Ruf Wawright Chang His Tune On Gay Marriage - Perez Hilton

Contents:

• RUF WAWRIGHT ON JUDY GARLAND AT 100 AND WHY SHE’S THE ULTIMATE GAY IN
• MUSIC; RUF WAWRIGHT JOURNEYS TO 'GAY HELL' AND BACK
• RUF WAWRIGHT: GAY SGER-SONGWRER UNFOLLOWS THE L
• RUF WAWRIGHT COM AROUND ON GAY MARRIAGE
• RUF WAWRIGHT CHANG HIS TUNE ON GAY MARRIAGE
• RUF WAWRIGHT REFLECTS ON 25 YEARS SCE DEBUT ALBUM, BEG AN OPENLY GAY ARTIST THE 1990S

RUF WAWRIGHT ON JUDY GARLAND AT 100 AND WHY SHE’S THE ULTIMATE GAY IN

When I started, the first meetg I took wh my rerd pany, wh Dreamworks Rerds, I emphatilly stated to them that I was gay and that I wasn't gog to hi that. I don't claim to be the first out gay artist, but I am one of the first who started my reer beg out on a major label. There was some talk about how Adam Lambert was this credible pneer for beg the first out gay mastream artist or somethg.

I didn't know you were gay. RF: I was as gay as the day is long, pecially the days.

Ruf Wawright opens up about beg one of the first openly gay major-label artists to succeed, the thkg behd his new album ‘Folkocracy’ and more! Here, Wawright shar how he disvered Garland, what she means to him as a gay man, and why Pri Month is the perfect time to honor her.

MUSIC; RUF WAWRIGHT JOURNEYS TO 'GAY HELL' AND BACK

When I got to Hollywood and I saw her history — and also sort of the lore of the gay world — those thgs jt kd of hnted me for many, many years. Why do you thk she has been the ultimate gay in, that she has been so special to the gay muny?

RUF WAWRIGHT: GAY SGER-SONGWRER UNFOLLOWS THE L

I thk that she experienced a lot of the same trmas that a lot of gay men experience, whether ’s through battl wh addictn or feelg really taken advantage of by society — or not rpected, shall we say.

RUF WAWRIGHT COM AROUND ON GAY MARRIAGE

Sometim gay men, pecially om that generatn, were not allowed to exprs themselv, so there’s that kd of trapped feelg … And I thk that a lot of gay men feel like there’s this ner Judy who wants to be known for who they are. It meant a lot to me as someone who’s been gay their whole life and also really known about Judy Garland their whole life.

There was “Over the Rabow, ” and then the rabow beme the symbol of the gay movement. It very much kd of adds to the strength that, sadly, the gay muny needs. A gay man ed to be lled “a iend of Dorothy, ” of urse referencg her “Wizard of Oz” character.

RUF WAWRIGHT CHANG HIS TUNE ON GAY MARRIAGE

But ’s pretty credible that she has remaed the fabric of the gay muny for all the years, for generatns really. And anyone — be gay, straight, bisexual or transgenr — n listen to those rerds and be moved by them.

I basked the attentn as the only male and I was pretty gay om a young age – to cut-out dolls, Judy Garland, drsg up. I was 18 and if you were a gay male the late 80s you were basilly prumed ad bee of the Aids dghter fishg her brocli is, the days, on a par wh havg a worldwi number one rerd for me.

RUF WAWRIGHT REFLECTS ON 25 YEARS SCE DEBUT ALBUM, BEG AN OPENLY GAY ARTIST THE 1990S

Wawright, who is gay and has been out sce he was a teenager, was not always nvced of that. Wawright found himself drawn to a subterranean world that he scribed the most lurid terms as a ''gay hell. ''''I'm not talkg about a bar the meatpackg district, '' he Wawright believ that crystal meth prents specific dangers -- and specific temptatns -- for homosexual men, and that s e is a menace to their muny.