Gay Boy Band Singers Okay in the U.K.

There’s American Idol contestant and Eating Out star Jim Verraros: cute, talented, and out, but he’s a TV reality show contestant, and a solo artist. Asked earlier this year by PlanetOut.com what he believes his life would have been like if he’d stayed in the closet, Verraros replied: “I could be making more money, but not being able to go to a gay bar? That would suck. I wanted to stay true to myself and make a difference. We need people in our community to step up and take responsibility."

Though not a boy band member, openly gay Electro Pop singer Matthew Duffy shares Verraros’s view. When asked this summer by 365gay.com if he’d been counseled him against being gay publicly, the recording artist replied, “Oh, yeah. Of course. But I feel I owe it to the people who have come before me and the kids that are coming up now to be open and honest. I never wanted to be closeted and not talk about (being gay) in my music. It’s important for me to help effect a change.”

But, many warn, if the gay members of the America’s boy bands have not stepped up to the rainbow plate, please don’t judge them harshly.A 21-year-old USC film student who attended high school in the U.K. maintains, “Discrimination against homosexuals is still prolific in the U.K. Instead of yelling ‘Fag!’ they yell, ‘Poof!’"

Bottom-lining the major cultural difference between the U.K. and the U.S., the student continues, “The Brits lack the conservative majority that Middle America embodies. Most Brits are Anglican or some gray shade of agnostic and don’t use God as a reason for people to stay in the closet.”

Whatever other anti-gay bigotry exists abroad, in Gately and Feehily’s homeland, it isn't usually God that is used as a weapon against homosexuals. A school psychologist I know who travels extensively and frequently in the U.K. also points the finger in the direction of religious extremism. She tells us: “With our prudish history, sick homophobia, and right wing extremists, coming out is not an option for most performers.”

The hateful, sometimes violent, anti-homosexual bias of the so-called Christian America is inexplicable because Jesus never mentioned homosexuality, never said a single word. Apparently Christ’s anti-homosexual teachings were in the same lost gospel in which Jesus advocated the assassination of pesky world leaders.

It’s not that American boy band members can’t come out, the argument goes, but that it takes more guts for the American boy band member to put his rainbow foot proudly forward than it does for his U.K. equivalent. In touring the U.K., Feehily and Westlife won’t be confronted by protestors bearing hurtful ignorant placards reading, “God hates queers!” “AIDS cures fags! ” or “Feehily will burn in hell!” Not only are American gay boy bands subject to these hateful missives, in some regions; they’ll see concert dates and other bookings cancelled. CD sales will almost undoubtedly plummet. They’ll feel additional stress from agents, managers, recording labels, etc. What’s a boy to do?

As the previously quoted student points out, “Now take American record companies who need to tailor their bands to fit the tastes and moralities of suburban mid-west culture, as well as big cities. If there are outspoken homosexuals in their bands, they automatically lose that percentage of teenage buying power--the teens whose parents must approve of the CD before it is bought.”

Boy George and Elton John, although not boy-band members, did not appear to experience an extreme backlash in the U.K. when they came out. From London, our former Navy man adds, “Boy George, an extremely well-informed and intelligent individual, often guests on political and social issue TV programmes here, where his opinions are well respected.”

But, in the U.S, where gays in the military are asked to die for their country without ever having been asked, and without the freedom to tell, boy band stars know the high price they would pay for coming out publicly. This is also the land where a heterosexual star (Hugh Grant) can be forgiven quickly for cheating on his fiancée with a prostitute, but if you’re gay/lesbian, voters will blithely legislate against your making a legal commitment to the love of your life.

A solo artist such as Matthew Duffy or Jim Verraros may confront protestors, willing to limit his commercial prospects to serve honesty. But if you’re a band member, is it fair, or even right, to impose those conditions on the others in your group? If you’re American, and you’re in a successful band, it's hard to argue that it doesn't make practical sense to stay in the closet.

Whether fearing religious fanaticism, extreme career and financial repercussions, or the scorn of fellow band-mates who will also pay the price of the gay member’s openness, America’s gay boy band members shouldn’t be blamed for double-bolting their closet doors. In an increasingly conservative America, the price for being yourself is still too high for many to pay.