When a person who is thought to be straight announces he is actually a homosexual it is called “coming out of the closet.”
But sometimes the closet door doesn’t swing exactly this way.
Back in the 1970s the biggest hit was a group called “The Village People.” Greenwich Village in New York City was at that time the largest enclave of homosexuals on earth. So The Village People dressed themeselves in macho homosexual outfits, The Cop, The Indian, The Cowboy and so forth and sang a bunch of songs that became wildly popular.
All the hits had homo themes, like “YMCA,” since the Young Men Christian Association was at that time getting a reputation for being where homosexuals stayed. So everyody assumed the Village People were all gay.
I doubt anybody will mistake me for a fan of Gay Liberation, but I think the songs were good. They were professional grade. And therein lay the problem.
You can’t just wander into Greenwich Village or anywhere else and just accidentally pick up five excellent artists. So they found the best five they could get.
Anywhere they could find them.
For many of the upper middle class fans of the Village People, the major thrill was not that they were listening to first-class music, but that they were Making a Social Statement. Gay Lib was just getting started and all the socially progressive Yuppies wanted in on it.
Then a horrible rumor began to appear in the scandal sheets. Some of the Village People were NOT gay!!!! A lot of fans were outraged, and not just the gay ones.
Finally, the PR people for the Village People made the statement so many people have issued before and since, “The sexual orientation of individual members of The Village People is not open to discussion.”
Yessir, the closet door swings both ways.
Recent Comments