Also, according to the Judy biography Get Happy (which I highly recommend), her dad was gay as well.
I think that touches on something. Many of the women mentioned are described as fabulous… I think something Cher, Madonna, Dolly Parton, and others in that ilk have in common is a combination of being ultra-feminine and ultra-powerful. Demonstrating an exaggerated femininity that doesn’t hinge on being weaker than masculinity, but that rather is a natural component of confidence and power.
Heck, even Smokey the Bear and his dens of forestry.
Bette Midler - She’s completely larger than life, especially in her stage shows. She also got her major start performing at a gay bathhouse in 1970 (along with Barry Manilow) and named one her albums Bathhouse Betty. She is quoted as saying “Despite the way things turned out [with the AIDS crisis], I’m still proud of those days. I feel like I was at the forefront of the gay liberation movement, and I hope I did my part to help it move forward. So, I kind of wear the label of ‘Bathhouse Betty’ with pride”. Geesh, I can’t believe she’s almost 70.
I think Dolly Parton is an example of someone who isn’t so much a gay icon as an icon period. That doesn’t mean she’s not a gay icon, but that she’s an icon for so many other people that saying “gay icon” is kind of… selling her short.
I dunno - I think it’s possible for someone to be a general Icon without being a Gay Icon - Elvis is Iconic, I’d say, but I don’t think he’s generally considered a Gay Icon (Jailhouse Rock notwithstanding 
)
Shrug, I’ve seen groups of Elvises in Pride Parades. That doesn’t count?
A lot of this makes sense but I think what I’m struggling with why some people AREN’T gay icons. I mean, is Tina Turner? If not she should be - strong, ballsy woman who’s suffered and come out on top, she should be up with Judy and Liza, surely, and yet I’ve not heard her mentioned as such - either IRL or on this thread. Katherine Hepburn doesn’t seem to have half the gay icon status that Audrey does, and I can’t for the life of me think why.
Dolly is just an all-round Legend, so I’m sorry, gay community, you’re going to have to share
Nice. Tina is a good question, like my question about Bowie upthread.
I would like to suggest that Tina is probably more respected vs idolized. Diana Ross, an African American contemporary, is much more of a Gay Icon. Could it be Tina’s rawer, more naturally bluesy style? Are there many very-Blues GI’s? Now watch someone pop up with one likethat and make me feel like an idiot.
Tina Turner IS a gay icon (or at least was in the 80s/90s). I’ve seen plenty of Tinas at drag shows and parades. She’s got a touch of Tragic Diva and a lot of Ballsy Diva.
I love Katharine Hepburn, but she really isn’t much of a gay icon. There’s no gay sensibility there…I don’t get any kind of fabulosity feel for Kate. She was very private, first of all…other than her affair with Spencer Tracy, she seems (from this point in time looking back, anyway) to be 99% her work, and only 1% a real person outside those roles. There have been biographies and quasi-biographies since her death that delve into her personal life, but it’s still a kind of a scholastic discipline to tease out HER from the interviews she gave while she was working.
As for Audrey, we love our gamines as well. She played quirky, interesting, bohemian types a lot. She was very big-hearted…she spent most of the later years of her life as a UN goodwill ambassador for UNICEF.
Sometimes there’s just a fudge factor…some people ARE and some people AREN’T and it’s really very difficult to tell why any given person falls on which side of the fence.
Billie Holiday? Very Tragic Diva. Insane talent, prone to vices that are all too familiar to many gay men (addiction, both drugs and alcohol) and eventually carried off by those vices. The Ms. Ross connection (through Lady Sings the Blues) helps also. I mean, you don’t see very many Billie impersonators around, but she’s still a bit of an icon.
Cool; thanks jayjay.
So, a couple of comedians … Ellen because she’s a lesbian, I think, her stuff is very wholesome for the most part. Both of the other two have very tightly wound, multiple plastic surgery personae – are there other female comedians with different personal styles who would count as gay icons? Lisa Lampanelli (sp?), Margaret Cho, Wanda Sykes?
Wanda Sykes is also a lesbian. Lisa Lampanelli – I’ve heard her talk about her gay audience, while she insults them. But she’s an insult comic, so she insults everyone.
And Margaret Cho is bi, according to her.
Ooh! Cyndi Lauper! Can’t believe I almost forgot her. Even before she started the True Colors tours, she was a gay icon. Again, quirky, bohemian, interesting and flamboyant. And real talent…if you only know her from She’s So Unusual way back in the early 80s, look for some more recent stuff. She has an actual voice and she’s managed to train away a lot of the accent. I’d suggest youtubing some stuff from her standards album of a few years ago, At Last.
Right, which is why I mentioned Wanda and Margaret. I was just wondering if they’d be considered gay icons, or just gay.
Margaret and Wanda would be borderline I think. I’ve seen both both referred to as such and I personally like both but I’m not sure either really hit icon status.
I’ve been a Kate Bush fan since 1978, and somewhere along the line, she’s become a gay icon. Not surprising, as she’s always been about wildly theatrical performances, and even writing a song about a gay couple.
Thanks for starting this thread. I’ve often wondered this myself.
Weirdest drag sighting- a man dressed as Yetta, Fran’s grandmother from The Nanny. I still can’t quite wrap my head around that. I’m positive it was Yetta.The large transparent plastic purse had “Yetta Lives!” written on it in gold glitter.