Ross Gay’s Secrets for Livg a More Joyful Life | GQ

Contents:

• ROSS MATHEWS: GAY PEOPLE 'WANTED ME OFF TV'
• ROSS MATHEWS: I REALIZED I WAS GAY WH BARBRA STREISAND & MORE FROM 'MAN UP!'
• ROSS GAY’S SECRETS FOR LIVG A MORE JOYFUL LIFE
• ROSS LYNCH GAY: WHAT IS HIS S*XUAL ATTU?
• ENRE: ROSS GAY WR 'THE BOOK OF DELIGHTS'
• POET ROSS GAY ON HIS NEW BOOK AND FDG JOY SORROW
• HOW ROSS GAY FDS JOY IN THE SMALLT OF 'DELIGHTS'
• SHN ROSS: GAY, ALBO, AND AT THE TOP OF THE MOLG DTRY
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• WHAT MAK JUDY GARLAND A GAY IN? EXPERTS EXPLA WHAT SHE AND OTHERS, OM DIANA ROSS TO MADONNA, HAVE MON
• ROSS GAY

ROSS MATHEWS: GAY PEOPLE 'WANTED ME OFF TV'

When Ross Mathews started his reer as “Ross the Intern” on “The Tonight Show wh Jay Leno, ” there were only a small number of LGBTQ people on TV and gay men, Ross says, weren’t happy wh him reprentg them. He was potg out the obv, but he also put me on his show for 13 years, so there was a method behd the madns, I Thkg about you on Chelsea Lately and your show, I’m shocked by how recent was bee still felt subversive to see an out gay man on TV, one that’s not tryg to butch I jt never gave a flyg fuck what people thought or thk. I thk that me embracg what I am, which is this pl size, unapologetilly, openly gay person, woke some people How did you navigate beg visibly gay and not rg what people thought wh the fact that ’s not always safe to be perceived to be gay?

ROSS MATHEWS: I REALIZED I WAS GAY WH BARBRA STREISAND & MORE FROM 'MAN UP!'

Where even I, who was followg the North Star of beg gay, said, “Well, I gus I should try this bee that’s what I’m suppose to do.

ROSS GAY’S SECRETS FOR LIVG A MORE JOYFUL LIFE

” So, I did and wasn’t my cup of tea, but I tried When I’m out and I hear someone who sounds gay, I thk, “Oh, I’m safe here. When I first started on The Tonight Show, I got a lot of hate mail and the majory of the hate mail was om gay people, sayg, “You’re settg the movement back. • Barbra Streisand helped him e outMathews talks openly about his sexualy and how he me to the ncln he was gay.

There’s an say Ross Gay’s new llectn, Incg Joy, that begs wh a discsn of his favore sports book, John Edgar Wiman’s Hoop Roots, a memoir told through the thor’s lifelong relatnship wh basketball. Over the next eleven pag, Gay, a longtime hoop lover himself, offers a medatn on the bety of the pickup game, and how a good urt is a microsm of mocracy. ”Gay, a 48-year-old poet and profsor at Indiana Universy, has ma a reer of explorg the wonr to be found our everyday liv, notably his btsellg 2019 say llectn, The Book of Delights.

Courty of Ross GayGQ: A word that up aga and aga your work is the word practice.

ROSS LYNCH GAY: WHAT IS HIS S*XUAL ATTU?

Ross Gay: I started to thk about that word when I was dog The Book of Delights. Keep readg to fd out whether or not Ross Lynch is a gay Lynch CareerRoss’s performance as At Wood the televisn show “At and Ally” tablished a strong foundatn for the rt of his actg reer. In 2013, he starred as “Brady” “Teen Beach Movie, ” which was yet another film produced by Disney Lynch GayThe movie was such a huge h that has already been viewed more than 17.

On the set of “Chillg Adventur of Sabra, ” the uple had their first enunter wh each Lynch GayDpe the fact that they have not spoken publicly about their relatnship, the two of them have certaly been very active on their social media platforms terms of praisg and uploadg moments spent together. In addn, he is the owner of a Porsche 911 and a home the Los Angel area where he currently Obama Gay: What Is Her S*xual Orientatn? Create claims that Ross Lync do not intify as Lynch GayRoss Lynch Datg LifeWhen to his datg life, Lynch has been mted relatnships wh some of the sexit and most betiful women he has enuntered to this pot.

ENRE: ROSS GAY WR 'THE BOOK OF DELIGHTS'

It wasn’t until Lynch did an terview wh Entertament Tonight Live that the sger rpond wh a qutnable rponse when asked about his Lynch GayOn the ocsn of Courtney’s birthday, he distributed one of the cutt clips he had ever shared wh the globe. Hello, my name is Brian Anrsen and I'm a flamboyant homosexual -- a proud flamboyant homosexual. From one flamey gay to another, I want to thank Ross Mathews for his recent thoughtful, measured, and articulate rponse to hateful former alt-right darlg Milo Yiannopoulos's recent dis.

The world needs more out, nelly gays the media like Mathews, homos who are as unapologetilly and thentilly as queer as they want to be, bee for lns of people Mathews is an example of succeedg while beg 100 percent te to Mathews's, my very nature reveals my nate homosexualy. I'm so obvly gay that the owner to my lol ic book shop, which is loted the Castro neighborhood of San Francis -- perhaps one of the gayt spots the world -- refers to me as "Big Gay Brian" or jt "Big Gay. Recently, at my 9-to-5, a fellow gay worker asked me to do a task for him and add, "Please do whout the sass this time.

POET ROSS GAY ON HIS NEW BOOK AND FDG JOY SORROW

Beg lled out for beg "gay-actg" or "soundg gay" would have wrecked when walkg gay tire fire Milo Yiannopoulos recently held a lghable prs nference about his fall om nservative grace and took the time to sult Ross Mathews, I noticed. Not jt bee I've always appreciated Mathews's spot the media landspe, but also bee he was someone I uld relate to and intify wh durg a time when I didn't like myself much as I loathe to quote anythg Yiannopoulos says, I will regrettably post his aimls ment here jt so I n speak to the Mathews dis: "I've probably done more for the image of gays the flyover stat than, you know, all the gay chari, gay activist groups, and gay publitns for the last 30 years. And I get emails om others sometim and they say my son is gay and I was terrified he was gog to turn to Ross Mathews, but you've ma me realize actually gay people n be OK.

HOW ROSS GAY FDS JOY IN THE SMALLT OF 'DELIGHTS'

Clearly as an out gay entertaer he's more than OK; I daray he's let's be clear, what Yiannopoulos is actually attackg is not how popular or accepted Mathews is or isn't. Rather, his remark is a full-fledged homophobic attack on Mathews's entire meanor, his character, the very sence that mak Mathews is an attack on Mathews's gayns. Sayg that Mathews is somehow not OK -- or acceptable as a gay person -- is harmful, hurtful, and entirely Yiannopoulos shows is a stctive gay inty, one that is sadly lost his sperate pursu of fame.

Mathews is a healthy and posive gay man who ntu to succeed the entertament dtry bee of his talent and drive.

SHN ROSS: GAY, ALBO, AND AT THE TOP OF THE MOLG DTRY

Yiannopoulos means gay men everywhere who act "gay" -- men like me who dare to display stereotypil homosexual tras. It's that old chtnut, "I don't md a gay person as long as they don't act . Not as a character wrten some suatn edy but jt as I fally me out at the ripe old age of 26, after years of tryg to date women and be somethg I wasn't, I quickly learned that the certa circl of the gay muny beg a fem was owned upon.

The whole "Masc for Masc" trend on today's gay datg apps is a prime example of this gay bias. While I unrstand everyone's right to be attracted to who they are, 's openly clarg a dislike for feme men that projects the myth that the only acceptable gay is the one who n pass as straight.

Butch dus the gay male culture are revered and sired; beg mascule is admired, while we fem gays are often dismissed and sffed took me years livg as an out gay man to realize this queer cultural viewpot on my sexualy was utterly stupid. I'm not sayg butch gays shouldn't be allowed to be as manly and heterosexual-que as they want to be -- more power to my mascule brothers out there -- but by the same token, we feme queers are jt as worthy and val to the muny.

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

I love my flamboyance and realize that, like my homosexualy self, 's a gift. NPR's Ari Shapiro talks wh Gay about some of the says clud his new book, The Book of Delights.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)ROSS GAY: Well, one of the thgs that I realized is that - the begng, I thought, oh, man.

WHAT MAK JUDY GARLAND A GAY IN? EXPERTS EXPLA WHAT SHE AND OTHERS, OM DIANA ROSS TO MADONNA, HAVE MON

GAY: I thk I sort of felt like this is somethg that I'll be dog one way or another for the rt of my life.

SHAPIRO: Ross Gay's new llectn of says is lled "The Book Of Delights. SHAPIRO: That's the wrer Ross Gay a nversatn that we first aired Febary of 2019.

ROSS GAY

Wrten over the urse of the panmic, Gay ponrs joy, fg ls as the absence of sorrow and rather as our rponse to . Jt look at the way the garners share their extra vegetabl, Gay not. So many thgs light Ross Gay: handma fy srv and loerg, the joy of rryg a heavy bag between two people, paw paws and even weeds.

This summer, I reread yet aga and found myself medatg on a sire Gay had voiced: wantg to be softer a world so ready to sharpen and to make hard. So, a recent terview, I talked to Gay about that sire, as well as the role of joy daily life, the difficulty of allowg yourself to be moved, and why he thks 's important to e the word "love. Shn Ross is the morn multi-hyphenate: Ain-Amerin, gay, albo, and at the top of his succsful reer fashn and mic.