Queer Eye for the Country Guy

Queer Eye for the Country Guy

Have today's C&W stars been consulting with the Fab Five?

BY JOHN NOVA LOMAX

A few years ago, many people were shocked when Judas Priest lead singer Rob Halford came out of the closet. They shouldn't have been -- after all, Halford had long been roaring on stage on a motorcycle looking like the biker in the Village People, or one of the leather-clad macho men painted on the exterior of Mary's. But then you couldn't blame people for being surprised -- in the world of heavy metal, the fact that Halford was openly flaunting a gay stereotype flew right under the radar, and in an ironic way, the hypermacho image Halford was peddling jibed as well with metal as it did in bars like Ripcord. Hell, some people were even surprised to learn that Freddy Mercury was gay, despite his image and the fact that his band was named Queen.

This article's not about rock or metal, though. It's about another macho genre -- namely, country music. Neither is it an article about outing people. We don't know if any of the people featured here are gay, nor are we making any allegations about their sexual preference -- as far as we know, k.d. lang (in town this week for a performance with the Houston Symphony) is the only gay musician with a country connection, though Ty Herndon was caught in a compromising George Michael-like situation in a Fort Worth men's room a few years back. We're just examining images here, and lately it seems as if many of today's top country artists have been spending some quality time with the Fab Five.

Posted by joebeone at Abril 29, 2004 03:26 PM | TrackBack