Barbiemania htg s peak summer 2023 helped one 30-year-old wrer release the childhood shame he felt when playg wh Barbie dolls as a young gay child.
Contents:
- I’M 43 – BUT I’M MA TO FEEL LIKE A DOSR BY YOUNGER GAY MEN
- WHY DO EVERYONE THK I'M GAY?!
- LETTERS TO THE EDOR: I’M GAY AND DON’T WANT TO PATRONIZE BIGOTS. THANKS, SUPREME COURT
I’M 43 – BUT I’M MA TO FEEL LIKE A DOSR BY YOUNGER GAY MEN
* of course i'm gay *
As a 30-year-old gay man, I’ve met a lot of other queer people who also hid parts of themselv childhood. Experimentg wh femy the safety of the home — even somethg as mcule as selectg girl characters vio gam and livg virly through her abily to kick ass — seems to be a shared gay experience for many of . None of this mak a person gay, of urse.
It feels remiscent of the adoratn that gay fans hold toward old Hollywood beti like Joan Crawford and Judy Garland, or the pageant-style exaggeratns of femy that unrpned so much of early drag culture. Barbie has been the subject of the same gay diva worship over the years, and Gerwig’s film promently featurg LGBTQ+ actors feels like a nod to that history.
Part of Barbie’s gay appeal might be that, spe beg plastic and unmalleable, she n transform herself to anythg: doctor, lawyer, judge, journalist, and vet, or whatever Mattel thks will sell the most dolls. ) As the world’s most famo doll, she has been st as both an aspiratnal hero and a rctive villa — the gay world, this polarizg dualy often turns women to ins.
WHY DO EVERYONE THK I'M GAY?!
‘In gay years, you’re rather past your sell-by date, aren’t you?’ the person ont of me said, raisg an eyebrow. * of course i'm gay *
After I me out as gay, I spent a lot of my younger adult life reilg when people said that they “already knew. Now, I feel proud of my ltle gay self for havg the urage to play wh those fabulo dolls — and of my parents for buyg me the toys I wanted, not the on I was supposed to like.
If you didn’t know, you’ve probably gused as much—most straight people don’t re this much about makg the Church a better place for gay people. In 6th gra, I realized I was gay*, and I swore I would never let anyone know who I really was. I grew up hearg that beg gay was bad, dirty, and disgtg.
When a gay person me on TV or was seen public, people mented how gross gay marriage was and how godls gay people were.
LETTERS TO THE EDOR: I’M GAY AND DON’T WANT TO PATRONIZE BIGOTS. THANKS, SUPREME COURT
If the topic ever me up church, was a simple statement that God was agast homosexualy. Still gay. Time and time aga I begged God to heal me if beg gay wasn’t how I was supposed to be, and time and time aga change didn’t seem to be His will.
I remember watchg the show Next on MTV the first time a gay man was the nttant.
” I remember readg any book for school where two guys had a close iendship—A Separate Peace, The Cholate Wars, The Chosen—wantg for them to be gay and to lose myself the story. In middle school I played leadg rol both of our theater productns, but high school I quickly realized that the same people the theater club where also our Gay-Straight Alliance. I uld not risk anyone spectg that I was gay.