As "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" to an end, we sent Chris Heath to terview dozens of gay servicemen om the past and prent to fd out what life was really like as Ameri's ary stggled wh s last great inty crisis
Contents:
- WATCH WHAT HAPPENS WHEN 'THE OLD GAYS' MEET A YOUNG FAN WHO LOV DRS
- FOUR ELRLY GAY MEN WHO JOKE THEY 'VENTED BEG GAY' SET TER ALIGHT WH TIKTOK VIOS
- KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
- HOW TO EMBRACE AGG AS A GAY MAN
- THE BIGGT MYTH ABOUT GAY SEX
- THE ONE QUTN MEN NEED TO STOP ASKG ON GAY DATG APPS
- TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
- WHY BODY IMAGE ISSU PERVA THE GAY COMMUNY
WATCH WHAT HAPPENS WHEN 'THE OLD GAYS' MEET A YOUNG FAN WHO LOV DRS
Mick Peterson, 65, Robert Reev, 78, Jsay Mart, 68, and Bill Lyons, 77, om Cathedral Cy, California - brand 'The Old Gays' - went viral on TikTok. They vised The Today Show on Tuday. * old gay man tiktok *
But even though Evan’s school and his fay support his sartorial choic, his mom says that Evan “never see other Evans” the outsi ’s why was so important, she said, that Evan recently had the chance to meet TikTok sensatns "The Old Gays, " who ma sure they were appropriately drsed for the, a sgle adoptive mom to three children wh disabili, cludg Evan, has been stayg home wh them and votg time to buildg their social media platforms. The foursome of gay men — Bill Lyons, Robert Reev, Jsay Mart and Michael “Mick” Peterson — have found viral social media fame their 60s and 70s through their funny and sometim touchg mentg on one of those vios, McLeod got touch wh their team and arranged to drive to their home two hours away so Evan uld meet them. “I do not rell when I was growg up seeg or knowg anyone who was obvly gay, and I certaly didn’t have any role mols the public sector at the time.
“I nnot thank four old, gay men enough for not only takg time out of their day to show enuragement and kdns to a child they didn’t even know, but also to make the effort they did to fd drs they thought reprented themselv, brought them some level of joy, and f them well, " McLeod said.
Four elrly gay men, who refer to themselv as 'The Old Gays, ' started postg vios together onle back 2018, and now, they have practilly stolen everyone on the ter's Lyons, 77, Jsay Mart, 68, Robert Reev, 78, and Mick Peterson, 65, om Cathedral Cy, California, have set the ter alight wh their brilliant guys - who are not a romantic relatnship - have gone viral on TikTok for postg clips of themselv hangg out, chattg about their daily stggl, sharg stori om their youth, givg advice, reactg to popular vios, and dog var activi together. 2 ln followers and 320 ln views across all social media platforms - have brought happs to many people all around the four guys, who joked one vio that they 'vented beg gay, ' started off as neighbors, eventually beme bt iends, and are now first started to get attentn onle after they were featured a promotnal vio for the gay datg app Grdr, but they were really skyrocketed to fame after jog TikTok near the end of last year.
FOUR ELRLY GAY MEN WHO JOKE THEY 'VENTED BEG GAY' SET TER ALIGHT WH TIKTOK VIOS
Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach a US men’s profsnal sports league to e out as gay. * old gay man tiktok *
Four elrly gay men, who refer to themselv as 'The Old Gays, ' have set the ter alight recently wh their brilliant vios Bill Lyons, 77, Jsay Mart, 68, Robert Reev, 78, and Mick Peterson, 65 - who are not a romantic relatnship - have stolen practilly everyone on the ter's hearts The guys - who are om Cathedral Cy, California - post clips of themselv hangg out, sharg stori om their youth, givg advice, dog var activi together, and more Due to their posive meanor, their adorable personali, and ntag lgh, the men have brought happs to many people all around the world The guys sat down for an appearance on the Today show on Tuday, November 16, where they chatted about their road to stardom and their favore parts of their new-found ter fameTheir vios have gaed the attentn of many celebri, cludg Lance Bass, Bebe Rexha, Rihanna, and now, Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bh Hager om the Today Show. They first started to get attentn after they were featured a promotnal vio for the gay datg app Grdr, but they were really skyrocketed to fame after jog TikTok last year Their vios have gaed the attentn of many celebri, cludg Lance Bass, Montana Tucker (pictured), Bebe Rexha, Rihanna, and more For those who n't get enough of the guys, who have been brand the 'morn day Goln Girls, ' they will soon be able to watch them their very own realy showFor those who n't get enough of the guys, who have been brand the 'morn day Goln Girls, ' they will soon be able to watch them their very own realy show. 'We look forward to expandg upon that succs wh the "Old Gays" to create an entertag and succsful long-form seri that will be enjoyed by lns of viewers om all different backgrounds and ag across the world.
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. ”“It’s hard to be out genr where beg gay, or exprsg your sexualy, is owned upon, ” add platum rapper and sger iLoveMakonnen, born Makonnen Sheran, who rose to fame as a protégé of Drake and me out as gay 2017.
KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
From Tyler, the Creator to Lil Nas X, hip-hop has never had so many stars who intify as gay or bisexual. Is this a blip or a turng pot? * old gay man tiktok *
”Before the viral sensatn of “Old Town Road” turned Hill to a pop star and gay in, hip-hop was already reachg a turng pot s clivy, as more young black men explorg sexualy and terrogatg masculy their work are gettg mastream attentn. Rap culture has always been powered by unbridled machismo, and one would be hard prsed to not fd a gay slur embedd the lyrics of any of the genre’s most famo archects.
Slang such as “s” and “No homo” and “Pse” that e queerns as a punchle have been thrown around sually for as the old guard has been replaced wh a younger generatn unncerned wh rigid labels and unbothered by genre, today’s rap and R&B scene isn’t as exclively heteronormative as once was. “We know folks our muny have always been religly nservative, and beg gay is still seen as taboo, ” said Ebro Darn, the global edorial head of hip-hop and R&B for Apple Mic and host of “Ebro the Morng” on New York’s Hot 97 rad statn.
”Over the past uple of years, Ocean’s former Odd Future llaborator, Tyler, the Creator, has transned om a bratty provotr who hurled gay slurs wh reckls abandon to a thoughtful nfsnalist, one who surprisgly and rather matter-of-factly raps about his own attractn to men. A diverse array of talents such as Brockhampton ontman Kev Abstract, Steve Lacy (also formerly affiliated wh Odd Future) and Skype Williams have all prented works this year that are eely crafted through a black queer his “Arizona Baby” album, -produced by Jack Antonoff (Taylor Swift), Abstract reflects on growg up gay and Corp Christi at the turn of the lennium. 1 song Ameri and jt eclipsed a chart rerd that Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men set 23 years ago wh “One Sweet Day, ” a song spired by the AIDS crisis and the tragic peril brought to so many black gay men this untry.
HOW TO EMBRACE AGG AS A GAY MAN
When so many gay men have spent their formative years the closet, ’s difficult to pe the feelg that you need to make up for lost time. * old gay man tiktok *
Walter Thompson Innovatn Group back 2016 found that only 48% of 13-20 year-olds intified as exclively heterosexual, pared to 65% of the generatn before is an dience that shgs when Tyler, the Creator do an about-face the way he did on 2017’s stellar “Flower Boy” where he sually rapped about beg attracted to men after years of g gay slurs — a topic he still ref to addrs outsi of the mic (he cled to be terviewed for this piece). “Tth is, sce a youth kid, thought was a phase / thought ’d be like the phrase; ‘poof, ’ gone / But, ’s still go’ on, ” he that’s not to say the rt of the mic dtry is that much further mic had lacked an openly gay superstar before Adam Lambert and Sam Smh ma history wh their chart buts and Grammy victori, rpectively.
And spe their stat as legendary rock hmakers and gay ins, there was much hand-wrgg over how bpics for Queen and Elton John would handle the queerns of s evolutn hip-hop is signifint, albe more gradual and ls pronounced than the larger shift pop culture over reprentatns of black male was Fox’s hip-hop drama “Empire, ” which ma a powerful statement by makg one of s leads a gay black R&B sger (for a time, the rerds released by the character — played by Jsie Smollett — were the only mic by an out gay black man gettg mastream rad play. )“Moonlight, ” a g of age tale about a gay black boy, won bt picture at the Amy Awards 2017 and for the first time queer people of lor outnumbered their whe unterparts on TV, acrdg to GLAAD’s annual TV diversy report.
THE BIGGT MYTH ABOUT GAY SEX
In 2019, is well past time to burn the masc4masc era down forever on all of the world's gay datg apps. * old gay man tiktok *
Seri such as “Queen Sugar, ” “Dear Whe People” and “This Is Us” feature storyl abound nuanced black LGBTQ characters; meanwhile, Ryan Murphy’s “Pose, ” which has exposed the world to a part of black queer culture that has spired pop divas for s, is up for two Emmys, cludg one for Billy Porter, the first openly gay black man to receive a lead actor nod.
” And Emem has yet to retire his age of “faggot” the 18 years sce he famoly performed wh Elton John at the Grammys as a PR-orchtrated act of good will agast his vicly homophobic lyrics. A wave of black queer rap artists, cludg Le1f, Zebra Katz, Cak Da Killa, Mykki Blan and Hoe of LaDosha, broke out of New York at the start of the wh mic and visuals that upend the very same genr nstcts that have been weaponized agast gay men for the last century by pairg hyper-feme athetics — high fashn looks, weave, manicured fgertips — wh braggadocs’ rhym.
”Jt a few weeks ago, New Orleans rapper Young KSB went viral wh a glorly rnchy o to anilg that’s as sexually explic as anythg domatg Spotify playlists — but ’s impossible to image that viralns transng to the as Hill was celebrated for breakg rap’s gay glass ceilg, the jok about his sex life also ma to the news verage.
THE ONE QUTN MEN NEED TO STOP ASKG ON GAY DATG APPS
* old gay man tiktok *
When asked about Hill’s g out, Young Thug — a rapper who jumped on an “Old Town Road” remix and has toyed wh genr norms by drsg uture gowns — said that Hill “probably shouldn’t have told the world” he was gay.
Dcribg the spiratn behd “Sorry I’m Late, ” he clared that “work ma by gay people don’t necsarily need to be like Troye-Sivan-twk-lily-whe-lhe-pastel-pk-pop..
It would be unfair to suggt that gay male culture is pletely foced on repturg youth, but there’s fely a subset of the LGBTQ muny that equat beg young wh beg sexually sirable.
TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
Open any gay hookup app and you’ll fd guys lookg for, or llg themselv, a “twk, ” s-old queer shorthand for a young cis man who’s probably whe, probably slim, and probably has ltle or no body hair. And if he ntu to date younger men as he gets olr, he might bee fed by another, ls flatterg label: “chickenhawk”—sentially the gay male versn of a “ugar.
I spent the last year of my twenti gog out to gay clubs more than ever before—even the on I’d prevly dismissed as “basic” and “jt for out-of-towners. ”It’s ridiculo to claim that society plac greater expectatns on agg gay men than other groups—look at the way women are judged if they’re still “sgle and childls” their thirti. Datg back to the ancient Greece, anal sex played a role the exprsn of same-sex sexualy (albe, wh fewer varieti of lube) art of anal sex is the thg that, both posively and negatively, has e to reprent gay men.
Anyone who’s spent time on gay datg apps on which men nnect wh other men will have at least seen some form of mp or femme-shamg, whether they regnize as such or not.
WHY BODY IMAGE ISSU PERVA THE GAY COMMUNY
"Charlie Sarson, a doctoral rearcher om Birmgham Cy Universy who wrote a this on how gay men talk about masculy onle, says he isn't surprised that rejectn n sometim lead to abe.
"It's always existed, " he says, cg the hyper-mascule "Gay Clone or “Castro Clone" look of the ‘70s and '80s—gay men who drsed and prented alike, typilly wh handlebar mtach and tight Levi’s—which he characteriz as partly "a rponse to what that scene nsired to be the 'too effemate' and 'flamboyant' nature of the Gay Liberatn movement.
Flamboyant dis sger Sylvter said a 1982 terview that he often felt dismissed by gay men who had "gotten all cloned out and down on people beg loud, extravagant or different.