The Rise and Fall of Jobriath, Rock's First Openly Gay Star

40 BT GAY SGERS & MICIANS OF ALL TIME (LGBTQ+ SGERS)

* gay rock star *

In recent years, we’ve seen micians talk openly about their gay inty and same-sex relatnships.

Fans may openly embrace a gay Elton John, Melissa Etheridge or Ricky Mart now, but over the past 50 years or more ’s been a stggle for most queer artists to live their liv openly and whout shame and persecutn.

His theatril scream-sgg, macho stage prence, and all-around badassery (bt showsed on inic rerds like 1980’s Brish Steel and 1982’s Screamg for Vengeance) prompted many fans to ll him “Metal God:” a tradnally mascule trope Halford boldly upend Febary 1998, when he me out as gay an MTV News terview.

WHAT WAS LIKE TO E OUT AS THE FIRST OPENLY GAY ROCK STAR?

We have listed 30 sgers you may not have known were lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr or queer. How many have you heard of? * gay rock star *

As the earlit show of queer solidary om a proment metal mician, Halford’s admissn proved val rhapg the public perceptn of heavy metal, repostg an earspltg, heteronormative boys’ club as a safe space where headbangers of all typ uld be themselv, sheltered the flailg arms of not jt a benevolent (and openly gay) God, but the scene wr large.

” The fact that he did all while beg pletely open about his sexualy – llg himself “rock’s tt fairy” – is astoundg and, for a brief, shg moment 1974, Jobriath beme the most visible gay man popular mic. While the “Queen of Dis” is a tle most monly btowed upon Donna Summer, also appli to Sylvter, who was a fixture of the dis scene and an in of the gay liberatn movement that spawned out of San Francis. The tle track even clus the lyric: “Tell her that I’m happy, tell her that I’m gay.

It wasn’t until after hostg var episos of the show for a uple years – which all centered on LGBT issu – that she spoke openly about her partner of over two s and the stggl of beg gay the mic dtry.

GREATT GAY SGERS OF ALL TIME

You may not have heard of him, but the self-proclaimed “te fairy of rock” was the first ever openly gay artist to sign to a major rerd label the 1970s. * gay rock star *

“I thk the rerd dtry – by and large what’s left of – is still totally homophobic, ” she said, notg that she me out her twenti and never went to “lengths” to nceal . Brish punk rocker Tom Robson achieved chart succs wh h songs “2-4-6-8 Motorway”, “Up Agast the Wall” and “Don’t Take No for an Answer, ” but he’ll always be immortalized for his sgalong prott anthem, “Glad to be Gay. ” Origally wrten for a 1976 London gay pri march, the song was nearly banned by the BBC 1978 – although DJ John Peel fied the stricture.

Swappg out punk moralist clichés for LGBT issu, the them unrlg the group’s mic give voice to both fury and hope for gay punks. " All of which should e as no surprise to fans who remember Townshend's 1980 solo h "Rough Boys" (above), which Rollg Stone lled "the most overtly homoerotic song his talog.

Maybe even the most overtly homoerotic song anyone's 1970s[youtube expand=1 se_id=25879312]Alice Buhr, June Millgton, and Nickey Barclay of FannyThe rock band Fanny's importance the annals of popular mic nnot be overstated. A New York Tim review of the book claimed that durg the time of the Runaways both Wt, who died 2006, and Jett "were bisexual, if not gay.

THE TRAGEDY OF JOBRIATH, THE WORLD’S FIRST OPENLY GAY ROCK STAR

The story of rock mic's first openly gay artist Jobriath. * gay rock star *

My parents had never explaed to me that people are gay, " said Ford. "[youtube expand=1 se_id=25879312]JobriathIn the early 1970s, the fluential Amerin glam rocker Jobriath beme the first out gay mician signed to a major label, and was no small affair.

[youtube expand=1 se_id=25879312]Freddie Mercury of QueenHow did fans not know Freddie Mercury was gay?