The Beatl (and Cynthia Lennon) Didn't Know That Their Manager, Brian Epste, Was Gay

Contents:

• THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE BEATL' GAY MANAGER
• THE BEATL (AND CYNTHIA LENNON) DIDN’T KNOW THAT THEIR MANAGER, BRIAN EPSTE, WAS GAY
• THE GAY ARCHECTS OF ROCK
• DID BRIAN EPSTE’S GAYNS SHAPE HIS VISN OF THE BEATL’ POTENTIAL?
• MEET THE BEATL’ MANAGER: DID THIS GAY MAN SAVE ROCK?
• THE BEATL STAR REVEALS THE BAND’S ATTU ABOUT GAY PEOPLE
• HUFFPOST THE BLOG: "THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE BEATL’ GAY MANAGER" BY VIVEK J. TIWARY
• EXPLORG THE MYTH: DID JOHN LENNON HAVE A GAY AFFAIR?

THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE BEATL' GAY MANAGER

Yet Brian himself died lonely, never havg had a proper boyiend, and wh the lloquially known “Osr Wil laws” clarg homosexualy illegal still force. The world would remember those days romantilly as the “Summer of Love”, om London to San Francis—and was ed a time of love, eedom, openns, and passn… as long as you weren’t gay, lbian, bisexual, or transgenr. Bee what the public didn’t know was that Brian Epste was gay.

In 1960s England, fet about beg allowed to marry—gay men and lbians weren’t allowed to openly walk the streets! But I hold that is not The Beatl that Brian Epste should be most remembered for—’s the personal obstacl he overme as a gay man the 1960’s while pursug his dreams that mak his story not jt spirg but important.

But had Brian Epste lived to celebrate Liverpool Pri fifty years after his untimely ath—and the simultaneo 50th Anniversary of the Summer of Love and the Sexual Offenc Act’s crimalisatn of homosexualy England and Wal—he would have been pleased about a lot more than the endurg legacy of his Beatl. What the public didn't know was that Brian Epste was gay. And 1960s England, fet about beg allowed to marry; gay men and lbians weren't allowed to openly walk the streets!

THE BEATL (AND CYNTHIA LENNON) DIDN’T KNOW THAT THEIR MANAGER, BRIAN EPSTE, WAS GAY

It was lerally a felony to be attracted to a member of the same died lonely at the age of 32, never havg had a proper boyiend, and wh the lloquially known "Osr Wil laws" clarg homosexualy illegal still force. The year was 1967, and was the "Summer of Love" -- as long as you weren't gay, lbian, bisexual, or transgenr. I know our circumstanc are not nearly the same as the obstacl Brian and other gay, bisexual, and transgenr people have faced over the years -- and, the se of marriage, ntue to face 34 of the Uned Stat -- but emotnally, Tracy and I uld relate and empathize.

When they first met, however, the band didn't know that this lol bs owner was gay. He served as their manager for several years, even if most fans didn’t know he was gay until after his ath.

The Beatl’ manager, Brian Epste, was gay. “It didn’t occur to then that Brian was gay, ” Cynthia Lennon wrote.

THE GAY ARCHECTS OF ROCK

In the early sixti if you were gay you kept secret. Gays were lled ‘queers’ and were disliked and diststed by many — there was a huge amount of prejudice agast them. Cynthia Lennon said that at the time, John Lennon was ‘horrified’ by the ia of homosexualy.

“John was a hundred percent heterosexual and, like most lads at that time, horrified by the ia of homosexualy, ” Cynthia Lennon wrote the same memoir.

DID BRIAN EPSTE’S GAYNS SHAPE HIS VISN OF THE BEATL’ POTENTIAL?

Don't worry, everyone: The Beatl are OK wh gay by Para magaze about their manager, Brian Epste, Rgo had nothg but supportive thgs to say. "I had known a lot of gay men, " he told the magaze.

MEET THE BEATL’ MANAGER: DID THIS GAY MAN SAVE ROCK?

Epste's homosexualy was an open secret for most of his reer. In 2016, he ncelled a ncert North Carola prott of the state's recently-passed homophobic 's ftg that Starr would speak wh Para, as they're approximately the same age: Rgo was born 1940, and Para was found a year later 1941. Consir the gay image makers of the day, like Brian Epste and Jann Beatl wh their manager Brian Epste, right, October Archiv/Redferns, via Getty ImagOct.

Managers groomed them and shaped them, and the classic rock era those managers were often gay s, the close relatnships between the managers and the predomantly straight micians they advised were not discsed much.

“The Fifth Beatle, ” a recent graphic novel that foc on the personal life of the Fab Four’s gay manager, Brian Epste, was a New York Tim bt seller and is now velopment as a six-part mi-seri, wh the approval of the Beatl’ tate. And the documentary film “Lambert & Stamp” ma clear the important role played by K Lambert, the gay -manager of the Who, shapg the band’s inty. “Beg gay gave me a fer appreciatn of the sexualy of the guys up there, ” Mr.

THE BEATL STAR REVEALS THE BAND’S ATTU ABOUT GAY PEOPLE

“It was all great until Harry said, ‘The only thg is, I don’t thk I uld be managed by a gay man. Up until 1967, beg gay was illegal Bra, and long after that law changed, gay men remaed a target of police entrapment, blackmail and beatgs.

As managers of some of the era’s most potent Brish rock bands, they stood at the foreont of sounds, sensibili and styl that would molish and remake pop gay managers of that era were forthright about their sexualy, if only among iends and lleagu.

HUFFPOST THE BLOG: "THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE BEATL’ GAY MANAGER" BY VIVEK J. TIWARY

Napier-Bell, part of the reason Brish gay men of his era gravated to the mic bs was bee was one of the few areas “where you uld be out amongst yourselv. You’d go to Robert Stigwood’s hoe and was like a gay pub. “As gay men, we have to remake ourselv orr to survive, ” he said.

EXPLORG THE MYTH: DID JOHN LENNON HAVE A GAY AFFAIR?

”Mart Aston, the thor of “Breakg Down the Walls of Heartache: How Mic Came Out, ” said the nnectn between rock’s gay managers and image moldg stems om the fact that “gay men at the time would be judged almost entirely on how they looked.

Aston said, gay men veloped a fort wh the art of beg seen, “as opposed to straight men, who, before the phenomenon of the ‘metrosexual, ’ were threatened by the notn of beg looked at, of beg an object. That beme the foreont rock ’n’ roll, enuraged by the gay managers. ”Straight rock stars also found that appropriatg the sensual awarens of gay men paid off sexual opportuni.

’”Still, given the vilifitn of homosexualy at the time, one might expect the rockers to have some disfort wh the gay men who advised them. Lambert (an upper-class, privileged gay man) and his partner management, Chris Stamp (a straight street kid) imprsed them eply. Napier-Bell se the entire notn of rock ’n’ roll rebelln as an extensn of “gay anger.