'Love Is Strange' and Hollywood's Lack of Gay Characters Film - Variety

Contents:

• 'GAY BAR' TRACKS THE WAVE OF A WHOLE CULTURE — AND ONE LIFE
• POP MIC COULD USE ANOTHER DE AS 'GAY' AS THE '80S
• GAY CULTURE HAS GROWN TOXIC WH UNCHECKED PRIVILEGE. IT'S TIME FOR TO RET
• GAY WAVE
• AM I GAY?
• THE SURPRISG STORY OF HOW ABBA BEME BELOVED GAY INS
• PALE WAV’ HEATHER BARON-GRACIE IS MIC’S REIGNG QUEER EMO QUEENIN MANY WAYS, THE BAND’S SEND ALBUM, WHO AM I?, IS A LOVE LETTER TO BARON-GRACIE’S GIRLIEND—WHO SHE PLANNED TO MARRY VEGAS LAST MARCH. THE OPENNS IS NEW, BUT THE SENTIMENT ISN’T. “WHEN I ME OUT OF THE WOMB I KNEW I WAS GAY,” BARON-GRACIE SAYS.BY CLAIRE LANDSBMFEBARY 12, 2021BY JORDAN CURTIS-HUGH.SAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVEHEATHER BARON-GRACIE DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT ASTROLOGY. “I JT KNOW I’M A CAPRIRN,” THE 26-YEAR-OLD LEAD SGER OF U.K.-BASED BAND PALE WAV TELLS ME. “MY FANS MA ME A BIRTH CHART BEE THEY KNEW I HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF STAR SIGNS.”FROM THE OUTSI LOOKG , THOUGH, THE SMOS WAS ALMOST UNIQUELY ALIGNED AGAST THE CREATN OF PALE WAV’ SEND STUD ALBUM, WHO AM I?, OUT THIS FRIDAY. LAST FEBARY, A TOUR-B CRASH VOLVG THE OTHER THREE MEMBERS OF THE PALE WAV QUARTET—CIARA DORAN, HUGO SILVANI, AND CHARLIE WOODS—SILED THE BAND FOR SEVERAL WEEKS. THEN THE PANMIC CUT THEIR L.A. RERDG SSNS SHORT; HALF THE BAND FLEW HOME, AAID OF GETTG STUCK STATI, AND HALF REMAED CALIFORNIA, NECSATG A FRANKENSTEG OF RERDGS MA ON DIFFERENT NTENTS. AND OF URSE, THE PANMIC H S STRI L.A. AS BARON-GRACIE WAS FALIZG THE ALBUM LAST SPRG. “IT WAS JT ME AND A PRODUCER MASKS AND GLOV,” SHE SAYS. “I MALY STAYED THE VOL BOOTH. WE WERE WASHG OUR HANDS EVERY SEND.” ULTIMATELY, THOUGH, HER EARTH SIGN NATURE PREVAILED. “I REMEMBER MY MANAGER RGG ME UP AND BEG LIKE, WHAT SHOULD WE DO?” SHE SAYS. “AND I WAS LIKE, THERE’S NO OPTN HERE. I’M GOG TO THE STUD, AND I’M GOG TO FISH .”WHO AM I? IS A HARR SOUND FOR PALE WAV—GNGIER, WH A POP-PUNK SENSIBILY AND VISUALS THAT WOULD BE AT HOME A TIM BURTON FILM. THE TULAR “WHO AM I?” IS A TE BALLAD, BUT THE RT OF THE ALBUM—A NOSTALGIC MISHMASH OF AVRIL LAVIGNE AND HAYLEY WILLIAMS WH SOME BRAND NEW MELANCHOLIA THROWN —STAYS UPBEAT. “CHANGE,” THE OPENG SONG, IS PALE WAV’ TYPIL MIX OF LIGHT AND DARK: A CHEERY MELODY PAIRED WH LYRICS SPAIRG OF A DYSFUNCTNAL RELATNSHIP. “YOU DON’T OWN ME” IS A GIANT “FUCK YOU” TO THE PATRIARCHY, BUT A TEMPO THAT V YOU TO JUMP AROUND YOUR BEDROOM SGG TO A HAIRBSH. “SHE’S MY RELIGN” IS A LOVE SONG WH A TWIST; THE MIC VIO, SET ON A MISTY WDG ROAD, A SERTED MEADOW, AND A DIMLY L UNTRY HOE, SCREAMS ROMANTIC TRAGEDY, WHILE THE ACPANYG WORDS SPEAK OF LOVG SOMEONE SPE THEIR FLAWS. FOR BARON-GRACIE, THIS TYPE OF BATN IS LIBERATE. “THE STMENTATN IS QUE UPLIFTG AND POSIVE AND PHORIC, AND THE SONGWRG TENDS TO BE DARKER,” SHE EXPLAS. “I TRY TO BALANCE …. I’M A CRIER—I’LL LERALLY CRY AT ANYTHG ON TV. I LOVE THOSE KDS OF SONGS. BUT I DON’T WANT A FULL RERD OF PEOPLE CRYG.”STILL, PARTS OF THE ALBUM ARE TEAR-JERKG. “SHE’S MY RELIGN,” THE QUEER EMO ANTHEM OF MY TEENAGE DREAMS, IS SHOT THROUGH WH EMOTN, A MIL LOVE LETTER TO BARON-GRACIE’S GIRLIEND, KELSI LUCK. (FOR THE RERD, LUCK IS A PISC.) LUCK’S STARRG ROLE THE SONG’S MIC VIO IS HER MOST OBV NTRIBUTN, BUT BARON-GRACIE TELLS ME THAT LUCK’S FGERPRTS ARE ALL OVER THE ALBUM. SHE HAD “FALLEN A B OUT OF LOVE WH MIC,” UNTIL LUCK “HAD ARTISTIC, CREATIVE NVERSATNS WH ME THAT MA ME BEE A BETTER WRER.” PART OF THIS, SHE SAYS, WAS A POETRY BGE—LUCK HAD HER READ “POEMS THAT HAD REALLY MEANT SOMETHG TO HER. ‘YOU DON’T OWN ME’ WAS SPIRED BY A POEM SHE WROTE ABOUT WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE A WOMAN THE WORLD. AND ‘WISH YOU WERE HERE’ WAS A POEM SHE WROTE ABOUT ME THAT I SECRETLY RERD ON MY PHONE. SHE HAD NO IA. I WAS LIKE, ‘CAN YOU JT READ ME THAT POEM AGA?’… LATER ON SHE DISVERED THAT I’D PUT A SONG AND AT FIRST SHE WAS LIKE, ‘TAKE OUT. I DON’T WANT THERE.’” “SHE’S VERY MUCH A GIRL WHO WANTS TO BE BEHD THE MERA AND NOT ONT OF , AND THAT’S WHY OUR RELATNSHIP WORKS SO WELL,” BARON-GRACIE SAYS. “WE’LL CREATE THIS WHOLE WORLD, AND THEN I GO AND PERFORM . IT’S THE PERFECT RELATNSHIP FOR ME…. I WOULDN’T HAVE THIS RERD IF WASN’T FOR KELSI.” MOST POPULARDONALD TMP PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO TRYG TO OVERTURN THE ELECTN, DPE US ALL WNSG HIM TRYG TO OVERTURN THE ELECTNBY BS LEVFALLS AND A FREEZE-UP: MCH MCCONNELL’S HEALTH SR PROMPT SUCCSN CHATTERBY PABLO MANRíQUEZLIZZO’S DETHRONG HAS BEEN SWIFTBY KENZIE BRYANTIN FACT, THE TWO TEND TO TIE THE KNOT LAST MARCH—YET ANOTHER PLAN RAILED BY THE PANMIC. “WE WERE GOG TO GET MARRIED VEGAS,” BARON-GRACIE SAYS. “I WANTED A TRASHY WEDDG, AND I’M ANNOYED THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN.” THE MOMENT FOR VEGAS “HAS PASSED,” SHE SAYS, BUT THEY’LL FIGURE OUT ANOTHER WAY TO GET HCHED DOWN THE LE. “YOU KNOW HOW GAY RELATNSHIPS GO; YOU MEET THAT PERSON AND YOU’RE LIKE, ‘LET’S MOVE TOGETHER,’” SHE JOK. BUT SHE FEELS ROCK-SOLID LUCK: “WHEN YOU TABLISH THAT MUTUAL RPECT FOR ONE ANOTHER, IS REALLY BETIFUL.” THIS TYPE OF OPENNS, BOTH TERVIEWS AND HER SONGWRG, IS RELATIVELY NEW FOR BARON-GRACIE. THOUGH SHE’S BEEN OUT FOR YEARS—“Y I’M GAY” SHE TWEETED NOVEMBER 2018, A LIGHTFULLY NONCHALANT MOVE RIVALED ONLY BY KRISTEN STEWART’S “I’M, LIKE, SO GAY, DU” ON SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE—THIS IS THE FIRST TIME SHE’S BEEN LIBERATELY VOL ABOUT THIS ASPECT OF HER INTY. “WHEN I WROTE THE FIRST PALE WAV ALBUM [MY MD MAK NOIS, RELEASED 2018,] I FELT VERY YOUNG,” SHE SAYS TO EXPLA THE SHIFT. “I WAS AWARE OF MY SEXUALY, BUT I HADN’T YET OWNED . I HAD A LOT MORE TO EXPLORE AND EXPERIENCE. I DIDN’T HAVE ANYONE TO WRE ABOUT.” IN THE TERIM, SHE’S BEE MORE FORTABLE HER OWN SK. “TOO MANY PEOPLE THK I’M STRAIGHT AND I’M LIKE, REALLY? MOST ARE MEN. [I’M LIKE,] I’M NOT STRAIGHT; I A’T GOG TO GET WH YOU…. I’VE ALWAYS BEEN GAY. WHEN I ME OUT OF THE WOMB I KNEW I WAS GAY.” ARRIVG AT THIS POT, OTHER WORDS, HAS BEEN A PROCS. AND LIKE MANY ARTISTS, BARON-GRACIE CREDS THE COVID-DUCED LULL PALE WAV’ TOURG SCHLE WH GIVG HER TIME TO DO THE KD OF PERSONAL WORK THAT’S ALLOWED HER SONGWRG TO PROGRS. “WHEN YOU GET TO THAT LIFTYLE OF TOURG, ’S A WHOLE DIFFERENT WORLD,” SHE SAYS. “IT’S NOT REAL LIFE. YOU’RE PTURED BY . AND I THK THAT STUNTED MY MATURY AND MY PERSPECTIVE.” PALE WAV HAS ANNOUNCED A TOUR OF THE U.K. AND IRELAND 2022, BUT BARON-GRACIE DIT SHE’LL STAY FOCED WARD UNTIL THEN, LIKELY ON A THIRD STUD ALBUM. AND WHEN SHE RETURNS TO THE ROAD, SHE’LL HAVE FIRMER BOUNDARI PLACE. “I’VE BEE A LOT MORE STUBBORN TERMS OF LETTG PEOPLE KNOW WHEN I NEED A BREAK,” SHE SAYS. “IT’S IMPORTANT TO SET BOUNDARI AND SAY, I NEED TIME TO GO OFF AND JT BREATHE. AND THEN I’LL E BACK TO THE CHAOS.” MORE GREAT STORI FROM VANY FAIR— COVER STORY: THE CHARMG BILLIE EILISH— KOBE BRYANT’S TRAGIC FLIGHT, ONE YEAR LATER— HOW THE PGA POLISHED OFF DONALD TMP— COULD THE MONARCHY “GO OVER A CLIFF” AFTER QUEEN ELIZABETH DI?— 36 ESSENTIAL ITEMS FOR RECREATG INIC BILLIE EILISH NAIL MOMENTS— INSI 2021’S CELEBRY-GOSSIP RENAISSANCE— WHAT WILL MELANIA TMP’S LEGACY BE?— FROM THE ARCHIVE: THE BRANT BROTHERS’ QUT TO CONQUER MANHATTAN— NOT A SUBSCRIBER? JO VANY FAIR TO RECEIVE FULL ACCS TO AND THE PLETE ONLE ARCHIVE NOW.CLAIRE LANDSBM
• WILL GAY DRAMA ‘LOVE IS STRANGE’ SHATTER HOLLYWOOD’S GLASS CEILG?
• AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?
• WHY AM I "SO GAY?"
• RYM ULTIMATE BOX SET > 80'S GAY SYNTHPOP
• HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT

'GAY BAR' TRACKS THE WAVE OF A WHOLE CULTURE — AND ONE LIFE

Atherton L's book starts off a crowd room a gay bar where he's gone cisg wh his partner, whom he refers to throughout the book wh the Leonard Cohen-spired nickname Famo Blue Raat. He wr betifully about his llege days Los Angel, where he went to his first one, though he n't rell the name, wryly notg, "Of urse I n't remember my first gay bar — I was dnk. " That history clus the famo 1969 uprisg at the Stonewall Inn New York, but Atherton L also div to other, lser-known bars, cludg on that endured police raids meant to put gay people their place.

" Atherton L explor topics like archecture and urban geography, as they relate to gay bars, betifully; he wr wh a real knowledge that's more than jt tellectual dilettantism. " Along the way, Atherton L dips to other topics related to the gay muny: the appropriatn of gay culture by straight people, mic, drkg, and the valu of the younger generatn of LGBTQ people.

POP MIC COULD USE ANOTHER DE AS 'GAY' AS THE '80S

And while succeeds on many levels, perhaps the most remarkable one is Atherton L's nstant qutng of himself, and the realizatns of how he's changed sce he walked to his first gay bar years ago: "Maybe, I thought, I'm a dis ball. Rex and The Sweet as well as solo superstar David Bowie, spe his claratn of gayns Melody Maker Duran, Depeche Mo, Spand Ballet and their new-wave peers were an entirely different story. They were teen idols (unlike the glam rockers) and, Ant's se, a bona fi sex symbol, settg fashn trends while challengg the strict fn of masculy and what "gay" and "straight" were supposed to look like.

It was, a sense, the first metrosexual didn't take one look at the members of Spand Ballet the vio for "To Cut a Long Story Short, " their 1980 but sgle, and jt assume that they were gay?

Among the possibly rrect assumptns: 1) There was Band Aid/Live Aid-style mararie among the pop acts; 2) one big h set them up for life; and 3) a lot of them were boys who liked 's not to say that '80s new wave didn't have s gay ntgent.

GAY CULTURE HAS GROWN TOXIC WH UNCHECKED PRIVILEGE. IT'S TIME FOR TO RET

Perhaps that's why Boy Gee managed to bee a bankable ternatnal superstar, why Marc Almond logged a strg of UK hs, and out of Soft Cell, and why "Smalltown Boy, " Bronski Beat's gay anthem, went to number 3 the UK and nearly land the U. Though "Rock Me Tone" beme Billy Squier's biggt sgle that year, the vio, wh s fluorcent sign and homoerotic flourish, is often creded wh killg the Amerin rocker's 's not that the kids Ameri are ls acceptg today.

But even though the nversatns that muted this lumn for six weeks are nowhere close to beg over, I do feel like some thgs that me up durg that time of ntemplatn are worth sayg now — particularly to my fellow whe gay cis out more stori on LGBTQ+ ins and activistsHowever, the ghost of Larry Kramer very much remaed my own head as I ma my way through a Pri month unlike any other. I spent a few quiet afternoons readg his 1978 but novel Faggots, a satiril (yet clearly tobgraphil) look at the liv of gay men 1970s New York Cy that he wrote jt before AIDS ma him a figurehead of Amerin activism.

GAY WAVE

Followg a man his late 30s (based on Kramer himself) who is seekg out a lovg, long-term relatnship a sea of hedonism, the novel has a clear msage: gay men need to start lovg each other stead of beg so obssed wh gettg fucked up and (lerally and figuratively) fuckg each other.

- Larry Kramer his but novelUpon publitn, Faggots was dismissed by many as puranil and self-loathg for s cricism of gay men's obssn wh vany, promiscuy and recreatnal dg e. And while, on one level, the book is a wild (if at tim problematic) wdow to an era of gay culture 40 years the past, also felt like had a lot to say about gay culture today. In mastream gay media, the phrase almost always refers to a fairly specific subset of the LGBTQ "muny" largely ma up of whe gay cis men — even though many of the battl won around queer rights were fought by people of lour, trans and genr-nonnformg folks, and queer women, and fact the morn Pri movement self was large part iated by Black trans women.

AM I GAY?

If an imprsn of a monolhic "gay culture" fed by such a homogeneo mographic exists, is bee whe gay cis men have until very recently domated mastream reprentatn unr the LGBTQ umbrella and have, general, been hand a level of privilege the last that is wildly disproportnate to any other mographic unr said umbrella. When was the last time I actually had a good time at gay bar full of people I have fely spoken to on social media or apps but who act like I'm pletely sane when I se or say hello person? In analyzg the show's pictn of young gay men livg San Francis, wrer Daniel Wenger diagnos what he terms the "new gay sadns": an entire generatn of urban, privileged gay men who seem to have no clue what they're lookg for or who they are.

Largely born the 1980s, they are the earlit wave of a "post-Stonewall, post-plague, post-activist" generatn of gays — "too old to have brought a boy to the prom and too young to have nursed a fantasy of nng away to an urban gay utopia, " Wenger explas. Queeri5 pneerg LGBTQ Canadian films you n watch for ee right nowI've seen many of my fellow whe gay cis men seemgly rise to the ocsn by retweetg Black and Indigeno voic, gog to ralli and vowg to te themselv on how to tly be anti-racist (though how performative that is some s is unclear). Rettg "gay culture" will require fightg back agast entrenched social prsur and expectatns of gay cis men — and llg them out when they perpetuate, even passively, any form of discrimatory dialogue.

And was large part bee of that attu that he uld lead AIDS activists through a rpt and homophobic system to ga accs to the dgs that ma possible for our generatn to have the liv that we do. Over a photo of Spongebob SquarePants' Patrick about to put a pumpk to a tube feedg to Spongebob's mouth, the meme ascribed the players to new rol: Patrick beme Netflix, the pumpk an "unnecsary gay character, and Spongebob was "any new seri.

THE SURPRISG STORY OF HOW ABBA BEME BELOVED GAY INS

The gay wave is a ltle wave all gay people do when they are g home and they see their relativ/iends who are llectg them and/or meetg up whYou jt did the gay waveby LarDaPotatoe March 4, 2016FlagGet the gay wave your Disrd server on Urban Dictnary jt 3 clicksgay wave new waveterm that promot the gay pri movementLots of people are g out now. Gay - While this adjective has historilly scribed men who are attracted to other men, the term now is ed to refer to anyone who experienc romantic, emotnal, or physil attractn to people of the same genr.

Disney’s ntroversial rponse to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill unrsr the pany’s plited history wh the LGBTQ+ muny — a plex relatnship which Disney has played both champn and punchg bag. Griff, who is also a profsor of film and media arts at Southern Methodist Universy, add that Disney has recently received a lot of publicy about var Disney films wh openly gay characters.

Even though Disney’s re product of fay-iendly entertament hasn’t been blatant s reprentatn of gay characters, ABC — which is owned by Disney — has done so wh TV shows like “Morn Fay” and “Ellen. Gay revelers (and their lucky straight iends) are wavg their arms, strikg genue pos and shamelsly sgg along to the sugary 45-year-old pop standard that’s bee synonymo wh queer nightlife.

PALE WAV’ HEATHER BARON-GRACIE IS MIC’S REIGNG QUEER EMO QUEENIN MANY WAYS, THE BAND’S SEND ALBUM, WHO AM I?, IS A LOVE LETTER TO BARON-GRACIE’S GIRLIEND—WHO SHE PLANNED TO MARRY VEGAS LAST MARCH. THE OPENNS IS NEW, BUT THE SENTIMENT ISN’T. “WHEN I ME OUT OF THE WOMB I KNEW I WAS GAY,” BARON-GRACIE SAYS.BY CLAIRE LANDSBMFEBARY 12, 2021BY JORDAN CURTIS-HUGH.SAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVEHEATHER BARON-GRACIE DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT ASTROLOGY. “I JT KNOW I’M A CAPRIRN,” THE 26-YEAR-OLD LEAD SGER OF U.K.-BASED BAND PALE WAV TELLS ME. “MY FANS MA ME A BIRTH CHART BEE THEY KNEW I HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF STAR SIGNS.”FROM THE OUTSI LOOKG , THOUGH, THE SMOS WAS ALMOST UNIQUELY ALIGNED AGAST THE CREATN OF PALE WAV’ SEND STUD ALBUM, WHO AM I?, OUT THIS FRIDAY. LAST FEBARY, A TOUR-B CRASH VOLVG THE OTHER THREE MEMBERS OF THE PALE WAV QUARTET—CIARA DORAN, HUGO SILVANI, AND CHARLIE WOODS—SILED THE BAND FOR SEVERAL WEEKS. THEN THE PANMIC CUT THEIR L.A. RERDG SSNS SHORT; HALF THE BAND FLEW HOME, AAID OF GETTG STUCK STATI, AND HALF REMAED CALIFORNIA, NECSATG A FRANKENSTEG OF RERDGS MA ON DIFFERENT NTENTS. AND OF URSE, THE PANMIC H S STRI L.A. AS BARON-GRACIE WAS FALIZG THE ALBUM LAST SPRG. “IT WAS JT ME AND A PRODUCER MASKS AND GLOV,” SHE SAYS. “I MALY STAYED THE VOL BOOTH. WE WERE WASHG OUR HANDS EVERY SEND.” ULTIMATELY, THOUGH, HER EARTH SIGN NATURE PREVAILED. “I REMEMBER MY MANAGER RGG ME UP AND BEG LIKE, WHAT SHOULD WE DO?” SHE SAYS. “AND I WAS LIKE, THERE’S NO OPTN HERE. I’M GOG TO THE STUD, AND I’M GOG TO FISH .”WHO AM I? IS A HARR SOUND FOR PALE WAV—GNGIER, WH A POP-PUNK SENSIBILY AND VISUALS THAT WOULD BE AT HOME A TIM BURTON FILM. THE TULAR “WHO AM I?” IS A TE BALLAD, BUT THE RT OF THE ALBUM—A NOSTALGIC MISHMASH OF AVRIL LAVIGNE AND HAYLEY WILLIAMS WH SOME BRAND NEW MELANCHOLIA THROWN —STAYS UPBEAT. “CHANGE,” THE OPENG SONG, IS PALE WAV’ TYPIL MIX OF LIGHT AND DARK: A CHEERY MELODY PAIRED WH LYRICS SPAIRG OF A DYSFUNCTNAL RELATNSHIP. “YOU DON’T OWN ME” IS A GIANT “FUCK YOU” TO THE PATRIARCHY, BUT A TEMPO THAT V YOU TO JUMP AROUND YOUR BEDROOM SGG TO A HAIRBSH. “SHE’S MY RELIGN” IS A LOVE SONG WH A TWIST; THE MIC VIO, SET ON A MISTY WDG ROAD, A SERTED MEADOW, AND A DIMLY L UNTRY HOE, SCREAMS ROMANTIC TRAGEDY, WHILE THE ACPANYG WORDS SPEAK OF LOVG SOMEONE SPE THEIR FLAWS. FOR BARON-GRACIE, THIS TYPE OF BATN IS LIBERATE. “THE STMENTATN IS QUE UPLIFTG AND POSIVE AND PHORIC, AND THE SONGWRG TENDS TO BE DARKER,” SHE EXPLAS. “I TRY TO BALANCE …. I’M A CRIER—I’LL LERALLY CRY AT ANYTHG ON TV. I LOVE THOSE KDS OF SONGS. BUT I DON’T WANT A FULL RERD OF PEOPLE CRYG.”STILL, PARTS OF THE ALBUM ARE TEAR-JERKG. “SHE’S MY RELIGN,” THE QUEER EMO ANTHEM OF MY TEENAGE DREAMS, IS SHOT THROUGH WH EMOTN, A MIL LOVE LETTER TO BARON-GRACIE’S GIRLIEND, KELSI LUCK. (FOR THE RERD, LUCK IS A PISC.) LUCK’S STARRG ROLE THE SONG’S MIC VIO IS HER MOST OBV NTRIBUTN, BUT BARON-GRACIE TELLS ME THAT LUCK’S FGERPRTS ARE ALL OVER THE ALBUM. SHE HAD “FALLEN A B OUT OF LOVE WH MIC,” UNTIL LUCK “HAD ARTISTIC, CREATIVE NVERSATNS WH ME THAT MA ME BEE A BETTER WRER.” PART OF THIS, SHE SAYS, WAS A POETRY BGE—LUCK HAD HER READ “POEMS THAT HAD REALLY MEANT SOMETHG TO HER. ‘YOU DON’T OWN ME’ WAS SPIRED BY A POEM SHE WROTE ABOUT WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE A WOMAN THE WORLD. AND ‘WISH YOU WERE HERE’ WAS A POEM SHE WROTE ABOUT ME THAT I SECRETLY RERD ON MY PHONE. SHE HAD NO IA. I WAS LIKE, ‘CAN YOU JT READ ME THAT POEM AGA?’… LATER ON SHE DISVERED THAT I’D PUT A SONG AND AT FIRST SHE WAS LIKE, ‘TAKE OUT. I DON’T WANT THERE.’” “SHE’S VERY MUCH A GIRL WHO WANTS TO BE BEHD THE MERA AND NOT ONT OF , AND THAT’S WHY OUR RELATNSHIP WORKS SO WELL,” BARON-GRACIE SAYS. “WE’LL CREATE THIS WHOLE WORLD, AND THEN I GO AND PERFORM . IT’S THE PERFECT RELATNSHIP FOR ME…. I WOULDN’T HAVE THIS RERD IF WASN’T FOR KELSI.” MOST POPULARDONALD TMP PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO TRYG TO OVERTURN THE ELECTN, DPE US ALL WNSG HIM TRYG TO OVERTURN THE ELECTNBY BS LEVFALLS AND A FREEZE-UP: MCH MCCONNELL’S HEALTH SR PROMPT SUCCSN CHATTERBY PABLO MANRíQUEZLIZZO’S DETHRONG HAS BEEN SWIFTBY KENZIE BRYANTIN FACT, THE TWO TEND TO TIE THE KNOT LAST MARCH—YET ANOTHER PLAN RAILED BY THE PANMIC. “WE WERE GOG TO GET MARRIED VEGAS,” BARON-GRACIE SAYS. “I WANTED A TRASHY WEDDG, AND I’M ANNOYED THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN.” THE MOMENT FOR VEGAS “HAS PASSED,” SHE SAYS, BUT THEY’LL FIGURE OUT ANOTHER WAY TO GET HCHED DOWN THE LE. “YOU KNOW HOW GAY RELATNSHIPS GO; YOU MEET THAT PERSON AND YOU’RE LIKE, ‘LET’S MOVE TOGETHER,’” SHE JOK. BUT SHE FEELS ROCK-SOLID LUCK: “WHEN YOU TABLISH THAT MUTUAL RPECT FOR ONE ANOTHER, IS REALLY BETIFUL.” THIS TYPE OF OPENNS, BOTH TERVIEWS AND HER SONGWRG, IS RELATIVELY NEW FOR BARON-GRACIE. THOUGH SHE’S BEEN OUT FOR YEARS—“Y I’M GAY” SHE TWEETED NOVEMBER 2018, A LIGHTFULLY NONCHALANT MOVE RIVALED ONLY BY KRISTEN STEWART’S “I’M, LIKE, SO GAY, DU” ON SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE—THIS IS THE FIRST TIME SHE’S BEEN LIBERATELY VOL ABOUT THIS ASPECT OF HER INTY. “WHEN I WROTE THE FIRST PALE WAV ALBUM [MY MD MAK NOIS, RELEASED 2018,] I FELT VERY YOUNG,” SHE SAYS TO EXPLA THE SHIFT. “I WAS AWARE OF MY SEXUALY, BUT I HADN’T YET OWNED . I HAD A LOT MORE TO EXPLORE AND EXPERIENCE. I DIDN’T HAVE ANYONE TO WRE ABOUT.” IN THE TERIM, SHE’S BEE MORE FORTABLE HER OWN SK. “TOO MANY PEOPLE THK I’M STRAIGHT AND I’M LIKE, REALLY? MOST ARE MEN. [I’M LIKE,] I’M NOT STRAIGHT; I A’T GOG TO GET WH YOU…. I’VE ALWAYS BEEN GAY. WHEN I ME OUT OF THE WOMB I KNEW I WAS GAY.” ARRIVG AT THIS POT, OTHER WORDS, HAS BEEN A PROCS. AND LIKE MANY ARTISTS, BARON-GRACIE CREDS THE COVID-DUCED LULL PALE WAV’ TOURG SCHLE WH GIVG HER TIME TO DO THE KD OF PERSONAL WORK THAT’S ALLOWED HER SONGWRG TO PROGRS. “WHEN YOU GET TO THAT LIFTYLE OF TOURG, ’S A WHOLE DIFFERENT WORLD,” SHE SAYS. “IT’S NOT REAL LIFE. YOU’RE PTURED BY . AND I THK THAT STUNTED MY MATURY AND MY PERSPECTIVE.” PALE WAV HAS ANNOUNCED A TOUR OF THE U.K. AND IRELAND 2022, BUT BARON-GRACIE DIT SHE’LL STAY FOCED WARD UNTIL THEN, LIKELY ON A THIRD STUD ALBUM. AND WHEN SHE RETURNS TO THE ROAD, SHE’LL HAVE FIRMER BOUNDARI PLACE. “I’VE BEE A LOT MORE STUBBORN TERMS OF LETTG PEOPLE KNOW WHEN I NEED A BREAK,” SHE SAYS. “IT’S IMPORTANT TO SET BOUNDARI AND SAY, I NEED TIME TO GO OFF AND JT BREATHE. AND THEN I’LL E BACK TO THE CHAOS.” MORE GREAT STORI FROM VANY FAIR— COVER STORY: THE CHARMG BILLIE EILISH— KOBE BRYANT’S TRAGIC FLIGHT, ONE YEAR LATER— HOW THE PGA POLISHED OFF DONALD TMP— COULD THE MONARCHY “GO OVER A CLIFF” AFTER QUEEN ELIZABETH DI?— 36 ESSENTIAL ITEMS FOR RECREATG INIC BILLIE EILISH NAIL MOMENTS— INSI 2021’S CELEBRY-GOSSIP RENAISSANCE— WHAT WILL MELANIA TMP’S LEGACY BE?— FROM THE ARCHIVE: THE BRANT BROTHERS’ QUT TO CONQUER MANHATTAN— NOT A SUBSCRIBER? JO VANY FAIR TO RECEIVE FULL ACCS TO AND THE PLETE ONLE ARCHIVE NOW.CLAIRE LANDSBM

” and “Macho Man” for themselv, but there’s no way they’ll take this one om to multiple stage and screen rnatns of “Mamma Mia!, ” fabuloly garish stum om gay signer Owe Sandström and nsummately crafted songs more retroactively popular than their ’70s and early ’80s heyday, ABBA has for s been the bull’s-eye of the LGBTQ mil universe. Ostensibly cheerful but packed wh drama and peppered wh Sndavian melancholy, the Stockholm mixed-genr quartet’s pop has blueprted the glz of untls gay and gay-iendly acts om Kylie Mogue to Lady Gaga, Adam Lambert to Lil Nas X — a sgular achievement for a band that hadn’t pleted an album 40 years. This week releasg “Voyage, ” s first new LP sce 1981 and a teaser for next year’s London ncerts featurg 3D avatars, ABBA is to many gay fans what the Rollg Ston are to straights — archetyp whose appeal transcends time, place and age.

” But gay DJs and their dienc mostly favored unrground divas and obscure orchtral matros they disvered and popularized, not succsful pop acts plucked om AM changed the early ’80s when the U.

WILL GAY DRAMA ‘LOVE IS STRANGE’ SHATTER HOLLYWOOD’S GLASS CEILG?

This forced a 12-ch release overseas of “Lay All Your Love on Me’s” paratively ordary LP cut that prerved the exclivy of Rodriguez’s versn, while s longevy proved that dancers — particularly gay on — still craved fast and lty club anthems. In 1982, ABBA’s North Amerin label issued s kdred uptempo tune “The Visors” as a sgle, but once aga, a gay subscriptn-only remix service, Hot Tracks, supplied the extend ABBA that year rerd what would be for s s fal ssns, U.

Producers such as Stock Aken Waterman filled the void wh gay-targeted “hi-NRG” tracks that crossed to the mastream via Dead or Alive, Bananarama, Mogue and Summer, while everyone om the Lat Rasls to the Pet Shop Boys replited Rodriguez’s mache-gun hi-NRG ran s urse, England’s Erasure released 1992’s “Abba-que, ” a love letter of ver versns. In 1994, the oldi promently popped up the movi “Muriel’s Weddg, ” which gave gay fave Toni Collette her big break, and “The Adventur of Priscilla, Queen of the Dert, ” a trans-tastic road edy. At the absolute nadir of the AIDS plague, ABBA was reborn to paragons of gloom-relievg if bombastic outfs and bubblegum hooks had been the only gear ABBA gave to LGBTQ culture, s gay appeal would’ve plummeted after the lifavg arrival of antiviral cktails.

Our survival strategy has always been to unter hate wh love; we manift gayns to endure s on the most fundamental level, ABBA’s heterosexualy is more overt than the straightt rock dus. This is ABBA’s gift to LGBTQ culture — an oasis wh the mega-mastream that Rodriguez and other gay pneers helped Walters is the thor of the forthg book “Mighty Real: The Mic That Built LGBTQ Ameri. Though she’s been out for years—“Y I’m gay” she tweeted November 2018, a lightfully nonchalant move rivaled only by Kristen Stewart’s “I’m, like, so gay, du” on Saturday Night Live—this is the first time she’s been liberately vol about this aspect of her inty.

AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?

The story is set a post-gay-rights Manhattan where marriage is legal for Gee (Aled Mola) and Ben (John Lhgow), longtime partners who get hched a lol park, surround by their clost iends. While gay rights have advanced tremendoly sce Ellen DeGener kicked down the closet door 1997 as the first gay star primetime televisn, Hollywood hasn’t kept up wh the tim.

Even though the number of celebri who openly intify as gay ntu to grow — cludg Neil Patrick Harris, Jim Parsons, Zachary Quto, Chris Colfer, Wentworth Miller, Matt Bomer and Jane Lynch — most of the actors primarily appear on TV, where the most proment gay characters live. This year, HBO premiered “Lookg, ” a gay seri executive produced by Haigh set San Francis; and “The Normal Heart, ” the TV movie based on the Larry Kramer AIDS play.

WHY AM I "SO GAY?"

Ruby Rich, the film scholar who 1992 ed the term New Queer Cema to scribe a wave of gay filmmakers that clud Todd Hayn and Derek Jarman, not that while gay characters still headle small movi, few of those films are wily seen. A rash of laws ncerng the teachg of human sexualy school curricula, banng trans stunt athlet and strippg parents of the right to help their genr-variant children obta appropriate re have popped up numero red stat this same-sex marriage is now part of the fabric of Ameri, nservativ have chosen to explo Amerins’ unfaiary wh trans people and piggyback on parental anger over the perceived overreach of Covid-era school closur, nflatg wh an sid sense of “wokens”, the hop of fdg an electorally viable sluiceway for anti-LGBTQ+ most famo of the anti-LGBTQ+ laws is the piece of Florida legislatn banng stctn on sexual orientatn or genr inty schools between krgarten and third gra, the so-lled “don’t say gay” law.

The ernor and his supporters have labeled as a “groomer” anyone who believ children n learn LGBTQ+ people exist, argug that simply by talkg about gay relatnships to a child, you are sexualizg that child. He was followed by Arizona’s ernor, Doug Ducey, who, after barrg mors om genr-affirmatn treatment, wouldn’t even state for the rerd that trans people were Florida lawmaker Michele Rayner-Goolsby, left, hugs her wife, Bian Goolsby, durg a march at cy hall St Petersburg agast the ‘don’t say gay’ bill. Photograph: Bob Daemmrich/Zuma Wire/Rex/ShutterstockPolicians are supported the media by mentators like Tucker Carlson, who claimed “no one had heard of this trans thg four years ago”, or Charlie Kirk, channelg 1980s fears sayg “gays want to rpt your children” rejuvenated, the right wg is poised to make transphobia and homophobia rnerston of the midterms and 2024 electns, wh promis to liver “don’t say gay” legislatn stat cludg Michigan and New Perks, the print of the Fay Rearch Council, a nservative lobbyg group, veighed agast the ernors of Indiana and Utah for vetog legislatn banng trans women om participatg sports, llg the bills “timely, mastream protectns”.

The Republin US reprentative Marjorie Taylor Greene vowed to troduce a feral “don’t say gay” bill if Republins w the Hoe this November, only to one-up herself days later by tweetg that for people to be pro-trans is to be pro-pedophilia. ”The bs-iendly wg of the GOP that would quietly team up wh Democrats to scuttle rabidly homophobic bills is now outnumbered, and legislators a dozen or more stat that lean even farther to the right than DeSantis are takg, the Natnal Center for Lbian Rights legal director, believ Florida is the tt se for a renewed ph for an aggrsive, Christian-natnalist program. ”The “don’t say gay” bill, Mter not, is very siar to what’s been passed Rsia, tetherg Amerin nservativ to their thorarian unterparts who have succsfully rolled back mocratic norms across eastern Europe.

RYM ULTIMATE BOX SET > 80'S GAY SYNTHPOP

“I’ve seen this movie before over the last 30 years: The right wg cid to target the LGBTQ muny, whether ’s around marriage or adoptn or trans kids playg sports or bathrooms, ” says the California state senator Stt Wiener, who is gay.

“I thought was really important to ph back on the policy level, and to send a clear signal that California and other stat really re about the kids, ” he believ that “don’t say gay” is “patently unnstutnal” but also ntends that relyg on the judicial system to protect human rights may no longer be a sound optn. " In this humoro talk, Lloyd explor the trici of social "verg" as a gay man, fdg muny and the importance of inty talk was prented to a lol dience at TEDxGeetown, an pennt event. Yaz received ccial early support gay clubs om New York to San Francis the early 1980s, many of whom embraced the band for Moyet's soulful vol work on tracks like "Midnight, " which she go om a whisper to a wail wh astonishg grace.

1985, the rerd honed a style known ‘80s gay clubs as Hi-NRG, an electronic variant on ‘70s dis featurg clatterg percsn, octave-skippg bassl, uptempo BPMs, and sexually charged lyrics.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT

But spe s succs, there’s one re element of the rerd that seems to be swept unr the g; the album remas a cultural touchstone popular mic, not only for s sonic fluence, but for what Please (and the duo of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe themselv) reprents terms of sexualy and LGBT reprentatn pop put to perspective, Please was released durg a pivotal perd of the gay rights movement.

Tennant eventually me out publicly, eight years after the release of Please, a 1994 terview wh Attu, which he stated, “I do thk that we have ntributed, through our mic and also through our vios and the general way we’ve prented thgs, rather a lot to what you might ll ‘gay culture’. And the simple reason for this is that I have wrten songs om my own pot of view… What I’m actually sayg is, I am gay, and I have wrten songs om that pot of view”~idolator"Suburbia". And the simple reason for this is that I have wrten songs om my own pot of view… What I’m actually sayg is, I am gay, and I have wrten songs om that pot of view” of Love.