The Story Behd Gay Bob, the World's First Out-And-Proud Doll - Atlas Obscura

Contents:

• WHAT ABOUT GAY BOB?
• THE STORY BEHD GAY BOB, THE WORLD’S FIRST OUT-AND-PROUD DOLL
• MEET GAY BOB, THE 1977 DOLL THAT URGED PEOPLE TO COME OUT OF THE CLOSET
• HOW GAY BOB, THE WORLD’S FIRST OPENLY GAY DOLL, CAME TO BE
• 1977 ORIGAL GAY BOB DOLL - RARE - ANATOMILLY RRECT
• DEFINITIONS FOR GAY BOBGAY BOB
• GAY BOB ED MEANG
• GAY BOB
• THE STORY OF GAY BOB, THE NTROVERSIAL 1970S DOLL THAT WOULD BE JT PLA OFFENSIVE TODAY
• THE STORY BEHD GAY BOB, THE WORLD'S FIRST OUT-AND-PROUD DOLL
• GAYBOB
• WHAT IS ANOTHER WORD FOR GAY BOB?
• SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS GAY? NICKELOON JT RERCED THAT THEORY

WHAT ABOUT GAY BOB?

Thirteen ch tall and plastic, Gay Bob was marketed as the first openly gay doll and ma his retail but mail-orr talogs.

At face value, Gay Bob’s msage about the mers of g out seems earnt, pog the valu of urage, honty, and livg thentilly; however, the brandg and sign of the Gay Bob doll are brash.

Rosenberg put $10, 000 of his own money to gettg Gay Bob manufactured through his pany, Gizmo Development.

THE STORY BEHD GAY BOB, THE WORLD’S FIRST OUT-AND-PROUD DOLL

We had somethg to learn om the gay movement, jt like we did om the black civil rights movement, and the women’s movement and that is havg the urage to stand up and say, ‘I have a right to be what I am. While Rosenberg did not intify as gay, he stated that he had created the doll to liberate men om tradnal sexual rol.

Acrdg to Rosenberg, regardls of a person’s sexualy, Gay Bob uld serve as an example for havg the urage to “e out of the closet” and be your te, thentic self.

MEET GAY BOB, THE 1977 DOLL THAT URGED PEOPLE TO COME OUT OF THE CLOSET

Durg a prs blz for the doll’s release, Rosenberg also dited that Gay Bob was a spoof of other “amorpho, sexls dolls, ” which was undoubtedly a reference to Mattel’s KenTM and BarbieTM.

He had plans to release addnal dolls that would have ma up the rt of Gay Bob’s fay (a mother, father, and two brothers); however, the other dolls were never produced.

HOW GAY BOB, THE WORLD’S FIRST OPENLY GAY DOLL, CAME TO BE

Gay Bob dolls were sold via mail-orr advertisements gay magaz and a few boutique shops New York Cy and San Francis.

1977 ORIGAL GAY BOB DOLL - RARE - ANATOMILLY RRECT

Consequently, ten thoand more dolls were produced, and Gay Bob was btowed wh Esquire magaze's "Dub Achievement Award" 1978. A handsome and mascule doll, Gay Bob had a short feathery blon crew cut and was signed to look like a cross between Pl Newman and Robert Redford.

DEFINITIONS FOR GAY BOBGAY BOB

He had a preprogrammed voice rerdg that played the earnt msage, “Gay people are no different than straight people… if everyone me ‘out of their closets, ’ there wouldn’t be so many angry, trated, ightened people. ” This reerated msagg om his fashn talog that fed “g out of the closet” as what uld be scribed as Gay Bob’s manifto—be urageo by g out of your closet and livg hontly, like Gay Bob! But Gay Bob was more than jt clever packagg; he also promoted the ia that g out of the closet, beg open and hont wh the people your life, was a powerful and urageo act.

“It’s a real giggle and kd of fun, ” said Bce Voeller, executive director of the Natnal Gay Task Force said at the time, “I thk we should al wh lightly and enjoy . Many nsir Stonewall, a New York Cy uprisg to prottg police harassment at the Stonewall Inn, as the start of the Gay Rights movement the Uned Stat.

GAY BOB ED MEANG

Los Angel has a long history of Gay Rights Protts and anti-gay ordanc, such as the Anti-Masqueradg Ordance of 1898.

GAY BOB

The rtrictive anti-gay Hays Co, which forba and then limed the way LGBTQ+ characters uld be seen on film, was disband the early 1960s.

Gay Rights and Gay Inty had entered more mon areas the cultural nversatn, but LGBTQ+ people were still discrimated agast, stigmatized, and legislated agast on large and small sl.

THE STORY OF GAY BOB, THE NTROVERSIAL 1970S DOLL THAT WOULD BE JT PLA OFFENSIVE TODAY

In 1977, Harvey Milk was the first openly gay elected official California, and 1978 was assassated. At the same time Gay Bob h the mail-orr adult-centric talogs (and a uple of biastal boutique shelv) sger and anti-gay rights activist Ana Bryant found Save Our Children, Inc, which opposed the gay rights movement. When Da County, Florida, passed a gay-rights ordance protectg gay civil rights passed early 1977, Save Our Children rpond wh a mpaign to repeal the ordance.

Bryant’s fear-mongerg rhetoric gaed tractn, and June 1977, the Da County gay rights ordance was repealed and would rema until the 1990s.

This lead to more gay rights protectns beg repealed and other loss to the LGBTQ+ muny across the untry. Rowe lled the Gay Bob dolls, “evince of the speratn of the homosexual mpaign has reached s effort to put the homosexual liftyle, which is a athstyle, across to the Amerin people. I n only hope that the children who are given the Gay Bob dolls will not prehend the meang and tent of the mpaign that is behd their manufacture and distributn.

THE STORY BEHD GAY BOB, THE WORLD'S FIRST OUT-AND-PROUD DOLL

That changed 1997 wh Totem Internatnal’s troductn of the Billy doll who claimed to be the first “Out and Proud Gay Doll”—although that distctn clearly belongs to Gay Bob.

Like Gay Bob, Billy also me wh a fashn talogue, but he had a iend named Tyson, and a boyiend named Carlos. While Gay Bob was built for the adult dience, today, we see doll manufacturers bridge the LBGTQ+ muny wh tentnaly for the younger generatn.

GAYBOB

While fans celebrated the cln of Mamie and Lyte as reprentatn and clivy, also led to homophobic backlash straight out of Ana Bryant’s book several s after Save the Children began. It would be easy to look at the story of Gay Bob and thk was simply a novelty em that got ught up the polics of the time for a brief moment and is now largely fotten. Perhaps, wh all of this, Gay Bob and his msage about livg outsi the box that society puts is genue at s re.

“It’s another evince of the speratn the homosexual mpaign has reached s effort to put homosexual liftyle, which is a athstyle, across to the Amerin people. Enraged nsumers plaed that a toy wh a homosexual backstory would lead to other ”disgtg” dolls like “Priscilla the Prostute” and “Danny the Dope Pher. Gay Bob, who was meant to remble a cross between Robert Redford and Pl Newman, was blond, wh a flannel shirt, tight jeans, and one pierced ear.

The doll gave anti-gay anizatns plenty to fear; trsic wh was a celebratn of gay inty, evinced by Gay Bob’s programmed speech.

WHAT IS ANOTHER WORD FOR GAY BOB?

“Gay people, ” Bob said, “are no different than straight people… if everyone me ‘out of their closets’ there wouldn’t be so many angry, trated, ightened people. In a cheeky move, the box which Gay Bob was packaged me the outle of a closet, so that when he left his box, he was lerally g out of the closet. Gay Bob explaed: “It’s not easy to be hont about what you are — fact tak a great al of urage… But remember if Gay Bob has the urage to e out his closet, so n you.

The doll’s creator, Harvey Rosenberg, a former advertisg executive who veloped marketg mpaigns for var rporatns, wanted Gay Bob to “liberate” men om “tradnal sexual rol.

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS GAY? NICKELOON JT RERCED THAT THEORY

Though Gay Bob was certaly humoro—the doll was signed to be anatomilly rrect, and proment gay activists such as Bce Voeller told reporters that people should “al wh [the doll] lightly and enjoy ”—Rosenberg’s tentns seem to have been scere.