Small-Town Gay Du Can't Stop Hookg Up Wh a Not-So-Myster Masked Man - The Stranger

Contents:

• SMALL-TOWN GAY DU CAN'T STOP HOOKG UP WH A NOT-SO-MYSTER MASKED MAN
• SMALL TOWN BOY A GAY METROPOLIS KDLE EDN

SMALL-TOWN GAY DU CAN'T STOP HOOKG UP WH A NOT-SO-MYSTER MASKED MAN

But on the other end of the spectm was Bronski Beat’s much grimmer pictn of a suburban teen’s gay-bashg and subsequent ostracizatn om his disapprovg fay, “Smalltown Boy. ”The stark and narrative vio, scribed by Rose as an “un-glamoro” “silent movie” ( featur no flashy performance footage, dance sequenc, or neon fashns like many other MTV vios of the era), picts the tular character, played by the new wave tr’s openly gay ontman Jimmy Somerville, clumsily and unsuccsfully makg a pass at a handsome jock at a lol swimmg pool; this unfortunately leads to him beg vic attacked an alley by the jock’s homophobic iends. I thk 's a very mon experience for people, and I thk even go beyond the gay issue: people who jt are rejected and thrown out like that, ” says Rose.

They were gog to pot out the sential problems and opprsns volved beg gay at that time, which was you were que likely to get beaten up somewhere, or thrown out by fay. ”Jimmy Somerville fac a homophobic gang Bronski Beat's "Smalltown Boy" vio. “There were a lot of artists [ the ‘80s] who were gay but not open about , like Boy Gee, Gee Michael, Freddie Mercury, Elton John — the people we now thk have always been out, but they were not out 1984.

Frankie Go to Hollywood were really the first on who me out and said, ‘Well, yeah, we're gay. ”Somerville wasn’t a profsnal actor (and neher was the man who nvcgly played the vio’s stern-faced policeman, London Rerds’ openly gay executive Col Bell), but his nuanced performance was so grippg bee, as Rose explas , “The story was very close to him. (Photo: London Rerds)Rose also ma the cisn to not actually show Somerville’s gay-bashg, maly to nform to children’s TV standards Bra (and th get the airplay that the famo “Relax” had unrstandably been nied).

SMALL TOWN BOY A GAY METROPOLIS KDLE EDN

”Rose says the “Smalltown Boy” was warmly received, and he rells 1984 beg a progrsive year for gay culture, as evinced by the succs of both Bronski Beat and Frankie Go to Hollywood. ’ I was very pleased, ” Rose the “Smalltown Boy” vio is largely gray and prsg, do end on a happy note, wh Somerville beg joed on a tra by his iends (played by fellow openly gay Bronski Beat bandmat Larry Stebachek and Steve Bronski) and settg off on their big-cy adventure together. “I assume that they would have formed a band and had a h rerd, ” he more om Yahoo Entertament:'Rocketman' star Taron Egerton on gay storyle: 'I'm very proud that our movie puts ont and center''NSync's Lance Bass says 'mic dtry is still homophobic, ' but ’s time for an openly gay boy bandQueer rocker Bob Mould on g out late life: ‘Why didn't I do this a ltle sooner?

’Pop prodigy MNEK on beg a black gay role mol: 'There's nothg wrong wh beg myself'The Dms’ Jonny Pierce: ‘Beg gay lerally saved my life’‘Amerin Idol’ nttant Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon’s brave g-out story: ‘Everybody was a ltle jolted by how transparent I was beg’Follow Lyndsey on Facebook, Twter, Instagram, Google+, Amazon, Tumblr, daily pop culture news livered to your box? Bronski Beat's 1984 floor-filler 'Smalltown Boy' has travelled through cema as a marker as gay cultural subjectivi sce 1986's Partg Glanc. A young gay man stands alone on a tra platform, ught the midst of a very on-the-nose downpour.

His story, up to this pot, has been of homophobic ostracism, one far om new to the queer imagatn, rerd at a time when gays and lbians were pg hometown prejudic to the big ci their drov – a pattern of migratn that has stuck to the prent.