![shanes gay definition shanes gay definition](https://64.media.tumblr.com/d52f27d2c965b330201fe4c32b294b73/tumblr_inline_ozox3knDhM1u0kr49_500.png)
Though the lyrics were originally not a reference to her sexuality, Shane subverted the original meaning of the song to reflect her identity.Īfter the single’s success on the local charts, Jackie Shane continued to perform in downtown Toronto, but in 1971, Shane vanished from the public eye, and from much of music history. In fact, Shane’s music often included terms and expressions unique to Toronto’s underground LGBTQ2+ community. In the chorus, she sings: “Tell her that I’m happy, tell her that I’m gay, tell her I wouldn’t have it any other way.” This lyric is doubly interesting given the dual meaning of the term ‘gay’ in vernacular at the time. Her 1962 single “Any Other Way” became a top 10 hit in Toronto, At its peak, the single hit position #2 on the local CHUM radio charts.
![shanes gay definition shanes gay definition](https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/32b/8ee/3260abb8d11388a46f98749faabb5b658a-the-l-word.rsquare.w700.jpg)
Shane had a commanding stage presence and routinely donned drag, never seeking to conform - even in an era when homosexuality was illegal in Canada. That began a decade-long collaboration that would rocket Shane to the top of the music world in Toronto and establish herself as a musical force and a beacon of queer visibility. In 1959 or 1960, she moved to Montreal - still fully presenting as a man. During the summer of 1959, Shane was performing in Montreal when she stumbled upon Frank Motley (known for playing two trumpets at once), and The Motley Crew. She quickly began touring around the South and eventually joined a traveling carnival troupe that brought her to Canada.
![shanes gay definition shanes gay definition](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-l31NzHXFCDE/Tzr3iX1h4AI/AAAAAAAAAjQ/S-55sgGmMys/s1600/jon+bernthal-ts+19.png)
At age 13, she formed her first band, playing the drums while singing. Shane dominated the Toronto music scene in the 1960s, helped to define the “Toronto sound,” and was a precursor to the queer glam era of rock and roll.īorn in the south during the Jim Crow era, Shane knew from an early age that she was a trans girl, though that terminology would not exist for another 60 years. Shane was drawn to music at an early age, singing in church choirs and school glee clubs. Today, we are highlighting Jackie Shane, the Nashville-born soul singer and one of-if not the first transgender artist to hit the Canadian charts. While QTBIPOC have a long and visible presence in Canada, our history of music by queer and trans people who are Black, Indigenous, or of colour (QTBIPOC) remains largely unwritten and unarchived. See also homosexual.Queer History Month happens every October to support the 2SLGBTQIA+ community– raising awareness and increasing visibility of the lives, histories and experiences of queer people by recognizing their contributions, and making sure that their stories get told, as they often slip through the cracks of time. This argument is weakened by the fact that the sexual meaning has long been the dominant one, and thus permeates all usages of gay. It has been argued that gay in the sense “awkward, stupid, or bad” is independent of the sexual sense, and therefore not homophobic. How do gays feel about this? But usage as a singular noun is usually perceived as insulting.
![shanes gay definition shanes gay definition](https://assets.pippa.io/shows/610bbf9874807509ad971e17/610bbfd596a6bf001299a4e1.jpg)
Today, the noun often designates only gay men and is usually used as a collective plural: gays and lesbians. After World War II, as social attitudes toward sexuality began to change, gay was applied openly by gay men to themselves, first as an adjective and later as a noun. This sexual world included gay men too, and gay as an adjective in the sexual meaning goes back at least to the late 1930s. A gay woman was a prostitute, a gay man a womanizer, a gay house a brothel. The word gay has had various senses dealing with sexual conduct since the 17th century. The sexual orientation meaning of the word gay has become so predominant that people hesitate to use the term in its original senses of “merry, lively” and “bright or showy.” But the word's association with sexuality is not new.