Remembering Judy Garland as the Absolute Queen She Was, This Pride Month

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In this blog, we will be talking about the legendary Judy Garland. She is most recognizable due to her role as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. However, unlike Dorothy, who was able to return to her home, Judy did not have a happy life.

Judy Garland - a Gay Icon

Judy Garland was a top performer in Hollywood, indeed of the highest pedigree, but a deeply troubled soul. Judy had abusive parents, and as a child actress, she found herself immersed in uncanny studio abuses that led to her being exposed to hard substances and alcohol. Her bad luck was cemented by a series of pitiable relationships and marriages.

Her relationships landed her in a financial mess. Although being a top Hollywood asset for years, when she died at the tender age of 47, she only had a paltry $40,000 to her name. However, it has been argued that her suffering became an icon of “Our Lady of Sorrow” to the community of queer men.

Judy Garland was aware of her large queer fan following, with renowned media outlets labeling her the “Elvis of Homosexuals.” More iconic was her response when she was asked about her gay fans, saying she “couldn’t care less, as she sings to the people.”

A Tragic Figure

Judy Garland spent her entire life being the “Unwanted Child.” Her mother had attempted to abort her, but she did not go through with the procedure since her doctor had suggested otherwise. Her overly ambitious mother forced Judy to perform alongside her sisters in a ballet act when she was just two. Judy would later refer to her mother as the “real Wicked Witch of the West.”

It also seems that Judy’s mother's marriage with her father was not a happy one. Her father had an ill repute of making advances toward teenage male students when they visited their family theater. Because of her father’s abominable behavior, her family was forced to seek out greener pastures, leading to her moving to California. After her father’s demise, she was hired by MGM as per her mother’s wishes, as she really wanted Judy to make her mark in the American entertainment industry.

The Shackles of Studio Abuse

Her first contract with MGM had a lot to do with her career miseries and her stormy personal life. She became an overnight sensation in the studio and was a go-to figure. She was typecast in childlike roles, perhaps for her natural teen appearance. The studio began playing her alongside Mickey Rooney in many popular and rewarding films. Of course, with more tasks at her disposal, the demand for perfection was more important for the studio than anything else, and they did everything to retain her juvenile appearance for as long as possible.

This process was both harsh and worrisome, as she was forced to regularly be on a diet. They say her chest was girdled to retain those less-developed outlooks. It was reported that Judy had an attendant who snatched plates of food from her and ensured she kept to a diet of black coffee, along with up to 80 cigarettes daily. That was how terrible it was for her.

While all that was ongoing, her selfish mother was okay with the financial benefits that accrued and, as such, never bothered about the inherent emotional torture coming from the studio's abusive control of her daughter's natural look. It may not just be the derogatory remark by studio head Louis B. Mayer, who labeled her “my little hunchback,” or the occasional assaults of touching her offensively. Things were generally unbecoming for the young talent.

The Toll of The Wizard of Oz and Beyond

You may be one of those still celebrating Judy for her wonderful performance in The Wizard of Oz, but I'm not sure how you will feel to hear how a 17-year-old Judy smoked and took hard substances during the filming of that Technicolor fantasy movie. Although the movie gave her stardom, it came at a huge expense to young Judy, and all of that affected her mental state, even leading to her exit from MGM Studios.

Her early marriage was described as an attempt to free herself from the shackles of studio harassment and ridicule, and to liberate herself from her overbearing mother. Nineteen-year-old Judy thought marriage could solve her immediate problems, but unfortunately, it did not. Rather, more confusion was created when she married bandleader David Rose, even against her mother and Louis B. Mayer's wishes. Painfully, even after becoming pregnant, Rose and others encouraged her to do away with the baby, only for the marriage to crash about eight months after coming together.

It did not also end there, because critics linked whatever she suffered in her later life of heavy substance abuse, which continually overwhelmed her and eventually caused her death, to all these early experiences.

The Queen of the Queer Community

Judy Garland as a tragic figure is a term that has been overtly used in mainstream media to discuss not just her perilous career life, but her interesting popularity among the homosexual population. An analyst once talked about Judy's Palace Theater rendezvous as a lopsided part that seems to be homosexual, in trying to explain her appeal to queer men. I still recall reading a publication where an expert psychoanalyst reasoned that the attraction may have been considerably stronger because she survived several problems. “Homosexuals identify with that kind of hysteria,” the report said. It added that having been beaten black and blue by circumstances, Judy's life tilted more toward masculinity, giving her a kind of aura that queer men admire, hence the attempt to identify with her.

The first time I heard someone talk about Judy Garland as the “Elvis of the queer community,” I did not quite connect to that until I listened to a popular comedian give a comic insight into the tragic figure concept. Placing side by side Elvis as the King and Judy as the Queen in their different contexts, you will understand that both had a common drinking problem. But, finally, Elvis gained weight while Judy lost weight. Elvis depended on painkillers, but pills couldn't stop Judy's pain.

After Judy Garland played the Dorothy Gale role in the 1939 Wizard of Oz, several ties between her and the queer community manifested even stronger. Up to this day, many still wonder how the term “Friend of Dorothy” crept into the world of queer men and became a notable slang. Critics thought that the slang, which became a sort of secret code phrase among this category of men, was influenced by her depiction of Dorothy Gale in the movie.

Dorothy's character made a trip from Kansas to Oz that observers said exposed many unconventional men's longings to vacate the cultural limitations of small-town life for big, colorful cities filled with quirky, gender-bending characters who would welcome them. As part of the storyline, Dorothy quickly welcomes peculiar personalities, even the Cowardly Lion, a camp presentation depicted by Bert Lahr. Through a song, the Lion let the audience see him with those effeminate mannerisms. The thinking is that the Lion epitomizes an oblique instance of Judy meeting and tolerating a queer man without any contemplation.

Some think that Judy is regarded as the icon of queer men because of the popularity of her song "Over the Rainbow." Recall that the rainbow flag had, over the years, become a symbol of this special community. Believers in this theory reason that she may have been inspired by the rainbow flag to do the song, which many say is more like the sound of the closet, inclining more toward unconventional gender practices.

A Legacy Beyond the Rainbow

Judy Garland's life was undeniably filled with heartbreak, exploitation, and profound pain. Yet, her ability to channel that immense suffering into a voice that touched millions is exactly what makes her legendary. She was not just a product of a cruel Hollywood studio system. She was a deeply resilient spirit who sang through her tears and gave everything she had to her audience.

As we celebrate Pride Month, remembering Judy is about more than just enjoying her classic movies or humming along to her iconic tunes. It is about honoring a woman who unknowingly became a beacon of hope and a symbol of survival for a marginalized community. Whether it was the desperate longing in her voice when she sang about a place over the rainbow, or the safe haven she inadvertently created for queer men looking for a place to belong, her impact is deeply woven into the very fabric of LGBTQ+ history.

Judy Garland may have left this world far too soon, and with far too little to her name, but the cultural wealth and the message of acceptance she left behind are immeasurable. She sang for the people, she suffered like the people, and she loved without judgment. For all these reasons and more, she truly was, and forever remains, the absolute Queen.