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{{main|Judy Garland}}
[[File:Judy Garland at Greek Theater.jpg|thumb|300px|Judy Garland in 1957]]

American actress and songstress '''[[Judy Garland]]''' is a [[gay icon]]. She rose to iconic status in the 1950s. At that time, many [[gay]] individuals admired her talent as a performer, and her value as a camp figure.<ref>{{citation |last=Dyer |first=Richard |year=1986 |title=Heavenly Bodies: Film Stars and Society |publisher=British Film Institute |page=156 |isbn=0415310261}}</ref> She was often parodied in drag revues. Garland's role as Dorothy Gale in ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 movie)|The Wizard of Oz]]'' may be the foundation stone of her iconic status.

== Who was Judy Garland? ==
[[File:The Gumm Sisters.jpg|thumb|The Gumm Sisters with Judy (center)]]

Judy Garland was born Francis Ethel Gumm in Grand Rapids, [[Minnesota]] in 1922. Her parents were vaudevillians who operated a movie theatre that featured vaudeville acts. Judy was a toddler when she joined her two older sisters in singing "[[Jingle Bells]]" from the stage of her parents' theatre. The sisters performed as The Gumm Sisters for the next few years. The Gumms moved to Lancaster, California in 1926 when Judy's father was rumored to be making sexual advances to young male theatre ushers.

The Gumm Sisters continued to perform successfully. They made their movie debut in 1929. In 1934 they changed their name to The Garland Sisters. Judy was signed by [[MGM]] in 1935 and made many movies including the Andy Hardy series with [[Mickey Rooney]] and ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 movie)|The Wizard of Oz]]''. Judy was given [[amphetamine]]s and [[barbiturate]]s to keep up with the hectic pace of moviemaking. She became addicted to drugs.

Judy was insecure about her appearance. Her feelings were exacerbated by cruel studio executives. In April 1947 she had a nervous breakdown and was placed in a sanitarium.<ref>{{citation |last=Edwards |first=Anne |year=1975 |title=Judy Garland |place=New York |publisher=Simon & Schuster |page=108 |isbn=0-671-80228-3}}</ref> In July she tried to commit suicide.<ref>{{citation |last=Frank |first=Gerold |year= 1975 |title=Judy |place=New York |publisher=Harper & Row |page=231 |isbn=0-06-011337-5}}</ref> She was released from the studio in 1950, but found a new lease on life performing on the concert stage. Her personal life was troubled with drugs and alcohol. She was married five times, four marriages ending in [[divorce]]. She died in [[London]] in 1969 of an accidental drug overdose. Thousands attended her funeral in [[New York City]].

== Garland as tragic figure ==
Gay identification with Garland as a tragic figure was being discussed as early as 1967. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine reviewed Garland's 1967 Palace Theatre engagement in [[New York City]], and wrote that a "disproportionate part of her nightly claque seems to be homosexual." The review goes on to say that "[t]he boys in the tight trousers" (a phrase ''Time'' repeatedly used to describe gay men) would "roll their eyes, tear at their hair and practically levitate from their seats" during Garland's performances.<ref name="Palace">{{citation |title=Seance at the Palace |magazine=Time |date=1967-08-18 |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,840977,00.html |accessdate=2007-12-26 |archive-date=2008-12-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081215152257/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,840977,00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

''Time'' tried to explain Garland's appeal to the homosexual. [[psychiatry|Psychiatrist]]s thought that "the attraction [to Garland] might be made considerably stronger by the fact that she has survived so many problems; homosexuals identify with that kind of [[hysteria]]". They speculated that "Judy was beaten up by life, embattled, and ultimately had to become more masculine. She has the power that homosexuals would like to have, and they attempt to attain it by idolizing her."<ref name="Palace" />

[[William Goldman]] wrote in ''[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]'' magazine about the same Palace engagement. He too disparages the gay men in attendance. He dismisses them as "[[Faggot (slang)|fags]]" who "flit by" chattering inanely. He also advances the tragic figure concept. He suggests that "if [homosexuals] have an enemy, it is age.  And Garland is youth, perennially, over the rainbow." He wrote, "Homosexuals tend to identify with suffering. They are a persecuted group and they understand suffering. And so does Garland. She's been through the fire and lived – all the drinking and divorcing, all the pills and all the men, all the poundage come and gone – brothers and sisters, ''she knows.''"<ref name=goldman>{{citation |last=Goldman |first=William |title=Judy Floats |work=Esquire |date= January 1969}}</ref>

== Camp aspects ==
Gay movie [[scholar]] Richard Dyer has defined camp as "a characteristically gay way of handling the values, images and products of the dominant culture through irony, exaggeration, trivialisation, theatricalisation and an ambivalent making fun of and out of the serious and respectable."<ref name=dyer176>{{citation |last=Dyer |first=Richard |year=1986 |title= Heavenly Bodies: Film Stars and Society |publisher= British Film Institute |page=176 |isbn=0415310261}}</ref> Garland is camp, he asserts, because she is "imitable, her appearance and gestures copiable in drag acts".<ref name=dyer176/> He calls her "ordinariness" in her early [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]] movies camp in their "failed seriousness" and her later style "wonderfully over-the-top."<ref name=dyer176/>

Garland herself acknowledged her camp appeal during her lifetime. She once said, "When I die I have visions of fags singing '[[Over the Rainbow]]' and the flag at [[Fire Island, New York|Fire Island]] being flown at half mast."<ref>{{citation |last=Bone |first=Travis D |title=Diva worship |work=Gay & Lesbian Times |date=2003-07-17 |url=http://www.gaylesbiantimes.com/?id=533&issue=812 |accessdate=2007-12-27 |archive-date=2008-01-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080103055141/http://www.gaylesbiantimes.com/?id=533&issue=812 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Fire Island is a resort community that lies off [[Long Island]]. It has a large LGBT presence. The Island is also referenced in Garland's last movie ''[[I Could Go On Singing]]''. The movie is described as "her most gay film" and as the movie most aware of its gay audience.<ref>{{citation |last=Dyer |first=Richard |year=1986 |title= Heavenly Bodies: Film Stars and Society |publisher= British Film Institute |page=184 |isbn= 0415310261}}</ref>

== Friend of Dorothy ==
[[Image:Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz trailer.jpg|thumb|Judy Garland from the trailer for the 1939 film ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'']]

Another connection between Garland and [[LGBT]] people is the slang term "[[Friend of Dorothy]]". This term likely derives from Garland's portrayal of Dorothy Gale in ''The Wizard of Oz''. It became a code phrase gay people used to identify each other. Dorothy's journey from Kansas to Oz "mirrored many gay men's desires to escape the black-and-white limitations of small town life ... for big, colorful cities filled with quirky, gender-bending characters who would welcome them."<ref name="Steven">{{citation |last=Frank |first=Steven |title=What does it take to be a gay icon today? |publisher=AfterElton.com |date=2007-09-25 |url=http://www.afterelton.com/people/2007/9/gayicons?page=0%2C0 |accessdate=2007-12-26 }}</ref>

In the movie, Dorothy immediately accepts those who are different. The Lion identifies himself through song as a "sissy" and exhibits stereotypically "gay" (or at least effeminate) mannerisms. The Lion is seen as a coded example of Garland meeting and accepting a gay man without question.<ref>{{citation |last=Paglia |first=Camille |title=Judy Garland as a Force of Nature |work=New York Times |date=June 14, 1998}}</ref>

== Stonewall riots ==
{{Main|Stonewall riots}}
It has been said that Garland's death and funeral, held in New York City in June 1969, helped inspire the [[Stonewall riots]].<ref>{{citation |last=Miller |first=Neil |year=1995 |title=Out of the Past: Gay and Lesbian History from 1869 to the Present |publisher=Vintage UK |page=367 |isbn=0099576910}}</ref> However, some observers of the riots contend that most of those involved "were not the type to moon over Judy Garland records or attend her concerts at [[Carnegie Hall]]. They were more preoccupied with where they were going to sleep and where their next meal would come from."<ref>{{citation |last=Loughery |first=John |year=1998 |title=The Other Side of Silence: Men's Lives and Gay Identities: A Twentieth Century History |publisher=Henry Holt and Company |page=316 |isbn=0805038965}}</ref> In a 2009 interview, gay historian David Carter stated that this connection was based on a mocking reference to the riot by an anti-gay writer in the ''[[Village Voice]]'' the next day.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/26/stonewall_riots_40th_anniversary_a_look |title=Stonewall Riots 40th Anniversary: A Look Back at the Uprising that Launched the Modern Gay Rights Movement |publisher=democracynow.org |date=26 June 2009 |accessdate=29 November 2011}}</ref> There was certainly an awareness and appreciation of Garland among [[Stonewall Inn]] patrons. Because the bar had no liquor license, it was passed off as a bottle club and patrons were required to sign in. Many used [[pseudonym]]s and "Judy Garland" was among the most popular.<ref>{{citation |last=Kaiser |first=Charles |year=1997 |title=The Gay Metropolis 1940 – 1996 |place=New York |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |page=198 |isbn=0395657814}}</ref>

''Time'' magazine would write decades later: "The uprising was inspirited by a potent cocktail of pent-up rage (raids of gay bars were brutal and routine), overwrought emotions (hours earlier, thousands had wept at the funeral of Judy Garland) and drugs. As a 17-year-old cross-dresser was being led into the paddy wagon and got a shove from a cop, she fought back. She hit the cop and was so stoned, she didn't know what she was doing—or didn't care.<ref>{{citation |last=Cloud |first=John |title=June 28, 1969 |magazine=Time |date=2003-03-31 |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1004529,00.html?promoid=googlep |accessdate=2007-12-26 |archive-date=2007-09-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930122450/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1004529,00.html?promoid=googlep |url-status=dead }}</ref> Garland's daughter Lorna Luft points to the connection with pride, saying that her mother was a "huge, huge advocate of human rights" and that Garland would have found the rioting appropriate.<ref>{{citation |last=Harrity |first=Christopher |title=Judy's stamp of approval |work=The Advocate |date=2006-06-09 |url=http://www.advocate.com/exclusive_detail.asp?id=32127 |accessdate=2007-12-25}}</ref>

== Rainbow flag and family and friends ==
{{Main|Rainbow flag (LGBT movement)}}
The [[rainbow flag (LGBT movement)|rainbow flag]], a symbol of the [[LGBT]] community, may have been inspired, in part, by Garland's signature song "[[Over the Rainbow]]."<ref>{{citation |author=The National Museum & Archive of Lesbian and Gay History |year=1996 |title=The Gay Almanac |place=New York City |publisher=Berkeley Books |page=94 |isbn=0425153002}}</ref> Garland's performance of this song has been described as "the sound of the closet," speaking to gay men whose image "they presented in their own public lives was often at odds with a truer sense of self that mainstream society would not condone."<ref name="Steven" />

Judy Garland's father and other significant people in her life were gay.<ref>{{citation |last=Clarke |first=Gerald |year=2000 |title=Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland |publisher=Random House |page=14 |isbn=0375503781}}</ref> Garland's father Frank Gumm would apparently seduce or at least keep company with very young men or older teens. He would move on when told to leave or before his activities could be discovered.<ref>{{citation |last=Clarke |first=Gerald |year=2000 |title=Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland |publisher=Random House |page=23 |isbn=0375503781}}</ref>  Garland's husband Vincente Minnelli was generally known to be a closeted [[bisexual]].<ref>{{citation |last=Clarke |first=Gerald |year=2000 |title=Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland |publisher=Random House |page=209 |isbn=0375503781}}</ref><ref>{{citation |last=Levy |first=Emanuel |year=2009 |title=Vincente Minelli: Hollywood's Dark Dreamer |publisher=St. Martin's Press |page=26 |isbn=978-0312329259}}</ref> Garland liked to visit gay bars with openly gay friends Roger Edens and George Cukor, to the chagrin of her handlers at MGM.<ref>{{citation |last=Clarke |first=Gerald |year=2000 |title=Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland |publisher=Random House |pages=130–1 |isbn=0375503781}}</ref>

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== Reading list ==
* {{citation |last=Dyer |first=Richard |year=1986 |title=Heavenly Bodies: Film Stars and Society |publisher=British Film Institute |isbn=0415310261}}
* {{citation |last=Kaiser |first=Charles |year=1997 |title=The Gay Metropolis 1940 – 1996 |place=New York |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |isbn=0395657814}}
* {{citation |last=Loughery |first=John |year=1998 |title=The Other Side of Silence: Men's Lives and Gay Identities: A Twentieth Century History |publisher=Henry Holt and Company |isbn=0805038965}}
* {{citation |last=Miller |first=Neil |year=1995 |title=Out of the Past: Gay and Lesbian History from 1869 to the Present |publisher=Vintage UK |isbn=0099576910}}
* {{citation |author=The National Museum & Archive of Lesbian and Gay History |year=1996 |title=The Gay Almanac |place=New York City |publisher=Berkeley Books |isbn=0425153002}}
* {{citation |last=Peraino |first=Judith Ann |year=2006 |title=Listening To The Sirens |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-21587-7}}

== Other websites ==
{{Commons|Judy Garland}}
* [http://www.jgdb.com The Judy Garland Database]
* [http://www.thejudyroom.com The Judy Room]
* [http://judygarlandmuseum.com/ The Judy Garland Birthplace and Museum in Grand Rapids, MN]  
* [http://www.judygarlandclub.org The Judy Garland Club: established 1963; official international Club supported by Judy during her lifetime]   
* [https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/garland_j.html Judy Garland: By Myself – American Masters special] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091106104854/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/garland_j.html |date=2009-11-06 }}

[[Category:LGBT]]