Jack Gibson ¦ Contributing Writer
On Christmas Day 1999 I received a gift which indelibly marked a beginning in my life and created an obsession which would evolve over the following months and years to a lifelong love. The gift was my first CD player and, more importantly, my first CD, namely ‘All The Way… A Decade of Song’ by Celine Dion. I know. And my father never guessed. Go figure.
What I’ve never quite worked out is why? Why, at the age of 7 on a wintry January afternoon, buzzed off the Capri Sun and mini Mars bar I had just devoured, did I feel compelled to stand up on my chair in Senior Infants and belt out a few bars of ‘My Heart Will Go On’? What was it about a woman singing a song about a waterlogged Leo and a selfish, door-hogging Kate that possessed me to act so outrageously? By trawling through the net I have devised a number of explanations.
All in all, I had a lot of feelings, and when Dion alternately slurred and belted hers out so unapologetically… well, they were the very type I could comprehend and relate to.
First, in the case of my relationship with Celine, I would have to put it down to the fact that I was an emotional, borderline-hypersensitive child. I was that kid who suffered a rage black out and came-to moments later with the blood of a nipping rabbit or mocking child on my hands. All in all, I had a lot of feelings, and when Dion alternately slurred and belted hers out so unapologetically… well, they were the very type I could comprehend and relate to. This, while personally illuminating, does not a mystery solve.
Secondly, Graham Norton recently presented Cher her first ever Lifetime Achievement Award from Attitude Magazine. In his speech he deftly delineated one breed of Diva, specifically the icon borne from solidarity, sympathy and love for her gay brethren: “this lady often pays tribute to us: we were with her when no one else was, we went to the concerts when no one else would. The fact is, she was with us. When we didn’t have many friends, she was our friend”. This most admirable of characters has been seen time and time again, from Dusty Springfield honourably praising her gay fans at a charity Concert way back in 1979 to modern LGBT rights advocates such as Lady Gaga. Be it out of gratitude or conscience, talented women of the music industry who have acknowledged their more fabulous fans have shot to icon status and enjoyed long-standing adoration.
There is a rapport between these two folk, built on an understanding of what it is like to be browbeaten by society and life.
In receiving her award Cher, in pondering her place in these mens hearts, highlighted a bond, an understanding which shed some light on the indivisible link and love between them. She contended from on high “I think what you guys like is a strong woman having a breakdown constantly”. The lifeless drawling mannequin had an ill-formed point, and when fully fleshed out I believe it is this: there is coinciding respect and empathy felt by gay men for an emotional woman. There is a rapport between these two folk, built on an understanding of what it is like to be browbeaten by society and life. Tina Turner is one of the worlds greatest gay icons and a woman who forged her own path in life and built her self back up after a most despicable and disgusting marriage. Similarly Rihanna, as a modern example, is resolute and empowered after a sadly public mistreatment, and has a devoted gay following.
At the age of 16, I myself developed a seemingly-inexplicable obsession with Barbra Streisand. I couldn’t comprehend it, I knew she was a veritable, self-obsessed wagon but after having seen Funny Girl I could not deny the love. It is only of late, in retrospect that I see what kinship a gangly, awkward, closeted teen could have felt with a poor, Jewish girl with an unconventional face, mountains of heartbreak and a whole load of talent.
The final explanation I have divined, is the aptly-named “Madonna’s an Awful Whore” complex. Not to be confused with any Freudian “mammy-didn’t-breatfeed-me” nonsense, The “Madonna’s an Awful Whore” complex is a theorem I devised myself not long after I first experienced the ultimate fly-on-the-wall tour music documentary ‘In Bed With Madonna’. In the films most infamous scene, Madge amongst other things such as fellating a wine bottle, orchestrates a game of dares and subsequently disgusts one of her male dancers, Oliver, to the point that he has a hissy fit and storms away, obviously affected by her overt sexuality. This controversy, one in a countless slew, made Madonna what she is today: the undisputed Holy Mother of Gays.
These are blunt stabs at a rather complex question and one I feel far too involved in to answer unbiased or in any way other than wholly blinded by adoration.
This occurrence led me to consider other pop stars who have, for lack of a better term, gone a bit skanky and congregated a massive gay following almost instantly. Whether it be Britney in torn clothing with ‘Slave 4 U’, Christina in less clothing with ‘Dirty’ or, most recently, Miley in no clothing with ‘Wrecking Ball’, one thing is for certain, gay men go wild for a woman embracing her sexuality. And why shouldn’t they. Whilst fumbling around in a dark closet for the majority of their teenage and often later years, what outlet has a gay man but to express himself vicariously through the conspicuous and obvious sexual prowess of another? Later, after those dark years, these homages to the Diva are celebrations of freedom and of expression.
These are blunt stabs at a rather complex question and one I feel far too involved in to answer unbiased or in any way other than wholly blinded by adoration. What I do know however is, in the words of Donna Summer, I Feel Love for you fabulous women, and though you may never know it, you are, as Bette Midler would say, The Wind Beneath My Wings and as Whitney once wailed, I Will Always Love You. One thing is for certain, there is a symbiosis and unquestionable love between the gay man and the Diva, and long may it last.
