My first gay club experience has me thinking...

[Sarah]

I don't intend for this to be contraversial, although I'm sure it'll be taken that way!! I just wanted to tell you about an experience I have recently had and ask a few questions!!

I recently went to a gay club for the first time. Although I'm straight, one of my best friends is gay and we had been to see Madonna. It was an amazing experience overall, I felt totally at home, relaxed and safe - no predators and got so many compliments!! ANYWAY....

There were various guys there dressed up as Madonna, and they were really getting into it and Vogueing and being quite dramatic with some of their moves - lying on the floor, pretending to cry It was a fabulous spectacle!!

So what I'm wondering is - are there certain females who are gay icons? And if so, why them in particular??

Madonna is obviously one, I have heard that Sue Ellen (character) is as well? Lady Gaga and Kylie Minogue too??

Can someone explain why? Is it their fashion? Style? Personality??

Thanks

[PT Freakin' G]

Madonna
Kylie Minogue
Cyndi Lauper
Whitney Houston
Oprah
Celine Dion
Joan Rivers
Lady Gaga
Judy Garland
Liza Minnelli
Joan Crawford
Barbra Streisand

Those are the first women who immediately come to mind as gay icons - after Queen Britney, of course.

I think gays, in general, can relate to the woman's struggle. Seeing these women in powerful, memorable, and dramatic/theatrical performances can then be empowering. Plus most of these celebrities have overcome racism, poverty, or sex abuse and risen to huge fame. I think a lot of the gay population can relate to their struggle and need for creative expression.

As for the camp style being popular with the gays, I've always assumed it's part of making up for what you don't have. If you're historically not allowed to voice your romantic feelings, seeing a dramatic love story is all the more meaningful - sort of like the bored housewife and her daytime soaps cliche. Same with dramatic stage performances by Madonna, videos by Kylie, or films with Joan. Gays can live vicariously through those characters.

I'd relate it to professional athletes for heterosexual males. Straight boys look up to their favorite football star because they're strong and powerful, which gets them money and girls. What's not to love about being an athlete? And if you work hard enough to perfect your sport (or talent, in the case of performers), you can be just like David Beckham (or Victoria Beckham for the gays) no matter where you come from.

The mixed gender relationship between a gay icon and gay male makes it confusing. It's deemed weird for a guy to want to be like a girl. To quote Madonna, "Girls can wear jeans and cut their hair short, wear shirts and boots because it's okay to be a boy. But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, because you think that being a girl is degrading."

And really, that leads into the homosexual/heterosexual vs. feminine/masculine. Here "homosexual" should be replaced with "feminine communicators" and "heterosexual" should be replaced with "masculine communicators" to avoid the usual heteronormative approach to all things gay.

[Fajita Mel]

Don't forget Cher. Or is that just a Jack McFarland thing?

[Darius]

Don't forget Bette Davis.

[Darius]

from wikipedia:

A gay icon is a public figure (historical or current) who is embraced by many within lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities. Dykon, a portmanteau of the words "dyke" and "icon", has recently entered common lexicon to describe figures particularly iconic to lesbians.

Qualities of a gay icon often include glamour, flamboyance, strength through adversity, and androgyny in presentation. Such icons can be of any sexual orientation or gender; they can be out or not. Although most gay icons have given their support to LGBT social movements, some have expressed opposition – advocating against a perceived "homosexual agenda".

Historical icons are typically elevated to such status because their sexual orientation remains a topic of great debate among historians. Modern gay icons, who are predominantly female entertainers, commonly garner a large following within LGBT communities over the course of their careers. The majority of gay icons fall into one of two categories: the tragic, sometimes martyred figure or the prominent pop culture idol.

Contents [hide]
1 Historical examples
2 Modern examples
2.1 Entertainment
2.1.1 1930s–1940s
2.1.2 1950s–1960s
2.1.3 1970s–1980s
2.1.4 1990s–2000s
2.1.5 2010s–present
2.2 Sports
2.3 Politics
3 Fictional examples
4 Responses
5 See also
6 References
6.1 Books
7 External links
[edit]Historical examples



Saint Sebastian, history's first recorded gay icon
Plausibly the earliest gay icon was Saint Sebastian,[1] a Christian saint and martyr, whose strong and shirtless physique, symbolic arrow-pierced flesh, and rapturous look of pain combined have intrigued artists, both gay and straight, for centuries and began the first explicitly gay cult in the nineteenth century.[1] Richard A. Kaye, a journalist, wrote, "contemporary gay men have seen in Sebastian at once a stunning advertisement for homosexual desire (indeed, a homoerotic ideal), and a prototypical portrait of tortured closet case."[2]

Due to Saint Sebastian's status as gay icon, Tennessee Williams chose to use that name for the martyred character Sebastian in his play, Suddenly, Last Summer.[3] The name was also used by Oscar Wilde – as Sebastian Melmoth – when in exile after his release from prison. Wilde, an Irish writer and poet, was about as "out of the closet" as was possible for the late nineteenth century, and is himself considered to be a gay icon.[4]

Marie Antoinette was an early lesbian icon. Rumors about her relationships with women circulated in pornographic detail by anti-royalist pamphlets before the French Revolution. In Victorian England, biographers who idealized the Ancien Régime made a point of denying the rumours, but at the same time romanticised Marie Antoinette's "sisterly" friendship with the Princesse de Lamballe as – in the words of an 1858 biography – one of the "rare and great loves that Providence unites in death."[5] By the end of the nineteenth century she was a cult icon of "sapphism"; her execution, seen as tragic martyrdom, may have added to her appeal.

Allusions to her appearance in early twentieth century lesbian literature – most notably Radclyffe Hall's The Well of Loneliness – where the gay playwright Jonathan Brockett describes Marie Antoinette and de Lamballe as "poor souls... sick to death of the subterfuge and pretenses."[6] She had crossover appeal as a gay icon as well, at least for Jean Genet, who was fascinated by her story. He included a reenactment of her execution in his 1947 play The Maids.[5]

[edit]Modern examples



Lesbian icon Marlon Brando
Modern gay icons in entertainment include both film stars and musicians, most of whom have strong, distinctive personalities, and many of whom died young or under tragic circumstances. For example, Greek-American opera singer Maria Callas – who reached her peak in the 1950s – became a gay icon because the uniquely compelling qualities of her stage performances were allied to a tempestuous private life, a sequence of unhappy love affairs, and a lonely premature death in Paris after her voice had deserted her.

Lesbian icons, sometimes called dykons, a portmanteau of the words "dyke" and "icon" are most often powerful women who are, or are rumored to be, lesbian or bisexual.[7][8] However, a few male entertainers have also had iconic status for lesbians. James Dean was an early lesbian icon who, along with Marlon Brando, influenced the butch look and self-image in the 1950s and after.[9][10][11][12] One critic has argued for Johnny Cash as a minor lesbian icon, attributing his appeal to "lesbian identification with troubled and suffering masculinity."[13] Science fiction author Forrest J Ackerman was dubbed an "honorary lesbian" for his help during the early days of lesbian rights organisation Daughters of Bilitis. He also wrote lesbian-themed fiction under the pseudonym Laurajean Ermayne.

Gay icons may be homosexual or heterosexual, out or in the closet, and male or female. The women most commonly portrayed by drag queens are usually gay icons. The definition of what it means to be a "gay icon" has come under criticism in recent years for a lack of substance, as Paul Flynn of The Guardian comments "the concept of gay icon is a cheap ticket...[and] the idea of gay iconography itself is currently replaceable with the idea of popularity and the ability to carry a strong, identifiable, signature look."[14] Author Michael Thomas Ford depicts a similar attitude in his work of fiction Last Summer.



Indian gay icon Abhishek Bachchan
Although the term "gay icon" is most commonly used in the United States, the concept is to be found in other cultures as well. Egyptian singer of Italian origin Dalida had a career-long gay following that extended out of Paris and well into the Middle East. In the years since her death, her iconic status has not diminished.[15][16] Likewise, Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan was recently declared to be a gay icon in a national poll in India. Though homosexuality still carries a stigma in India, he was quoted as saying that "Appreciation and love from any quarter is welcome," and that, though he is straight himself, he is comfortable with having a large fan base among gay men.[17][18] Filipino gay comedian Vice Ganda has also been considered a gay icon.

Similarly in European countries like the Netherlands, Willeke Alberti is widely embraced as a gay icon, due to a combination of her song repertoire, her durability, and her performances in support of manifold gay causes.[19] Spanish actress Carmen Maura, Italian singer Mina, Scottish pop singer Jimmy Somerville, German singer-songwriter Marianne Rosenberg and English singer Dusty Springfield are also considered to be gay icons.[20][21][22][23][24] French entertainer Mylène Farmer, Ukranian boy band Kazaky, Turkish singer Ajda Pekkan and Italian actress Isabella Rossellini are also hailed gay icons.[25][26][27][28]

Latin American figures have also gained reputations as gay icons. Pop band Alaska y Dinarama is one example. Their single "¿A quién le importa?" ("Who Cares?"), which was later covered in 2002 by Thalía, was a hit for the 1980s Spanish band, becoming a gay anthem for the Spanish language-speaking LGBT community. Singer Gloria Trevi is considered a gay icon especially after her release of "Todos Me Miran" ("They All Watch Me") featuring a rejected gay man turned drag queen, but had been popular with the gay and lesbian community in Mexico since the beginnings of her career for being a controversial and powerful singer.[29] Paulina Rubio, Mexican singer and actress, has been a gay icon for Latin America after supporting gay marriage and publicly stating she wants to have sex with fellow gay icon Madonna.[30]

Some modern Latin American gay icons include singers Alaska, Shakira, Valeria Lynch, Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias and actresses Mirtha Legrand, Susana Giménez and Moria Casán.[31][32][33][34]

[edit]Entertainment
[edit]1930s–1940s
The 1930s saw a number of writers, political activists, and celebrities garner reputations as gay icons. Poet and satirical writer Dorothy Parker reportedly had a large gay following. Though the phrase "friend of Dorothy" was made popular in later years by Judy Garland's role in the The Wizard Of Oz (1939), some speculate it originated with Parker.



Bette Davis in the 1939 film Dark Victory
Actress Bette Davis' performance in Dark Victory (1939), was dubbed by Queer theorist Eve Sedgwick as "the epistemology of the closet."[35] Davis' portrayal of the melodramatic Judith Traherne made her talent for playing someone with a secret revered and her "camp-worthy" dialog reflexive of the "flamboyant gay queen of the dramatic arts."[35] Ed Sikov, author of Dark Victory: The Life of Bette Davis, comments 20th century gay men developed their own subculture following Davis' example.[35]

In Marcella Althaus-Reid's Liberation Theology and Sexuality, Marlene Dietrich, who is considered to be the first German-born actress to receive critical acclaim in Hollywood, is a model of liberation and subversion, as well as beauty, perfection and sensuality.[36][37] In Rio de Janeiro, Althaus-Reid discovered a statue of Dietrich dressed as Our Lady of Aparecida in a gay bar in Copacabana beach.[37] The image of Dietrich as the black Virgin Mary represents her overcoming duality.[37] According to Althaus-Reid, it is a figure which sanctifies Dietrich while simultaneously liberating Mary.[37]

Other icons from this time period include a string of entertainers like Cary Grant, who endured speculation over his alleged relationships with men, Josephine Baker, Carmen Miranda, Lena Horne, Ethel Merman, Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Tallulah Bankhead, Mae West, Edith Piaf, and Noël Coward.[38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49]

[edit]1950s–1960s
See also: Judy Garland as gay icon


Judy Garland, arguably the most famous gay icon, as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939)
An archetypal gay icon is Judy Garland.[50] Michael Bronski, author of Culture Clash: The Making of Gay Sensibility, describes Garland as "the quintessential pre-Stonewall gay icon."[51] So revered is she as a gay icon that her best known film role, Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz, became used as code among homosexuals in the 1950s.[52] The expression, "Is he a friend of Dorothy?" was slang for, "Is he gay?"[52] The character Dorothy meets an odd group of friends during her journey through Oz—the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion and the Scarecrow—and so referring to an individual as a "friend of Dorothy" meant that they were "unusual or odd" and thus "queer."[52] Though Garland has been noted for her embodiment of camp in her acting roles, Bronski argues that she was the "antithesis of camp" and "made a legend of her pain and oppression."[51] As Bronski observes, the bleak setting of 1950s Hollywood had replaced the "sauciness of the 30s and the independence of the 40s."[51] Garland, as well as Lana Turner and Susan Hayward, epitomized the idea that "suffering was the price of glamor...[and] the women stars of the 50s reflected the condition of many gay men: they suffered, beautifully".[51]



Actress Lucille Ball in 1945
Garland's daughter Liza Minnelli would later follow in her mother's footsteps as a gay icon, as would fellow musical artist Barbra Streisand.[8][32] Joan Crawford has been described as the "Ultimate Gay Icon — the martyr who suffered for her art, and therefore enabled herself to bond with this all-important faction of her fan-base."[53] In Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography, author Lawrence J. Quirk explains that Crawford appealed to gay men because they sympathized with her struggle for success; in both the entertainment industry and in her personal life.[54] Though Crawford had been a notable film star during the 1930s and 1940s, according to David Bret, author of Joan Crawford: Hollywood Martyr, it was not until her 1953 film Torch Song that she was seen as a "complete gay icon, primarily because it was shot in color." Bret further explains that seeing the actress' red hair, dark eyes and "Victory Red" lips linked her to "gaydom's other sirens: Dietrich, Garland, Bankhead, Piaf, and new recruits Marilyn Monroe and Maria Callas."[53]

Actress Lucille Ball was also a prominent icon from this period. In Lee Tannen's book I Loved Lucy: My Friendship with Lucille Ball, the author describes his experience when he witnessed Lucille Ball being labeled a gay icon for the first time by a mutual friend.[55] Ball was told of the adoration she received from gay men, as a bar in West Hollywood was known for routinely playing episodes of her television series I Love Lucy every weekend.[55] In an interview with Out magazine, Tannen expressed his opinion that Ball's television character Lucy Ricardo was the true gay icon, as "Lucy Ricardo was the underdog who was always trying to prove herself, and I think many gay men can identify with that."[56] Other icons from this time include entertainers Natalie Wood, Liberace, Julie Andrews, Shirley Bassey, Debbie Reynolds, Barbara Cook, Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Eartha Kitt, Clara Ward, Gloria Swanson, Elizabeth Taylor, Eve McVeagh and Edith Bouvier Beale.[57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][8][65][66][67][68]

[edit]1970s–1980s
During the late 1970s a slew of comediennes appeared, joining the ranks of what had stereotypically been a male profession. This included Joan Rivers, who began appearing on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Rivers gained a strong gay following after performing in Greenwich Village, a notoriously LGBT friendly area of New York, from the early days of her career. Rivers' frank and, often considered, sharp use of wit and insults (largely based toward herself) made her an instant gay icon. Rivers remains a gay icon to this day, often cited as "the hardest working woman in comedy" and "the queen of comedy."[69]



Donna Summer was a prominent gay icon of the underground gay disco scene
The first gay icon of the 1970s underground gay disco scene was the Queen of Disco Donna Summer, whose dance songs became anthems for the clubbing gay community.[38] Her number one single "Love to Love You Baby"—regarded as an "absolute disco epic"—not only became a gay anthem because of its "unabridged sexuality," it brought European-oriented disco to the United States and influenced the course the recording industry would take in the following years.[70] However, Summer became immersed in controversy when, after becoming a born-again Christian during the 1980s at the dawn of the HIV/AIDS crisis, she was reported as saying homophobic remarks, including that "AIDS was God's punishment to homosexuals."[71] Her publicist later denied this and, in a 1989 interview with The Advocate, Summer stated, "I don't look at people by their sexual orientation. I don't judge people because they are gay or straight. My love for people is based on my compassion as a person."[72] Fellow disco singer Gloria Gaynor was embraced by the gay community because of her single "I Will Survive", which served as an anthem for both feminists and the Gay Rights movement.[73] Village People, a pioneering disco group, are also regarded as gay icons for bringing gay disco culture into the mainstream with their popular disco and dance hits.[74]

In addition, singer Cass Elliot became known as a gay icon, both during her solo career and as a member of The Mamas & the Papas. Both through her camp fashion and lyrics praising individuality (such as "Make Your Own Kind of Music" and "Different") and free love, her musical impact became known. Her music was later featured in the acclaimed gay film Beautiful Thing (1996), adapted from the play of the same name. Singer and actress Bette Midler also became recognized as a gay icon in the 1970s. After performing on Broadway, Midler began performing at the Continental Baths, a gay bathhouse in the city, where she became close to her piano accompanist Barry Manilow, who produced her first major album The Divine Miss M (1973)."Despite the way things turned out [with the AIDS crisis], I'm still proud of those days [singing at gay bathhouses]. I feel like I was at the forefront of the gay liberation movement, and I hope I did my part to help it move forward. So, I kind of wear the label of 'Bathhouse Betty' with pride," Middler reminisced in 1998.[75]

Other artists particularly embraced by the gay community during the 1970s and 1980s included Debbie Harry, Yoko Ono, Diana Ross, Grace Jones, Charo, Elaine Paige, Dolly Parton, Mylène Farmer, Whitney Houston, Olivia Newton-John and Prince.[76][77][78][79][80][81][82][25][83][84][85] Several Britons, including singers Freddie Mercury (of Queen), George Michael, Morrissey and Pet Shop Boys, Kate Bush, David Bowie and writer Quentin Crisp.[85][32] Elton John also became a gay icon during this decade; a status strengthened throughout the years.[57][86][87][88]



Both Cher and Madonna are renowned gay icons
Hailed as the Goddess of Pop, Cher became notable in the gay community not only for her music, but for her portrayal of a lesbian in Silkwood (1983), for which she received an Academy Award nomination.[89] In later years, her daughter Chastity Bono came out as gay at the age of seventeen, much to her mother's initial feelings of "guilt, fear and pain".[89] When Cher was able to accept her daughter's sexual orientation, she realized that Chastity, as well as other LGBT people "didn't have the same rights as everyone else, [and she] thought that was unfair".[90] Cher emerged not only as an icon among LGBT people, but also a role model for straight parents who have gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender children.[89] She became the keynote speaker for the 1997 national Parents, Families, & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) convention.[89][90] Cher's longevity in the music industry has often been credited to her gay following.[91] William J. Mann, author of Gay Pride: A Celebration of All Things Gay and Lesbian, comments "[w]e'll be dancing to a ninety-year old Cher when we're sixty. Just watch".[91]

"Madonna subverts everything for her own gain. I went to see her London show and it was all so dour and humourless. She surpasses even Joan Crawford in terms of megalomania. Which in itself makes her a kind of dark, gay icon... I love Kylie, she's the anti-Madonna. Self-knowledge is a truly beautiful thing and Kylie knows herself inside out. She is what she is and there is no attempt to make quasi-intellectual statements to substantiate it. She is the gay shorthand for joy."

Rufus Wainwright,
Observer Music Monthly, 2006.[92]
Continuing into the 1980s, pop music singer Madonna—dubbed "Queen of Pop" and "Queen of Dance" by the media, and later the "World's Most Successful Female Recording Artist" by Guinness World Records—became the preeminent gay icon of the late 20th century.[93][94][95] The Advocate's Steve Gdula commented "[b]ack in the 1980s and even the early 1990s, the release of a new Madonna video or single was akin to a national holiday, at least among her gay fans."[95] Gdula also stated that during this period, concurrent with the rise of the AIDS epidemic, "when other artists tried to distance themselves from the very audience that helped their stars to rise, Madonna only turned the light back on her gay fans and made it burn all the brighter."[95] Georges-Claude Guilbert, author of Madonna As Postmodern Myth: How One Star's Self-Construction Rewrites Sex, Gender, Hollywood and the American Dream, writes that Madonna's reverence as a gay icon is equated with that of Judy Garland, noting similarities between the two popular culture icons.[96] Guilbert dictates that gay icons "usually belong to one or the other of two types of female stars: either the very vulnerable or suicidal star, or the strong idol whom nobody or nothing resists, like Madonna."[96] According to Madonna: An Intimate Biography, the pop star has always been aware that her most loyal fans were gay men, and has appeared in gay-oriented magazines as an activist for gay rights and was even named in the book The Gay 100 as one of the most influential gay people in history.[97]



Cyndi Lauper performed in a rainbow dress at the closing ceremonies of Gay Games VII (2006)
Other superstar recording artists like Cyndi Lauper followed.[98] Lauper and Madonna were seen as trailblazers of women's sexual liberation.[99] Lauper's debut album She's So Unusual (1983) generated a large following of fans responding to the "gay-friendly camp and lesbian-friendly womyn power epitomized in [her] femme anthem "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"."[100] Lauper explained that growing up during the 1960s influenced her dedication to fair and equal treatment of all people, noting that the music of the 1960s "helped to open the world's point of view to change."[101] According to Lauper "It wasn’t until my sister came out in the early ’70s that I became more aware of the bigoted slurs and the violence against a community of people...who were gay."[101] Lauper has since become an active Gay Rights activist, often encouraging LGBT people and their allies to vote for equal rights.[101] Political activism for LGBT rights was the theme of Lauper's annual True Colors Tour.



Oprah Winfrey popularized the tabloid talk show genre which allowed gays to become mainstream
In the mid-to-late-1980s Oprah Winfrey emerged as an icon for the gay community with an intimate confessional communication style that altered the cultural landscape. According to the book Freaks Talk Back by Yale sociologist Joshua Gamson, the tabloid talk show genre popularized by Oprah Winfrey and Phil Donahue, did more to make gays mainstream and socially acceptable than any other development of the 20th century by providing decades of high-impact media visibility for sexual nonconformists.[102][103]

Fellow gay icon Ellen DeGeneres cast Winfrey to play the therapist she comes out of the closet to on the controversial episode of her Ellen sitcom. Though Winfrey abandoned her tabloid talk show format in the mid 1990s as the genre became flooded by more extreme clones like Ricki Lake, Jenny Jones and Jerry Springer, she continued to broadcast shows that were perceived as gay-friendly. Her show Oprah's Big Give was the first reality TV show with an openly gay host Nate Berkus. Her own show has been nominated several times for GLAAD Media Awards, and another in 2010 for an interview with Ellen DeGeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi.[104] winning one in 2007[105][106] Oprah Winfrey also co-produced the Oscar-winning film Precious (2009), which was honored by GLAAD for portraying a lesbian couple as heroines.[107]

Winfrey's iconic status among gay males has entered the popular culture. One of the stars of the reality TV show The Benefactor was a gay African American man named Kevin who was so obsessed with Winfrey that he would ask "What would Oprah do?" before making any strategic decision. Adam Lambert is another high profile gay man who has described himself as a fan of Winfrey.[108] Other icons from this decade include the cast of The Golden Girls, Joan Collins, Annie Lennox, Siouxsie Sioux, Tori Amos, Tina Arena, Harvey Fierstein and Stevie Nicks.[109][110][111][112][113][8][57][114][115]

[edit]1990s–2000s


Janet Jackson performs on her Rock Witchu Tour in 2008
Janet Jackson, who was twice established as one of the highest paid recording artists in the history of contemporary music during the 1990s, became a gay icon after she released her sixth studio album The Velvet Rope (1997).[116][117][118] The album was honored by the National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum and received the award for Outstanding Music Album at the 9th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in 1998 for its songs that dealt with sexual orientation and homophobia.[119] On April 26, 2008, she received the Vanguard Award—a media award from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation—to honor her work in the entertainment industry in promoting equality for LGBT people.[119] GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano commented, "Ms. Jackson has a tremendous following inside the LGBT community and out, and having her stand with us against the defamation that LGBT people still face in our country is extremely significant."[119] Her sister, La Toya Jackson, is also regarded as a gay icon.[120]



Kylie Minogue has an international gay following
Kylie Minogue reinvented herself musically in the first decade of the 21st century and found herself faced with a renewed increasing gay fan base.[121][122][123] Minogue is a gay icon, "My gay audience has been with me from the beginning ... they kind of adopted me."[122] Minogue has explained that she first became aware of her gay audience in 1988, when several drag queens performed to her music at a Sydney pub and she later saw a similar show in Melbourne. She said that she felt "very touched" to have such an "appreciative crowd" and this had encouraged her to perform at gay venues throughout the world, as well as headlining Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras the largest gay pride festival in the world, Kylie Minogue has one of the largest gay followings in the world.[121] Her sister, Dannii Minogue, also has a large gay following and has been regarded a gay icon.[124]

In 2001, Kylie Minogue and British singer Geri Halliwell, another gay icon, kissed on a TV show to end prejudice.[125] Some sources revere the Spice Girls as "gay icons", especially those in the United Kingdom, for their message of female empowerment and not caring about what others think whilst embracing differences.[126] In a survey in which more than 5,000 male and female homosexually-oriented individuals from the UK had voted, Victoria Beckham placed 12th and Geri Halliwell placed 43rd in the Top 50 gay icons of all time.[127][128] Halliwell joked at the Video Music Awards in 1998 about her appearance as Ginger Spice: "As you have noted, I am no longer dressed like a drag queen."[129] During an interview, Emma Bunton explained why the Spice Girls have so many gay fans: "We were really flattered with having such a huge gay fan base because they know about fashion and they know about songs ... I'm so flattered that we've got such a huge gay following, it's amazing."[130] Girls Aloud, a more recent British girl band, have also been hailed gay icons.[131]

As a result of her role playing Karen Walker on Will & Grace, Megan Mullally emerged as a gay icon.[132] One commentator wrote that the show "won the actress an impressive gay following, both with men and women, who want to be her and with her."[132] The television series Sex and the City was also popular among gay men and spawned gay icons Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall.[57][133]

Controversial rock musician Courtney Love, known for her audacious onstage behavior and disregard for authority, also emerged as a gay icon in the mid-1990s, when her band Hole released their multi-platinum selling album, Live Through This (1994).[134] Love's own life struggles with drug addictions, her troubled childhood, depression, and general chauvinistic adversity from the public are all factors that likely explain her regard as a gay icon; Love spent a significant portion of her teenage and early-adult years befriending gay men and drag queens.[135][136] Love's devoted gay fanbase was later written about in a New York Press article when Hole released their fourth album in 2010.[137] Her late husband Kurt Cobain (of Nirvana) was also considered a gay icon.[138] Openly gay Canadian indie-rock artists, Tegan and Sara, who gained notoriety in their native Alberta in the early millennium, are also considered role models and icons to the GLBT community for fiercely advocating gay rights and being open and honest about their sexual orientation.

Christina Aguilera is widely regarded a gay icon, a status which came to prominence following the release of the song "Beautiful". The song instantly become a gay anthem and was recognized as "the most empowering song for lesbian, gay and bisexual people of the decade."[139] The accompanying video featured people who can feel ostracised from society, including a same-sex couple and a transgender man. She was also honored with the very first spot on The Abbey's Gay Walk of Fame for her contributions to gay culture, re-inforcing the title of gay icon she had earned a decade ago with her anthem "Beautiful".[140][141][142]

[edit]2010s–present


Lady Gaga, considered one of the biggest gay icons of modern times, delivering a speech at the National Equality March
Popular singers like Britney Spears, Celine Dion, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Janet Jackson, Christina Aguilera, Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, Peaches, Kelly Rowland, P!nk, Jennifer Hudson, Adam Levine, Amy Winehouse, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez and Robyn are major gay icons of modern times.[143][144][145][146][147][148][149][150][151][38][152][153][154] Justin Timberlake, Aubrey O'Day, Gwen Stefani, Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus, Lindsay Lohan, Hilary Duff, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Tori Spelling, Gary Barlow, Robbie Williams, Nicole Scherzinger, Björk, Kent James, Stefano Langone, Zayn Malik, Reba McEntire, McFly, Kelly Osbourne also have gay followings.[155][156][157][158][159][160][161][162][163][164][165][166][167][168]

Many famous actors have been hailed gay icons including Nicole Kidman, Jessica Alba, Kim Kardashian, Lauren Conrad, Megan Fox, Emily Blunt, Tina Fey, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Kathy Griffin, Jake Gyllenhaal, Angelina Jolie, Anne Hathaway, Lucy Lawless, Johnny Knoxville, Ashton Kutcher, Ben Affleck, Chris Evans, Mo'Nique, Ellen Pompeo, Chloë Sevigny, Mink Stole and Channing Tatum.[169][170][171][172][173][174][175][176][177][178][179][180][181][182][183][184] Meryl Streep was hailed a gay icon after portraying Miranda Priestly in the film The Devil Wears Prada (2006). Glee actors Chris Colfer, Darren Criss and Naya Rivera are also hailed gay icons.[185][186][187] Comedians Howard Stern, Margaret Cho and Kathy Griffin also have gay followings.[188]

Various LGBT celebrities have also been hailed gay icons after becoming open about their sexual orientation as media professionals and public figures. These include Ellen DeGeneres, Elton John, Lance Bass, RuPaul, Adam Lambert, Neil Patrick Harris, k. d. lang, Rosie O'Donnell, T.R. Knight, Mika, Rob Halford, Chris Salvatore, George Takei and Rufus Wainwright.[8][88][57][189][190][191][32][192][193][194]

[edit]Sports
Martina Navratilova,[8] Billie Jean King, Greg Louganis, Ben Cohen,[195][196] David Beckham, Gareth Thomas, Johnny Weir Cristiano Ronaldo,[197] and Henry Rollins[198] are seen as gay icons.[199]

[edit]Politics


Civil rights activist Coretta Scott King
In the political arena, gay icons are represented by, among others, Princess Diana,[200] Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge,[201] George Moscone,[202] Coretta Scott King,[203] Abraham Lincoln,[204] Winnie Mandela,[205] Hillary Clinton,[206] Eva Perón,[207] Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis,[208] Imelda Marcos and Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, the world's first openly lesbian head of government of the modern era.[209][210] Roger Casement, an Irish civil rights activist, became a gay icon of the early 20th century.[211] Civil rights activist Coretta Scott King was held in high regard among members of the gay community for her involvement in the Gay Rights Movement.[203] During her lifetime, she routinely equated the goals of the Civil Rights Movement, led by her husband Martin Luther King Jr., with the that of LGBT activism.[203]

I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice... But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.'... I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream to make room at the table of brother- and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people.[203]
—Coretta Scott King, Metro Weekly
San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk was the first openly gay man to be elected to office in the U.S. and spearheaded the defeat of statewide anti-gay ballot measure Proposition 6 in California in 1978. While he and Moscone were assassinated shortly thereafter, both became viewed as something of martyrs for gay rights. Milk's image as a positive role model led to him becoming the namesake for the first high school primarily for gay teenagers, the Harvey Milk High School.[212] The portrayal of those efforts in the critically acclaimed film Milk earned Sean Penn an Oscar and comparisons to the contemporary battle over the anti-gay ballot initiative Proposition 8 raging in California at the time of its release in 2008.[213]

While most of these individuals have been lionized for their strength, style, compassion, or work for equal rights, an ironic icon is Anita Bryant, who worked to oppose homosexuality.[214] During the 1970s, Bryant led a national campaign, "Save Our Children", which conflated homosexuality and child molestation and insisted that because homosexuals cannot reproduce they must "recruit" or "convert" people to their lifestyle.[215] California State Senator John V. Briggs applauded Bryant's work as a "national, religious crusade [and] courageous stand to protect American children from blatant homosexuality".[215] However, as Bruce C. Steele of The Advocate documented, Bryant's crusade against the Gay Rights Movement had made her synonymous with it.

About 10 years ago I was at an American Booksellers Association convention where Bryant was...still pissing and moaning about how the homosexuals had destroyed her career as spokesperson for Florida orange juice. The irony is, it wasn’t the orange juice boycott that caused her to lose her job; it was the fact that she made herself forever associated with homosexuality. So in one way she was a victim of homophobia herself: Folks on the orange board didn’t want people to think about queers when they bought orange juice."[214]
—as told to Bruce C. Steele, The Advocate
According to John Coppola, exhibit curator and former head of exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., "In a completely unintended way, Anita Bryant was about the best thing to happen to the gay rights movement...She and her cohorts were so over the top that it just completely galvanized the gay rights movement".[216] The 30th anniversary of Bryant's campaign against LGBT rights has been commemorated at the Stonewall Library & Archives, with executive director Jack Rutland dubbing her "The Mother of Gay Rights".[216]

[edit]Fictional examples

Various fictional characters have been regarded as gay icons, including cartoon figures. Bugs Bunny, a fictional anthropomorphic rabbit appearing in animation by Warner Bros. Cartoons during the Golden Age of American animation—dubbed the greatest cartoon character of all time by TV Guide—has been declared a "queer cultural icon [and] parodic diva" due to his "cross-dressing antics" and camp appeal.[217][218][219] Cartoon characters SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star have additionally become gay icons, due to their sometimes double entendre dialogues in their (cult) TV cartoon show. Winnie the Pooh has also affinity in the gay atmosphere and it has gained admiration as well as SpongeBob SquarePants, since it has been mentioned some reasons of this affiliation; the most common is that almost complete exclusion of female characters (the only female character Kanga is a kind, motherly figure on the story) and the male friendships are kind, caring, emotionally deep, tolerant, supportive, and inclusive.[220]

The term has also extended to comic book characters. Homosexual interpretations of Batman and the original Robin, Dick Grayson, have been an interest in cultural and academic study, due primarily to psychologist Fredric Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent (1954).[221] In the mid-1950s, Werthman led a national campaign against comic books, convincing Americans that they were responsible for corrupting children and encouraging them to engage in acts of sex and violence.[221] In relation to Batman and Robin, Wertham asserted "the Batman type of story helps to fixate homoerotic tendencies by suggesting the form of an adolescent-with-adult or Ganymede-Zeus type of love-relationship".[222] In Containing America: Cultural Production and Consumption in Fifties America, authors Nathan Abrams and Julie Hughes point out that homosexual interpretations of Batman and Robin existed prior to Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent.[223] Wertham claimed his book was, in fact, prompted by the earlier research of a Californian psychiatrist.[223] The relationship between Batman and arch villain the Joker has also been interpreted by many as homoerotic. Frank Miller, author of The Dark Knight Returns, has described the relationship between Batman and the Joker as a "homophobic nightmare," and views the character as sublimating his sexual urges into crime fighting, concluding, "He'd be much healthier if he were gay."[224]

One of the TV series that appeals most to LGBT culture is the 1960s sitcom Bewitched. Aside from the campy characterizations, it contained three gay cast members (Dick Sargent, Paul Lynde and – allegedly – Agnes Morehead). Star Elizabeth Montgomery and Sargent were grand marshals of a Los Angeles gay pride parade in the early 1990s. Other examples are the supernatural drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer (in which Willow Rosenberg came out and began a lesbian relationship) and All My Children's Bianca Montgomery.[225]

[edit]Responses



Tammy Faye Messner went from televangelist to gay icon
Many celebrities have responded positively to being regarded as gay icons. Several have noted the loyalty of their gay fans; Eartha Kitt and Cher credited gay fans with keeping them going at times when their careers had faltered.[226] Kylie Minogue has acknowledged the perception of her as a gay icon and has performed at such events as the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Asked to explain the reason for her large gay fanbase, Minogue replied, "It's always difficult for me to give the definitive answer because I don't have it. My gay audience has been with me from the beginning... they kind of adopted me." She noted that she differed from many gay icons who were seen as tragic figures, with the comment, "I've had a lot of tragic hairdos and outfits. I think that makes up for it!"[227]

Tammy Faye Messner, (ex-wife of fellow controversial televangelist Jim Bakker and mother of pastor Jay Bakker) who has been benevolently referred to as "the ultimate drag queen"[228] — said in her last interview with Larry King that, "When I went — when we lost everything, it was the gay people that came to my rescue, and I will always love them for that."[229]

Others have been more ambivalent. Mae West, a gay icon from the early days of her career, supported gay rights but bristled when her performance style was referred to as camp.[230]

Madonna has acknowledged and embraced her gay following throughout her career, she even made several references to the gay community in her songs or performances, and performed at several gay clubs. She has declared in interviews that some of her best friends are gay and that she adores gays and refers to herself as "the biggest gay icon of all times."[231] She also has been quoted in television interviews in the early 1990s as declaring the "big problem in America at the time was homophobia."

Turkish electronic pop singer Hande Yener describes her relationship with the gay audience by stating that "there is a strong bond between us."[232] She states that she tries new styles in her career and her stand against prejudices is best understood by gay audience. She also mentioned that she often goes to gay clubs.[233] She starred as herself, a gay icon in a gay-themed movie Kraliçe Fabrikada.[234] She is one of the few Turkish singers who will perform in a gay club.[235] She has participated to the İstanbul Gay Pride 2009.[236]

[Darius]

from wikipedia:

A gay icon is a public figure (historical or current) who is embraced by many within lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities. Dykon, a portmanteau of the words "dyke" and "icon", has recently entered common lexicon to describe figures particularly iconic to lesbians.

Qualities of a gay icon often include glamour, flamboyance, strength through adversity, and androgyny in presentation. Such icons can be of any sexual orientation or gender; they can be out or not. Although most gay icons have given their support to LGBT social movements, some have expressed opposition – advocating against a perceived "homosexual agenda".

Historical icons are typically elevated to such status because their sexual orientation remains a topic of great debate among historians. Modern gay icons, who are predominantly female entertainers, commonly garner a large following within LGBT communities over the course of their careers. The majority of gay icons fall into one of two categories: the tragic, sometimes martyred figure or the prominent pop culture idol.

Contents [hide]
1 Historical examples
2 Modern examples
2.1 Entertainment
2.1.1 1930s–1940s
2.1.2 1950s–1960s
2.1.3 1970s–1980s
2.1.4 1990s–2000s
2.1.5 2010s–present
2.2 Sports
2.3 Politics
3 Fictional examples
4 Responses
5 See also
6 References
6.1 Books
7 External links
[edit]Historical examples



Saint Sebastian, history's first recorded gay icon
Plausibly the earliest gay icon was Saint Sebastian,[1] a Christian saint and martyr, whose strong and shirtless physique, symbolic arrow-pierced flesh, and rapturous look of pain combined have intrigued artists, both gay and straight, for centuries and began the first explicitly gay cult in the nineteenth century.[1] Richard A. Kaye, a journalist, wrote, "contemporary gay men have seen in Sebastian at once a stunning advertisement for homosexual desire (indeed, a homoerotic ideal), and a prototypical portrait of tortured closet case."[2]

Due to Saint Sebastian's status as gay icon, Tennessee Williams chose to use that name for the martyred character Sebastian in his play, Suddenly, Last Summer.[3] The name was also used by Oscar Wilde – as Sebastian Melmoth – when in exile after his release from prison. Wilde, an Irish writer and poet, was about as "out of the closet" as was possible for the late nineteenth century, and is himself considered to be a gay icon.[4]

Marie Antoinette was an early lesbian icon. Rumors about her relationships with women circulated in pornographic detail by anti-royalist pamphlets before the French Revolution. In Victorian England, biographers who idealized the Ancien Régime made a point of denying the rumours, but at the same time romanticised Marie Antoinette's "sisterly" friendship with the Princesse de Lamballe as – in the words of an 1858 biography – one of the "rare and great loves that Providence unites in death."[5] By the end of the nineteenth century she was a cult icon of "sapphism"; her execution, seen as tragic martyrdom, may have added to her appeal.

Allusions to her appearance in early twentieth century lesbian literature – most notably Radclyffe Hall's The Well of Loneliness – where the gay playwright Jonathan Brockett describes Marie Antoinette and de Lamballe as "poor souls... sick to death of the subterfuge and pretenses."[6] She had crossover appeal as a gay icon as well, at least for Jean Genet, who was fascinated by her story. He included a reenactment of her execution in his 1947 play The Maids.[5]

[edit]Modern examples



Lesbian icon Marlon Brando
Modern gay icons in entertainment include both film stars and musicians, most of whom have strong, distinctive personalities, and many of whom died young or under tragic circumstances. For example, Greek-American opera singer Maria Callas – who reached her peak in the 1950s – became a gay icon because the uniquely compelling qualities of her stage performances were allied to a tempestuous private life, a sequence of unhappy love affairs, and a lonely premature death in Paris after her voice had deserted her.

Lesbian icons, sometimes called dykons, a portmanteau of the words "dyke" and "icon" are most often powerful women who are, or are rumored to be, lesbian or bisexual.[7][8] However, a few male entertainers have also had iconic status for lesbians. James Dean was an early lesbian icon who, along with Marlon Brando, influenced the butch look and self-image in the 1950s and after.[9][10][11][12] One critic has argued for Johnny Cash as a minor lesbian icon, attributing his appeal to "lesbian identification with troubled and suffering masculinity."[13] Science fiction author Forrest J Ackerman was dubbed an "honorary lesbian" for his help during the early days of lesbian rights organisation Daughters of Bilitis. He also wrote lesbian-themed fiction under the pseudonym Laurajean Ermayne.

Gay icons may be homosexual or heterosexual, out or in the closet, and male or female. The women most commonly portrayed by drag queens are usually gay icons. The definition of what it means to be a "gay icon" has come under criticism in recent years for a lack of substance, as Paul Flynn of The Guardian comments "the concept of gay icon is a cheap ticket...[and] the idea of gay iconography itself is currently replaceable with the idea of popularity and the ability to carry a strong, identifiable, signature look."[14] Author Michael Thomas Ford depicts a similar attitude in his work of fiction Last Summer.



Indian gay icon Abhishek Bachchan
Although the term "gay icon" is most commonly used in the United States, the concept is to be found in other cultures as well. Egyptian singer of Italian origin Dalida had a career-long gay following that extended out of Paris and well into the Middle East. In the years since her death, her iconic status has not diminished.[15][16] Likewise, Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan was recently declared to be a gay icon in a national poll in India. Though homosexuality still carries a stigma in India, he was quoted as saying that "Appreciation and love from any quarter is welcome," and that, though he is straight himself, he is comfortable with having a large fan base among gay men.[17][18] Filipino gay comedian Vice Ganda has also been considered a gay icon.

Similarly in European countries like the Netherlands, Willeke Alberti is widely embraced as a gay icon, due to a combination of her song repertoire, her durability, and her performances in support of manifold gay causes.[19] Spanish actress Carmen Maura, Italian singer Mina, Scottish pop singer Jimmy Somerville, German singer-songwriter Marianne Rosenberg and English singer Dusty Springfield are also considered to be gay icons.[20][21][22][23][24] French entertainer Mylène Farmer, Ukranian boy band Kazaky, Turkish singer Ajda Pekkan and Italian actress Isabella Rossellini are also hailed gay icons.[25][26][27][28]

Latin American figures have also gained reputations as gay icons. Pop band Alaska y Dinarama is one example. Their single "¿A quién le importa?" ("Who Cares?"), which was later covered in 2002 by Thalía, was a hit for the 1980s Spanish band, becoming a gay anthem for the Spanish language-speaking LGBT community. Singer Gloria Trevi is considered a gay icon especially after her release of "Todos Me Miran" ("They All Watch Me") featuring a rejected gay man turned drag queen, but had been popular with the gay and lesbian community in Mexico since the beginnings of her career for being a controversial and powerful singer.[29] Paulina Rubio, Mexican singer and actress, has been a gay icon for Latin America after supporting gay marriage and publicly stating she wants to have sex with fellow gay icon Madonna.[30]

Some modern Latin American gay icons include singers Alaska, Shakira, Valeria Lynch, Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias and actresses Mirtha Legrand, Susana Giménez and Moria Casán.[31][32][33][34]

[edit]Entertainment
[edit]1930s–1940s
The 1930s saw a number of writers, political activists, and celebrities garner reputations as gay icons. Poet and satirical writer Dorothy Parker reportedly had a large gay following. Though the phrase "friend of Dorothy" was made popular in later years by Judy Garland's role in the The Wizard Of Oz (1939), some speculate it originated with Parker.



Bette Davis in the 1939 film Dark Victory
Actress Bette Davis' performance in Dark Victory (1939), was dubbed by Queer theorist Eve Sedgwick as "the epistemology of the closet."[35] Davis' portrayal of the melodramatic Judith Traherne made her talent for playing someone with a secret revered and her "camp-worthy" dialog reflexive of the "flamboyant gay queen of the dramatic arts."[35] Ed Sikov, author of Dark Victory: The Life of Bette Davis, comments 20th century gay men developed their own subculture following Davis' example.[35]

In Marcella Althaus-Reid's Liberation Theology and Sexuality, Marlene Dietrich, who is considered to be the first German-born actress to receive critical acclaim in Hollywood, is a model of liberation and subversion, as well as beauty, perfection and sensuality.[36][37] In Rio de Janeiro, Althaus-Reid discovered a statue of Dietrich dressed as Our Lady of Aparecida in a gay bar in Copacabana beach.[37] The image of Dietrich as the black Virgin Mary represents her overcoming duality.[37] According to Althaus-Reid, it is a figure which sanctifies Dietrich while simultaneously liberating Mary.[37]

Other icons from this time period include a string of entertainers like Cary Grant, who endured speculation over his alleged relationships with men, Josephine Baker, Carmen Miranda, Lena Horne, Ethel Merman, Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Tallulah Bankhead, Mae West, Edith Piaf, and Noël Coward.[38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49]

[edit]1950s–1960s
See also: Judy Garland as gay icon


Judy Garland, arguably the most famous gay icon, as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939)
An archetypal gay icon is Judy Garland.[50] Michael Bronski, author of Culture Clash: The Making of Gay Sensibility, describes Garland as "the quintessential pre-Stonewall gay icon."[51] So revered is she as a gay icon that her best known film role, Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz, became used as code among homosexuals in the 1950s.[52] The expression, "Is he a friend of Dorothy?" was slang for, "Is he gay?"[52] The character Dorothy meets an odd group of friends during her journey through Oz—the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion and the Scarecrow—and so referring to an individual as a "friend of Dorothy" meant that they were "unusual or odd" and thus "queer."[52] Though Garland has been noted for her embodiment of camp in her acting roles, Bronski argues that she was the "antithesis of camp" and "made a legend of her pain and oppression."[51] As Bronski observes, the bleak setting of 1950s Hollywood had replaced the "sauciness of the 30s and the independence of the 40s."[51] Garland, as well as Lana Turner and Susan Hayward, epitomized the idea that "suffering was the price of glamor...[and] the women stars of the 50s reflected the condition of many gay men: they suffered, beautifully".[51]



Actress Lucille Ball in 1945
Garland's daughter Liza Minnelli would later follow in her mother's footsteps as a gay icon, as would fellow musical artist Barbra Streisand.[8][32] Joan Crawford has been described as the "Ultimate Gay Icon — the martyr who suffered for her art, and therefore enabled herself to bond with this all-important faction of her fan-base."[53] In Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography, author Lawrence J. Quirk explains that Crawford appealed to gay men because they sympathized with her struggle for success; in both the entertainment industry and in her personal life.[54] Though Crawford had been a notable film star during the 1930s and 1940s, according to David Bret, author of Joan Crawford: Hollywood Martyr, it was not until her 1953 film Torch Song that she was seen as a "complete gay icon, primarily because it was shot in color." Bret further explains that seeing the actress' red hair, dark eyes and "Victory Red" lips linked her to "gaydom's other sirens: Dietrich, Garland, Bankhead, Piaf, and new recruits Marilyn Monroe and Maria Callas."[53]

Actress Lucille Ball was also a prominent icon from this period. In Lee Tannen's book I Loved Lucy: My Friendship with Lucille Ball, the author describes his experience when he witnessed Lucille Ball being labeled a gay icon for the first time by a mutual friend.[55] Ball was told of the adoration she received from gay men, as a bar in West Hollywood was known for routinely playing episodes of her television series I Love Lucy every weekend.[55] In an interview with Out magazine, Tannen expressed his opinion that Ball's television character Lucy Ricardo was the true gay icon, as "Lucy Ricardo was the underdog who was always trying to prove herself, and I think many gay men can identify with that."[56] Other icons from this time include entertainers Natalie Wood, Liberace, Julie Andrews, Shirley Bassey, Debbie Reynolds, Barbara Cook, Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Eartha Kitt, Clara Ward, Gloria Swanson, Elizabeth Taylor, Eve McVeagh and Edith Bouvier Beale.[57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][8][65][66][67][68]

[edit]1970s–1980s
During the late 1970s a slew of comediennes appeared, joining the ranks of what had stereotypically been a male profession. This included Joan Rivers, who began appearing on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Rivers gained a strong gay following after performing in Greenwich Village, a notoriously LGBT friendly area of New York, from the early days of her career. Rivers' frank and, often considered, sharp use of wit and insults (largely based toward herself) made her an instant gay icon. Rivers remains a gay icon to this day, often cited as "the hardest working woman in comedy" and "the queen of comedy."[69]



Donna Summer was a prominent gay icon of the underground gay disco scene
The first gay icon of the 1970s underground gay disco scene was the Queen of Disco Donna Summer, whose dance songs became anthems for the clubbing gay community.[38] Her number one single "Love to Love You Baby"—regarded as an "absolute disco epic"—not only became a gay anthem because of its "unabridged sexuality," it brought European-oriented disco to the United States and influenced the course the recording industry would take in the following years.[70] However, Summer became immersed in controversy when, after becoming a born-again Christian during the 1980s at the dawn of the HIV/AIDS crisis, she was reported as saying homophobic remarks, including that "AIDS was God's punishment to homosexuals."[71] Her publicist later denied this and, in a 1989 interview with The Advocate, Summer stated, "I don't look at people by their sexual orientation. I don't judge people because they are gay or straight. My love for people is based on my compassion as a person."[72] Fellow disco singer Gloria Gaynor was embraced by the gay community because of her single "I Will Survive", which served as an anthem for both feminists and the Gay Rights movement.[73] Village People, a pioneering disco group, are also regarded as gay icons for bringing gay disco culture into the mainstream with their popular disco and dance hits.[74]

In addition, singer Cass Elliot became known as a gay icon, both during her solo career and as a member of The Mamas & the Papas. Both through her camp fashion and lyrics praising individuality (such as "Make Your Own Kind of Music" and "Different") and free love, her musical impact became known. Her music was later featured in the acclaimed gay film Beautiful Thing (1996), adapted from the play of the same name. Singer and actress Bette Midler also became recognized as a gay icon in the 1970s. After performing on Broadway, Midler began performing at the Continental Baths, a gay bathhouse in the city, where she became close to her piano accompanist Barry Manilow, who produced her first major album The Divine Miss M (1973)."Despite the way things turned out [with the AIDS crisis], I'm still proud of those days [singing at gay bathhouses]. I feel like I was at the forefront of the gay liberation movement, and I hope I did my part to help it move forward. So, I kind of wear the label of 'Bathhouse Betty' with pride," Middler reminisced in 1998.[75]

Other artists particularly embraced by the gay community during the 1970s and 1980s included Debbie Harry, Yoko Ono, Diana Ross, Grace Jones, Charo, Elaine Paige, Dolly Parton, Mylène Farmer, Whitney Houston, Olivia Newton-John and Prince.[76][77][78][79][80][81][82][25][83][84][85] Several Britons, including singers Freddie Mercury (of Queen), George Michael, Morrissey and Pet Shop Boys, Kate Bush, David Bowie and writer Quentin Crisp.[85][32] Elton John also became a gay icon during this decade; a status strengthened throughout the years.[57][86][87][88]



Both Cher and Madonna are renowned gay icons
Hailed as the Goddess of Pop, Cher became notable in the gay community not only for her music, but for her portrayal of a lesbian in Silkwood (1983), for which she received an Academy Award nomination.[89] In later years, her daughter Chastity Bono came out as gay at the age of seventeen, much to her mother's initial feelings of "guilt, fear and pain".[89] When Cher was able to accept her daughter's sexual orientation, she realized that Chastity, as well as other LGBT people "didn't have the same rights as everyone else, [and she] thought that was unfair".[90] Cher emerged not only as an icon among LGBT people, but also a role model for straight parents who have gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender children.[89] She became the keynote speaker for the 1997 national Parents, Families, & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) convention.[89][90] Cher's longevity in the music industry has often been credited to her gay following.[91] William J. Mann, author of Gay Pride: A Celebration of All Things Gay and Lesbian, comments "[w]e'll be dancing to a ninety-year old Cher when we're sixty. Just watch".[91]

"Madonna subverts everything for her own gain. I went to see her London show and it was all so dour and humourless. She surpasses even Joan Crawford in terms of megalomania. Which in itself makes her a kind of dark, gay icon... I love Kylie, she's the anti-Madonna. Self-knowledge is a truly beautiful thing and Kylie knows herself inside out. She is what she is and there is no attempt to make quasi-intellectual statements to substantiate it. She is the gay shorthand for joy."

Rufus Wainwright,
Observer Music Monthly, 2006.[92]
Continuing into the 1980s, pop music singer Madonna—dubbed "Queen of Pop" and "Queen of Dance" by the media, and later the "World's Most Successful Female Recording Artist" by Guinness World Records—became the preeminent gay icon of the late 20th century.[93][94][95] The Advocate's Steve Gdula commented "[b]ack in the 1980s and even the early 1990s, the release of a new Madonna video or single was akin to a national holiday, at least among her gay fans."[95] Gdula also stated that during this period, concurrent with the rise of the AIDS epidemic, "when other artists tried to distance themselves from the very audience that helped their stars to rise, Madonna only turned the light back on her gay fans and made it burn all the brighter."[95] Georges-Claude Guilbert, author of Madonna As Postmodern Myth: How One Star's Self-Construction Rewrites Sex, Gender, Hollywood and the American Dream, writes that Madonna's reverence as a gay icon is equated with that of Judy Garland, noting similarities between the two popular culture icons.[96] Guilbert dictates that gay icons "usually belong to one or the other of two types of female stars: either the very vulnerable or suicidal star, or the strong idol whom nobody or nothing resists, like Madonna."[96] According to Madonna: An Intimate Biography, the pop star has always been aware that her most loyal fans were gay men, and has appeared in gay-oriented magazines as an activist for gay rights and was even named in the book The Gay 100 as one of the most influential gay people in history.[97]



Cyndi Lauper performed in a rainbow dress at the closing ceremonies of Gay Games VII (2006)
Other superstar recording artists like Cyndi Lauper followed.[98] Lauper and Madonna were seen as trailblazers of women's sexual liberation.[99] Lauper's debut album She's So Unusual (1983) generated a large following of fans responding to the "gay-friendly camp and lesbian-friendly womyn power epitomized in [her] femme anthem "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"."[100] Lauper explained that growing up during the 1960s influenced her dedication to fair and equal treatment of all people, noting that the music of the 1960s "helped to open the world's point of view to change."[101] According to Lauper "It wasn’t until my sister came out in the early ’70s that I became more aware of the bigoted slurs and the violence against a community of people...who were gay."[101] Lauper has since become an active Gay Rights activist, often encouraging LGBT people and their allies to vote for equal rights.[101] Political activism for LGBT rights was the theme of Lauper's annual True Colors Tour.



Oprah Winfrey popularized the tabloid talk show genre which allowed gays to become mainstream
In the mid-to-late-1980s Oprah Winfrey emerged as an icon for the gay community with an intimate confessional communication style that altered the cultural landscape. According to the book Freaks Talk Back by Yale sociologist Joshua Gamson, the tabloid talk show genre popularized by Oprah Winfrey and Phil Donahue, did more to make gays mainstream and socially acceptable than any other development of the 20th century by providing decades of high-impact media visibility for sexual nonconformists.[102][103]

Fellow gay icon Ellen DeGeneres cast Winfrey to play the therapist she comes out of the closet to on the controversial episode of her Ellen sitcom. Though Winfrey abandoned her tabloid talk show format in the mid 1990s as the genre became flooded by more extreme clones like Ricki Lake, Jenny Jones and Jerry Springer, she continued to broadcast shows that were perceived as gay-friendly. Her show Oprah's Big Give was the first reality TV show with an openly gay host Nate Berkus. Her own show has been nominated several times for GLAAD Media Awards, and another in 2010 for an interview with Ellen DeGeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi.[104] winning one in 2007[105][106] Oprah Winfrey also co-produced the Oscar-winning film Precious (2009), which was honored by GLAAD for portraying a lesbian couple as heroines.[107]

Winfrey's iconic status among gay males has entered the popular culture. One of the stars of the reality TV show The Benefactor was a gay African American man named Kevin who was so obsessed with Winfrey that he would ask "What would Oprah do?" before making any strategic decision. Adam Lambert is another high profile gay man who has described himself as a fan of Winfrey.[108] Other icons from this decade include the cast of The Golden Girls, Joan Collins, Annie Lennox, Siouxsie Sioux, Tori Amos, Tina Arena, Harvey Fierstein and Stevie Nicks.[109][110][111][112][113][8][57][114][115]

[edit]1990s–2000s


Janet Jackson performs on her Rock Witchu Tour in 2008
Janet Jackson, who was twice established as one of the highest paid recording artists in the history of contemporary music during the 1990s, became a gay icon after she released her sixth studio album The Velvet Rope (1997).[116][117][118] The album was honored by the National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum and received the award for Outstanding Music Album at the 9th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in 1998 for its songs that dealt with sexual orientation and homophobia.[119] On April 26, 2008, she received the Vanguard Award—a media award from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation—to honor her work in the entertainment industry in promoting equality for LGBT people.[119] GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano commented, "Ms. Jackson has a tremendous following inside the LGBT community and out, and having her stand with us against the defamation that LGBT people still face in our country is extremely significant."[119] Her sister, La Toya Jackson, is also regarded as a gay icon.[120]



Kylie Minogue has an international gay following
Kylie Minogue reinvented herself musically in the first decade of the 21st century and found herself faced with a renewed increasing gay fan base.[121][122][123] Minogue is a gay icon, "My gay audience has been with me from the beginning ... they kind of adopted me."[122] Minogue has explained that she first became aware of her gay audience in 1988, when several drag queens performed to her music at a Sydney pub and she later saw a similar show in Melbourne. She said that she felt "very touched" to have such an "appreciative crowd" and this had encouraged her to perform at gay venues throughout the world, as well as headlining Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras the largest gay pride festival in the world, Kylie Minogue has one of the largest gay followings in the world.[121] Her sister, Dannii Minogue, also has a large gay following and has been regarded a gay icon.[124]

In 2001, Kylie Minogue and British singer Geri Halliwell, another gay icon, kissed on a TV show to end prejudice.[125] Some sources revere the Spice Girls as "gay icons", especially those in the United Kingdom, for their message of female empowerment and not caring about what others think whilst embracing differences.[126] In a survey in which more than 5,000 male and female homosexually-oriented individuals from the UK had voted, Victoria Beckham placed 12th and Geri Halliwell placed 43rd in the Top 50 gay icons of all time.[127][128] Halliwell joked at the Video Music Awards in 1998 about her appearance as Ginger Spice: "As you have noted, I am no longer dressed like a drag queen."[129] During an interview, Emma Bunton explained why the Spice Girls have so many gay fans: "We were really flattered with having such a huge gay fan base because they know about fashion and they know about songs ... I'm so flattered that we've got such a huge gay following, it's amazing."[130] Girls Aloud, a more recent British girl band, have also been hailed gay icons.[131]

As a result of her role playing Karen Walker on Will & Grace, Megan Mullally emerged as a gay icon.[132] One commentator wrote that the show "won the actress an impressive gay following, both with men and women, who want to be her and with her."[132] The television series Sex and the City was also popular among gay men and spawned gay icons Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall.[57][133]

Controversial rock musician Courtney Love, known for her audacious onstage behavior and disregard for authority, also emerged as a gay icon in the mid-1990s, when her band Hole released their multi-platinum selling album, Live Through This (1994).[134] Love's own life struggles with drug addictions, her troubled childhood, depression, and general chauvinistic adversity from the public are all factors that likely explain her regard as a gay icon; Love spent a significant portion of her teenage and early-adult years befriending gay men and drag queens.[135][136] Love's devoted gay fanbase was later written about in a New York Press article when Hole released their fourth album in 2010.[137] Her late husband Kurt Cobain (of Nirvana) was also considered a gay icon.[138] Openly gay Canadian indie-rock artists, Tegan and Sara, who gained notoriety in their native Alberta in the early millennium, are also considered role models and icons to the GLBT community for fiercely advocating gay rights and being open and honest about their sexual orientation.

Christina Aguilera is widely regarded a gay icon, a status which came to prominence following the release of the song "Beautiful". The song instantly become a gay anthem and was recognized as "the most empowering song for lesbian, gay and bisexual people of the decade."[139] The accompanying video featured people who can feel ostracised from society, including a same-sex couple and a transgender man. She was also honored with the very first spot on The Abbey's Gay Walk of Fame for her contributions to gay culture, re-inforcing the title of gay icon she had earned a decade ago with her anthem "Beautiful".[140][141][142]

[edit]2010s–present


Lady Gaga, considered one of the biggest gay icons of modern times, delivering a speech at the National Equality March
Popular singers like Britney Spears, Celine Dion, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Janet Jackson, Christina Aguilera, Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, Peaches, Kelly Rowland, P!nk, Jennifer Hudson, Adam Levine, Amy Winehouse, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez and Robyn are major gay icons of modern times.[143][144][145][146][147][148][149][150][151][38][152][153][154] Justin Timberlake, Aubrey O'Day, Gwen Stefani, Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus, Lindsay Lohan, Hilary Duff, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Tori Spelling, Gary Barlow, Robbie Williams, Nicole Scherzinger, Björk, Kent James, Stefano Langone, Zayn Malik, Reba McEntire, McFly, Kelly Osbourne also have gay followings.[155][156][157][158][159][160][161][162][163][164][165][166][167][168]

Many famous actors have been hailed gay icons including Nicole Kidman, Jessica Alba, Kim Kardashian, Lauren Conrad, Megan Fox, Emily Blunt, Tina Fey, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Kathy Griffin, Jake Gyllenhaal, Angelina Jolie, Anne Hathaway, Lucy Lawless, Johnny Knoxville, Ashton Kutcher, Ben Affleck, Chris Evans, Mo'Nique, Ellen Pompeo, Chloë Sevigny, Mink Stole and Channing Tatum.[169][170][171][172][173][174][175][176][177][178][179][180][181][182][183][184] Meryl Streep was hailed a gay icon after portraying Miranda Priestly in the film The Devil Wears Prada (2006). Glee actors Chris Colfer, Darren Criss and Naya Rivera are also hailed gay icons.[185][186][187] Comedians Howard Stern, Margaret Cho and Kathy Griffin also have gay followings.[188]

Various LGBT celebrities have also been hailed gay icons after becoming open about their sexual orientation as media professionals and public figures. These include Ellen DeGeneres, Elton John, Lance Bass, RuPaul, Adam Lambert, Neil Patrick Harris, k. d. lang, Rosie O'Donnell, T.R. Knight, Mika, Rob Halford, Chris Salvatore, George Takei and Rufus Wainwright.[8][88][57][189][190][191][32][192][193][194]

[edit]Sports
Martina Navratilova,[8] Billie Jean King, Greg Louganis, Ben Cohen,[195][196] David Beckham, Gareth Thomas, Johnny Weir Cristiano Ronaldo,[197] and Henry Rollins[198] are seen as gay icons.[199]

[edit]Politics


Civil rights activist Coretta Scott King
In the political arena, gay icons are represented by, among others, Princess Diana,[200] Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge,[201] George Moscone,[202] Coretta Scott King,[203] Abraham Lincoln,[204] Winnie Mandela,[205] Hillary Clinton,[206] Eva Perón,[207] Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis,[208] Imelda Marcos and Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, the world's first openly lesbian head of government of the modern era.[209][210] Roger Casement, an Irish civil rights activist, became a gay icon of the early 20th century.[211] Civil rights activist Coretta Scott King was held in high regard among members of the gay community for her involvement in the Gay Rights Movement.[203] During her lifetime, she routinely equated the goals of the Civil Rights Movement, led by her husband Martin Luther King Jr., with the that of LGBT activism.[203]

I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice... But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.'... I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream to make room at the table of brother- and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people.[203]
—Coretta Scott King, Metro Weekly
San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk was the first openly gay man to be elected to office in the U.S. and spearheaded the defeat of statewide anti-gay ballot measure Proposition 6 in California in 1978. While he and Moscone were assassinated shortly thereafter, both became viewed as something of martyrs for gay rights. Milk's image as a positive role model led to him becoming the namesake for the first high school primarily for gay teenagers, the Harvey Milk High School.[212] The portrayal of those efforts in the critically acclaimed film Milk earned Sean Penn an Oscar and comparisons to the contemporary battle over the anti-gay ballot initiative Proposition 8 raging in California at the time of its release in 2008.[213]

While most of these individuals have been lionized for their strength, style, compassion, or work for equal rights, an ironic icon is Anita Bryant, who worked to oppose homosexuality.[214] During the 1970s, Bryant led a national campaign, "Save Our Children", which conflated homosexuality and child molestation and insisted that because homosexuals cannot reproduce they must "recruit" or "convert" people to their lifestyle.[215] California State Senator John V. Briggs applauded Bryant's work as a "national, religious crusade [and] courageous stand to protect American children from blatant homosexuality".[215] However, as Bruce C. Steele of The Advocate documented, Bryant's crusade against the Gay Rights Movement had made her synonymous with it.

About 10 years ago I was at an American Booksellers Association convention where Bryant was...still pissing and moaning about how the homosexuals had destroyed her career as spokesperson for Florida orange juice. The irony is, it wasn’t the orange juice boycott that caused her to lose her job; it was the fact that she made herself forever associated with homosexuality. So in one way she was a victim of homophobia herself: Folks on the orange board didn’t want people to think about queers when they bought orange juice."[214]
—as told to Bruce C. Steele, The Advocate
According to John Coppola, exhibit curator and former head of exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., "In a completely unintended way, Anita Bryant was about the best thing to happen to the gay rights movement...She and her cohorts were so over the top that it just completely galvanized the gay rights movement".[216] The 30th anniversary of Bryant's campaign against LGBT rights has been commemorated at the Stonewall Library & Archives, with executive director Jack Rutland dubbing her "The Mother of Gay Rights".[216]

[edit]Fictional examples

Various fictional characters have been regarded as gay icons, including cartoon figures. Bugs Bunny, a fictional anthropomorphic rabbit appearing in animation by Warner Bros. Cartoons during the Golden Age of American animation—dubbed the greatest cartoon character of all time by TV Guide—has been declared a "queer cultural icon [and] parodic diva" due to his "cross-dressing antics" and camp appeal.[217][218][219] Cartoon characters SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star have additionally become gay icons, due to their sometimes double entendre dialogues in their (cult) TV cartoon show. Winnie the Pooh has also affinity in the gay atmosphere and it has gained admiration as well as SpongeBob SquarePants, since it has been mentioned some reasons of this affiliation; the most common is that almost complete exclusion of female characters (the only female character Kanga is a kind, motherly figure on the story) and the male friendships are kind, caring, emotionally deep, tolerant, supportive, and inclusive.[220]

The term has also extended to comic book characters. Homosexual interpretations of Batman and the original Robin, Dick Grayson, have been an interest in cultural and academic study, due primarily to psychologist Fredric Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent (1954).[221] In the mid-1950s, Werthman led a national campaign against comic books, convincing Americans that they were responsible for corrupting children and encouraging them to engage in acts of sex and violence.[221] In relation to Batman and Robin, Wertham asserted "the Batman type of story helps to fixate homoerotic tendencies by suggesting the form of an adolescent-with-adult or Ganymede-Zeus type of love-relationship".[222] In Containing America: Cultural Production and Consumption in Fifties America, authors Nathan Abrams and Julie Hughes point out that homosexual interpretations of Batman and Robin existed prior to Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent.[223] Wertham claimed his book was, in fact, prompted by the earlier research of a Californian psychiatrist.[223] The relationship between Batman and arch villain the Joker has also been interpreted by many as homoerotic. Frank Miller, author of The Dark Knight Returns, has described the relationship between Batman and the Joker as a "homophobic nightmare," and views the character as sublimating his sexual urges into crime fighting, concluding, "He'd be much healthier if he were gay."[224]

One of the TV series that appeals most to LGBT culture is the 1960s sitcom Bewitched. Aside from the campy characterizations, it contained three gay cast members (Dick Sargent, Paul Lynde and – allegedly – Agnes Morehead). Star Elizabeth Montgomery and Sargent were grand marshals of a Los Angeles gay pride parade in the early 1990s. Other examples are the supernatural drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer (in which Willow Rosenberg came out and began a lesbian relationship) and All My Children's Bianca Montgomery.[225]

[edit]Responses



Tammy Faye Messner went from televangelist to gay icon
Many celebrities have responded positively to being regarded as gay icons. Several have noted the loyalty of their gay fans; Eartha Kitt and Cher credited gay fans with keeping them going at times when their careers had faltered.[226] Kylie Minogue has acknowledged the perception of her as a gay icon and has performed at such events as the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Asked to explain the reason for her large gay fanbase, Minogue replied, "It's always difficult for me to give the definitive answer because I don't have it. My gay audience has been with me from the beginning... they kind of adopted me." She noted that she differed from many gay icons who were seen as tragic figures, with the comment, "I've had a lot of tragic hairdos and outfits. I think that makes up for it!"[227]

Tammy Faye Messner, (ex-wife of fellow controversial televangelist Jim Bakker and mother of pastor Jay Bakker) who has been benevolently referred to as "the ultimate drag queen"[228] — said in her last interview with Larry King that, "When I went — when we lost everything, it was the gay people that came to my rescue, and I will always love them for that."[229]

Others have been more ambivalent. Mae West, a gay icon from the early days of her career, supported gay rights but bristled when her performance style was referred to as camp.[230]

Madonna has acknowledged and embraced her gay following throughout her career, she even made several references to the gay community in her songs or performances, and performed at several gay clubs. She has declared in interviews that some of her best friends are gay and that she adores gays and refers to herself as "the biggest gay icon of all times."[231] She also has been quoted in television interviews in the early 1990s as declaring the "big problem in America at the time was homophobia."

Turkish electronic pop singer Hande Yener describes her relationship with the gay audience by stating that "there is a strong bond between us."[232] She states that she tries new styles in her career and her stand against prejudices is best understood by gay audience. She also mentioned that she often goes to gay clubs.[233] She starred as herself, a gay icon in a gay-themed movie Kraliçe Fabrikada.[234] She is one of the few Turkish singers who will perform in a gay club.[235] She has participated to the İstanbul Gay Pride 2009.[236]

[Darius]

And Bette Middler

[alexis]

Cough! Ahem, JOAN COLLINS!!!!!
And who hasn't dressed up as Madonna and Vogued of a Saturday night?

I do agree though that Madonna is a dark sort of gay icon. She takes herself much too seriously much like Joan Crawford. I have noticed this much more as she gets older. She can not have fun and relax and enjpy who she is. I have seen Kylie twice in concert because I love her. She is just pure joy. She puts on a show that is flawless but she can interact with the audience and you can see her enjoy it. I have no desire to see Madonna now, her mucic is at a desperate stage now, and her performances that I have watched on tv or dvd are so robotic and machine like. There is no joy, no pause to savor the atmosphere or awknowlege the fans. It's droll and cold.
I would have loved to have saw Madonna in the late '80s or early '90s or during the EVITA stage. She has had some good albums after that but as a person she is too insecure and unsure of who she is for me to want to see her shows. The way she just refuses to do the old hits is annoying. Who cares if she has sang them 100 million times. And they are 20 years old. The fans love them. Kylie always, always does a lot of her '80s stuff and some of her deconstruction stuff too. She knows what the gays want and she delivers.

[alexis]

Sarah which club were you at?

[SnarkyOracle!]

I dunno. I like the occasional bitch-diva. Crawford, Davis, but they'e like the female equivalent of Hitler. So it's kinetic, narcissistic mania, regardless of gender.

Don't care much for drag. Or most trendy pop stars ladies, unless they're really talented as define it.

But then, I never felt much like a girl. Nor was I ever mistaken for one, except for maybe my lips and puffy bouffant..

[Emmerdalefan]

The legendary Dot Cotton in Easties has been dubbed a gay icon and according to Wickipedia there is a gay club in Cambridge named after her.

[alexis]

Oh Dot is an ICON!!!! Love a bit of Dot Cotton. She is a wise woman!

[Daniel Avery]

Wisecracking old ladies sitting around eating cheescake and talking dirty. Sound familiar?

(No, I'm not talking about the moderator lounge)

[alexis]

Wisecracking old ladies sitting around eating cheescake and talking dirty. Sound familiar?

(No, I'm not talking about the moderator lounge)

Sophia! ICON.

[Mel O'Drama]

On Will & Grace, Jack and Will taught Barry a poem to remember his gay icons:

Judy, Liza, Barbra, Bette. These are names I shan't forget.

I just Googled the phrase, and found this article.

http://eternalthoughtsofkevinsmind.b...are-names.html

[McGarrett .]

There hardly seems to be many "gay" gay icons...

[alexis]

Gay icons who are gay:

Quentin Crisp
Oscar Wilde
Monty Cliff
Kenneth Williams
Ru Paul
Dusty Springfield
Rock Hudson
Ricky Martin
Elton John
George Micheal
Boy George
The Pet Shop Boys

[McGarrett .]

Gay icons who are gay:

Quentin Crisp
Oscar Wilde
Monty Cliff
Kenneth Williams
Ru Paul
Dusty Springfield
Rock Hudson
Ricky Martin
Elton John
George Micheal
Boy George
The Pet Shop Boys

are they all out of the closet??

[Sarah]

Sarah which club were you at?

The George

[neighboursfan]

What about Bet Lynch from corrie.