The Real Story Of The YMCA That Inspired The Village People's Gay Anthem - Gothamist

Contents:

• I SHOULDN’T WONR: GAY MEN AND INNUENDO
• THE REAL STORY OF THE YMCA THAT INSPIRED THE VILLAGE PEOPLE'S GAY ANTHEM
• EVERY GAY BASKETBALL DOUBLE ENTENDRE EVER GETS USED RIGHT HERE
• GAY_DOUBLE_ENTENDRE
• FUN WH FUNDAMENTALIST GAY DOUBLE-ENTENDR
• WHAT’S THE POT? DID DISNEY’S ‘JUNGLE CISE’ REALLY HAVE TO GO GAY?

I SHOULDN’T WONR: GAY MEN AND INNUENDO

“I wonr if we’re not beg too sensive about , ” says Stephen Bailey, a gay Mancunian ic whose own e of double entendr is rtricted to the tle of his current standup show, Can’t Thk Straight. Mastream dienc the mid-1960s chortled at exampl of Polari, the d gay language of Julian and Sandy ( Hugh Paddick and Kenh Williams, rpectively) on the rad show Round the Horne.

THE REAL STORY OF THE YMCA THAT INSPIRED THE VILLAGE PEOPLE'S GAY ANTHEM

When the uple claimed to be lawyers, and to have “a crimal practice that tak up much of our time”, listeners knew exactly which practice they were referrg to: homosexualy had yet to be Bailey, nuendo was often the only way to hear gay referenc edy when he was growg up. “Lily Savage was a gay man, a drag queen, dog sexual material, talkg about ‘gobblg’ – and mastream dienc loved . The prenters of Loose Women n s around discsg their sex liv and yet when I’ve done TV, I’ve had people behd the scen say, ‘Can you do your workg-class material rather than your gay material?

EVERY GAY BASKETBALL DOUBLE ENTENDRE EVER GETS USED RIGHT HERE

Most of the signifint figur the history of gay men edy are renowned for their e of double entendr to nvey humour; Kenny Everett, Kenh Williams, Julian Clary are all acts that rely on this type of joke.

I’ll be focg on gay men this article for two reasons.

Firstly, is gay men that have a more proment associatn wh nuendo, and sendly, I am one, and my motivatn is largely of the challeng that queer ics face at most gigs they perform at is prentg their queer inty a room that isn’t a queer space. That is to say, whilst there has been a dramatic rctn homophobia recent years, there are still many people who thk gay men shouldn’t talk about sex the same way as heterosexual people might. Lookg back at the roots of the associatn between gay men and nuendo, seems to have begun wh Polari, the gay vernacular ed to mask the te subject of nversatn om pryg ears when homosexualy was is my personal view that nowadays, the e of nuendo by gay male ics is an act of markg their sexualy as the other, and tablishg as a taboo subject what is tantamount to an act of self-censorship.

GAY_DOUBLE_ENTENDRE

I thk that gay male edians intified as part of the ‘alternative edy movement’, which is self another argument for another day, succeed makg sex funny the same way as heterosexual alternative ics often do; ankly talkg about the mdfuck that everyone’s sexual inty evably is.

The e of nuendo shows like Round the Horne gave gay men a visibily that would otherwise have been nied them by censors. It mtn’t be fotten that Julian Clary did ph the boundari of not only reprentatns of gay sexualy, but sex general on televisn.

Stereotyp of gay men are still rife edy, and while we’re makg the transn between “don’t drop the soap” and “How to Look Good Naked”, the reprentatns of queer inty aren’t gog away. I don’t wish to ll anyone out and say that what someone do to get a lgh is actively harmg the gay rights movement, bee that isn’t what I feel, but ’s certaly the se that the once ntroversial and groundbreakg image of ‘gay edy’ has bee tame and almost twee.

FUN WH FUNDAMENTALIST GAY DOUBLE-ENTENDR

I thk that subversive reprentatns of gay men, and for that matter sex posivy general is sorely lackg the world of stand up edy.

WHAT’S THE POT? DID DISNEY’S ‘JUNGLE CISE’ REALLY HAVE TO GO GAY?

Drivg through the Island Cy wh a newbie promis plenty of lghs: Who knew you uld shop at both a Gay Mart and a Bottoms and Tops -- the same strip mall? In fact, acrdg to the Urban Instute, 's got a whoppg 1, 270 percent more gay men per pa than the natnal average. Gays have long known that Wilton Manors is a fortable place to ll home.