Why Judy Garland is a Gay Icon

I always wandered why friends of Dorothy held La Garland in such high esteem. Today Wiki helped me out a little Here

extract:-

Time then attempted to explain Garland's appeal to the homosexual, consulting psychiatrists who opined 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." and that "Judy was beaten up by life, embattled, and ultimately had to become more masculine. Writer William Goldman, in a piece for Esquire magazine advances the tragic figure theory. After first suggesting that "if [homosexuals] have an enemy, it is age. And Garland is youth, perennially, over the rainbow," he writes:

“

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.[7]

”

Openly gay comedian Bob Smith offers a comic take on the tragic figure theory, imagining an "Elvis queen" and a "Judy queen" debating their idols:

“	"Elvis had a drinking problem." "Judy could drink Elvis under the table." "Elvis gained more weight." "Judy lost more weight." "Elvis was addicted to painkillers." "No pill could stop Judy's pain!"[8]