Swapping Icons for Heroes

Swapping Icons for Heroes
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Judy (Garland, that is, would have been 100 years old this year).

Judi (as in Dench, is 87) and Jude (as in Law, 49).

These entertainers are all icons of my older gay generation, and even today, few of us would not go to a new Judi Dench movie or if promised a nude scene (think SBS series The New Pope), not go to see a new Jude Law drama. 

We have lost our queen of song, Barbara Cook, Liza has gone missing from the recording studio, and Kylie is (dare I say it) sliding gracefully into middle age. 

Only Cher is seemingly forever young.

These were people we embraced as gay icons. They were visible allies who, in some fundamental way, spoke to our inner frustrations, our comparative invisibility, our hopes, and dreams. We needed a focus, and these people, just being themselves, spoke to our needs. As a sub-culture gay male group, we instinctively recognized that spark, and became fans of them. We purchased their records, attended their concerts, went to their movies, and talked about them over boozy dinner parties. 

Put a gaggle of gays together in the 1980s or 1990s and ask who would be the six most important people we would invite to our dinner table, and there would be a high degree of agreement. Asking that same question today, I suggest you would be hard-pressed to get to anything like a universal agreement for that six – if indeed anyone did get to six.

Where Are The Replacements?

But where are the replacements? And, do we need them any longer? 

Sure we have Elton John, Ian McKellen, and many other international gay spokesperson Elders. But here in Australia, we seemingly no longer need grand internationally known icons as much as we previously did. We have moved our collective older-age focus to local people and even away from the entertainment criteria.

We seem to have focused on quality, integrity, humanity, and integration. These people are more like allies we want to spend time with, community members who care about others, people who are courageous about righting past wrongs, supporting a diverse community irrespective of sexuality, and who treat everyone as equals. I speak particularly of Magda, Thorpie, Bob Brown, Rodney Croome, and Michael Kirby.

Without realizing it, and within a generation, we have moved from entertainment icon worship to community hero leadership. We’re all going to be better off because of that focal shift.

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