<p><strong>Alexis Petridis: </strong>Gay pop star was the first person to prove mastream pop dienc were ls bigoted than some had feared</p>
Contents:
- STEPHEN GATELY RIP: FANS MOURN GAY POP STAR
- 'I'M GAY AND A BOY BAND!'
- MOL CLAIMS GAY AFFAIR WH BOYZONE'S STEPHEN GATELY, HBAND ANDREW COWL
- BOYZONE SGER GATELY NFIRMS HE IS GAY BEFORE STORY N BE SOLD
- VIO: GAY BOYZONE STAR STEPHEN GATELY FOUND AD WHILE ON HOLIDAY
- BETTER LATE THAN NEVER - BOYZONE BREAK NEW GROUND FOR GAY POP STARS
STEPHEN GATELY RIP: FANS MOURN GAY POP STAR
As fans mourn the untimely passg of Irish boy band star, Stephen Gately, speculatn ntu to grow over what may have ed the 33-year-old's ath. Gately, the first Irish boy band star to "e out" as gay durg his stt the boy band, "Boyzone," was on vatn Major, Spa when he was found ad on the sofa at 1.45 am Saturday. Police were lled to his hoe near Port d'Andratx Saturday afternoon and said there were no signs of spic circumstanc but that "at the moment is not known how he died." * stephen gately gay *
1 hs durg the 1990s, and Gately particular won praise om many for "g out" as gay at the age of was pelled to acknowledge his homosexualy publicly when a former member of the band's secury tail threatened to sell his story to the June 16, 1999, Gately gave an terview to Bra's The Sun newspaper, sayg, "I'm gay and I'm love. I only hope they unrstand how important is for me to reveal that I am gay.
"By dog so, Gately broke a taboo, and Boyzone's manager, Louis Walsh, said that if he had known about Gately's sexualy when he formed the band, he wouldn't have selected him, sce " wasn't ol then to have a gay guy a band. David McCullough, sayg was "yet another subtle effort of the homosexual propaganda mache.
It is statg that homosexualy is simply another norm, " McCullough public cricism notwhstandg, Gately appeared to have found peace his private life. His Roman Catholic parents had accepted his homosexualy four years before his public admissn, he told The unrwent a "mment ceremony" Las Vegas wh Cowl 2003, and his most recent project was said to be a children's fantasy novel, "The Tree of Seasons. But equally, no one qutned too closely Boyzone star was - whisper - gay.
'I'M GAY AND A BOY BAND!'
Boyzone sger Stephen Gately has announced that he is gay * stephen gately gay *
'Everybody knew that Stephen was gay, ' says Peter Lorae, former edor of Top of the Pops magaze.
We're not buyg Boyzone rerds any, at least, was the prevailg view an dtry still ltle ed to alg wh gay pop stars who weren't 'antly' - or jt flamboyantly - queer like Boy Gee, Jimmy Somerville, Pete Burns or Frankie Go To Hollywood.
MOL CLAIMS GAY AFFAIR WH BOYZONE'S STEPHEN GATELY, HBAND ANDREW COWL
Stephen Gately, the openly gay member of the Irish "boy band" Boyzone has died while on holiday the Balearic island Mallor (Major). The 33-year-old was on holiday wh his civil partner Andrew Cowl and is reported that he went out for drks, went back to his flat, feel asleep and then died. * stephen gately gay *
In this prelapsarian era of all of seven years ago, if a boy band member were revealed to be homosexual, the very fabric of the pop myth would be rent asunr. 'Boyzone Stephen: "I'm gay and I'm love"', screamed the ont-page headle. A secury guard on Boyzone's tour had gone to the papers, sellg a story that Gately was gay.
'Not that I wanted to go out to gay clubs and bars. Was the outg of Gately about to overwhelm the promotnal mpaign, beg the gay tail that wagged the mass-market dog? You eher say, y, I'm gay, or you say nothg at all.
He says he alt 'many tim' wh havg a member of one of his boy bands - not necsarily any menned here - who was secretly gay. 'I still thk, as a gay man myself, 's very difficult at an early stage to know your arse om your elbow and know where you're at sexually, ' he says.
BOYZONE SGER GATELY NFIRMS HE IS GAY BEFORE STORY N BE SOLD
Asked if he was a gay pop star, Tennant replied: 'No, I'm a pop star that happens to be gay. If he had admted to his homosexualy ' the early stag [of our reer]', Michael told me Febary 2004, ' would have ed , absolutely.
An avalanche of flowers and msag om his pop peers (Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys) and gay ins (Elton, Gee) rolled over Gately. 'Neher of them is gog, "Hey, I'm a gay role mol. 'Do anyone re now if a pop star is gay or straight?
VIO: GAY BOYZONE STAR STEPHEN GATELY FOUND AD WHILE ON HOLIDAY
No one seemed too exced when Mark Feehily om Wtlife me out the Sun Augt last year, nor when Lance Bass om Jt Timberlake's old band, 'NSync, clared earlier this summer: 'I'm gay.
Robbie Williams repeatedly jok about beg gay but steady on, he is not, and last year took £200, 000 off the People, the Star and Hot Stars for allegg that he had got on wh a bloke a Manchter nightclub.
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER - BOYZONE BREAK NEW GROUND FOR GAY POP STARS
Are you gay? But a iend had recently been expelled om the le-up of a new band 'beg put together by a major rerd label' after admtg he was gay. His manager told him: 'We're sorry but we don't want any gay guys this band.
Buckgham, who nfid McDaid that he was gay towards the end of the band's existence one year later, wrote that V were given 'a strict set of l to abi by. I remember one of those clearly beg "no viss to gay clubs". 'One of the managers would say, "You were seen at some gay club last night", and that was a problem.
But why nfe the issue by havg a gay member - two gay members - a brand new boy band, explicly targeted at young girls? To paraphrase the slogan popularised by Amerin activists Queer Natn: gay boy band members - they're here, they're queer, get ed to .