As a shelter for New York's homels LGBT youth prepar to open her name, the son of the edy legend opens up about dner parti wh Rock Hudson, ictn wh Betty Whe and her lifelong passn for "nocents — eher kids or animals or gay teens."
Contents:
- BEA ARTHUR, BELOVED GAY IN, 1922-2009
- HOW BEA ARTHUR GAVE BACK TO THE GAYS WHO LOVED HER
- WAS BEA ARTHUR GAY? HER NET WORTH AND CSE OF DEATH
- WAS BEA ARTHUR GAY? WHAT WAS HER NET WORTH AND CSE OF DEATH?
BEA ARTHUR, BELOVED GAY IN, 1922-2009
Goln Girls star Bea Arthur, née Bernice Frankel, died at home Los Angel at the age of 86 today. She passed away surround by fay members. She will be loudly mourned by the gays. * was bea aurthur gay *
" Her rol as Yente Fiddler on the Roof, the outspoken M Fley of All the Fay and M, and most famoly, the tic Dorothy Zbornak of Goln Girls, gaed her an avid gay dience. Gays are postg this blasphemo Virg Dorothy mashup her holy memory:(Photo by AP/Wally Fong). The guts were by and large gay men — closeted, as most were back then — who were drawn to Arthur, like moths to a porch light.
“They were always exced to e to her hoe, ” says Matthew, now 55, of his mother’s many gay nfidant.
HOW BEA ARTHUR GAVE BACK TO THE GAYS WHO LOVED HER
As a shelter for New York's homels LGBT youth prepar to open her name, the son of the edy legend opens up about dner parti wh Rock Hudson, ictn wh Betty Whe and her lifelong passn for "nocents — eher kids or animals or gay teens. * was bea aurthur gay *
Arthur, who died of ncer 2009 at age 86, occupi a sgular space amid the pantheon of gay ins: Neher preeng show diva nor pill-poppg wreck, she was stead a pillar of liberal-md fortu, always at the ready to do battle wh the Archie Bunkers of the world. All of this held nsirable sway over the emergg gay-rights movement.
WAS BEA ARTHUR GAY? HER NET WORTH AND CSE OF DEATH
Bea Arthur began and end her illtr reer on the stage, wh crilly acclaimed rol Fiddler on the Roof and Mame the 1960s and a one-woman Broadway performance the 2000s. But she beme a femist and gay in wh her Emmy-award-wng televisn suatn edi om the 1970s through the 1990s: All the Fay, M, and The Goln Girls. * was bea aurthur gay *
Fully aware of the appeal she held over her gay fans, Arthur cid to give somethg back, and left an endowment to the Ali Forney Center, an anizatn for homels LGBT youth New York Cy. The mostly-gay crowd very nearly flew to a enzy, “phg toward her, grabbg at her, eager for face time wh the great legend. ) “It seemed like all her chari were mostly about nocents — eher kids or animals or gay or lbian teens, who have a bigger fight than anybody n image, ” Saks says.
Don’t let the gff fa fool you: Arthur was a softy through and through, as evinced by the Bea Arthur Rince for LGBT Youth — an honor, among gay ins, sure, but Saks puts thgs perspective. She had a long-lastg romantic volvement wh Adrienne Barbe, who played her -star M, and this, together wh her passnate support for gay rights, led to allegatns that she was lbian or homosexual.
WAS BEA ARTHUR GAY? WHAT WAS HER NET WORTH AND CSE OF DEATH?
“The kids at the Ali Forney Center are lerally dumped by their fai bee of the fact that they are lbian, gay or transgenr…this anizatn really is savg liv. Throughout her work, people have wonred about her personal life, cludg whether or not she is gay.
Q: Did Bea Arthur ever talk about beg gay public?