Is Judy Garland Still a Gay Idol?

[Smarmie Doofus]

7. This dialogue is magnificent:

>>>I asked, “Did your mother ever listen to Judy albums around the house?”

“She liked ’80s hair bands. Poison, Aerosmith, Journey. But I bet my great-grandmother listened to her.”

I asked, “Is this a dagger I see before me?”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Personally I like Joni Mitchell,” he continued. “She’s real. Not so dramatic. Down to earth.”

Who wants down to earth, I wanted badly to respond, when you can be transported over the rainbow? Instead I asked Brodie if he’d ever heard gay guys refer to themselves as “Friends of Dorothy?”

“Why would they do that?”

“Because gay men once identified, very powerfully, with Judy Garland: her wit, gravitas, glamour.”

It’s a concept that Brodie seems to find embarrassing. “I guess I’m just not interested in glamour,” he said. “I’m interested in artists who can tell me about real life.”>>>>>>>


FWIW, I always found the Judy-thing a puzzler. And worshipped for a long time at the altar of JM. I never connected being gay with either.