In Mighty Real, the journalist traces how LGBTQ+ recording artists have shaped modern music and culture.
Can you explain the book’s backstory?
The inspiration was a book by writer and activist Vito Russo, called The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies. It was published in 1981, when there really wasn’t anything like that. Vito would also have gatherings where he’d show younger people clips of Bette Midler at the Continental Baths or Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand on the Judy Garland Show in the early 1960s. Just having him do that empowered me to understand the broader context of what I was writing about. So I thought I should be doing the musical equivalent of Vito’s book.
What are some moments that stand out in the evolution of LGBTQ+ music from 1969 to 2000?
It’s important to keep in mind that until right after the Stonewall riots of 1969, it was illegal in much of the country for two men or two women to be dancing together—there had to be a member of the opposite sex. So the disco thing really percolated the moment that we could dance together. That’s like 1970. Then David Bowie saying, “I’m gay and I always have been.” And then Prince, he’s bringing the same kind of thing to a Black community. But he played with us. Am I Black or white? Am I straight or gay? He’s saying, You can’t categorize me. And that was really effective. Then my generation of LGBTQ men started dying and dropping out of the music industry. Women and lesbians stepped up as cultural allies. And they had their own voices. Whether they were out or not, we could feel it.
What were you surprised to learn while researching?
I talked to Judy Dlukac, founder of the women’s music label Olivia Records, and plenty of other women in that world. I discovered that these women pioneered a scene that was akin to the DIY movement in punk and indie rock. They did it first and with a lot more challenges. I also learned that the Michigan Women’s Music Festival pioneered a lot of stuff that Burning Man and Lollapalooza did, in terms of putting on a festival that lasts days. They would also have discussion circles where you could talk about music or what it was like being oppressed in a small town.
What do you want readers to take from this book?
I’m hoping this will be for young people the kind of book I got when I read Vito Russo’s book. This music taught us about ourselves, and in going to concerts, we could feel our power. I really wanted the reader to think about their relationship to this music and think about that time when they stepped into a nightclub for the first time, or went to a women’s music festival. It’s just you being you, and that’s enough. You don’t have to be anyone else.
