The Gay 80s

I was just watching MuchMoreRetro and the WHAM! Video for “The Edge of Heaven” came on. So I’m looking at George Michael in his suede bolero-style fringe jacket, gyrating all over the stage in his skin-tight jeans and he just seems so incredibly gay to me that I can’t believe there was ever a moment in time that people, including me, didn’t know he was gay. It must have been quite easy (not emotionally, of course) to be in the closet in the 80s, if dressing like that didn’t mean you were gay. Because all guys dressed like that—and we thought they were hot.

Not that there’s anything wrong with people being gay. But there is so much wrong with that jacket I can’t even begin to tell you. And yet, it was the style. In the 80s, I was probably visualizing George draping that jacket over my shoulders as we walked hand-in-hand on the beach.