favore queer plays of the past year likewise offer no bands; their gay characters (there are still far too few lbian on) operate as if their gayns were mostly ternal and pletely irrelevant. Hunter’s heartbreakg “A Case for the Existence of God, ” that turns out to be an illn, as a gay Black man, after fosterg a ltle girl for more than three years, fds his plan to adopt her undone at the last mute. If there are subtle ways which their sexual inti affect their character or behavr, they were too subtle for me; miss a le or two and you may not even know that gayns is a part of their makp at mak sense plays about cris that threaten to oblerate a person entirely: genr, race, orientatn and all.
Francis, the closeted llege stunt “Gemi, ” probably did; if he lived through AIDS, I expect he achieved full five-star gay privilege, plete wh marriage, children and Crate & Barrel chee boards. ) What about the gay characters who, lackg whe sk, almost never appeared on mercial stag those supposed great gay play s? However, when me to the stori we were tellg, the narrative often shifted back to the heteronormative the begng, gay them were all the subtext and packed away as double entendr by lyricists such as Cole Porter.
Now regard as a Broadway classic, A Chos Le tells the stori of 17 Broadway dancers as they dn for plac a chos le of a fictnal Broadway you may not thk of A Chos Le as a gay mil the same way you thk of shows like Rent or Everybody's Talkg About Jamie was ground-breakg for s time as openly discsed gay stori on a Broadway stage. At the KKat Klub we meet a llectn of eccentric characters where the l of genr inty and sexualy are blurred the cy once nsired the gay pal of Europe.