Strictly has gone ‘gay’? What do people thk they’ve been watchg all the years? | Emma Brock | The Guardian

Contents:

• STRICTLY HAS GONE ‘GAY’? WHAT DO PEOPLE THK THEY’VE BEEN WATCHG ALL THE YEARS?
• LBIAN UPLE W IVF ‘GAY TAX’ BATTLE
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.

STRICTLY HAS GONE ‘GAY’? WHAT DO PEOPLE THK THEY’VE BEEN WATCHG ALL THE YEARS?

Strictly has featured a female same-sex uple before, boxer Nila Adams and Katya Jon, who peted durg the 18th season 2020, but Whae and Rabe (who both intify as gay) will be the show's first gay male pair.

"Bee I'm dog the first all-male partnership, I genuely did thk that I was gog to receive a fair b of hate bee you do as a gay man, you get a lot of hate.

Both John and Johann are also openly gay, wh John recently suggtg an terview that such a pairg would be ‘important”. ” He add that he thought would be “really important for him” as beg an openly gay dancer, due to beg a “powerful msage”.

LBIAN UPLE W IVF ‘GAY TAX’ BATTLE

Yet, he noted that future a same-sex pairg don’t necsarily need to be two gay men for an all-male uple. “Jt to see two men or two women dancg together, ’s not necsarily about sexualy, ’s jt about timacy and rpect, ” Whae told the cln of same-sex upl on Strictly also skewers the homophobic trope that same-sex relatnships are somehow appropriate for fai.

Adams said at the time that was "a brilliant step the right directn" marked a shift by the BBC after had ially led out same-sex upl, wh boss then sayg 2019 that the broadster would be "pletely open" to droppg the requirement for mixed pairs gog move sparked a backlash after two male profsnal dancers were partnered together for a stand-alone number 2019, wh more than 300 viewers lodgg plats about their BBC reported that some viewers found "offensive to feature two men dancg as a pair" after Johann Rabe, who is gay, danced wh lleague Graziano di said he hoped his dance partner would be "up for a challenge, as I want our rout to clu lots of spectacular lifts" lifts are ctomarily performed a mixed pair, wh the male partner leadg and liftg the ordarily lighter female performer, but danc such as the Argente Tango and the Ldy Hop have a tradn of men dancg wh Argente Tango is believed to have evolved as a dance for male pairs – a fact judge Craig Revel Horwood has prevly poted out fence of cludg same-sex upl on will jo prevly announced nttants, cludg Robert Webb, of the edy duo Mchell and Webb, mician and thor Tom Fletcher and TV prenter AJ Odudu, on the show. Homophobia is a ser and ntug problem, but was difficult this week not to enjoy aspects of the hoo-ha over Strictly Come Dancg. In what felt like a historil re-enactment of classic 1970s’ curta-twchg, 189 viewers plaed to the BBC about two men partnerg each other on primetime telly, and was hard to know what to lgh at first: the Mary Whehoe tone of the plats, the statement on Instagram by one of the dancers – realisg the full dramatic potential of the moment – that “love knows no boundari”, or the ia that the spectacle of two men dancg uld ever be the gayt thg about Strictly.

Nohels, there was somethg vaguely fortg about the fact that, particularly the ntext of the recent LGBT teachg row, mastream culture at least, plats of this kd about gay reprentatn seem outdated to the pot of schools, of urse, the battle rag on.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

I looked up the wordg of Sectn 28 and was amazed to fd that, until was overturned 2003, not only did ban lol thori om “promotg” homosexualy, but that, like somethg drafted by the Wtboro Baptist Church, banned “the teachg any mataed school of the acceptabily of homosexualy as a pretend fay relatnship”. Bt to refer them to Alan Partridge: “For cryg out loud, if I really uldn’t bear to nsort wh homosexuals, do you really thk I’d have pursued a reer televisn? A lbian uple who lnched a legal battle over equali IVF treatment between heterosexual and same-sex upl have dropped their fight after their lol re board pledged to make treatment sts media fluencers Megan and Whney Ban-Evans lnched a landmark “gay tax” discrimatn se after NHS Frimley Integrated Care Board (ICB) said same-sex upl, sgle women and upl unable to have vagal terurse would have to pay for 12 rounds of IVF before qualifyg for NHS assistance.

Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach a US men’s profsnal sports league to e out as gay. Per Outsports, as of September 2022, there have only ever been 16 players NFL history to publicly e out as gay or bisexual.

A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.

Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player league history to announce that he is gay 2021. 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. The bsman and his wife, Melissa, first plaed to the Front Porch proprietors about pre-dawn vendor liveri 2019, not long after the nservative Christian uple moved their fancial firm right next door to the rtrant, which fli a gay Pri flag.