Gay Mafia

The "Gay Mafia" and the "Velvet Mafia" are pejorative terms for the expansion of gay rights groups in politics, media, and everyday life.^[1]

The "Gay Mafia" and "Velvet Mafia" are typically associated with a perceived "elite" within the fashion and entertainment industries; although the terms can also be used ironically by gay people themselves.

An early use of the term was when the English critic Kenneth Tynan proposed an article to Playboy editor A.C. Spectorsky in late 1967 on the "Homosexual Mafia" in the arts.^[2] Spectorsky declined, although he admitted that "culture hounds were paying homage to faggotismo as they have never done before". Playboy would run a panel on gay issues in April 1971.

The term "Velvet Mafia" was first used in an article in the "Top of the Pop" column in the entertainment section of the Sunday New York Daily News in the 1970s by journalist Steven Gaines to describe the executives at the Robert Stigwood Organization, a British film and record company. The phrase was later used by the same writer in a roman à clef about Studio 54 called The Club in reference to the influential gay crowd that became the club's habitués. This "mafia" included Calvin Klein, Truman Capote, Halston, and Andy Warhol. The term was tongue-in-cheek, describing a powerful social clique, not some truly devious alliance ruling either an industry or politics.

"Gay Mafia" was widely used in the media in the 1980s and 1990s, and could be seen in the pages of the New York Post. The term was also used by the British newspaper The Sun in 1998 in response to what it claimed was an over-representation of gay people in the Labour British Cabinet.^[3][4][5][6]

Gradually, velvet came to be replaced with gay. The term may have gained wider social prominence after it was used in a 1995 Spy article and a 2002 Vanity Fair article, wherein Michael Ovitz, in an interview,^[7] blamed the aforementioned group for his company's failures.^[8]

More recently, liberal comedian and TV host Bill Maher claimed (albeit without evidence): “I think there is a gay mafia. I think if you cross them, you do get whacked. I really do.”^[9]

The Lavender Mafia has also been used to refer to an informal network of gay executives in the entertainment industry.^[10]

Lavender Mafia has also been used to refer to a supposed faction within the leadership and clergy of the Roman Catholic Church that allegedly advocates the acceptance of homosexuality within the Church and its culture.^[11] In 2013 Pope Francis claimed there was a "gay lobby" within the Vatican in remarks during a meeting held in private with Catholic religious from Latin America, and he was said to have promised to see what could be done to address the issue.^[12] In July 2013, he responded directly to journalists' questions. He notably drew a distinction between the problem of lobbying and the sexual orientation of people: "If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?" "The problem", he said, "is not having this orientation. We must be brothers. The problem is lobbying by this orientation, or lobbies of greedy people, political lobbies, Masonic lobbies, so many lobbies. This is the worse problem."^[13][14]

References

1. "Gay mafia: Why are conservatives afraid of LGBTQ activists?". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
2. Kenneth Tynan Letters (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1994)
3. "'Sun' rejects outing and sacks Parris sacks Parris and rejects outing". The Independent. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
4. "BBC News - UK - Sun changes mind over gays". News.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
5. "House of Commons Hansard Debates for 07 Apr 2010 (pt 0001)". Publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
6. "A 'Gay Mafia' in Whitehall? Sex Is Back in the Headlines in Britain". Nytimes.com. 11 November 1998. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
7. Burrough, Bryan (August 2002). "Ovitz Agonistes". Vanity Fair.
8. Lyman, Rick (July 3, 2002). "Ovitz Bitterly Bares Soul, And Film Industry Reacts". The New York Times.
9. "Maher: "There Is A Gay Mafia -- If You Cross Them, You Do Get Whacked"". RealClearPolitics. April 4, 2014.
10. George De Stefano, An offer we can't refuse: the mafia in the mind of America, New York, 2005, Books.google.co.uk Retrieved 29 December 2014
11. Gould, Peter (2005-11-28). "Vatican fuels gay clergy debate". BBC News. Retrieved 2007-08-08.
12. "Pope Francis 'confirms Vatican gay lobby and corruption'". BBC News. 12 June 2013. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
13. Lizzie Davis, "Pope Francis signals openness towards gay priests" in The Guardian, 29 July 2013
14. "Pope Francis: Who am I to judge gay people?". BBC News. 29 July 2013. Retrieved 27 August 2013.