A reader in San Francisco writes:
I remember when I pulled that issue of Newsweek out of the mailbox in suburban Cleveland and raced into the house to read it. My first concert was to see Donna Summer when I was 13, and I'll never forget the gay couple in front of me sneaking a few pats and squeezes and holding hands. It was the most open display of homosexuality that I'd ever seen, and the fact that those men had the courage to show themselves back in 1978 was a revelation, and a glimpse of the future. I also remember the comment from her "Live and More" album when she sang "The Man I Love," and remarked that ladies in the audience would relate and added, "And some of you men, too."
These are tiny blips by today's standards, but back then they were a lifeline to a young gay boy like me. They stand out as the few positive affirmations I got during a very lonely and difficult period in my life, and I'll always be grateful to Donna Summer for that.
Another writes:
Here's the thing about Donna Summer and her gay fans: She was never that into us.
Shit, we barely get a mention in her autobiography. And yet: She and an entire generation of gay fans shared their very souls. Our connection was real, it was abiding, and it had nothing to do with her look, her life or anyone's camp sensibility. It was entirely about the music – which simply couldn't have been any gayer.
Donna Summer fancied herself a rocker, but of course she wasn't, despite the guitars on "Hot Stuff." She grew up singing gospel music, but she hardly made it her focus as an adult. And – let's be honest – she didn't have an ounce of soul in her. But holy crap, Donna's gay sensibility was written into her DNA. She understood what her gay fans wanted on a cellular level. For all her discomfort with what she thought she knew about us, she made music that was so unbelievably, manifestly, pervasively extra gay, only a gay person – or a true kindred soul – could have made it.
And Donna never stopped making music like that. Just take a look at her dance releases over the last decade or so of her life. Check out the studio tracks that were added onto her VH-1 live album – songs like "Love Is the Healer" (omg gay!) and her version of "I Will Go With You." Listen to the "I Got Your Love" remixes or her ultra-gay two-EP set of songs, "To Paris With Love." Listen to "You're So Beautiful" or "It's Only Love" and tell me she wasn't a gay man trapped in a straight woman's body – as gay as Sylvester and Jimmy Somerville smooshed together by the Pet Shop Boys in a big gay sandwich.
To me, this is the paradox of Donna Summer. In one sense, she knew next to nothing about her most ardent fans, and was only too happy to keep her distance. But on the very deepest level – the music itself – she was ONE with us. And that's why we can forgive whatever statements she might have made about gay people. It's why we don't care about Donna Summer's indifference to us. And it's why we'll love her forever.
The Dish 