The LGBT community is made up of a virtual rainbow of gorgeous creatures, and in her latest video, Manila Luzon makes sure almost every one of them are represented-with a special focus on the straight men.
“Gay Man” shows Luzon in some of her most daring looks yet, from classic & quintessential Manila Luzon drag, to her own version of drag king-esque to completely appearing as a male in a large portion of the video. The inherently clever lyrics though, meld perfectly with the frenetic and fun pace of the video, which shows a straight girl introducing her clearly apprehensive boyfriend meeting her beyond diverse group of friends. As we have seen straight men in our own lives, their initial trepidation wears off fairly quickly, and they gradually see that we have quite a few more similarities than we do differences.
Produced and Directed by Brad Hammer, and sponsored by Adam4Adam, “Gay Man” is one of those infectiously fun tracks that gets right in your head, and under the tutelage of Hammer, Mic J Rez, and Karl Westerberg (also known as Manila Luzon) the track is bound to get heavy play throughout Pride month.
I caught up exclusively with Manila Luzon as “Gay Man” dropped to talk about the gaps she is bridging with the track, celebrating our diversity, and what gives this drag legend so much pride.
MC: “Gay Man” is the epitome of what everything pride should represent. What was your inspiration for the track?
ML: This song goes out to my straights! Our gay bars have always been inclusive of everybody & with RuPaul’s Drag Race more popular than ever, lots of straight fans are coming to the gay clubs! They probably grasp the idea of us drag queens from watching the show. And they know many of us are gay men. But sometimes may have a preconceived idea of what a gay man is. I wanted to write a song that shows the huge range of people in the gay community, specifically gay men!
MC: You did the video primarily out of drag or in a definite different look than previous videos. What made you change it up?
ML: My crazy style doesn’t end with dresses and drag; I love to dress up in fabulous boy drag, too!! Just like some of my flamboyant menswear from All Stars 4, I wanted to wear some cute boy looks in one of my videos from my album Rules!. Also it’s the most comfortable I’ve ever been on a video shoot!
MC: What message do you want “Gay Man” to deliver to everyone that hears it?
ML: “Gay Man” is a silly song, but it’s also how we define ourselves, how we are always writing and rewriting labels, and how we celebrate our diversity and our individuality.
MC: What gives you pride?
ML: I’m proud to be witnessing how society is really changing for the better. Our community of LGBTQIA+ exclamation point appreciates our straight allies, really! It excites me for what’s to come for gay people everywhere (and I’m not just talking about the next season of All Stars)!
Celebrate all types of gay men by downloading the A4A app here: https://www.adam4adam.com/
Follow Adam4Adam on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adam4adamofficial/
Get the song “Gay Man”: https://music.apple.com/us/album/rules/1450043181
The double-edged sword that drag is. A man dressing and acting like a woman (realistically or exagerated) around men, usually implying sexual desire reinforces and naturalises heterosexuality. It does nothing in favour of homosexuality.
Not going to stop a man from dressing like a woman, but I feel most gay men don’t see drag has this side that basically exalts heterosexual attraction.
By the way, I stick to rock 🙂