Happy Birthday, Judy Garland! Why We’re STILL Friends Of Dorothy

Garland would have been 94 today.
From: NewNowNext

 Long before the Beyhive, the Little Monsters and the Britney Army, the gays stanned ride-or-die for Judy Garland.

But what made her such a gay icon?

.Some say gay men connected with her complicated personal life, especially as it was so far from her squeaky clean professional image.

 Others say it was her dramatic style of performance, singing every song like a loser who’d just found the strength to win

 Some historians even cite Garland’s death in 1969 as the spark that ignited the Stonewall Riots a week later.

And she certainly surrounded herself with gay men. (She even married at least one.)

Whatever the reason for Garland’s influence, every Friend of Dorothy should take a moment to wish Judy a very happy birthday today. Had she lived, she’d be 93 years old.

Below, watch one of her bittersweet-est performances, on The Judy Garland Show in 1963. In classic Judy style, it’s a song all about smiling that just makes you want to cry.