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

Contents:

• WHAT ABOUT GAY BOB?
• HOW GAY BOB, THE WORLD’S FIRST OPENLY GAY DOLL, CAME TO BE
• THE STORY BEHD GAY BOB, THE WORLD’S FIRST OUT-AND-PROUD DOLL
• THE OBSSIVE PHOTOGRAPHER BEHD AMERI’S FIRST GAY MAGAZE
• BIG GAY BOB
• THE PROFSNAL ATHLETE WHO CAME OUT AS A GAY MAN— 1989
• THAT GAY EPISO: ‘THE BOB NEWHART SHOW’ SHOWS STRAIGHT PEOPLE HOW TO STAND UP FOR GAY PEOPLE
• MEET GAY BOB, THE 1977 DOLL THAT URGED PEOPLE TO COME OUT OF THE CLOSET
• SO BOB BENSON IS DEFELY GAY, RIGHT? AN INVTIGATN
• BEG GAY WAS THE GRAVT S WASHGTON
• GENERATN QUEER: A GAY MAN'S QUT FOR HOPE, LOVE, AND JTICE HARDVER – JUNE 1, 1998
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

WHAT ABOUT GAY BOB?

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. 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. 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.

Acrdg to the anti-gay lobby group Protect Ameri’s Children, Bob was “evince of the speratn the homosexual mpaign has reached s effort to put the homosexual liftyle across to the Amerin people. ” Funny enough, Bob’s “g out” party cid directly wh the righteo prence of the “Save Our Children” mpaign, a movement led by sger and polil activist, Ana Bryant, that manufactured an atmosphere of hatred on the basis that gay people were recg children. “I thk every gay man was aware of Gay Bob, ” says Chris Byrne, a 30-year-pl veteran of the toy dtry, thor of five books on toy history, and a featured expert on Netflix’s h documentary, The Toys That Ma Us.

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

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. When asked why he would pour $10, 000 of his money to the Gay Bob’s productn, he replied, “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. When Gay Bob h stor 1978, that right to be gay and equal was once aga unr attack, most notably om Ana Bryant, a sger and well-known brand ambassador who mobilized opposn to a Da County, Florida ordance that outlawed discrimatn on the basis of sexual orientatn.

And, turns out, those nsumers who feared the troductn of more “disgtg” dolls were partially rrect—Rosenberg soon gave Gay Bob a fay of his own, wh brothers Marty Macho, Executive Eddie, Anx Al, and Straight Steve (who lived the suburbs and wore blue sus), and sisters Fashnable Fran, Liberated Libby, and Nervo Nelly. I know that this is a crazy tle but as someone who lov readg gossip, and pecially om all the celebri om earlier s, i have noticed that almost every male celebry om that time has some bi/gay mors gog on, some of them nfirmed like that of Bowie, Mick Jagger, Marlon Brando wh Marv Gaye, Richard Pryor and Jam Baldw to name some exampl, but i have never ever read anythg on Bob. Although gays had long been si-eyeg the emblems of straight masculy, Mizer fed them wh new meang: the very men who had looked stoic and impassive the straight magaz seemed, unr Mizer’s directn, to be havg fun.

When David Hurl, the gay pornographer and Mizer protégé, was a teen-ager Ccnati, he glimpsed Physique Pictorial_ _at a newsstand and felt, as he put to Taschen, “stantly clud, as if the men were beckong him to look.

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

” Dpe such objectns, he reportedly ma a fortune the eighti by distributg so-lled “ssn vios, ” rerdgs of photo shoots that then veered to more recreatnal Mizer’s Greek-warrr fixatn, ’s temptg to thk of him as one early source of the “body fascism” for which ntemporary gay-male culture is often maligned. “He was pelled to share his appreciatn, but also his tth about his 57 years wh Roger and what they experienced over the s as gay men a society and culture that were not welg to LGBTQ+ intifyg folx.

THE OBSSIVE PHOTOGRAPHER BEHD AMERI’S FIRST GAY MAGAZE

Now, more than 25 years after g out of the closet, the former bodybuildg champ shar his thoughts on the ath threats he received after his announcement, the fate of his relatnship wh Rod and the untry's shiftg perceptn of homosexualy. Wrten by partners Patricia Jon and Donald Reiker and directed by the legendary Jam Burrows, Season 5’s “Some Of My Bt Friends Are…” featur some of the most direct talk of gay issu a s up to that pot. ” It wasn’t the first s to feature a recurrg gay character, eher; Vcent Schiavelli played a gay man 9 of the short-lived Corner Bar’s 16 episo n, and Barney Miller’s effemate Marty Morrison (Jack DeLeon) had already appeared 5 episos by this pot.

BIG GAY BOB

And when the group charg mandg the gay man be removed, Bob plants his feet, tells his regulars they should all be ashamed of themselv, and untentnally quot the mil Funny Girl: “I’m not sayg you’re stuck wh him, I’m jt sayg that we’re people–different people, and people need each other. Edward Rowe, the executive director of Protect Ameri’s Children, was quoted a 1978 issue of the Ptsburgh Post-Gazette scribg Gay Bob as “another evince of the speratn the homosexual mpaign has reached s effort to put homosexual liftyle, which is a ath style, across to the Amerin people.

THE PROFSNAL ATHLETE WHO CAME OUT AS A GAY MAN— 1989

Seven years ago, on November 24, 2013, Bob’s Burgers released one of their bt episos ever, “Turkey a Can, ” which happens to be an excellent Thanksgivg Day episo and also a ol, gay-ish episo. Anyway, Bob’s Burgers has many amazg Thanksgivg episos, but “Turkey a Can” is among the bt there is, not only bee of the who-done- aspect, but the ltle sprkle of gayns they gave our tular Bob.

THAT GAY EPISO: ‘THE BOB NEWHART SHOW’ SHOWS STRAIGHT PEOPLE HOW TO STAND UP FOR GAY PEOPLE

All of which might be a slow build to the g-out party of the show's send major gay character, some of which might speak to bigger issu about beg gay the '60s, a ltle b of which might be a preview of the Stonewall Rts to e, and none of which may mean much of anythg ncrete.

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

) Redd's Mad Men page has been havg a field day wh spy theori, and gay blogs and reppers got more than clue about his veiled homosexualy on Sunday night, when this happened:(via Redd)Y, wasn't jt that Benson hooked up Pete wh a whimsil male nurse named Manolo to take re of his mother. "Of urse, " Bob says to Pete's nial, all broodg blank ser face on his way out the hear all sorts of reppers tell throughout the day today, the knei was or was not the ultimate sign that Bob Benson is gay.

SO BOB BENSON IS DEFELY GAY, RIGHT? AN INVTIGATN

Gay s like Tom and Lorenzo emphasized a very un-Mad Men lack of romance wh Joan durg that beach getaway a uple weeks back: "Let's note that there is yet to be any physil ntact or affectn at all between Joan and Bob. So, we suppose you uld argue that asi om the knei wh Pete Campbell knei (we're gog to make this knei thg a thg), Benson hasn't really had a knei-level spark wh anyone, male or female, gay or, e on, Bob is supposed to be... "Mad Men has a hab of brgg mor characters who signal the broar theme for the followg season, " Jaime Woo wrote at The Huffgton Post, addg that the gay reveal and "his sudn appearance Season 6 uld allu to next season's big theme.

"I'd argue, Bob has masterfully honed on and exploed Pete Campbell's greatt secury, " wr The Wrap's Tim Molloy, who sists that playg knei was merely a ol and lculated move on Bob's part: "He's psyched out a potential rival, and if Pete later acc him of proposng him, then Joan, for one, will attt that Bob sure don't seem gay to her, based on their prev history. "I wonr if 's possible that he really do feel a nnectn wh damaged or needy people, often at the moment of their greatt distrs, " Zoller Sez wrote his excellent rep today, suggtg that Bob might be g on to Pete not bee he's gay but orr to make Pete feel better about Pete's own reprsed homosexualy.

Bergeron was as a therapist as well, always upbeat, somewhat ls foced on gettg to the root of his clients’ feelgs than alterg behavr patterns that were trimental to them: therapy om the the last , he built a thrivg private practice, treatg well-to-do gay men for everythg om anxiety to pg wh H. In Febary, Magn Books, a publisher specializg gay lerature, was schled to prt a self-help gui he had wrten, “The Right Si of Forty: The Complete Gui to Happs for Gay Men at Midlife and Beyond. And, certaly, among gay men the cy, is not unual to hear of an acquatance who has taken his life, often someone the later stag of AIDS who didn’t want (or uldn’t afford) to wa around for the bter end.

BEG GAY WAS THE GRAVT S WASHGTON

(A 2002 survey by rearchers at the Universy of California, San Francis, found that 12 percent of urban gay and bisexual men have attempted suici their lifetime, a rate three tim higher than the overall rate for Amerin adult mal.

Here was a man who end his life at the exact moment he seemed to be nearg a profsnal peak, one that volved the upbeat story of a mature gay man facg the send half of his life wh enthiasm, hope and an endls array of tight T-shirts. ”But somethg was clearly roilg below the lm “Dancer From the Dance, ” the semal 1970s novel about gay life New York by Andrew Holleran, the protagonist, Anthony Malone, walks to the bay on Fire Island rather than facg gettg olr and watchg his bety Mr. From World War II until the end of the Cold War, untold thoands of gay men and women were eher purged om ernment service or nied employment altogether, solely bee of their sexual the same time, some of the most important prerequis for succs the natn’s pal—the abily to work long hours on a low ernment salary, a willgns to travel at a moment’s notice, prrizg reer over fay—are more easily attaed by those whout a fay to support, a set of circumstanc that ma Washgton an pecially attractive place for gay people, gay men particular.

GENERATN QUEER: A GAY MAN'S QUT FOR HOPE, LOVE, AND JTICE HARDVER – JUNE 1, 1998

The cy has long attracted the archetypil “bt ltle boy the world, ” the thor Andrew Tobias’s term for a certa type of gay young man who diligently channels the adversy engenred by his secret to amic pursus, so many of whom have ma their way to Washgton bee of s peculiar appete for the skills that secret Kirchick: The stggle for gay rights is overBob Waldron was one such man.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

Waldron’s experience, ptured now-classified ernment rerds and told full here for the first time, reveals jt how much the gay Amerins sacrificed—and how even someone unwavergly loyal to one of the untry’s most skillful policians was vulnerable to the fall of 1963, Johnson had cid to brg Waldron onto his executive-branch staff.

Phillips seemed to take the matter stri, as evinced by his cisn to stay at Waldron’s home, and sleep Waldron’s bed, for the rt of the A glimpse to 1970s gay activismIn reuntg the experienc to the ernment vtigator, though, Phillips imbued them wh a forebodg he had not seemed to feel when they occurred. “I believe that he is very much a loyal Amerin cizen, and even though he has homosexual tennci, I would still remend him for a posn volvg natnal secury on the basis of his past rponsible ernment work and other personal characteristics.