The gays may love Gloria Gaynor, but the disco diva doesnât seem to be loving the gays. The âI Will Surviveâ singer told Britainâs Radio 4 that sheâd like to âleadâ gays to Christ, whatever that means.
Host Jane Little asked Gaynor how she feels about being a gay icon, to which Gaynor replied:
I feel good about it because I feel it is a platform for my purpose, which is to bring the love of Christ to all of my fans.
Little then wondered whether Gaynor saw her fame as âan evangelistic thingâ and whether Gaynor has âa religious opposition to homosexuality?â
Gaynor didnât go so far as to say that she thinks gays are hell bound, but did say:
I want to lead [gays] to Christ and what he has for them. I want to lead them to him, I want to lead them to truth.
Tenacious in her line of questioning, Little asked Gaynor point blank: âDo you see homosexuality as something sinful?â And, again, Gaynor replied, âI want to lead them to Christ, simply, and whatever he has for them.â Yikes, what does that mean?
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Is Gaynor referring to Jesusâ patented anti-sinner laser beams or his penchant for atomic wedgies. Itâs been ages since we read The Bible â especially the New Testament â so weâre pretty stumped. Maybe, though, Gaynorâs referring to a heavenly disco. We hear Jesus danced like an angel.
nycstudman
leave her alone. I saw her perform once and she spouted the Jesus stuff, but she loves the gays. the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive, despite all the hating so many public Jesus-spouters affect. She just wants us to go to christ and all that – doesn’t mean giving up the “sexual preference.”
BillieXX
Better be careful queerty folk. You know how we queens hate it when you down-grade our divas.
Jack Jett
This one hit wonder bitch has served out this homophobic shit before. She will take our money and stab us in the back.
Remember that the next time you are looking for
some cheap entertainment for our friends next 50 year old birthday party.
Hire a few hookers…at least some of them bust
evangelical wingnuts.
Jack Jett
underbear1
ms. Gaynor,
You wouldn’t have a pot to p*ss in without our clubs, and when you decide to revamp your old act…we won’t be buying it ANYMORE.
Qjersey
Gloria Gaynor is NOT a Gay DIVA. She is a ONE HIT WONDER whose song the gay community adopted as one of our anthems!
Shirley Bassey is a true gay DIVA and her new cover of I Will Survive with Latin/Carribbean beats is awesome.
nycstudman
Jack, I still say bitch ain’t no homophobe, just a Bible spouter & that there can be a difference. Show me where she says homosexuality is sinful.
rock
I agree with Nycstudman…from what I have heard her say she loves her Gay following and wanting Gays to love Jesus isn’t a homophobic comment. I believe her to be geniune. I believe she follows the saying that God Loves all His/Her children…I have never heard her speak a homophobic comment. I think Gloria Gaynor deserves her Gay icon status and I find her kinda sweet that she believes Jesus loves us all…unlike certain homophobic evangelicals…so give Gloria a break:) God and we Gays love her:)
Jack Jett
Stud;
I have never met a bible spouter that wasn’t a homophobe.
It is my understanding that she has made several gays going to hell comments…..
You know those “love the sinner hate the sin” lines they always seem to spew.
She will try and gloss it over, as Donna Summer did, but the truth is in the pudding. How many benefits has she done that she did not require any payment? ZERO
She is trying to make her money maker jive with her religious beliefs……..
She aint the only woman that can sing I Will Survive.
We were all signing it when Q Television Network closed down……….
Jack Jett
Bryan
Just because she says she “wants to lead her fans to christ” doesn’t mean that she hates gays. Plenty of people are perfectly accepting, even loving, of gays and still want them to “find the lord in their lives.” It’s not my thing, but I won’t discriminate against those for whom it is.
TJ
I’m confused. In the 90’s I worked in a gay club in Atlanta where Alicia(I love the nightlife)Bridges was the Dj. She told us that she was booked on a tv show that was a salute to disco that had many singers from the 70’s including Gloria Gayner. She spoke with Gloria and revealed to her that she was a lesbian. Gloria said that if she would have known that they could have “hooked up” in the 70’s while they were both traveling in the same circles. From that I’ve always thought that Gloria was also a lesbo.Hmmmmmmmm………
manifoldstore.com
Maybe I’m missing something, but what’s “homophoibic” about THIS statement? (I don’t follow her closely so maybe she’s made other statements in the past.)
As people have pointed out, being a Christian does not make a person homophobic. There are gay-affirming Christians and churches (as well as people of other religions). We just usually don’t hear about them in the media.
I’m more concerned that she expects people to follow her to Christ, regardless of their (non)existing religious beliefs.
It seems to me that we’re making an issue out of nothing. Homophobia (like racism) is a serious charge. We should be certain that it’s a legitimate claim so that when it really does exist, we aren’t the boys who cried wolf.
nycstudman
“I have never met a bible spouter that wasnââŹâ˘t a homophobe.” That’s an utterly hateful remark. How are we supposed to support tolerance for other people’s beliefs when we spout nonsense like that? I have met many TRUE Christians (as opposed to the ones who use the Bible as a cudgel to beat others down). I’ve met them working with AIDS patients mostly, but in other situations as well. I’m not an Xtian, but I respect them and their beliefs. Jack, you really need to take a look inside your heart and get the snark out of there.
Alexa
nycstudman, I don’t always agree with you, but I do about this. I’m not at all religious, but I have friends who are, including my oldest lesbian friend, a devout Christian who came out when she was in high school and had a terrible time of it with some of her family and so-called friends, yet managed to hold onto both her faith and her dignity through it all, mainly because her equally religious but straight sister was there for her. I won’t say there’s no difference in being bigoted against Christians and against gays, because obviously only one is an oppressed minority, but both are wrong.
Jack Jett
You are right stud, I am a hateful person. I think that organized religion is the root of all that is evil. I have never seen or heard of them working with gay HIV/AIDS patients. I would respect their beliefs more if they didn’t find it necessary that the entire planet share their views.
Yep, stud, daddy jack doesn’t dig the christian, never has, never will. I think they got this country in the mess it is in today.
I can’t look inside my hear, but I do kind of dig that snark that is in there. I am at one with my snark.
Perhaps though,I will provide you with some of the statements that the Lady Gaynor has made about gays while taking their money.
Remember, I live in the butthole of the Bible belt, I was raised in a evangelical family.
Jack Jett
Just call me hateful in the morning,
then just walk away.
nycstudman
“Perhaps though,I will provide you with some of the statements that the Lady Gaynor has made about gays while taking their money.”
That’s all I was asking for. Still waiting. đ
Jack Jett
Stud
Do your own research. I didn’t write this article and I have read her remarks before. I don’t dig it.
However, I started looking back and noticed that whatever comment I make, you are there to bash it. So it really isn’t about the content, you
just enjoy attacking others.
I noticed that you have attacked me even when I was supportive of your comments.
Trust me though, you are not the only one of this planet that is not crazy about jack jett.
So I won’t respond to your remarks anymore, but I will pray for you.
Could it be that we are both bitchy and we both have a snarky heart?
mmmmmmmmmmm?
jack jett
nycstudman
Jack: that’s a copout. I have actually supported you many times when I’ve been on this blog. But even I didn’t, I called on a statement you’ve now made several times slandering Gloria Gaynor, and you’ve folded your tents, when you insisted you had the evidence at hand. I would suggest the next time you mouth off about someone, you get your facts lined up first.
Interesting you call me “snarky,” when on this thread, I’ve: defended Gloria Gaynor. Defended Christians. Defended religion. Real snarky …
She will survive! Yes!! We fags DO love us our divas!!!
And the next time you say something as hateful and mean-spirited as, “this one hit wonder bitch has served out this homophobic shit before,” get the proof first.
Mr. B
Shirley Bassey is one neat lady. And she has raised a heckuva lot of money for AIDS research/charities.
Jack Jett
Yes sir, thank you sir.
Anything else sir?
You are not snarky.
Gloria Gaynor rules.
I am shit.
Gloria Gaynor has had mulitple hits.
Christians are awesome.
Religion is good.
I am standing in a corner for “mouthing off”.
I copout.
I am not worthy to speak the name of G.L.O.R.I.A.
Now I hold my head up high
and you see me
somebody new
Jack Jett
Loving Gloria
Since 1952
nycstudman
You said you weren’t going to answer … đ
omargosh
What’s problematic with her statement is that it implies that gay people on the whole don’t have “the love of Christ” in their lives already, as if we were all just a bunch of heathens. I mean, I know that I’m a heathen ;-), but still … that she wants to lead us to “the truth” simply implies that I live my life based on lies and falsehoods, no? I just don’t think she would have said the same thing if she were asked about another demographic of her fans.
hisurfer
ââŹĹDo you see homosexuality as something sinful?ââŹÂ
This is a yes or no answer. An easy one. I don’t really mind that most people dodge the question, but if you market to and make your money off of the queers then the answer better be an unequivocal “no.” Anything less and you can kiss off.
I’ve been tired of that damn song for years, anyways.
How are the other on-the-gay-shit-list divas doing (Beyonce & Donna Summer come to mind)?
nycstudman
omargosh: I think her implication is that everyone is a sinner – part of Xtian doctrine. I don’t agree w/it but point is, she wasn’t gay people weren’t sinful per se.
omargosh
nycstudman, I’m not quite sure I clearly understand the grammar of your last sentence, but I’ll respond to what I think you were trying to say anyway. I realize that part of Christianity is believing that everybody is a sinner. The problem here is with the discussion of that belief coming up after being asked about gay fans.
Can you imagine, and I’m just making up this example for the sake of argument, not because it’s true or anything, but can you imagine her being asked about being an icon for Latinos, and her response being something along the lines of “I’m glad to have Latino fans, because I want to lead them to the love of Christ”? And then to have others defend such statements, because she’s supposedly just making a matter-of-fact statement about her Christian beliefs and not implying anything whatsoever about the sinfulness of Latinos?
No, I don’t think she would even make such a statement in the first place, because she probably doesn’t make any sort of connection between that group and their supposed need for Christ in their lives. That she does for gays, and that she feels a need to express such a connection in response to a question about her musical fan base, is what is insulting.
omargosh
In fact, I just listened to the interview itself, in which she talks about how she feels about her music in terms of many other groups of people, including women, men, poor people, handicapped people, short people, fat people, etc., yet the only specific group of people that inspired a “brining the love of Christ” message from her were gays.
When listening to the recording, the silence between Little’s question of “Do you see homosexuality as something sinful?” and Gaynor’s response is noteworthy. It’s obvious she’s trying to search for a way to answer that question that’s not a dishonest “no” but that’s also not going to put a dent in her career in terms of bad publicity.