Backstreet Boys' A.J. McLean Talks Gay Band Members, Beg A 'Fag Hag' | HuffPost Voic

Contents:

• BOY BAND MEMBERS WHO ARE OUT AS GAY, BISEXUAL OR QUEER
• AMERI’S GOT TALENT DNS “THE WORLD’S GAYT BOY BAND”
• FIRST OPENLY GAY K-POP BOY BAND RELEAS SGLE ‘SHOW ME YOUR PRI’
• AMERI’S FIRST ALL OPENLY GAY BOY BAND RELEASE DEBUT SGLE
• GAY BOY BANRS
• BACKSTREET BOYS' A.J. MCLEAN TALKS GAY BAND MEMBERS, BEG A 'FAG HAG'
• LGBTQ+ BANDS: OUR TOP 10 FAVORE GAY BANDS

BOY BAND MEMBERS WHO ARE OUT AS GAY, BISEXUAL OR QUEER

And we were like, let's jt make a tracklist of our songs that we're gog to put and we ma a tracklist of like 50 different songs wh jt ridiculo tl that we will never e but that was, kd of the genis of Then we moved, when we got back om London, we moved to hell's kchen, which is like a gayborhood the cy. Cameron Cipolla: That's a good Gray: I would say "gay pop dis. We said gay pop It's like One Directn if they were on poppers.

I don't thk he was even gay the mil. Cameron Cipolla: I mean, growg up and watchg all the '90s movi and like Sry Movie and I don't know, a bunch of movi that was a joke to be gay.

AMERI’S GOT TALENT DNS “THE WORLD’S GAYT BOY BAND”

I n't be gay, blah, blah, blah. ' So, seeg a gay person livg happily and like was like not a big al was fely was probably the biggt for me, watchg that middle your b on Instagram, says "queer boy band. When I first me out though, he was like, 'Did you move to New York jt to be gay?

FIRST OPENLY GAY K-POP BOY BAND RELEAS SGLE ‘SHOW ME YOUR PRI’

' So, I thk 's important to like the '90s and '00s, when boy bands were peakg, I know a lot of them were subjected gay jok bee I feel, like a lot of thgs, pecially when to men, if they have like a big fan base ma up of women, lots of gay jok are thrown around. Cameron Cipolla: I don't thk we've ever gotten hate for beg gay. I don't thk there's been any homophobic hate Avenu: I mean, not that we know are so many out LGBTQ+ artists out there than ever before.

AMERI’S FIRST ALL OPENLY GAY BOY BAND RELEASE DEBUT SGLE

So for me 's like, I don't feel brave for jt sayg I'm gay om the get-go. I gus we are sentially, but fely givg cred to every gay person, artist or not, who me before , bee whout them, this would lerally have never Avenu: Especially the Black trans Yeah. And I don't really ever put to thought like, 'Oh, are people gog to hate for beg gay om the get-go for dog this?

GAY BOY BANRS

We've known each other sce we were all Avenu: We were iends before this all We were like baby gays and grew up as adult gays together. We are four whe men this world who like, 'Y, we're gay, ' but that don't give any pass as the privilege that we have.

The mastream populary of boy bands wtern mic almost ensur that one or two members of each group intifi as gay, bisexual or queer. Most out gay boy band members talk about their early reer days of havg dual personas - the public heterosexual teen male, and the private gay dividual - creatg an thenticy paradox. There have been sporadic attempts to create succsful all-gay boy bands to ter to the LGBTQ dance club crowd.

BACKSTREET BOYS' A.J. MCLEAN TALKS GAY BAND MEMBERS, BEG A 'FAG HAG'

Neverthels, there is a group of notable boy band members who publicly intify as gay, bisexual or queer. This week on Ameri’s Got Talent, jt time for Pri Month, Cowell and his fellow judg dned The Other Directn, a group that bills self as “the world’s gayt boy band.

“We ma a pact that when we turned 21, we would e together and form the world’s gayt boy band, and here we are! An spirg gay pelin uple has stayed together for nearly two s.

LGBTQ+ BANDS: OUR TOP 10 FAVORE GAY BANDS

For as long there have been boy bands, there have been gay or bisexual boy band members. Sger Dunn Jam, who has a dghter wh an ex-girliend, first me out as bisexual 2009 but later clarified that he is gay, acknowledgg a Brish TV documentary that he had a three-year relatnship wh one of Blue's hunky male backup dancers. He also admted he was so sred people would fd out he was gay that he dated women, even havg sex wh some of them, which was, ultimately, what broke up his relatnship wh his dancer boyiend: "I broke his heart to the pot where he uldn't be wh me that way anymore and end .

Lead sger L McKeown told filmmakers he had lived a secret gay life for more than 30 years, even keepg his pas om his wife of 25 years, Peko McKeown. Although several boy bands the past have had one of s members e out as gay at some pot (Jonathan Knight of New Kids on the Block, Lance Bass of *NSYNC), there has never been one that has tly nsisted of five openly gay men one band… until now.