There is nothing courageous or exciting about Lady Gaga's espousal of gay rights. There is nothing at stake. Nor is there in Gwen Stefani, . Elton John is out? Cool, but he waited for Bowie to come out as a bi-sexual before John joined him in the early 70s..
I don't claim it is easy to admit your homosexuality before the 21st Century -and I don't claim it is at all wise in, say, Iran. An off hand joke by Oscar Wilde ended with him jailed, broke, friendless and dead in that order. You try that. In the 70s, the UK called homosexuality a disease and Tom Robinson sung about it. Now that's brave.And in the 50s and 60s? Imagine an out Liberace, or, worse, an out Rock Hudson.
In the 80s, while GMHC were helping a ravished gay society, devastated by AIDS and Reagan killing funding, Michael Stipe, Elton John, George Michael among many were still at least partially closeted. Freddie Mercury died and still the pop world wouldn't budge.I am not claiming they had that many choices, what I am claiming is when it mattered rock stars did fuck all for homosexuals.They watched Sylvester, braver than the lot of them, die and wrung their hands.
So excuse me if 20 years later, I sneer with all my heart at these stars and their ancestors. John has done a lot, and important stuff, for gay rights. But if it was 1945 he would be Cole Porter or Noel Coward. And Gaga would be Elizabeth Taylor, Taylor's close friend Montgomery Clift and her father were both homosexuals, and both spent a life forced to deny their identity.Her other close friend Rock Hudson went to his grave in denial.
THERE IS NOTHING BRAVE ABOUT THE FLAVOR OF THE MONTH LIBERAL ROCK ESTABLISHMENT.
They are despical hypocrites one and all.
As for Sylvester, the out disco queen behind "You Might Make Feel (Mighty Real)" who died from complications from AIDS at the age of 41. Go listen to it and then go listen to "Born This Way" and tell me who was born what way, who matters and who is irrelevant, who is the icon and who is riding on the coattails of an already won battle? Next thing Gaga will be telling us is she is pro-African Americans being given the vote.