Friday, July 13, 2007

Gloria Gaynor Homophobic?

Gloria Gaynor is currently in the uk for a series of shows. This morning she was interviewed by Radio4's Woman's Hour. The singer talked about her youth, her career, about some of her most famous songs, several of which have become gay anthems. She also talked about her becoming a born again Christian.

Finally the interviewer asked her about her status as a gay icon. She said she was really pleased with this and that saw it as an opportunity to lead her fans towards Christ. The interviewer then asked several times if there might be a contradiction between her faith and her having a gay fan base, if she considered homosexuality as a sin. Gaynor each time refused to answer the question directly. She only said that she is leading her fans to Christ and what he has to offer to them.

Listen to the interview here.

Mored details here.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Donna Summer and now Gloria Gaynor. It was undoubtedly gay men that but them there. It is disgraceful that they should betray us in this manner. This interview is full of deceit, prevarication and delusion. May her god forgive her I never shall. Nor will I forgive all the queens who choose to continue to idolise her or her music!

Anonymous said...

That would explain why people seemed to have voted with their feet at her concert at the Shepherds Bush Empire on Friday night. There were about 50 people in the standing stalls area which normally would take about 500. Her behaviour towards my autograph hunting boyfriend was also a bit strange after the show.

Ed. said...

About Donna Summer (extract from wikipedia):

Rumors persisted that Summer was in fact a man in drag and not a woman, a rumour Summer addressed in 1989 on The Arsenio Hall Show. A far more painful incident came in the early 1980s with reports that she had made anti-gay remarks associated with the AIDS epidemic. Her songs were banned for a number of years in some gay establishments over these rumours.[citation needed]

Summer has long denied such allegations, and finally took legal action against a newspaper which printed the rumors during a review of a concert. Summer tearfully stated, "I never said anything that was written about me in that article". To make amends, Summer has since played for AIDS benefits and has donated proceeds to AIDS research. Even in 2006, she is still asked about the rumours, recently by a Canadian newspaper. Summer responded, "So many people in my audiences are gay. I can’t live my life trying to assure people of anything. You have to live knowing who you are. I think that my actions and the person that I am speak louder than somebody else’s misgivings or lies about me", says Summer now. "They print all kinds of things about people all the time but you can’t run after every single lie. You tell people the truth and if they choose to believe you, they do."

Regardless, even among gays, her brilliant talent and musicianship (aided by Giorgio Moroder) are lovingly embraced as the epitome of the disco era, as is her subsequent support in fighting AIDS.

a&rpublist said...

Here we go again, I can't speak much about Gloria Gaynor, she just seems to be avoiding the topic and playing it safe. But for christ sake, the issue on Donna Summer allegedly making anti gay statements is tired already. No evidence that she said anything.