Hey, did you know that Judy Garland was indirectly responsible for a multi-year taxpayer-funded anti-gay witch-hunt? Not only is this story true — it’s also hilarious!
Back when it was dangerous to come out of the closet, introducing yourself as a “friend of Dorothy” was a surreptitious way of letting other people you know you were gay.
Dorothy, of course, was a reference to Dorothy Gale, the character Judy Garland played in the Wizard of Oz.
Other LGBTQ people knew exactly what the reference meant; straight people had no idea.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Naval Investigative Service connected some of the dots — that “friends of Dorothy” were gay men — but not all the dots. They were clueless about the Wizard of Oz connection. They believed there was a real woman named Dorothy running a cabal of gay military personnel.
Needless to say, the investigation went nowhere and was eventually called off. The whole thing got swept under the rug till Randy Shilts wrote about it in “Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the U.S. Military.”
Dorothy is presumably still at large, and the cabal was able to complete its secret mission: weaponizing brunch.
You can expect fair and balanced coverage of LGBTQ issues in The New York Times today, but that wasn’t always the case. The paper wouldn’t even print the the word “gay” till 1987 — its style was to use “homosexual,” and you all know how I feel about that.
The prohibition against the word “gay” ended when Executive Editor Abe Rosenthal resigned. He was a homophobe who stifled LGBTQ people in the newsroom and LGBTQ coverage in the paper.
Abe Rosenthal’s homophobia was felt at the Times in two ways: It ensured that lesbian and gay reporters stayed firmly in the closet, and that the word “gay” was not used in the paper to describe gay people.
Larry Gross
As the AIDS epidemic began to emerge, the silence of the media in general, and of The New York Times in particular, contributed to the magnitude of the unfolding tragedy. Although the death toll mounted in the early 1980s, the Times maintained a disdainful distance. As gay journalist Michelangelo Signorile put it, “Rosenthal, who attacks anti-Semitism in the media, never realized that the way he was treating the AIDS epidemic wasn’t much different from the way that news organizations treated the Holocaust early on.”
Larry Gross
Today, the Times doesn’t shy away from using the word “gay” — or from covering LGBTQ issues.
The singular they — that is, using the pronoun “they” as a non-gendered alternative for “he” or “she” — isn’t a new invention. In fact, it first emerged in English in the Fourteenth Century, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.
Next time you hear someone raising a fuss about the singular they — “it sounds weird” is the complaint I hear frequently — point out that the usage predates the printing press, the newspaper, and even Shakespeare.
Bonus fact: “You” used to be a plural pronoun. The singular pronoun was “thee” or “thou,” words that disappeared ages ago from English. Just more proof that language is a living thing that grows and adapts just as society does.
If it weren’t for Lynn Conway, the Daily Dave wouldn’t be online. It would be handwritten. Or mimeographed. Or carved on a stone tablet.
Conway, a trans woman, changed the way computers ran programs, and later revolutionized the way we create and produce microchips. It’s not hyperbole to say that without Conway, the most technologically advanced thing in your house would be a three-way light bulb.
IBM fired Conway in 1968 when she announced her plans to transition. She didn’t disclose her trans status till 1999.
“From the 1970s to 1999 I was recognized as breaking the gender barrier in the computer science field as a woman, but in 2000 it became the transgender barrier I was breaking,” she told Forbes. She’s now as well known for her trans activism as she is for her contributions to the field of technology.
IBM has been touting itself as an LGBTQ-friendly company for many years — it added sexual orientation to its non-discrimination policy in 1984 — but only apologized to Conway in 2020.
Depending on who you ask, the first Pride night at an MLB stadium was held in 1994, 2000, or 2001.
In 1994, the San Francisco Giants held an “Until There’s a Cure Night” to bring awareness to the AIDS crisis. It was the first event of its kind hosted by a Major League Baseball team, but it wasn’t really a Pride night as we would know it today. There were plenty of red ribbons, but the team didn’t use the word “gay” to describe the event.
In 2000, the Los Angeles Dodgers booted two lesbians from their stadium because they were kissing. The horror! Because of the backlash, there was a Gay and Lesbian Night at Dodger Stadium — but it was not really a Dodgers event. It was hosted by GLAAD using tickets the Dodgers donated. Even if it wasn’t a team-sponsored event, let’s all acknowledge it was a pretty fucking huge deal and baseball’s first real move to recognize its most fabulous fan base.
The first real Pride night at a ballpark — by real, I mean that it was actually hosted by the team and marketed as such — came in 2001 when the Chicago Cubs held its “Out at Wrigley” night. The Giants joined in with its own Pride night the following year. Since then, more teams have been celebrating their LGBTQ fans with a special event each year. And other leagues are joining in: You’ll find a lot of Pride nights in the NHL and NBA. (The Complimentary Spouse and I go to the Lightning’s Pride night every year.)
The NFL was very late to the party; the Washington Commanders (let’s not use their old name) hosted the first Pride night in professional football in 2021. Will other football teams join in? I hope so but I’m not holding my breath. After all, this is the league that freaked out over Colin Kaepernick. I don’t expect them to lead when it comes to social issues.
Pride nights are a pretty timely thing to write about today because Britt and I just returned from Pride night (actually, it was a day game) at Tropicana Field.
The Tampa Bay Rays held its first Pride night in 2016. It was a few days after the horrific Pulse massacre, and people were still shocked and looking for ways to show their support for the LGBTQ community. So many people wanted to participate in Pride night that the Rays had to open the upper deck and the game was a complete sell-out. You’ll still see people walking around the Tampa Bay area wearing rainbow-colored “We Are Orlando” T-shirts with the Rays logo — the giveaway that night.
I took the photo at the top of this post at today’s game. And, just for the hell of it, here are some more great pictures of Britt and me at previous Pride nights.
Did you know that the high five was invented by a gay man? As the story goes, on October 2, 1977, L.A. Dodger Glenn Burke, the first MLB player to come out, was on deck and Dusty Baker was about to cross the plate and score his 30th home run. Burke held up his hand and Baker slapped it.
Burke, a talented player, faced homophobia and was essentially booted out of professional baseball. He remained an athlete, playing softball in a gay league and competing in the 1982 and 1986 Gay Games. He died of AIDS-related causes in 1995.
Since I don’t have any photos of Glenn Burke and me, here’s a photo of Raymond and me at Pride Night a few years ago. It’s taken a few decades, but MLB has evolved from ostracizing gay players to hosting Pride events. That’s definitely worth a high five! 🙌
It’s June, which can only mean one thing1 — it’s Pride month! And that calls for another 30 days of Gayskool, my LGBTQ history project here at the Daily Dave.
You can brush up on old Gayskool posts here. Come back tomorrow for my first post, which may or may not be about gay icons.2
___ 1 Actually, June is also the start of hurricane season. And today is my parents’ anniversary. So today really means three things. 2 It could be about something different. I haven’t written anything yet.
The biggest LGBTQ event in history1 was exactly two years ago today — and the Complimentary Spouse and I were there! More than five million people participated in WorldPride. It was legendary. The parade had hundreds of floats, thousands of marchers, and at least three million gallons of glitter.
Animals can be gay! Scientists have observed same-sex behavior, including pair bonding and parenting, in many species.
My favorite same-sex animal couple is Roy and Silo, a pair of chinstrap penguins at the Central Park Zoo. When an opposite-sex penguin couple couldn’t take care of a second egg, Roy and Silo took over. Their daughter was named Tango.
Sadly, as with all celebrity couples, Roy and Silo eventually drifted apart. Roy wrote a tell-all book and Silo opened a gallery in Marfa. Tango is currently studying art history at Oberlin.
Anything I write about the Stonewall Riots, which began 52 years ago today, will pale in comparison to what others have said. Let’s just say that the shot glass heard ’round the world changed millions of lives for the better.
