Which (straight) celeb did the most for the gay cause

Tie between Dolly and Liz.

Liz did a LOT, but Dolly's support given her base was important.

Liz did a lot within the existing base. Dolly expanded the base.

Bea Arthur left money to help LGBT kids in her will

Why is Liza Minnelli not in your poll? She married at least 3 gay men.

Steven Spielberg and Brad Pitt have given a lot of money to gay rights causes. Bill Gates gave millions to support gay marriage. Though I realize this list will probably be dominated by "divas" and "fag hags"

Madonna, by far.

Madonna, of course.

Thread closed.

R5 R6 I was reluctant about adding her first because even though she did a lot for gays in terms of exposure and raising awareness I've seen DL posters say she is quite stingy when it comes to monetarily supporting gay causes. They also bring up her stance on anti-gay Kabalaah. What are your opinions on this?

That is BS, OP.

Just last weekend, Madonna raised thousands of dollars for LGBT youth with her Pride performance in Manhattan.

People who hate Madonna will say anything to justify their unhinged jealousy of her life.

No one came close to Liz.

Well. Liz did save Montgomery Cliff’s life and in a way that I’m not sure I’d even have the chutzpah to do even in an emergency, so there’s that.

^^^ For those who may not know the story.

Bea!!!!

I think Madonna and Liz should be tied. I've reaad stories of gay people from other countries saying how Madonna's Truth or Dare made them feel so much more accepted and happier.

TRUTH OR DARE in 1991 was staggering in its effect on gay men around the world, all thanks to Madonna.

Liz was a giver. Madonna is a user and taker.

True progressives.

Real progressives. Not like today.

Liz defended Michael Jackson 'cause he bought her jewelry......she did some good things but she was hardly a saint

Wasn't Liz Taylor one of the first people to actually touch an AIDs patient and treat them like a normal human being?

^ I thought that was Princess Diana

Elizabeth Taylor was active in the fight against AIDS long before Diana.

Olivia Newton-John for the hot guys and twist ending of the “Physical” video

A religious woman worked for Rock Hudson and was not accepting of homosexuality. She said that when Rock Hudson was ravaged with AIDS and could only lie in bed, Elizabeth Taylor came over to visit him. She stated that Elizabeth was not afraid, climbed right into bed with Rock and held and comforted him despite having the disease. The woman stated that this event changed her attitude, gave her a higher concept of God and compassion for all.

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward supported gay rights before it was common for stars (even ones who were vocally liberal) to do so

Joan Rivers and Bette Midler, Before La Taylor got involved(due to her darling Rock...Phony Bitch) Joan and Bette were doing fundraisers for AIDS-HIV!! From the beginning, they were very involved.

Madonna needed gay men to propel her career. She got as much back from gays as she gave them.

Elizabeth Taylor never needed the support of LBGT community. She was more popular than any one in the history of mankind. She was richer than any other entertainer. Yet she she fought for gay men, unconditionally. If Elizabeth Taylor is the mother of all gays, Madonna is just their ex or FWB as they said today's parlance. No comparison between the two.

"She was more popular than any one in the history of mankind."

That's a pretty big stretch

R28 - the world followed Liz. She was at one time the most popular.

The gays stuck by Liz Taylor in her zaftig days.

I think Elizabeth wins in a landslide. She was a friend, confidant, and supporter to numerous gays in a time when the mainstream society posited that we were perverts and freaks of nature. Even now, a lot of people who are “allies” don’t want to get into the nitty gritty details. On an interpersonal level she let it be known that the gays were welcome in her world. Plus she knew how to keep quiet when nothing needed to be said in a closeted world. She went out of her way to help Monty Clift keep working when others had written him off as a no good drunken Queen. Elizabeth knew that his emotional issues were much deeper than just booze.

Not only was Elizabeth a personal friend/mentor /supporter to gay people, she really was THE first celebrity to put their star power and cash in the service of the battle against AIDs. She was outspoken about her support for AIDs research, therapies and patients. There were very few people even willing to touch people with AIDs and that is why it is so important that Elizabeth and Diana did so publicly and without fear.

Surprised nobody has mentioned Macklemore and that fact that he single-handedly ended homophobia on the MTV VMA stage. Wouldn't have had gay marriage without that beautiful and powerful song.

There were a lot of women who raised funds, brought attention to, and helped humanize AIDs patients. Locally drag queens were always willing to help raise funds.

Miss John Travolta did….

People forget how stupid even the government was in the beginning. Doctors were suggesting that Grid was passed via kisses, hugs, etc. As a small child, I thought that sounded wack.

No Judy Garland?

Serious question.

r28 You simply don't how popular Liz Taylor was at the height of her fame.

R28 let's put it this way, after Montgomery Clift had his car accident and Taylor heroically saved his life, the press had gathered around the wreckage. In order to protect him Elizabeth swore to the press that if as much as a single photo was taken of Clift's face, she wouldn't allow herself to be photographed again. The threat of Liz not appearing on papers was so effective that it prevented Clift, himself being one of the biggest stars from his era from having his bloodied face be front page news.

We just can't comprehend how truly famous some of the people from that era were. With Social media and reality TV anyone and everyone is considered a celeb. Incidents like the Beatles traveling in an armored car or Women having fits and killing themselves after Valentino died, would never happen today.

It's still Madonna.

Madonna didn't do shit. Elizabeth Taylor raised a quarter of a BILLION dollars for AIDS.

Madonna was a friend of the gay community, not a mother. Liz was a mother. There's a difference.

A friend hangs out with you and keeps you company. A mother takes care of you when you're sick.

Liz helped gay men, particularly those with AIDS.

Madonna made gay men acceptable and also feel proud of themselves for being gay.

Madonna has done the most for the gay cause.

R42 Madonna did not make gay men acceptable, give me a break. She's done a lot of the gay community and has been a friend for us, but saying she made gay men acceptable is like saying Judy Garland made gay men acceptable.

Tell me what Madonna actually did for gay men. Name the things she did. Examples. We'll wait.

She used gay men to make herself look cool; she didn't do a damn thing. Until you give me examples, it's bullshit.

Raising a quarter of a billion dollars, as Taylor did--that's actually doing something, unlike Madonna, who's gotten a pass for doing nothing her entire career.

Madonna was helpful in push self-acceptance on to the community and was a loud and proud ally, which WAS in fact helpful. But she didn't actually help the gay community in the way Liz or Diana did.

Being help-ful and help-ing are not the same thing.

Madonna is a grifter.

That's right, R47. She's never done anything for anyone that didn't benefit her first.

Elizabeth Taylor’s support spans generations - from Montgomery Clift to Rock Hudson to Shwoing up in a wheel chair at the Abbey.

Although there is a reason gay men are known as Friends or Dorothy. These women were in support of gay men at a time when doing so would have easily ended their careers.

Whereas Madonna did fight, she did so partly because it made her edgier. She doesn’t do anything that doesn’t benefit herself in some way.

And if Dolly was a true support of the community, she’d come out herself.

Looking at the comments, I do think Liz should be ahead of Madonna. Howevever, to clear up a few things here, Madonna was a bigger star than Liz was. That's not to say that Liz wasn't a big star but Madonna was just that big. Only Princess Di and Michael Jackson eclipsed her fame. And at the beginning of her career, Madonna's largest group of fans were girls and young women. When using EAS (equivalent album sales) method, True Blue and Like a Virgin sold about 40 million copies each. If gays are only 5% of the population, I don't see how there is any way gay men were doing most of the buying. So I don't think that it was gay men who propelled her career.

Anyways, regarding what Madonna did for gays. She would frequently defend gays in the media and she made them "unhidden" in her work (Like in her "Open Your Heart" video). Like Truth or Dare which was a huge influence on gays in other parts of the world--not just America--feeling more supported and accepted. This is at a time when, according to Gallup, something like 1/3rd of Americans said the AIDS crisis made them look at a gays in a worse light than they did before it happened.

Her song "In This Life" was the first song of its kind. It was a song about someone who died of AIDS and I don't think there was any song like it before it came out. When she performed it on her Girly Show tour, she announced AIDS as "the biggest tragedy of the 20th century" (or something like that).

Vogue was also influential in my opinion. I always thought it was about voguing to forget about the death and tragedy going on in the gay commuinity at the time (i.e. AIDS).

Madonna also has donated tons of money to gay things and as someone above said, her latest surprise concert had the proceeds donated to gay causes.

R37, I never said she wasn't popular. I said she wasn't the most popular. There were stars bigger than Liz

R46: Not all help is helpful.

I'm glad Elizabeth Montgomery is on OP's list--she did tons for the gay community that doesn't get remembered so much now. She just adored the second Darrin, Dick Sargent, who was gay, and of course many in the cast of "Bewitched" were gay, and that influenced her decision to champion gay people.

I wish Princess Diana had been on OP's list.

No Judith Light OP?

You Bitch!!!

Actually the correct answer is Phil Donahue who did all of the firsts with our community whatever the topic was (back in the 60s).

AIDS was the biggest taboo topic when in arrived back in 1981 but he didn't shy away from it that year. Did Liz mention it that year?

He got threats of boycotts but E. Taylor never did.

He also had to deal with networks, affiliates & advertisers. E. Taylor never did.

Liz got more public adoration than he did over the issue.

I recall some celeb (Gloria Estefan?) who said she recalled Sharon Stone & Liz being divas at some AIDS function & it was embarrassing to watch from the other participants. I think they were fighting over who went first or something to that effect.

Phil was never a diva at public events.

Crystal Light did more for gay people in this commercial at the 30 second marker or thereabout:

R54, I genuinely had no idea about anyone of that. Thanks for sharing.

I know Phil did a show on AIDS (aka GRID) shortly after it was

discovered in '81 but here is an other early show in '82 =

The only thing Judith Lightweight did for gay people is endanger our lives. If it weren't for her and that stupid sitcom, that awful little boy would not have been able to leverage undeserved fame to infect gay men with HIV and make his infection all about himself when called out on it. The thread on that revelation was juicier than a Florida orange grove: even an alleged ex-boyfriend came in to claim he was not surprised.

Judith also was part of that awful Jeffrey Tambor show, so she's culpable for furthering the TQ+ takeover of all things gay.

Phil also took on Anita Bryant in the late 70s.

When did Liz take her on? I think was busy attacking Little Debbie snack cakes at the time...

Phil promoted the gay high school issue back in the 80s.

What did Liz do for bulled LGBT youth in the 80s?

A PSA perhaps?

Liz wasn't dumb enough to lump LGB in with that TQ+ shit.

I recall this wedding was the first real same sex wedding performed on tv in the entire world back in the early 90s...

Sorry R61. Liz supported trans rights.

Before Lady Gaga =

R63: Then she's as selfish and narcissistic as all the rest of the self-serving breeder scum and she deserved to get fat for ruining [italic]A Little Night Music[/italic] and almost bankrupting 20th Century-Fox so badly they had to rely on fellow turncoat Julie fucking Andrews to bail them out.

Phil married a LGBT friendly woman where as Liz had problems with some of her husbands on our issues =

Tell that to her gay majordomo.

Funny how a lot of gay men give Madonna a pass for using the word “fag” several times in Truth or Dare, yet other people are raked over the coals for it. She pales in comparison to what Liz did for the community. Don’t let your Stan-clouded eyes block your good sense.

Wasn't Liz's hubby Larry F. hating on all of her LBGT friends

but she stayed married to him for over 5 years?

^ Sounds like Madonna & Guy R.

Liz did it when it was hardest. She did it when people were not even 100% sure how HIV spread. While we know better now, she did what was essentially thought of as put her life at risk. Hard to beat that.

Oh great, another thread in which women are pitted against each other for something they should be acknowledged for in their own right.

[quote]Her song "In This Life" was the first song of its kind. It was a song about someone who died of AIDS and I don't think there was any song like it before it came out

Never heard of Being Boring? Or It Couldn't Happen Here? Or Your Funny Uncle? Or Domino Dancing? Pet Shop Boys were writing songs about AIDS long before the Erotica album.

Madonna's support of gay rights and allowing camp and effeminate gay men to share her limelight was incredibly important to me as a teen. Her message on safe sex during the Blonde Ambition tour - hey you, don't be silly, put a condom on your willy - was very powerful.

Janet has raised money for tons of LGBTQ+ charities. Many in the community credit her Velvet Rope album with saving their lives (Janet Mock included, who even named herself after Janet when she transitioned), and with songs like “Together Again” and “Free Xone,” the album was a veritable love letter to the gay community.

[quote] Her message on safe sex during the Blonde Ambition tour - hey you, don't be silly, put a condom on your willy - was very powerful.

That obviously changed nothing:

Liz married John Warner, who fought against gays in the military

Madonna is bi, not straight. And DL told me Dolly is gay.

Vince Lombardi supported gay NFL players way back in the 60s. Maybe he wasn't a "diva" or a fag hag but he supported gays back when few people did

Now that I did not know, R77. Thanks for telling me.

Janet wasn't on the LGBT or AIDS radar until after Magic Johnson came out at his press conference in '91.

Magic did a lot for gays and AIDS awareness

R71 Phil Donahue was with AIDS patients when it first hit in the summer of '81.

Some guests cancelled at the last minute on his first AIDS episode back in 1981 due to this & other panelists told the audience that they didn't want to be there either (but still showed up).

[quote] Never heard of Being Boring? Or It Couldn't Happen Here? Or Your Funny Uncle? Or Domino Dancing? Pet Shop Boys were writing songs about AIDS long before the Erotica album.

I actually didn't. But thank you for bringing them to my attention. In This Life still remains the most depressing pop song I've heard. You can easily picture Madonna sitting in Central Park mourning her friend's death. The way she performed it live was so powerful.

R80: He showed that you don't have to be gay to get AIDS.

[quote]I actually didn't. But thank you for bringing them to my attention.

[quote]Now I sit with different faces in rented rooms and foreign places

[quote]All the people I was kissing, some are here and some are missing

[quote]In the nineteen-nineties

[quote]I never dreamt that I would get to be the creature that I always meant to be

[quote]But I thought in spite of dreams you'd be sitting somewhere here with me

[quote]Talk about being late to the party...

Being "late to the party" is not the point. She has done a lot for the community in the years since.

Oh good, r72 is in fine SJW fettle. How thrilling to hear her complain about sexual politics.

Yes it is the point. R85

Janet did her AIDS/gay thing in the 90s when it was less controversial.

She didn't get the blowback that Phil, Liz & Madonna got back in the 80s as gay rights allies/ AIDS activists.

[quote]Being help-ful and help-ing are not the same thing.

Yes, they are EXACTLY the same thing, just two different forms of the same word. I guess you were trying to make yourself sound smart by trying to draw a distinction between the two, but you actually had the opposite effect.

^You sound like one of those insufferable white gay men who hate black people just for the sake of it. It wasn't exactly de rigueur to be a vocal gay ally in the '90s either, toots. And I never heard Janet refer to gay men as "fags."

If they can't drop the T, they are not gay allies.

R89 is meant for R87.

R86, pretty much everyone in this thread would have been sneered at by conservatives for being a "SJW"

It wasn't conservatives leading this fight

Madonna got blowback because of how she has been a triumph of hype over substance.

Which straight actor allowed gay men to give him blow jobs the most?

That's the one!

Phil Donahue though strikes me as being exploitive for ratings and attention more then shedding light on societal ills and injustices. I mean he was no Jerry Springer, but his brand and his product wasn’t about just trying to right wrongs.

You forgot Vivian Vance's name in the poll, OP. We'll overlook it this time.

R51 There were bigger stars than Liz? No bigger female star I would say. She was the first to get $1M for a film: Cleopatra(1963) and was raking in more money per picture than Marilyn Monroe when they were both at 20th Century Fox. And from 1958-1967 she was Oscar nominate 5 times and won twice.

Vincent Price and Debbie Reynolds.

[QUOTE] [R37], I never said she wasn't popular. I said she wasn't the most popular. There were stars bigger than Liz

There were NONE. Elizabeth Taylor was the pinnacle of Hollywood stardom. When Liz and Dick were vacationing in Italy, it pushed some breaking global crisis news off the front page in the news papers of Italy. She was that "Big".

R95 Phil didn't get big ratings when he stated doing LGBT issues back in the 60s.

Few straights wanted to watch them as they weren't the heterosexual community's topics.

The nice straights thought they were a waste of time & the mean straights were foaming at the mouth over them as a kid sick & home from school might get recruited into our sinful lifestyle. We were considered mentally ill before 1973 & degenerates until the 1990s.

Few straights wanted to see 2 guys holding hands on tv in the late 60s or giving each other a kiss as they walked on stage.

Many straights thought The Odd Couple show (a late 60s/early 70s tv sit-com) was about a gay couple living together & gave it bottom of the barrel tv ratings during this period.

There were plenty of stars who were as big as or bigger than Liz Taylor:

Yeah, R101, mainly King Kong, Godzilla, Rodan, and Gamera.

r101 Quigley's list was purely based on box office pull. It was based on how their movies performed in the last one year. It's not a measure for popularity. When Liz Taylor was signed for Cleopatra for 1 million , it was in 1959 and Doris Day was the top box office star at the time, but still No person ever charged 1 million for a movie like Liz did then. She also got 7 million in revenues percentage. Inflation adjusted it's still the highest pay check ever for any one.

[quote]Which (straight) celeb did the most for the gay cause

The good-looking white male ones who did nude scenes.

All of those "gay/AIDS" Pet Shop Boys songs... with heterosexual-storyline videos for them.

How stunning and brave.

IT'S A SIN?????? Straight!

When we adjust for inflation, Elizabeth Taylor received 75 million dollars for Cleopatra in today's dollars and the movie wasn't even a blockbuster movie like say Gravity or LOTR

[quote]All of those "gay/AIDS" Pet Shop Boys songs... with heterosexual-storyline videos for them. How stunning and brave. IT'S A SIN?????? Straight!

It's A Sin was of course directed by Derek Jarman, one of the highest profile openly gay men at the time. Naturally he died of AIDS in the 90s.

Being Boring was banned from British TV for being too "adult themed" and of course the homoerotic elements of Domino Dancing saw US tv stations reluctant to air it. And yeah, Was It Worth It and Go West were SO heterosexual.

Getting one big paycheck doesn't make you the biggest star

When did Liz ever say publicly that she supported gay rights? Yes she did a lot for AIDS research and understanding, but plenty of straights had the AIDS, too.

Is Dolly a straight celeb?

Where is Kurt Cobain on the list?

R109 = flaming asshole POS.

He was on the list for awhile R111...

You would know a lot about flaming assholes, R113.

Oh wait, I meant R112.

[quote] If Elizabeth Taylor is the mother of all gays, Madonna is just their ex or FWB

That would make Joan Rivers the crazy aunt who still calls them F-a-g-g-o-t-s on TV before realizing these are the people who would propel her career in the future.

F U with Courtney's gun R115.

R112. WTF? Provide a clip of Liz re gay rights. I'm genuinely curious to know.

^ ^ plus the global AIDS crisis affected primarily straights - in Africa.

[quote]When did Liz ever say publicly that she supported gay rights? Yes she did a lot for AIDS research and understanding, but plenty of straights had the AIDS, too.

Not in America at the time. If you supported people with HIV you pretty much said you supported gay men. It wasn't cool back then for everyone to have a gay best friend. Remember Regan would not even say the word AIDS in his entire first term.

R105 fails to understand irony in a song. They were pointing out how society acts stupid, not a literal comment of how they felt you dumb bitch.

Wasn’t Jane Fonda and outspoken supporter of gay men before the AIDS crisis? Or am I confusing gay men with the Viet acing?

Former French colonies tend to be less homophobic than former British ones in my observation.

Cyndi Lauper put gays into one of her very first songs She Bob with a line about Blue Boy Magazine which was one of the only gay rags at the time.

R124 That was the first Safe Sex pop song too, better to masturbate then get the AIDS, she saved many.

In Spain our biggest Diva of all time went far out on a limb to support gays. It was shocking at the time but Spaniards adored her so they listened to her. Spain had gay marriage 9 years before the USA and I'm convinced she, Rocio Jurado, contributed to the great and swift change in attitudes.

Is there an American counterpart? Or one anywhere else? I don't there is.

Paul Newman

Newman

I like to think I am pretty plugged into gay culture of yesteryear, but I honestly did not know Elizabeth Taylor had any bearing on gay rights.

R129, back in the day of AIDS I worked at a fundraising event where Liz was the biggest draw of the straight crowd that showed up. There was stuff being auctioned off from Madonna, and other celebs but none of them showed up. She knew if she showed, people would attend and they did. She was never the typical Diva type, she didn't call us "her gays" or exploit gay men as backup in her stage shows. She was just a genuine person who felt it was wrong to treat gay people the way society was doing so. Very very supportive of the gay community especially in a time of crisis when most people tried to stay 6 feet away whether you had AIDS or not.

On Cyndi's first album, along with "She Bop," she also casts her version of Prince's "When U Were Mine" as a story of her boyfriend cheating on her with another man.

Plus, the song "He's So Unusual" is obviously about a girl dating a gay boy:

"When I want some lovin'

And I gotta have some lovin'

He says, 'Please, stop it please!'

He's so unusual!"

[quote]she didn't call us "her gays"

Hey, why isn't "My Gays!" Kathy Griffin in the poll???

R101 Not in terms worldwide recognition and publicity over several decades there wasn't.

France is really bad in this department IMO. I can't think of one French super celeb who publicly supported gays back in the day. Am I mistaken?

[quote]Hey, why isn't "My Gays!" Kathy Griffin in the poll???

Because I am not one of her GAYS!

[quote]France is really bad in this department IMO. I can't think of one French super celeb who publicly supported gays back in the day. Am I mistaken?

Dawn French did loads of fundraisers with her comedy partner Jennifer Saunders.

And Nicki French kept the gays entertained with her low quality covers of classic pop hits. And Eurovision.

French Stewart hasn't done anything to help the gays.

Weren't Depardieu and Deneuve actually anti gay?

Liz was an AIDS activist - she wasn't necessarily a gay rights activist. They're 2 different things.

This thread is so you

France was incredibly homophobic back in the day. I recall a stupid French TV show during which the moderator jokingly asked an actor "would you rather fuck Catherine Lara (a musician and fairly obvious lesbian) or a dog? ". The audience laughed and the actor responded " a dog, of course." The audience roared. This was around 1990.

It's interesting that France seems to be far more homophobic than the countries that surround it.

Diana Ross

In 1985 Doris Day interviewed Rock Hudson for her shown on a Christian (!) network. It aired a few days after his death. But before that a clip of them showing her embracing and kissing him could be seen everywhere. No mention of AIDS only hints about an illness. I saw it on German TV and was very touched how Day did that because around that time everyone knew or speculated what's happened with Hudson. In the dark 1980s it was a rare human gesture towards us. And the message was all over the world.

I voted for Taylor because she asked a rock concert crowd (Freddy Mercury tribute in 1992) to use condoms. When she was announced to come on stage she was booed but she silenced the crowd very fast: “I have something to say. We are here to tell the whole world that [Freddie] like others we have lost to AIDS, died before his time. (...)

“Every time you have sex, use a condom. Every single time. Straight sex. Gay sex. Bisexual sex. Use a condom, whoever you are.”

LIVE and broadcast internationally. Taylor raised money to help. She didn't let gay friends down.

Madonna was loved by gays and used gays for collaborations. But aside from the 'Justify my Love' video (1990), the documentary 'Truth or Dare' (1991) and her 'Sex' book (1992) I don't recall much embrace of lesbian or gay culture or revolutionary statements that were done by other celebs before her (and mentioned in the thread). I don't think singing in a gay bar in 2021 is a sign for anything because Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan or Caitlyn Jenner would do that too for PR. Madonna is the GBF who doesn't have time for you the moment she's married and calls you back if she's divorced. I wouldn't answer the call.

OP - I have dabbled in Madonna's version on Kabbalah at the Kabbalah Center and it is absolutely not anti-gay or homophobic. Maybe orthodox, men's only studies (which is for who it is indended), but not what Madonna is doing.

I hate to say it but Madonna. As a gayling the 90's Madonna was the only main stream artist who felt like they were making statements for gay rights and on national platforms. Madonna got grilled on Nightline on ABC for gay sex in Justify My Love. Everyone's parents watched that interview including mine. I was not however allowed, but watching it now makes me admire her balls so much. This was not fluff woke reporting like today.

Madonna didn't do jack shit to stop the erasure of gay people by the TQ+ cult. Not a goddamn thing.

And Patti LuPone was right about her as Evita. Even Jonathan Pryce was better than she was as a singer and as an actor. Too bad the movie isn't called [italic]Juan[/italic].

Though not of my time, I have seen Judy Garland grilled about her gay audience on an interview on youtube during a time when you really could not admit you were even friendly to gays. She didn't say outright, but she said as much as she could as a woman of her generation and I was very impressed.

[quote]This was not fluff woke reporting like today.

Was with you right up to the end, R145, then you revealed your Trumpist ways.

R148, yes, it's true, I do have some Trumpist thoughts and ways.

Politics aside, what I mean though about the reporting is that these were not soft ball questions ala Oprah and Harry. This was slut shaming her, telling her that gay sex is upsetting to watch, etc and she did not back down. When do we see artists today grilled in that fashion on a serious national news program? Certainly not Lady Gaga. I like Gaga and I think she is continuing the work for this generation which is important, but no PR rep would agree to those interviews.

[quote] Madonna didn't do jack shit to stop the erasure of gay people by the TQ+ cult. Not a goddamn thing.

Not her fault or the fault of other gay icons either.

I don't think anyone anticipated the trans mafia monopolizing the gay movement the way they have.

All the elder and not elder A-Gay cis men were there to support her so I don't know about erasure. It wasn't all TWOC's.

R149, you vote for Trump and call yourself gay?

You're sick.

Elizabeth Taylor's clout gave her the ability to raise significant funding to fight AIDS. But an equally important straight ally is Liz's UK counterpart, the beloved, Louisiana-born "zigzag" socialite Marguerite Littman.

In the late 1950s, Littman found herself in Hollywood and was hired to coach Liz on her southern accent for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and A Place in the Sun. Their mutual friends included Rock Hudson and Monty Clift.

Both women were close with Hudson in his final days in 1985. Rock's illness and death were instrumental in Liz co-founding AMFAR, while Marguerite founded Britain's first AIDS charity - Aids Crisis Trust

And it was through Marguerite's charity that Princess Diana found a cause to which she could get behind, leading to her publicly visiting London AIDS patients.

To call Littman a mentor to the young princess doesn't tell the whole story of their relationship. She became a confidante to Diana, who could trust Marguerite with her most intimate feelings.

The relationship led to Diana donating her dresses to benefit Aids Crisis Trust, which split the $3.25 million dollar proceeds from the highly-publicized Christie's auction with a cancer charity.

The 1997 auction occurred just two months before Diana's death.

Marguerite dissolved the Trust in 1999 and joined the board The Elton John AIDS Foundation. Sir Elton had been a longtime patron of Aids Crisis Trust.

Littman died of natural causes in October 2020 at the age of 90.

Oh yes, that huge celeb Marguerite Littman..

Liz Taylor’s greatest legacy is as Michael Jackson’s pedophile enabler. Fuck her.

R155 "huge celeb" is redundant. Look up the definition of celebrity.

Some are bigger than others, tonto.

R156 I agree.

She kept her young male friends & young male relatives away from him.

Sorry R89 but playing the race card won't work on me.

I posted R62 where Donahue had the first real same sex wedding on television in the entire world.

[quote]Sorry [R89] but playing the race card won't work on me.

It wasn't the race card, it was the asshole card, and you lived up to it handily.

You are exhausting, R161, Can we please get back to how Madonna did the most for the gay cause and promotion of black culture to the world featuring bi-racial group sex on an international platform while teaching the world to vogue?

Madonna is the first and only major female artist to be photographed in a bathhouse in an harness and leash being walk around like a farm animal.

Can we talk about how Madonna stole from the underground ballroom culture and then allowed herself to be filmed using the word “fag” multiple times?

[quote] Madonna is the first and only major female artist to be photographed in a bathhouse in an harness and leash being walk around like a farm animal.

Yes, and it’s one I’m almost certain all other major female artists are glad to let her have.

[quote] Can we talk about how Madonna stole from the underground ballroom culture

She didn't "steal" anything. No, she didn't invent it but she never claimed she did.

She stole, and the whole world thought she invented vogueing when artists like Jody Watley were vogueing and waacking in videos before her. But, since this is a thread about artists who’ve done the most for the gay cause, let’s take it back to that. Madonna is NOT on the top of the list, and your fangurling will never make it so.

But, she did refer to gay men as FAGS onscreen. That much she DID do.

R166 is Janbot, that explains the constant weird comments on this thread about Madonna. Listen, I'm sure Madonna isn't necessarly THE straight icon that did the most for gay causes but she did a lot more than Janet did. Janet only started vocally supporting gays in the 90s. Let's not act like she was vocal in the way Liz Taylor, Princess Di or even Madonna were in the 80s. She was not.

[quote][R166] is Janbot

Being a stalker is not a good look. And Janet never referred to gay men as "fags," so there's that.

No, but she did support her pedo brother and turned a blind eye to what he was doing so that's a bit worse than calling someone a "fag".

Mary J!

Brad Pitt

Steven Spielberg

[quote] No, but she did support her pedo brother and turned a blind eye to what he was doing so that's a bit worse than calling someone a "fag".

No, darling. She supported her brother. Whether or not he was a “pedo” was never proven, and has only been recently revisited because of those two liars and their faux-cumentary. You and your fellow DL ilk seem to have no problem bashing black public figures for things they have only been rumored to have said or things they’ve said and made amends for, but you often turn a blind eye when people like Madonna spew the F word and marry a homophobe. It’s all pretty telling and extremely pathetic.

Ahem...

R174, it was proven to anyone with common sense (that excludes you). He had books featuring pictures of naked boys at his house. Nice of you to call the victims liars because they're telling you what you don't want to hear

[quote] seem to have no problem bashing black public figures

Of course, make it into a race issue. You probably think OJ was innocent too.

This is not about Michael Jackson, it is about how Madonna called gay men fags and you don’t care. Stop trying to change the subject.

And really, you're criticizing Madonna for marrying a homophobe when Janet married some Qatari devout Muslim who expected Janet to live that same lifestyle?

When I see the constant bashing of black women like Joy Reid on DL, all for some things she may have said, or things that she apologized for, yet a white artist used the dreaded F word, never apologized for it, and it is not even called out, then you’d better fucking believe it’s a race issue.

No love for Estelle Getty (Sophia from Golden Girls)?

[quote] We all know and love Estelle Getty for her role as Sophia Petrillo on The Golden Girls, but did you know that she was also a very vocal AIDS activist? She got involved after losing not only her friend but also a nephew to the disease.

[quote] "I've been in show business all my life, and the majority of my friends are gay. I don't deny that. A lot of my friends have died from AIDS," she told entertainment journalist Frank Sanello in 1989.

Does Madonna using the word"fags" in a movie discount how she was outspoken about gays as far back as the 80s, openly supported them and spoke out for AIDS victims? No. That's probably why most here don't give a rats ass about something she said in 1990.

^Regardless. A black artist could have done the same thing and then spent the following decade giving to AIDS charities, working in an LGBTQ soup kitchen and making weekly public amends, and you would still demonize said artist and “discount” all the good they’ve done. Admit it. You would look a lot less disingenuous.

[quote] When I see the constant bashing of black women like Joy Reid on DL, all for some things she may have said, or things that she apologized for, yet a white artist used the dreaded F word, never apologized for it, and it is not even called out, then you’d better fucking believe it’s a race issue.

That's probably because Joy Reid said/did homophobic stuff in the not-so-distant past versus 1990. And it wasn't just one thing, it was repeated posts on her blog. ANd then for MSNBC to claim she was "hacked". LOL

^Just shut the fuck up. Your horns are showing.

R183, no. There are several black celebs who have been outspoken in favor of gays and I'm not denying that. Your fixation on Madonna's use of the word "fags" in a documnentary from 30 years ago is odd.

Your refusal to call her on it is even odder.

It was a different time and a different attitude. The Gay Community fought different cultural wars back then. Gays, fag hags and other gay allies could say words like fag and queer without it being considered offensive since it was all about owning and claiming those words to make them lose their power when uttered by the conservatives.

R188, this is what Janbot is not getting. IT WAS 1990! Up until very recently, the term "fag hag" was acceptable. And that was pretty recently. Nobody really uses that term now.

The excuses don’t wash. She said it and you don’t care. If it had been a black woman, she’d still be raked over the coals for it.

R190 Madonna's stock in our community has crashed from what it once was.

In addition to all f the money she raised while alive, Elizabeth Taylor donated all of her jewelry, $150 million or so when auctioned after her death, to the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. Thats’s Bill Gates-level money.

Sorry R192. Gates is sometimes the richest person in the world.

Taylor was never in league with him on any level.

No, R110.

Poor R161. Tries to save face by denying that she was throwing

racism accusations around like they were silly putty & seeing what sticks.

"People who hate Madonna will say anything to justify their unhinged jealousy of her life."

Oh shut the fuck up, you deranged Madonna queen. Everything Madonna has ever done was to benefit HERSELF, not anyone else. She never gave a shit about gays, but she DID want them as a fan base, hence everything she's "done for us." And I don't think many people have "jealous" of her life. She seems on a downward spiral, and is getting more insane by the day.

Madonna shouldn't be mentioned in this thread.

[quote]Madonna is the GBF who doesn't have time for you the moment she's married and calls you back if she's divorced. I wouldn't answer the call.

LOL that's kind of a perfect description of her.

R193, I never said she had as much money Gates but anyone donating $150 million to anything, especially someone who isn’t a billionaire, is the highest level philanthropy there is.

[quote]When I see the constant bashing of black women like Joy Reid on DL, all for some things she may have said, or things that she apologized for,

Not "may have said" things she DID SAY. It's in print you dipshit apologist for homophobia.

Secondly, she did not apologize, she lied and said she was hacked. She's like a black Trump, never admit you are wrong, lie, lie, lie then claim victim.

Well this turned into a landslide in the voting, and rightly so.

[quote]you dipshit apologist for homophobia.

Says the nimrod who upholds Madonna as some sort of patron saint of gayness when she outwardly used the dreaded "F" word and married a homophone. Get the fuck out of here with that bullshit.

R72: Interesting you’d call Was It Worth It and Domino Dancing AIDS songs. Neither are even particularly gay I’d say, especially as at the time Neil Tennant wasn’t even publicly out. He could easily be taken to be singing about a woman in both.

Being Boring and Your Funny Uncle definitely though.

Madonna did record another AIDS song before In This Life which was before all of those PSB songs apart from Your Funny Uncle (1988). Spanish Eyes on Like A Prayer (1989) was about a friend who’d died of AIDS.

Not that it needs to be a competition but I wonder when the first ‘AIDS song’ did come out. That’s What Friends Are For in 85? Of course how you judge a song as an AIDS song can be subjective too. I’m sure a lot of writers wrote songs from 81/82 onwards that could be interpreted in different ways but were thinking of friends/lovers lost to AIDS.

THIS------>>>Lesser Known Gay Heroes = Joanna Carson (ex wife of Johnny Carson). She devoted alot of her wealth to AIDS Charities. Her son was an actor (Joe Holland) who died of AIDS at 32. She was gay friendly and close friends with Truman Capote. She also tried to rally Hollywood around AIDS causes in the early 80s, because she had friends dying, but it wasnt't until Rock Hudson and the summer of 1985 until Hollywood would come together to fight AIDS. VIDEO LINK = Joe Holland as the "hot guy" in the Midnight Blue video.

Madonna doesn't qualify as "straight." She's muff dived probably a few hundred times in her life.

Don't feed the trolls. Certain things you know to be true and Madonna was an ally of the gays. She was one of us and her thinking she is 25 now is no different than most of DL. Why debate these stupid points that don't matter.

I do very much like the suggestion for Estelle Getty. Like most of the best, it seems like she did a lot of her work and advocacy for the gay community with little need for fanfare. I was just reading an article based on whoever posted about her upthread that all these gay men were dying around her on Broadway in the early 80's. She would bring soup to her gay friends with AIDS.

There probably isn't just one but several who did the most with Madonna being one at or close to the front of the line.

^^ you're the troll. Christ, what bullshit.

Watch and learn.

Obviously Madonna. She’s a cunt but she has always supported the gay community 110% of her life

That's a great interview. I've been schooled. Thanks.

[quote]she has always supported the gay community 110% of her life

Except for when she called you a fag.

[quote][R72]: Interesting you’d call Was It Worth It and Domino Dancing AIDS songs. Neither are even particularly gay I’d say, especially as at the time Neil Tennant wasn’t even publicly out. He could easily be taken to be singing about a woman in both.

I didn't say Was It Worth It was an AIDS song, I said it had an overtly gay video. And Domino Dancing had an overtly homoerotic video and the "watch them all fall down" was long analysed to be about AIDS.

[quote]Not that it needs to be a competition but I wonder when the first ‘AIDS song’ did come out. That’s What Friends Are For in 85? Of course how you judge a song as an AIDS song can be subjective too. I’m sure a lot of writers wrote songs from 81/82 onwards that could be interpreted in different ways but were thinking of friends/lovers lost to AIDS.

That's What Friends Are For was written pre AIDS and released in 1982, originally sung by Rod Stewart.

R212: ah sorry, lazy reading/posting on my part..

If the lines ‘all day, all day, watch them all fall down’ were written about AIDS victims it’s pretty crass on PSB’s part. Given the song’s other lyrics and theme, I don’t think it is about AIDS, more the effect the person being sung about has on all the men they encounter: they all want him, all lust after him, etc. As in they fall like dominoes in a ‘he can have them all’ way.

Why are Janet and Madonna fans always fighting each other? I don't know much about their relationship or if they even ever interacted with each other but I'm sure they've had nothing but respect and admiration for one another.

E. Getty & Joan Rivers were both hard core republicans who supported Reagan who watched our community died for the first half of a decade & didn't advocate for the approx. $100 million for an AIDS drug/vaccine to fight the horrible disease.

I only heard of one $5 million grant to AIDS research stuck in one of the early 80s bills that passed (which the dems put in). Their great Reagan admin. couldn't even get the necessary funds for a single AIDS drug at the time.

Some advocates they were.

R214, one word: Janbot.

R214, one word: VadgeStans.

We don't fucking want her. support. We want her to go away and become as unemployable as Anita Bryant.

Didn't Madonna make fun of her gay male dancers in :"Truth or Dare?" I recall some scene where she got two of her male dancers to kiss while she watched; she exclaimed "This is giving me a hard on!" I thought her behavior was disgusting. It was like those two gay men were playthings of hers. Some "supporter of gays!"

R219: plus the fact she didn’t give a shit about any of them after the tour was done/film came out. I forget the specifics but I think some maybe asked her not to include them in the film as they weren’t out to their families.

Madonna has definitely spoken up a lot for gay people generally but ,like with everyone in her life, she’s no doubt also been a total cunt to gay people and used lots of gay people for her own means and discarded them once they were no longer needed. Doesn’t mean she hasn’t done good things for ‘the cause’ though and visibility etc.

R214: there was a period in the early/mid 90s when all the big female singers seemed to take the bait in interviews and make the odd bitchy/slightly-bitchy remark about each other.

Not sure what Madonna ever said about Janet specifically (no doubt something though) and Janet’s bitchy comment back in about 1993 was to say what she does has class whereas Madonna doesn’t. It was probably a fair comment at the time by it’s ironic that Janet then spent the next 10-15 years being anything but classy with a lot of her music (all the ‘orgasming’ on record, the endless sex songs, etc)

R221, Madonna did use to make fun of Janet a lot. She said something at some awards show that Janet smells like corn nuts lol. Arsenio Hall said that Madonna and her dancers were making fun of Janet backstage at some show and one of Janet's dancer's heard and told her everything. And Madonna also told Michael at the Oscars that he shouldn't work with Janet because she was basically beneath him and he would be lowerin ghimself to do that. The BALLS on that woman to tell Janet's brother that! That pissed Michael off and he probably told Janet all of that. That's why Janet hated Madonna. But apparently they buried the hatchet at Michael's memorial show.

I agree with everyone who said Phil Donahue. I'm so glad to see him getting respect! On his show, he had gay people and people with AIDS. He was always sympathetic to everyone who appeared. And he tried to reason with those judgmental midwestern women who made up the bulk of his audience.

--And what's WRONGGG with Odetta?!

When I'm high, I AM Odetta!

One of the dancers did say that Madonna's Chanel jacket was very "Janet Jackson, Rhythm Nation" and Madonna said, "bite your tongue. To Madonna's credit, she did in fact purchase the jacket.

R215. Whatever their political beliefs may be, Joan and Estelle gave a lot to the gay community. Estelle Getty donated large sums of money and attended every major AIDS fundraiser in the 80's.

Estelle Getty was a Republican? That's news to me. Unless you're confusing her with Ricky Schroder.

Agree with those above on Phil Donahue. It was really unusual to see anybody talk about gay anything with anything other than a sneer in the "respectable" media, including the Good Grey New York Times. By just allowing gay people on TV to speak for themselves, Donahue was years ahead of most of those assholes. And those housewives that nobody cared about were watching and at least some of them were thinking, that really sucks that kids are kicked out of their homes by their own families. Singers and movies stars are all well and good, but giving a platform for actual, OMG, real live gay people was a hell of thing.

Well, there's nothing whatsoever in her Wiki bio to suggest that Estelle Getty was ever a Republican. Au contraire:

[quote]Getty was introduced to Arthur Gettleman, whose last name she would later use as the basis for her stage name, at a party by her friends from the New York theater circuit and the two married nine months later, on December 21, 1947. They had two children together, sons Carl Gettleman and Barry Gettleman, and remained married until his death on September 24, 2004, at the age of 85.[21] After they wed, the two lived in the Bronx for a time, and, after the births of their two sons, moved to Oakland Gardens Queens, living in a liberal-minded cooperative built for Jewish veterans of World War II called Bell Park Gardens, while Arthur worked with his father-in-law in glass installation. The two lived separately for some time in the mid-80s to mid-90s, as Getty moved to California in order to work on The Golden Girls, and Arthur had no desire to leave New York, and continued to work in the family's glass business.

HIV/AIDS activism

Getty was said by friends Harvey Fierstein and Rosie O'Donnell, both notable members of the LGBT community, to have been heavily involved in HIV/AIDS activism and that she had lost close friends and family to the disease, among them her nephew Steven Scher (1962–1992), whom she cared for after he was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, and her Torch Song Trilogy co-star Court Miller (1952–1986).[22] She later helped to open a hospice for AIDS patients in Greensboro, North Carolina, her nephew's hometown, in 1996, called Beacon Place, which was still in operation as of 2021.[23]

R215 SAID Estelle Getty was a republican which I do not believe

R229 = There were so many Gay AIDS deaths. The younger guys who never got to live a life is still heartbreaking....And the idiot gays now on Tik Tok who have no idea of their own history.

I used to be a big Joan Rivers fan. But over time I realized she used gays more than she appreciated them. Like Madona she brought the whole gay word into main stream culture but to her benefit mostly as shock value. It was kind of taboo to talk about gays on TV at the time so I guess we can thank her for that. But OMG as she got older what a miserable Republican cunt she became. After her husband committed suicide, it was like flipping a light switch, her humor went down hill and the cunt side really exploded.

R232 = I felt for Joan. I cried when she won the Daytime Emmy. I loved Still Talking (her 1991 bio)...But I agree with you. She lost her way. Had she lived, she would have sided with Trump and probably been a Q-Anon Follower. Sadly, dying salvaged what probably would have been a complete career downfall in the Trump Presidency.

Joan loved Donald Trump. He rebooted her career and introduced her to new fans with that movie "A Piece of Work". It made me a huge fan of hers. She's of a different generation, but she embraced gays, she was an equal opportunity offender, and she pushed boundaries. I find her connection to gays more authentic than a Kathy Griffin whose alliance feels insincere.

Remember, the true allies for gays were our supporters when it was not OK, when it was not cool, and when American didn't want to see it. The people who stuck up for us then are our true allies, regardless of who they are today.

To R233, You are "sooo wrong" and full of SHIT!!! Joan offended everyone ......all the time!! Her act was always the same, she was never nice in her act. Joan was MEAN; That was her act!! Joan may have been a Republican but she trashed Ronnie and Nancy all the tine(and esp her two horrible children, Patti Davis-and Ron Jr) I have soooo many stories about Joan Rivers& Bette Midler in the 80's about their fundraising benefits for AIDS!!!

Alison Arngrim should be somewhere in that poll.

[quote] Alison Arngrim should be somewhere in that poll.

Who?

While not as big as Liz, Cyndi Lauper has done a LOT for the community, consistently, from the 80s, through today. She was given some kind of Nobel prize I think for it. Her sister is a lesbian. Her best friend was a gay. You can tell she truly cares. It wasn't about being fashionable. I think it was the same for Liz. Monty Clift was her BFF and fellow drunk. she loved him harder than any of her 7 (?) husbands. He was second only to her love of jewelry. And pills maybe.

Madonna has done more than Cyndi. Always has and always will.

Madonna has done more for herself.

R3 - honey, because no gay man (with the possible exception of Freddie Mercury who said he could get hard at the sight of a flower pot) REALLY wanted to fuck her...because, of course, they were gay. Why does this need to be explained on a gay board?

Why isn't Princess Diana one of the choices? Her touching an AIDS patient, as the most beloved human being on earth, was a huge and powerful image that "gay is ok", even if it did occur in the context of an epidemic. Let's not forget, at the time it was a gay disease and we were suddenly not only unacceptable, but also a type of "leper". I think her work (which got her threats) was amazingly important for us. Of course, Liz is also a major contributor.

R240 Cyndi cofounded True Colors United, which works to get homeless gay youth off the street, and has headlined multiple multi-artist True Colors tours to support the HRC (pre-whacko conversion,) PFLAG and other gay organizations.

I'm not a Madonna hater, by any means, but I don't recall her creating any charities for gay youth.

Speaking of Madonna, I remember seeing Truth or Dare in the theatre, and not being at all phased by Madonna saying fag. We all called each other fags back then, including the fag hags. Madonna definitely seemed to fit the fag hag category for me.

We were reclaiming the word back then. I had a necklace with a dog tag on it with the word FAG punched through the metal, and a t-shirt with FAG in huge letters across the front of it.

She also referred to some of the bitchier dancers as "Queens on the rag." I still love that, and use it to this day to refer to bitchy gay guys.

Madonna, being immersed in gay culture, in the early 90s using the word fag in that context was a big nothing. It is still big nothing.

The 1990s are over and the slur reclamation project has been a total failure. There is no way to erase the hurtfulness of those words.

Faggot, please! If you find Madonna referring one of her dancers as a fag in a 30 year old movie hurtful, then you have a blessed life.

There were worlds between Madonna saying it, and having it yelled out a car window at you as you walked down the street, or from some random street thug, who may, or may not decide to follow it with a beating, or a member of your family calling you a faggot.

Stop using that fucking word, you self-loathing quisling. You know damn well it means "bundle of sticks," which were put in a bundle for burning? When you use that word, you are calling for gay men to be burned. You are calling for our genocide.

Shut. The. Fuck. Up.

And just for that, Team Cyndi!

And for this, too:

R247, I am no quisling, and have no time for self loathing. I am also the faggot that mentioned Cyndi's True Colors United foundation, so welcome to Team Cyndi.

I would also add that in 1983 Cyndi Lauper was a refreshing burst of weirdness in the top 40 that gave this 13 year old budding homo the okay to stop trying to fit in with everyone else in Junior High. There were weirder, more outrageous artists at the time, but they wouldn't hit the top forty, and a small town boy in Minnesota wouldn't have known to seek them out if Cyndi hadn't brought some of it into the mainstream.

And you continue to prove my point by using breeder hate speech to describe yourself, quisling. Stop making a buffoon of yourself. Stop using hate speech against gay people.

Is it exhausting being so tiresome, R250?

No-one tells this faggot what to call himself. Certainly not a ragged out queen like you.

Typical that a breeder-lover like you would use anti-gay hate speech to degrade yourself instead of going after the breeders who robbed you of your self-respect.

For the young dumb bitch at r238:

[quote]Madonna, being immersed in gay culture, in the early 90s using the word fag in that context was a big nothing. It is still big nothing.

Because she's a white woman. If she was black, you'd still be raking her over the coals.

Not if she was a black woman who was famously part of the gay scene at the time, R254. Nice try trying to paint me as a racist with absolutely no evidence, though.

Black fag hags are few and far between, though. My guess is that black women have too much self respect to follow gay guys around and endlessly fawn over them.

I was friends with a black lesbian around that time. She would greet me with something along the lines of :

"Who's that fag walking through the door?"

To which I would reply:

"Hey, little dutch boy. Shouldn't you have your finger in a dyke?"

You know who I think did the for "the gay cause?" The people who took care of AIDS patients. Not the celebrities who have gotten feted and fawned over for showing up at banquets and award shows for their "support" of the AIDS cause, but the people who took care of the dying, bathing them, feeding them, cleaning them, caring for all their needs while they slowly wasted away. That's who I think did the most.

Yes, R256. Thank you for an opportunity to once again remind DL of Ruth Coker Burks who cared for hundreds of gay men, and buried 40 in her family cemetery because no-one else could take them.

She should be a household name, and would be an example of someone who calls themselves a Christian actually behaving in a way that lives up to that.

Ruth Coker Burks isn't a celebrity, but she should win this poll.

Here is a recent article about her.

[quote]You know who I think did the for "the gay cause?" The people who took care of AIDS patients. Not the celebrities who have gotten feted and fawned over for showing up at banquets and award shows for their "support" of the AIDS cause, but the people who took care of the dying, bathing them, feeding them, cleaning them, caring for all their needs while they slowly wasted away. That's who I think did the most.

But that wasn't the question asked by OP. Of course people who directly cared for people with AIDS were heroes, but celebrities who came out in support of gays and people with AIDS at a time when it was not fashionable to do so and, on the contrary, could have hurt their careers deeply, were heroes in a different way. Sorry if you don't understand the distinction, or the the fact that BOTH did much for the gay cause.

R258, a lot of these celebrities who "did much for the gay cause" did it to promote THEMSELVES. I'm sure that was the case with Madonna and probably Elizabeth Taylor, too. And I never saw any evidence that supporting gays ever hurt anybody's career. Quite the opposite, in fact. Any celebrity who came out in support of gays tended to to praised rather than condemned. No, it was the hands on people, the ones who saw AIDS patients and cared for them that are the "heroes", not vapid celebrities who loved all the attention and adulation they got for their "support of the gay cause."

R259, they may have been praised by the coastal media but not necessarily in flyover country. In 1989, only 33% of Americans felt that gay/lesbian sex should be legal between consenting adults! That number didn't start budging until the early 90s, it was pretty much the same throughout the 80s. And in 1986, 44% of Americans said they avoided places where gays were present because of AIDS.51% felt that it was peopels' fault for getting the disease and 43% believed it was God's punishment for immoral sex. 60% felt that people with AIDS should carry a card to indicate they had the virus and 33% felt employers should be able to fire people with the disease. In a time like that, I'm sure it wasn't the best move to proclaim yourself a supporter of gays or to be outspoken against AIDS.

R260, thanks for explaining so cogently to R259 exactly why he is one of those "know-it-alls" who actually know nothing.

Again, praising certain celebrities for supporting gays and leading the fight against AIDS before it was fashionable to do so in no way negates or lessens the praise that should be given to those who actually cared for people with AIDS. Those are TWO VERY DIFFERENT CATEGORIES of heroes. You would think that would be fairly easy to understand, but obviously not for some idiots.

P.S. Of course, the heights of the AIDS crisis came long before the existence of social media. So while AIDS heroes like Liz Taylor, Cyndi Lauper et al. largely received praise from the coastal media, there were very few outlets for yahoos in so-called flyover country to express their outrage at those celebs for their efforts. But I'm sure R259 is far too stupid to realize that.

Lady Gaga! She teachched Gen Z about equality, diversity and self-love. You can thank her for all the youngster who come out.

Listen brain dead twat at R261, you might think celebrities who practiced "noisy philanthropy (which is what Paul Newman called celebrities who made a spectacle of their "humanitarian" efforts) is a form of "heroism", but I don't. My admiration is reserved for those unheralded people who were actually THERE for AIDS victims, the people who were actually there taking care of their needs, those people who did not get awards and parties and glorification. And God know that they didn't have stupid cunts like you kissing their asses. The "heroes" YOU worship did it all for themselves. But I'm sure you're far too stupid to realize that.

[quote] Lady Gaga! She teachched Gen Z about equality, diversity and self-lov

Uh huh.

R264 Absolutely. Gen Z is the one generation that really normalizes non-heterosexual orientations. No other generation before managed to do this. Gaga is was the tipping point.

Madonna was supporting the gay community and using gay iconography in ways that most Americans were unfamiliar with at the time. Sorry, Cyndi!

Vadge was a cultural appropriator then and now. We were better off without her. No one had ever heard of her during the disco years when [italic]Soap[/italic] was a top-rated TV show.

R263 = pathetic, mentally challenged fool who doesn't have enough brain cells to wrap his mind around the concept that celebrities who supported AIDS victims in the early years, when there was still a huge stigma and a tremendous amount of fear and ignorance surrounding the disease, AND those noble souls who personally cared for AIDS victims with no public recognition whatsoever, are BOTH heroes in different ways. He is also so stupid that he literally can't understand there is NO POINT WHATSOEVER in trying to compare the two and decide who is more heroic, because the two situations are apples and oranges.

R268 is, as they say, unhinged. In a big way. What a moronic horse's ass he is! That being said, celebrities who like to draw attention to themselves by latching onto a fashionable cause (another cause that was "in" back in the say was the homeless) are NOT '"heroes." They're celebrities who see a good way to promote themselves and they know that supporting a particular cause will get them loads of free publicity and lots of fawning adulation. They know that people like the cretin at R258 will think they are SO wonderful. They know there are a lot of gullible dullards like that one out there. Most celebrities are nothing if not shrewd when it comes to furthering their careers. And that's what their actions come down to: it's all about THEM.

[quote]Madonna was supporting the gay community and using gay iconography in ways that most Americans were unfamiliar with at the time. Sorry, Cyndi!

In the same way that she consistently used old Hollywood iconography by mimicking Dietrich, Monroe, etc. over the years, and black iconography by sporting grills and gold chains, and Latino iconography in her music videos, etc. Hanging in a sling and crawling around on your hands and knees in a gay bathhouse for a coffee table book does not a supporter of the gay community make.

Some might call it appropriation but if people weren't so hung up on representation they would realize that anyone shining light and PR on something provides exposure to the under exposed. That exposure equals money and fame. Just ask Benny Ninja. Madonna took Voguing and black dance underground culture to the main stream, making Voguing and this small black subculture a household name, She did this while also promoting safe sex in these often less educated communities of color that are decimated by extreme poverty and IQ. Most people in these communities have less than a 5th grade reading level, Madonna has also built schools and hospitals in Africa. Madonna made black, Spanish, and gay bathhouse culture accessible to the world in a way it would not have been otherwise. This is why black icons like Prince and Michael Jackson were obsessed with her, who Madonna was honored to pay homage to in memorial for each.

Madonna?!?!? WTF has she ever done? Other than make music we enjoyed back in the day.

Oh, jesus....the "Madonna is a Saint!" nuts are out in full force.

Madonna was offered the title of BET's most influential woman and advocate for the black community, but turned it down because she knew that while true, it was tone deaf.

Nick Jonas

[Quote] but turned it down because she knew that while true, it was tone deaf

Wow. She "knew" it was true that she the most influential advocate for black women?? Way to shit on Bessie Smith, Aretha Franklin, The Supremes, Tina Turner, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Donna Summer, Nina Simone, Etta James, Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan and the dozens of other female singers who were, you know, actually black.

As an artist, black is a state of mind, not a color. We are all black, white, christian, jewish, muslim. We can shift into any color or perspective we choose, allowing as to walk in each others shoes when we channel it through artistic expression. Madonna is more successful and arguably more talented than everyone mentioned in R276, but she knows when to stir the pot and when not to. This was the inspiration of Madam X - she sees no color and is every man, every women, every person.

Vadge couldn't hit the high note here if her life depended on it, never mind sustain it:

[Quote] As an artist, black is a state of mind, not a color.

R277 has to be a troll. Nobody can be this dense.

Wow, that's worse than the Black Kirk Cameron troll.

We are the color, we are the gender, we are the race that we perceive ourselves to be. Some days I feel black and soulful, other days I feel white and scholarly. It's within in this intersection that I exist. I learned this from Madonna.

You are the species others perceive you to be, R281, which is a braying jackass.

Why in the world are Sharon Stone, Patty Duke(!), Laura Dern(!!) and Rob Reiner(!!!) part of this poll?

[quote] Some days I feel black and soulful, other days I feel white and scholarly.

This is the most racist shit I have ever read on DL, bar absolutely none.

Patty Duke gave birth to one of my first crushes, but sadly he has a wife.

[quote] Some days I feel black and soulful, other days I feel white and scholarly.

It's within this intersection that we thrive. Anything without soul has no meaning and meaning lacks substance without intelligence.

You are associating whiteness with superior intelligence. That's racism if ever there was such a thing.

You must be deaf if you think Vadge is better than Aretha Franklin:

Africans have a lower intelligence from an IQ perspective than any other race, but make up for it through artistic and athletic contributions. It evens the playing field. I choose to embody elements of all these aspects, I am every race, every gender. I don't see race or sexuality, but people. I learned this from Madonna which is demonstrated in Truth or Dare. There was not hierarchy or segregation, It was Madonna elevating her dancers who elevated her performance. Together they empowered the gay community.

What's a g*nd*r?

Gender is an illusion.

R283

Sharon Stone has served as a spokesperson and done a lot of good work with amfar.

Patty Duke has been an outspoken supporter of LGBT rights for years and helped raise money to fight AIDS. She was also the Grand Marshall in the 1986 LA gay pride parade.

Laura Dern starred in the episode where Ellen comes out as a lesbian, which essentially blacklisted her from working in mainstream Hollywood for some time and halted her career.

Rob Reiner has always been an advocate for gay rights and gay marriage. Also he cofounded AFER which fought against Prop 8 in court.

[quote] Madonna is more successful and arguably more talented than everyone mentioned in [R276]

That right there rendered all the rest of the foolishness you spouted null and void.

Janet

....

....

Janet Mock on naming herself after Janet @ the 38 second mark...

The McDonna stan(s) are confusing a (formerly) big star doing something for the gays with a celeb doing the most.

For a star of her caliber, Madonna didn't do that much. And what she did was for publicity.

[quote]Celebrities who like to draw attention to themselves by latching onto a fashionable cause (another cause that was "in" back in the say was the homeless) are NOT '"heroes." They're celebrities who see a good way to promote themselves and they know that supporting a particular cause will get them loads of free publicity and lots of fawning adulation.

What a pathetically cynical POS you are. I have no doubt that SOME celebrities who supported gays and were active in the fight against AIDS back in the day did it for self-promotion, but of course, that does not mean this was true of ALL of them. I'm sure that's another distinction you are far too stupid to make, and far too stupid to understand even when it's explained to you. It's really quite shocking how your brain doesn't seem capable of holding more than one thought in it at a time, and how you can only see things in black and white, with no exceptions and no gray areas. It must be terrible to go through life with such a handicap, but the least you should do is realize you're impaired and discontinue posting your feeble thoughts about anything.

P.S. As if Elizabeth Taylor, for example, needed to latch onto AIDS as her cause (of all things) because she was lacking in "free publicity" or "adulation." Do you know how idiotic that makes you sound?

The meathead couldn’t even get gay marriage legalized without one of George W. Bush‘s Supreme Court attorneys.

The unhinged twat at R299 is BACK! What a donkey he is! He can blither and blather and squeal and stomp his little feet all he wants but the majority of celebrities don't latch onto a cause out of the goodness of their hearts. They do it because they get something out of it; lots of favorable publicity, sometimes awards, the the undying love of half wits like R299.

By the way, Elizabeth Taylor basked in all the attention she got for her position as some kind of savior for AIDS patients. She loved every minute of it. She won an Oscar for her "humanitarianism." The humble humanitarian accepted her award wearing a Valentino gown, an AIDS awareness ribbon made of rubies and gold, and the Reine Marguerités suite by Van Cleef and Arpels, a necklace, earrings and brooch with pavé-set white diamond petals, pavé-set yellow pistils and chrysophrase leaves. The suite was borrowed but La Liz coveted it and bought it to add to her vast collection of jewels. Yeah, she was SO not into receiving worship for her AIDS efforts (snort).

[quote]The majority of celebrities don't latch onto a cause out of the goodness of their hearts.

And you know this because you were somehow privy to what "the majority" of these people actually felt in their hearts? You despicable turd?

[quote]Elizabeth Taylor basked in all the attention she got for her position as some kind of savior for AIDS patients. She loved every minute of it.

Please do go to hell. You're probably, hopefully already half way there, so you might as well complete the journey.

R275 LOL Nick Jonas is most CERTAINLY NOT straight

^I think you mean Kevin.

R304 No, I think I mean the only one without a child and with a wife on another continent. Dumbass

Can't believe a whole bunch of idiots STILL think Kevin is the gay one despite having a daughter, whereas the one who got married to an Indian matron a decade older than him after 5 minutes, who' s still childless after 3 years of marriage and he never even gets to see, is totally straight

R305 and R306,, two idiots who think gay men never get married and have kids. How do people like you two make it through the day without assistance?

OP half the people on your list are notorious lez

r207 An idiot who thinks a gay dude can bring himself to stick his penis into a vagina. Die in a grease fire, fucktard

r307 Only a retard like you can accuse a guy who has fathered a daughter having sex with a woman of being gay, yet consider one who has never fathered any kids and is convinently married to a woman he never even sees and who lives on another of cintinent to be straight just because he has a manlier voice. Only a retard could have this kind of upside down logic. You're beyond retarded