Special Report: The Gay 90's |

Contents:

• THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”
• WHY DO THEY LL THE GAY 90’S?
• ABOUT THE CENTERSCE 1983 THE CENTER HAS BEEN SUPPORTG, FOSTERG AND CELEBRATG THE LGBT MUNY OF NEW YORK CY. FD MORE RMATN ON AND OUR WORK ABOUT THE CENTER. VIS ABOUT THE CENTEROUR MISSNCYBER CENTERCENTER HISTORYRACE EQUYMEDIA CENTERLEARSHIP & STAFFEMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNICORPORATE PARTNERSHIPSANNUAL REPORTS & FANCIAL INFORMATNCONTACT USHOURS & LOTNSEMAPSUPPORT THE CENTER
• GAY NETI
• SPECIAL REPORT: THE GAY 90'S
• DEFINITIONS FOR GAY 90SGAY 90S
• DEFINITIONS FOR GAYGEɪGAY
• HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI
• GAY 90S

THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”

In the 1890s, the term “gey t” (a Sttish variant of gay) was ed to scribe a vagrant who offered sexual servic to women or a young traveler who was new to the road and the pany of an olr man.

This latter e suggts that the younger man was a sexually submissive role and may be among the first tim that gay was ed implyg a homosexual relatnship.

WHY DO THEY LL THE GAY 90’S?

In 1951, gay appeared the Oxford English Dictnary for the first time as slang for homosexual, but was most likely ed this way “unrground” at least 30 years earlier. ” This le (ad-libbed by Grant) n be terpreted to mean that he was behavg a happy-go-lucky or lighthearted way but is accepted by many as the first e of gay to mean homosexual a mastream movie. When gay is ed today to mean stupid or unsirable ( has only been ed this way sce the 1990s), rri wh a history of negative judgment and rigid ias about who or what is acceptable.

The 1890s, which began on 1 January 1890 and end on 31 December 1899, were sometim referred to as the Mve De — bee William Henry Perk’s anile dye allowed the wispread e of that lour fashn — and also as the Gay Neti, unr the then-current age of the word gay which referred ….

Plural nounthe 1890s the Uned Stat, a perd regard nostalgilly as a of prospero fort and associated wh gaslights, early bicycl and rs, and the Gibson Nearby Gay NetiGay-LsacGay-Lsac's lawgaylsegay marrygaynsGay NetiGayomartgay powergay Unabridged. Or maybe was Tom Hanks, acceptg an Amy Award for his portrayal of a gay lawyer Philalphia, and tearfully thankg his high school drama teacher and a classmate—"two of the ft gay Amerins that I had the good fortune to be associated wh"—before a billn movie fans around the world. But however all began, look at where 's led: Jt as Elvis and his ilk plumbed Ain-Amerin mil tradns and turned them to mastream rock & roll the 1950s, moviemakers, TV producers, media people, and rock stars have turned entertament on s head by eely mg the gay culture for s sarsm and style, s glter and gr, s secrets and celebratns.

ABOUT THE CENTERSCE 1983 THE CENTER HAS BEEN SUPPORTG, FOSTERG AND CELEBRATG THE LGBT MUNY OF NEW YORK CY. FD MORE RMATN ON AND OUR WORK ABOUT THE CENTER. VIS ABOUT THE CENTEROUR MISSNCYBER CENTERCENTER HISTORYRACE EQUYMEDIA CENTERLEARSHIP & STAFFEMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNICORPORATE PARTNERSHIPSANNUAL REPORTS & FANCIAL INFORMATNCONTACT USHOURS & LOTNSEMAPSUPPORT THE CENTER

Comedy's most popular styl now utilize the gay sensibily—a reliance on irony that's omni-prent products as varied as Letterman (not him, jt his raised eyebrow) and The Ln Kg ( which Timon and Pumbaa are … well, whatever you want them to be). On Broadway, gay-themed works are the most domant genre, and for three seasons, gay-themed plays by gay playwrights (Tony Khner's two-part Angels Ameri and, most recently, Terrence McNally's Love!

Now straight men are expected to be jt as mosed and buffed as their gay unterparts; and they are subtly prsured to emulate the exhibnistic sex appeal of mols like Marky Mark and Michael Berg, who have posed sctively ads tend to sell shorts not jt to gay men, but to all men.

GAY NETI

" Gradually, the entertament dtry me to realize that gay n sell a niche-market art film (such as the mor summer h The Incredibly Te Adventure of Two Girls Love), as well as help to sell a film wh crossover appeal (Four Weddgs and a Funeral). NYPD Blue's gay male replacement receptnist (whose boyiend happens to be a p) proved so popular last season that the show's producers are brgg him back this fall. Explas David Lee, the gay creator of Frasier and director of last season's accintal date episo, "There was humor the suatn [the characters] found themselv , but you weren't lghg at anyone bee he was gay.

SPECIAL REPORT: THE GAY 90'S

The ntroversial "Men on Film" segment of Fox's In Livg Color (1990-94), which two flamg black queens offered a gay perspective on movi, sharply divid even the gay muny. "I ed to watch wh my black gay iends and jt hoot, " says Donald Suggs, the associate director of the watchdog group Gay & Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn (GLAAD). Conversely, a le punctuated by an antigay ephet ABC's pilot of The Naked Tth, about a tabloid photographer (Tea Leoni), is gettg some lghs—even om gay viewers.

The revolutn has been slower to take hold at movie studs, which all but banned gay characters after the dismal failure of Makg Love, the oh-so-ser 1982 drama which Michael Ontkean left Kate Jackson for Harry Haml (actually, dienc shied away om the film bee stank). Still, by the early 1990s, seemed almost every movie hero or heroe had a lovable gay neighbor–a lovelorn iend Frankie & Johnny, a flower-totg sissy The Prce of Tis. But not until 1993 did a major stud, TriStar, release a film hgg on gay characters—Philalphia, which was cricized wh the gay muny for playg safe and never even givg Hanks and his lover Anton Banras an on-screen kiss.

DEFINITIONS FOR GAY 90SGAY 90S

) Even many recent pictns of gay characters—the psyt-strokg upstairs neighbor 1992's Sgle Whe Female, for stance—seem posively Cro-Magnon today, so rapidly are perceptns evolvg.

Or so said gay groups earlier this year when the actor-turned-director (who has received flak for publicly exprsg his disda for homosexuals the past) picted Braveheart's Prce Edward as a rouged-up, mcg queen (a pictn, should be noted, that might have a basis historil fact).

DEFINITIONS FOR GAYGEɪGAY

It's drawg long l s limed release, and 's st wh an imprsive lot of stars playg a balanced array of gay characters, om Patrick Stewart as a likable (and stereotypilly flamboyant) terr rator to Steven Weber (Wgs' womanizg Brian) as a stralaced young gay Manhattane who swears off sex for fear of AIDS. And as g out beme more mon, there was a ccial shift the perceptn of those veterate culture nsumers, the baby boomers: Acrdg to an Entertament Weekly/Gallup poll, 71% of 30- to 49-year-olds say they unt a gay person among their relativ, workers, or iends. " And jt as 's impossible to fe what is funny (or even polilly rrect) when rporatg a gay reference to a punchle, has bee impossible to fe pop material as gay or straight.

HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI

For straight dienc are not only embracg gay characters, they're also lghg at the gay sensibily, which is far ls easy to spot than, say, a drag queen.

GAY 90S

Both Frasier (about a straight man who tak his retired father) and Roseanne (about a uple tryg hard to raise a fay while balancg on the poverty le) are among the Nielsen fay edi wh substantial crossover appeal to gay dienc—and not jt bee they have rporated gay characters. " The gay sensibily was born om the plight of the disenanchised—gay people are aware, as much as anyone, that life acrdg to The Brady Bunch exists nowhere outsi a Hollywood soundstage. Last sprg's send-up The Brady Bunch Movie ( which a gay teen had a csh on an obliv Marcia) was a triumph of the new mp, a shy subversn of mastream Amerina that proved a h wh mastream Amerins.

Gay dienc have always had a soft spot for certa performers—Bette Davis, Judy Garland, Marlene Dietrich, Jam Dean—but the attractn was an -joke among the stars' gay fans, who turned the cur hero and hero to almost mythic begs based on their mascule/feme personas or operatilly tragic liv. But the current crop of heterosexual performers htg big wh gay dienc may not spawn the next generatn of dragsters; if they've got dual appeal, they get the joke and 's fe wh them.

Based on the rults of Entertament Weekly's survey of attus toward gay characters and openly gay performers, one thg is clear: The majory of Amerins are not nmng this revolutn—most don't even thk about at all. " And even outspoken gay journalist Michelangelo Signorile, an early proponent of outg public figur—and long a voice favor of Kle's homoerotic imagery—tends toward agreement.