Why Judy Garland is still such a gay in | SBS Voic

Contents:

• WHAT IS A GARLAND GAY?
• 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
• GARLAND, TX GAY CY GUI – LGBTQ EVENTS AND GAYBORHOODS
• WHAT MAK JUDY GARLAND A GAY IN? EXPERTS EXPLA WHAT SHE AND OTHERS, OM DIANA ROSS TO MADONNA, HAVE MON
• DID A STAR IS BORN MAKE JUDY GARLAND A GAY IN?
• ‘FRIENDS OF DOROTHY’: HOW JUDY GARLAND BEME A GAY IN
• IS HOLLYWOOD STILL LOVE WH THE SUFFERG ‘GAY IN’?

WHAT IS A GARLAND 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. 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. ”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”.

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.

WHY IS JUDY GARLAND THE ULTIMATE GAY IN?

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.

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

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?

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.

"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.

WHY JUDY GARLAND IS STILL SUCH A GAY IN

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. For reasons possibly unrelated to her sexualy, Garland also beme a gay mastay via the phrase ‘Friend of Dorothy, ’ which gay men ed to intify each other the 50s (siar to today’s ter trend of young queer women of askg each other if they ‘listen to girl red’).

GARLAND, TX GAY CY GUI – LGBTQ EVENTS AND GAYBORHOODS

The term referenced Garland’s portrayal of Dorothy Gale The Wizard of Oz, largely bee Dorothy’s journey to Oz “mirrored many gay men’s sir to pe the black-and-whe limatns of small-town life … for big, lorful ci filled wh quirky, genr-bendg characters who would wele them.

From the groups of gay men that would flock to her performanc the 50s and 60s, to her reverence as an inic ‘mp’ symbol, to her eher tthful or speculated bisexualy, Garland harbors meang for the LGBTQIA+ muny, and has left a legendary legacy of gay importance her wake. Once a gay in, Judy Garland has bee an embarrassmentJudy Garland the 1954 film “A Star is Born” (AP)ONE bright day last summer on Commercial Street Provcetown, Massachetts, Aode, a bald black drag queen wh a silver stud one nostril and big, mcular hairls legs, stro toward me, her ey locked on the dt jacket of the book I was rryg: Judy Garland: The Secret Life of an Amerin Legend (1992), by David Shipman.

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

They mark him wh the effemacy that prev generatns was tegral to the popular image of gay men -- wty, owsy, fsy old queens who memorized every mute of All About Eve and poured their hearts to antiqu and opera and, perhaps most damnably of all, Judy Garland.

Blatant effemacy last seems to have been wily acceptable (whe, urban, middle-class) gay culture the late 1960s, a time memorialized Mart Crowley's 1968 play which picted the quip-lashed anguish and emotnally stctive ndns of life the closet wh unprecented ndor. " "A queen dog a Bette Davis imatn"), and the play's tle is lifted om the dialogue of Garland's 1954 filmSome observers of gay life the sixti go so far as to argue that Garland's ath sparked the morn gay-rights movement; the Stonewall rts occurred Manhattan's Wt Village jt hours after her funeral, New York June of 1969. Perhaps the most theatril monstratn of this rurgent masculy is the ascendance of circu parti -- bacchic all-night revels ripplg wall-to-wall wh world-class out the past ten to fifteen years has been nsirably eased by the mastream culture's speedy rporatn of gay life (Will and Grace, Andrew Sullivan, Vermont).

Harris argu that gay men's worship of divas, of which Garland is his primary example, is a pathology issug om "the almost universal homosexual experience of ostracism and secury, " which ultimately leads to "the atheticism of maladjtment, the gay man's exploatn of cematic visns of Hollywood granur to elevate himself above his antagonistic surroundgs. " is that they liked, not her, so much as her dience, the hors of other gay men who gathered her name to hear her poignant rendns of old torch songs that rced snifflg queens to floods of self-pyg specter of the "snifflg queens" wallowg the mpy show of Garland's melodramatic, dg-dazed last years has relegated her to a margal place gay culture today. Most survivg tribut are eher kschy (she ocsnally pops up on greetg rds and T-shirts, and ad mpaigns for gay travel agenci sometim recycle the by-slippers motif their promotnal materials) or arse ("Judy Garland Park, " officially named Schuylkill Park, is a well-known outdoor cisg area Philalphia; a "Judy Garland Memorial Fort" of siar repute stands on Fire Island).

DID A STAR IS BORN MAKE JUDY GARLAND A GAY IN?

" A third wr, "I feel the ma reason that gay men love Judy Garland is for the same reason that straight men love her (ed, why ANY human beg would love her), bee she is simply the most talented artist the world has ever known, and possibly ever will know. The role of Dorothy alone uld have secured her place gay mythology -- the lonely, misunrstood small-town kid who has a great adventure a wild new world where fabulo iends appear to help her on her way, and where no sorrow n overwhelm her.

For example, image yourself a gay man at her 1961 Carnegie Hall ncert, your heart breakg as she sgs "The Man That Got Away, " whose lament for unrequed love perfectly scrib your fear of growg old alone, bee your relatnships are so often short-lived, bee you nnot live your love public: "The road gets rougher / It's lonelier and tougher / Wh hope you burn up / Tomorrow he might turn up.

Get Happy, Gerald Clarke's new bgraphy, reveals that Herron, durg his marriage to Garland, had an affair wh Peter Allen, who at the time was married to Garland's dghter Liza her last years Garland was surround by a dre of gay men who blurred the le between fandom and iendship.

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

Sure, she was all theirs at the end -- David Shipman's bgraphy not discreetly that Garland attend many parti where "she was the only woman prent, " and Gerald Clarke adds that when she got really sperate for money, she sometim sang gay piano bars. And masochistic pleasure the idol's filement was probably only a mor aspect of most powerful of Garland's emotnal nflicts, and the one that I believe bt explas her particular appeal to gay men, was her ner stggle between scery and duplicy.

IS HOLLYWOOD STILL LOVE WH THE SUFFERG ‘GAY IN’?

For the gay men who believed her, who believed spe her failur that her scery and her joy were real, this act of fah nnot have been unrelated to the project of believg themselv -- even if the selv they believed were selv they had to make for YourselfCOMING out offers every gay man the chance to make his life new. In the end Michael's preoccupatn wh qutns of inty stroys his abily to engage his iend's actual personaly -- a failure to love that, the play suggts, stems om Michael's alln ma the play's tle relat directly to gay role-playg. Above all, the tle orrs , as dividuals, to drop the pretense, to remember who we Garland began losg her power over gay men bee we got that msage and started beg more tegrated characters than the screamg queens of yore.

Young gay men have dched diva worship and chosen the role of the regular guy as a gture of healthy adolcent rebelln, a way of takg full advantage of what's distctive about g out now: g out is creasgly viewed, and experienced, as a gture of strength that mak one more of a man, not that is te, but so is this: the fetish of the normal guy is also a functn of fear. "The mostly gay dience lghed pilsly at the first, needy pleas, which played on Garland's emotnal failgs and highlighted the lonels that is so much a part of her popular image -- and was once so much a part of our own. And the role they played, like most of the rol gay men have played, was an earnt but imperfect effort to heal the anger and fear that g out forced on the 1960s the Judy-queen stereotype has helped to shape popular notns this untry of what is to be gay.

Every man who has e out sce then has had to e to terms wh that and other stereotyp, a procs that b acceptg and ristg the notns wh numerable strategi, om liftg weights to watchg Now straight people pend ls on such stereotyp for unrstandg gay men, and we pend ls on them for fg ourselv.