Nostalgia singers Bette Midler and Donna Summer, who'd be scrubbing toilets without gays, aren't the biggest supporters of same-sex marriage either, shockingly enough. On Larry King's show, Midler endorsed the idea, but said she's concerned that "gay men . . . like to move around"—i.e., be promiscuous. (And straight men don't? I've fucked hundreds of 'em.) On the same subject, Summer gave the Washington Blade a no comment and added, "People are entitled to whatever they want to do, but it is none of my business." That's hideous, but I guess it's better than her usual: "God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve." (No, wait, she never said that, I swear!)

This was from Michael Musto's coloumn
Talk about bitting the hand that feeds you?


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[This message was edited Tue Dec 30 1:54:23 PST 2003 by twink69]

Hahaa, it'll harm them, more then us !!

Neither comment really sounds that incriminating.

Donna NEVER said that "Adam and Steve" comment in the late 70's/early 80's (when it's attributed to her). She had a large gay following then and it was merely a vicious rumour, one that started around the time she 'got religious', and one that's been haunting her for decades.

And saying "People are entitled to whatever they want to do, but it is none of my business" is HARDLY prejudiced.

And, yes, Bette Midler is definitely anti-gay. That's why she's cultivated her gay following from the beginning, even naming her 1998 album Bathhouse Betty in honour of her early performance venues. She was always very open with her gay audience and she adores them.

Her comment sounds like it was a joke taken out of context. "Like to move around" sounds like Bette making a joke for some reason to me. Note the "..." in the quote there...I want the WHOLE quote and the context of it before I pass judgement.

Did anyone see the actual Larry King interview and if so can you tell us the whole story?
[This message was edited Tue Dec 30 3:27:44 PST 2003 by VoicesCarry]

Those aren't anti-gay.

Donna is right; it's no one's place to say.

And Bette sounds like she was joking, like why would gays want to marry anyway?

the anti-gay rumors have dogged Donna for years.It's all just a silly rumor that won't go away.

It usually has to do with religion, just ask Prince.

VoicesCarry said:

It has been reported that Donna made the "Adam and Eve" comment during a June 1983 concert in Atlantic City.She was singing the song "Woman" and asked for audience participation.Supposedly,she didn't want the gay men to join in. "I want all the ladies to sing this with me...not the guys! After all,God made Adam and Eve,not Adam and Steve".

Not sure if any of this is true,but even if she did say that,I'm sure it was meant as a joke.A joke that backfired,but a joke nonetheless.What do you think?
[This message was edited Tue Dec 30 6:30:31 PST 2003 by DavidEye]

DavidEye said:

Actually, that rumour appeared as early as the late 70s during the Bad Girls era (and the peak of her popularity). Multiple reports of her saying it at different times and in different places signify that it's an obvious falsification.

She has always strenuously denied it.

It would have been so unlike Donna to even attempt a joke like that during a performance that I don't believe the "Woman" report myself.
[This message was edited Tue Dec 30 6:53:35 PST 2003 by VoicesCarry]

VoicesCarry said:

Agreed.And consider this...Donna's signature hit "Last Dance" was written by the openly gay Paul Jabara.And in the 80s,she was signed to David Geffens' record label and of course he is gay (although Donna probably didn't know it then).Given all this,I find it hard to accept that she could be anti-gay,especially when such a large portion of her audience is gay.It's sad the way she had to suffer all because of a silly rumor.

Here are some interesting quotes:

Donna & the gay controversy

"I had turned to God because I just couldn't cope, and I think things started when a few journalists saw what a great story it was that this girl that had shocked the world with her outrageous sexy records and costumes was now saying, 'I've changed'. I read reports that I was refusing to sing any of my old records because they were too rude, that I wasn't going to do any gay clubs any more because I'd found the Lord, that I'd lecture young people about the evils of the music business... It didn't really affect me particularly, because I was used to the press saying all sorts of things about me that were silly and ridiculous. I'd lost count of the times I'd read that I was actually making love when we recorded LOVE TO LOVE YOU BABY, or that I was a transvestite. But a rumour started to crop up that I'd said that AIDS was God's plague on gay people for her wickedness, which was the most hurtful thing anyone could have printed. Not only had gay people built up my career, not only were a huge proportion of my friends gay, but worst of all, in the mid-80s, many friends of mine started dying of this disease"

-Donna Summer, 1995

"Given what I believe, as a loving person, it wouldn't be consistent for me to point fingers. Apart from which, if I'm someone who wants a public career, I'm not going to say things like that. I feel like if I'm representing God, I have to demonstrate that - and you don't do that by finger-pointing."

-Donna Summer, 1987

"All you can judge Donna Summer by is her record: her endless statements that she did not and would not say such a thing, her numerous performances for AIDS charities, and the fact that everyone that I've spoken to who knows Donna Summer - fans, journalists, musicians - have all said the same thing: Donna Summer is in no way homophobic (...). Donna is full of love, hates anything to do with gossip, hates lies, hates bigotry of any kind, and always accepts a person unless they do harm to her or her family (...). Donna Summer can not be anti-gay in any way. (

-GAY TIMES, 1999

As the rumor has it, a reporter who had a run-in with the singer came back from one of her concerts and wrote that the singer remarked that AIDS was God’s punishment against gays. Despite Summer’s vocal and emphatic denial of making the remarks, an anti-Donna Summer campaign emerged rapidly and the one- time gay icon had lost her foothold with the community that made her a star. "It’s not logical, whether I was Christian, Buddhist or whatever, that I would have said anything like that. It had a damaging effect on my career for some time. But I don’t let it embitter me. I looked at it as an experience to learn from and go on from," she says. "It wasn’t fair. Lives were destroyed over it. But it’s life. You can’t live there and you have to move on." But after more than 15 years, the singer says she’s tired of defending herself. "If I had been a criminal, I would have been found guilty, sentenced and served my time by now. I’ve paid dearly for a crime I didn’t commit," she says. "I don’t look at people by their sexual orientation. I don’t judge people because they are gay or straight. My love for people is based on my compassion as a person."

Still, despite the uproar, she has continued to stand by the gay and AIDS community, performing at pride events and fundraisers.

"I have a lot of friends who have been affected by AIDS, including people in my family. One of my cousin’s kids died of AIDS, as well as people in my extended family," says Summer, who recently performed at a benefit for the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, a New York City-based AIDS organization. " I’ve lost so many great friends that I can’t even take out pictures and look at them because it’s so painful and so difficult."



Summer and Paul Jabara
[This message was edited Tue Dec 30 7:07:05 PST 2003 by VoicesCarry]

VoicesCarry said:

I totally agree with you on Donna but not Bette. Donna will forever be picked on by some people that think she might have made those comments so unless she comes out as very pro-gay, some people question everything she does. However, the Bette remake seems vicious. Also, Bette seemed pretty freaked out over the whole Madonna-Britney kiss, and the way she said it (she kind of stated it was irressponisble) it kind of came off as anti-gay. Hmmm...

Does it matter? Honestly, these women cannot choose their fans, just like any other artist cannot "choose" their fans. If an artist has gay fans do they owe the gay community something? No. Do they have to support the gay community? No. If these women both came out and publicly said they thought homosexuality is wrong, then it is that gay fan's choice to either continue buying their music based on the talent or discontinue buying their music based on their political stance

Part of the reason gay men like "to move around" is because they're discouraged from commitment. Marriage is not allowed, simple signs of affection in public between two same sex people are still frowned upon, there is little support from family and friends, etc...