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The Queerness of Michael Jackson
At Michael Jackson's memorial service the Rev. Al Sharpton gave a rousing speech that had the congregation at the Staple Center rise to their feet at times with shouts of Amen.
Sharpton made one particular statement in his speech to MJ's three children, addressing the reasons for Jackson's eccentricities when he said, "I want his children to know there was nothing strange about your daddy. It was strange what your daddy had to deal with -- but he dealt with it anyway."
While clearly Sharpton's statement hinted to the racism Michael Jackson endured in the music industry as an African American entertainer trying to be a crossover success, Sharpton's statement totally ignored, as much as the black community has in their tribute to Jackson, the homophobia too, from us and the music industry.
Diagnosed with vitiligo, a skin disorder that causes depigmentation in patches of his skin, Jackson bleached his skin, not as a denunciation of his blackness, but rather, as he said, as a way to cosmetically have a more even skin tone.
Just as Michael was black, he was also queer, because he did not conform to our society's heterosexist norms. And as the man in the mirror faded from black to white, so too did his staged gender performance, from cute straight boy lead singer of the Jackson 5 to an effeminate male solo artist donning outfits in sequins.
And as the consummate drag performer he was not only a singer and dancer, Jackson was also a shape-shifter.
Jackson's transitioned himself first into looking like Diana Ross and then later into looking like his baby sister Janet and then later he transitioned himself into something, well, as inhumanly ghastly as he became more ghostly looking.
Jackson's gender blending was as transgressive, tabooed, and subversive as his skin bleaching.
He wore many masks until the masks became him.
Jackson's costumes and accessories range from various signature wigs to his hypermasculine look with his military/marching band outfits or his classic red (faux) leather look from "Beat It" to his softer look with his white nylon socks that were always prominently displayed beneath his black dress pants when he's doing his famous moonwalk.
Whereas Jackson couldn't be on the down-low about his skin bleaching, he could be and had to be on the down-low about his sexuality.
With an entertainment industry that forced Rock Hudson, a movie idol, in the closet until his death, and with a black community that still has light years to go in accepting its own lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer population, Jackson concealed his desire to grow up by donning an asexual Peter Pan image.
But when rumors abound, nonetheless, that Jackson was gay, so too did rumors that Jackson was a serial pedophile who beguiled young impressionable boys into his bed using the Neverland Ranch as a lure.
Although Jackson was acquitted of all charges, the strangeness Jackson had to deal with, which Sharpton did not speak about at Jackson's memorial, was homophobic bigotry: a bigotry that's predicated on the stereotype that one's gayness or perceived gayness is not only deviant but it is also innately criminal.
"Every time they knocked Michael down he got back up. Every time they counted him out he got back in," Sharpton said at the tribute.
The child sex abuse charges not only knocked Jackson down but it shocked his fan base. And with the potential of his multimillion recording industry collapsing under false allegations, Jackson had to go into action.
When Jackson tied the knot first with Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis's daughter, in 1994 following the first child molestation charges in 1993, everyone knew that Jackson was in damage control mode. And in his second marriage, rumored to be not consummated, in 1997 to Debbie Rowe, who is the mother of two of Jackson's three children, you get to see how compulsory heterosexuality exacted a toll on his life.
"We will never understand what he endured... Being judged, ridiculed. How much pain can one take? Maybe, now, Michael, they will leave you alone," Marlon Jackson stated at his brother's tribute.
And maybe Marlon is right.
Jackson was unquestionably eccentric, and his masks did not always protect him or liberate him because he always had to don them within the restricted boundaries of both race and sexual discrimination.
Perhaps Jackson's queerness was more a function of society's homophobia than it was his own.
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"Diagnosed with vitiligo, a skin disorder that causes depigmentation in patches of his skin, Jackson bleached his skin, not as a denunciation of his blackness, but rather, as he said, as a way to cosmetically have a more even skin tone."
I was born in 1981, so Michael Jackson and his amazing music are a part of who I am, but come on... this is an insult to people who really do have vitiligo.
I see this article has already been knocked off the HUFFPO Michael Jackson Tribute Page- marginalized again! Probably better suited to TheNation, or some tiny little-read academic journal, judging from the ironically hateful responses.
I think the article is fair and thought-provoking, being that the topic is so difficult. But it's gone over like a lead ballon.
On a tangent, I also googled the web for some proof of a lawyer I saw in passing on Larry King Live (maybe another show? FoxNews' Greta?) mumble somehting about how they sued Boy George for some old stuff he said intimating Mike was gay. (The vehemence of the guy relating this story even now was off-putting.) My home computer research is limited, of course, but it looks like it's been excised off the web...no sign in transcripts at CNN.
Anybody else see that clip?
While Monroe's theory is indeed an interesting one, it is quite inaccurate.
I agree that MJ was effeminate, but I don't believe he was gay. Lisa Marie is quoted as having said that he was a powerful, intense lover. That he would not let her see him without clothes and makeup. and would rise before her to put on his makeup. At the time he had not yet completed the bleaching and I am sure felt freakish about his patchy skin.
That said, I agree that the bigotry was about more than race, and not with Monroe's interpretation of Sharpton's.
We all know that MJ was heavily persecuted because he did not conform to our ideas of race, gender, skin color and age. The fact that he altered his face offended many. Why? I don't know. It was of no consequence to anyone but him.
If you have not already done so, read the indepth analysis of the child molestation charges that he chose to settle (1994 GQ) . It clearly surmizes that MJ was victimized, as was the child at the center of it all. A few greedy adults conjured up a plan to extort money from MJ and succeeded. Those damaged by the insensitive greed of others were the child, whose own father used for financial gain, and MJ, whose life was irrepairably damaged.
Jackson wasn't 'acquitted of all charges', unquote. One charge, at least, he paid a great deal of money to go away, thereby avoiding both trial and verdict.
His insurance company paid. NOT HIM
Can you explain what you mean by this?
I don't really think that he was g.ay. Prince is a 100% more effeminate and straight , so adopting a stage persona isn't really indicative of something. MJ just was a soft spoken shy guy. Honestly I could see him as more as3xual and child-like than anything, at least in real life and not the s3xualized presence he presented during the Dirty Diana phase and onstage in his confident realm. Watching his interviews and private home movies he put out, hearing from his former dates, he just seemed not all that bothered about s3x and more into playing pranks and having fun and acting like a kid.
It seems that you are projecting a bias on him that simply doesn't seem true. It may be, may not be, but I don't think that he was g.ay nor a pedo..ph1le.
i totally agree
Excellent explanation, stormynit. Also, as a society, we have preconceived notions of what heterosexuality--especially masculinity--is. Michael was reportedly traumatized by his siblings' and father's sexual activity during the years he toured with them. Sometimes, his brothers would bring girls into the bedroom he shared with them, and have sex with them with little Michael sleeping in the next bed! Naturally, Michael would have a different response to women as a result of seeing what toying with a woman--as his brothers did--can do to another human being. In fact, there's a new revelation in the form of a taped phone conversation Michael had with a friend named Glenda wherein he discusses this. Search for it on YouTube.
I don't think he was gay, I think he was still that little kid inside....He had to be an adult when he was a kid so he became a kid when he turned old. He loved LIsa Marie Presley and anyone that looks at them together will see how happy Michael was with her. They were made for each other but Michael is Michael. She had to get away from him or it would destroy her mentally. But I know he loved her and she loved him.
Ms Monroe
Perhaps you are an expert in been queer, drag performances and homophobic bigotry. For some of us that view him through the lens of artistry as a singer, dancer, songwriter, producer, stage setting, dancing and lights choreographer, custom design, state of the art video technology, short films and the ability to hire and work with the best in every field; Mr. Jackson's talent is unassailable. Jackson has been a superb businessman, exerting unparalleled control over his career His charity work was enormous and focused always on his highly publicized identification with children. The rest is speculation and nonsense
I agree totally with federika..Members of my family have worked in,and educated themselves in various aspects of the arts for 4 generations. Looking through the artist's heart Michael Jackson is in a stratosphere that is unmatched,anywhere. Artistic people are often different, some would say eccentric, but they live and breathe for their art. That is normal for them..Thank God for Michael Jackson, he has given all who follow a lot to strive for, but few will come close to. That goes for his untold acts of generosity and kindness as well..May the never ending song of the Universe comfort him now.
I guess do it matter if he was gay? I think he was gay I do not think he was a pedophile and because he was eccentric I did not pay too much attention to what he did.
I like to tell my daughter give it time and the truth will come to light about MJ
"Just as Michael was black, he was also queer, because he did not conform to our society's heterosexist norms."
Back in the late 60's and early 70's we called ourselves freaks. Those of us, straight or gay who did not conform to heterosexist norms. Remember Crosby Stills and Nash singing ,"let your freak flag fly."
I am a queer woman. And don't you think if Michael was gay we'd have all heard about with who and when and where by now?
My hope is that if Michael was gay - that he found some True Love with an adult before he passed on - a real soul mate. We, the public, don't need to know about it. I just hope he experienced it.
Every human being deserves to love and be loved. Perhaps, especially, MJ.
You're very kind, urnumbersix. I'm sick of the rampant voyeurism that follows Michael around still.
What is so hard to take here, what is so terribly horrible about Michael Jackson being gay that prompts such attacks against the writer?The homophobia against this claim is astonishing. And though Jackson never came out, if he was gay,no wonder why he stayed in the closet. There are so many ad hominem comments here, attacking the person making the claim, as if it will go away. No matter how much one may disagree with the argument that Michael might have been gay, it is not a far fetched hypothesis given his short lived marriage and surrogate arrangements to acquire children. His sleepovers with young boys (not girls), and his personal demeanor and behavior through the years. Oh , if only he could have been proud of it. He certainly was proud to be black, but given his upbringing coming out would have been hard. His young fans would have accepted him though. Times have changed and young people don't care about this as older generations have. So what if Michael Jackson was gay. His fans, I am one certainly, saw his androgyny and his gender bending in his long career. The writer is only bringing up something within the collective (un)conscious. She didn't invent it. The indications are out there. Thanks for a fine piece.
Sigir, it's not the fact that something is wrong with being gay. But there is truly something wrong with being lied on and caracatured (sp) at anyones whim. The man said he was not gay so why isn't that enough?
Good perspective by Ms. Monroe. As a fan of Mr. Jackson (and the same age) I've watched him with awe, excitement and disappointment thruout his career. In reminiscing by watching his videos before he made "Thriller," I was struck more than anything else, looking at him now with 30 years of life experience and observation, at how effeminate he'd become in his teenage years. Not that it wasn't noticed then as a teenager but the magnitude of the pressures he may have endured as a gay teen, as the centerpiece of the family business is enormous. Maybe someday it will be revealed that Micheal was indeed gay and afflicted with the circumstance of being supremely gifted, born into a deeply religious (socially conservative) family and being the namesake of a driven, seemingly emotionally distant and disapproving father. If so, and this is only my personal opinion, one wonders what messages Micheal internalized of his self image as seen thru his father's eyes.
To who ever the writer is of this article needs to be ashamed you dont have any solid proof that michael jackson was gay and if he was that was most certainly his business the media did not give this man any peace while he was living the least you can do is give him and his family enough time to grieve before posting bull*#$! that his family or his kids may eventually read let this man rest!!!!!!!!!
R.I.P Michael Jackson
Was it just too much to ask for when he's brother so lovingly said "maybe now they'll leave you alone"???? IRENE it is none of your concerns what his sexuality is, you should just worry about your own! Who gives a rats ass what his sexuality is? Michael was a wonderful man that touched everyones lives with his music and great contribution to making this world a better place. I can't believe but then again who am I kidding that immediately after his memorial the likes of you write this garbage. It is my hopes that someday those that are in the public eye and have the opportunity to use their voices and write things about others will take the good things and positive things and distribute that out into the world. Uplift and encourage our fellow man. Is that too much to ask for IRENE??? People like you disgust me and I can't imagine how you live with yourself after writing such garbage about someone like Michael Jackson. If you really want to succed in this world, unkind ways and cruelty to others will not get you far..........GOD DON'T LIKE UGLY!
Thanks for dragging this all in now....thanks for giving the bigots something else to accuse Michael of......thank you.
God save me from Friends like you - so 'truthful' so willing to 'let it all hang out"
Thank you for destroying him completely - for, PASTOR, there is nothing wrong with the rest of society for feeling homosexuality and transgenderism are somehow not normal.
That is called our RIGHTS. If Jackson had been gay, the only people in this permissive society who stopped him coming out, would have been his family.
Though you talk about Rock Hudson, please remember Rock Hudson would be at least 80 now - Elton John came out, and he is closer in age to Michael than Hudson. And we accepted him. We didn't like it, but we accepted it.
You cant blame 1 million people for one person.
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