So, why a thought for an Irish boy band member who was found dead today when I ignore so many other celebrity deaths?
Because Boyzone's Stephen Gately was an optimistic voice at an important time in my life.
Anyone who's rummaged through my old cds knows I have an unexplainable loyalty to upbeat Irish boybands. It's a guilty pleasure you can feel free to blame on my daily doses of MTV the summer I lived in Ireland.
That alone would be enough reason for me to dust off the memories of music that simply makes me happy.
But Stephen Gately did something much more important, that likely went mostly unnoticed here in the United States. He came out to the world, when all convention said it would likely be inconvenient for him to be openly gay. In a world with few out entertainers, especially so early in their careers, it was heartening to see a young pop star fully, publicly embrace who he was, even if it involved beating the tabloids to the punch. As his solo career meandered off the pop charts, through London's West End and more-recently back to his boy band roots, he was important, if only because he chose not to hide an important part of his life from his fans.
Simply put, he was a public face for acceptance.
The news of his death today at 33, caught me off-guard.
You were the first person that I thought of when I heard. I know that the slagging about your taste in boy bands was fairly unmerciful, but... it makes me smile when I think that it all started around the same time that we met, and FACT, you made some good friends here!
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Noel, I have always accepted your unmerciful slagging unapologetically. Isn't that what friends are for? I wouldn't change a thing about my time in Dublin -- one of the best summers of my life.
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