It's hard for me to believe this now, but when I was 11 years old and bought the 45 for Evergreen (Love theme from A Star is Born), (and yes, that's it's official title, parenthesis and all) I had no idea that Barbra Streisand was a gay icon. I'm not sure I even knew what either of those words meant, gay or icon. I just knew that this woman, who had made me laugh so hard in What's Up, Doc? and had stirred in me a deep sense of recognition as the passionate misfit Katie Morosky in The Way We Were, was now wooing me with her singing voice...and her afrotastic hair, which practically cascaded off of the sepia toned record sleeve.
It's a relationship that spans nearly four decades now, longer than just about any other relationship in my life. Barbra's work has been there for me always, as balm for a broken heart, as jubilant companion in happy times, and as prayer in solemn moments.
There was a time when it would have embarrassed me to reveal these thoughts publicly. When I finally admitted to myself that I was gay, and realized that gay icons really do exist, and that Barbra was in fact one of them, I was a little mortified. I felt it cheapened my passion for all things Barbra and reduced my feelings to a joke, or even worse a stereotype.
Though it's sometimes hard to remember, I know that I can't expect to be happy while worrying about what other people think of me; worrying whether I am typical, atypical, or even stereotypical Like every man, I need to stay true to my feelings, my thoughts, my principles. After all, as Katie says to Hubble, "People ARE their principles!"
Happy Birthday, Barbra Joan!
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