How Pansy Divisn blazed a trail as one of rock's first openly gay bands: 'It seemed like there were a lot of people wag for somethg like to happen'

Contents:

• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• SMELLS LIKE QUEER SPIR: HOW '90S PUNKS PANSY DIVISN BLAZED A TRAIL AS ONE OF ROCK'S FIRST OPENLY GAY BANDS
• PUNK, HARDRE AND GAY
• THE 13 GAYT MIC VIOS OF THE '80S
• NICKY CRANE: THE SECRET DOUBLE LIFE OF A GAY NEO-NAZI

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

As the volist and bass player for the semal proggy metal-tged hard rock band Kg’s X, Doug Pnick me out 1998, durg an terview wh the Christian magaze, an irony due to the spirual and upliftg nature of the mic and lyrics which attracted many Christian fans who were agast homosexualy.

Before Cynic both Reert and Masvidal played as members of the legendary band Death, wh the one and only Chuck Schulder, and durg this time, and their time wh Cynic, they most likely led double liv as secretly homosexual mal a predomantly macho male extreme metal aggrsive ttosterone filled mil scene. At, Texas-based hardre punk band MDC might be known by different nam cludg Millns of Dead Cops, Multi-Death Corporatn, Millns Of Dead Children, and Millns Of Damn Christians, but sce the begng of the band, 1979, the one nstant has been the antic, charismatic ontman Dave Dictor, who has ed the fury of punk to sg agast racism war, rporate ntrol, and favor of animal and human rights, equaly for gays, mori, and women. Per Outsports, Maxen is the “first publicly out male ach a major Amerin men’s pro sports league, ” wh WNBA ach Curt Miller, who publicly me out to the media as gay 2015, also a publicly out male ach an Amerin profsnal sports league.

One of the very first openly gay rock bands, they formed 1991 right the middle of the AIDS crisis, and almost lerally lghed the face of tragedy wh their sophomoric but ultimately unifyg and healg humor.

SMELLS LIKE QUEER SPIR: HOW '90S PUNKS PANSY DIVISN BLAZED A TRAIL AS ONE OF ROCK'S FIRST OPENLY GAY BANDS

Their NSFW songs — image, say, a gay Blk-182 —over the years have clud “Bill & Ted's Homosexual Adventure, ” “Touch My Joe Camel, ” “The C***sucker Club, ” “That’s So Gay” “Dick of Death, ” “Blame the Bible, ” and a rto ver of Prce’s “Jack U Off” and Weird Al-style Nirvana spoof brilliantly tled “Smells Like Queer Spir. ”And while Pansy Divisn didn’t exactly w over the mass, the unpromisg pop-punk band quickly veloped a cult followg among queer rockers seekg an alternative to the Hi-NRG dance mic pumpg through SF’s gay clubs. ”Much has changed over the past three s, but the dark and creasgly homophobic tim, Pansy Divisn’s si-spltg lyrics and balls-to-the-wall powerpop jams are clearly still as need as ever.

) To celebrate Pansy Divisn’s anniversary as well as Pri Month, Yahoo Entertament spoke wh the band's founrs about Jon & Chris’s 30-year homosexual Entertament: I feel Pansy Divisn hered a lot of change, and you've certaly wnsed and experienced a lot of change sce your first album. We thought we uld have fulfillg, happy liv as gay people — spe all of the prejudice, spe all of the bias — and we thought, “We're jt gonna go out and show our bt selv, and we're gonna do that by g humor and beg fiant about the suatn that we fd ourselv .

PUNK, HARDRE AND GAY

[lghs]I image there were some parents who were unfortable, but I bet you've been told by many lennials or Gen-Xers that you sparked an awakeng for them — whether was regardg their own sexualy, or jt makg them even aware of homosexualy at What was really important, I thk, was that we were prent a i where gay people [were ually shunned]. I feel like kids get a lot of propaganda agast whatever you want to ll , the “gay liftyle, ” so actual gay people talkg to them and not censorg ourselv, I felt like that was Green Day tour gave you a taste of what would be like to be big, mastream rock stars. But we weren't terted, bee we knew people the bs that we asked about The guy who signed Green Day, Howie Kle, he's gay, and I remember askg him, “What do you thk our future would be like on a major label?

Freeman: What people don't realize is that when you e out and jo the gay muny, there's a whole different set of rtrictns and l about what you n do and what you n't do the gay muny, or what's acceptable the gay muny or what's normal. [lghs]Pansy Divisn are often creded wh beg the first openly gay rock Well, there were other bands who me out at the same time as who were not well-known and didn't make as far as we did, so our appearance me at a certa moment where seemed like there were a lot of people wag for somethg like to happen. ’Why queer band Cub Sport dropped 'J at the Gay Bar' on Good Friday: 'It uld be read as provotive/ntroversial and I'd be lyg if I said I didn't like that'The 'sleazier, more extreme Village People': How KISS associat Skatt Bros.

In other words, where Bud Light has buckled unr prsure as bigotry grows agast the LGBTQ+ muny, Gay Water’s creator Spencer Hodson wants his new boozy brand to be the anthis of that.

THE 13 GAYT MIC VIOS OF THE '80S

“The key issue that Bud Light tapped to was the fact that they didn’t unrstand their re dience and know enough about them,” Hodson, a gay man, told CNN about the ntroversy that began when the Anhser-Bch beer brand sent fluencer Dylan Mulvaney a n of beer. Hodson built up a strong social media followg on TikTok and Instagram durg Covid-19 and is g some of the money om that (as well as om iends and fay) to help fund Gay Water. “Gay is an umbrella term and the ia behd the brand is to be as clive as possible, which means we want alli, we want straight people to be part of this muny we’re buildg.”.

Gay Water might not have the ep pockets pared to s petors, like Whe Claw, but “even at small sle, pani of many siz are havg succs makg spir-based seltzers and premixed cktails,” Bryan Roth, an analyst for Feel Goods Company and edor of the alhol beverage newsletter, Sightl+, told CNN. “There’s lots of space the spir-based seltzer tegory which Gay Water n play, pecially if the brand n offer a cultural or emotnal nnectn that will feel more excg than the prospect of another peapple-flavored vodka seltzer om natnal or ternatnal rporatns,” Roth said. Of urse, other drks e the word “gay,” too, cludg Gay Beer and So Gay Rosé, Hodson noted, which are also tryg to reach the queer muny and offer them an alternative the straight-domated space.

NICKY CRANE: THE SECRET DOUBLE LIFE OF A GAY NEO-NAZI

Not as overtly polil or sexually oriented as the Dicks, sger Randy "Biscu" Turner was a beloved outsir artist and openly gay man who died 2005 om cirrhosis of the liver due to an untreated Hepatis C fectn.