YMCA song as gay anthem; Poland

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

A 2004 ads-l thread discussed the YMCA song as a gay (homosexual) anthem, and yesterday I noticed that the gayness of the song is recognized as far away as Poland.  An item in the German news program tagesschau.de told about the climate of fear among German homosexual teachers in Poland; title:' Als Schwuler ist man an den Schulen vogelfrei" (= As a gay person one is fair game [for discriminatory treatment of all sorts] in the schools."

Here's the relevant excerpt about the YMCA song:

'Rafal hat es nicht mehr ausgehalten. Der 24-jährige Lehrer aus Bielsko-Biala in Südpolen hat seinen Job hingeschmissen. "Die schwulenfeindliche Stimmung an meiner Schule war einfach nicht mehr zu ertragen", sagt er. Mitten im Unterricht haben Schüler angefangen, "YMCA" von der bekannten schwulen Band "Village People" zu singen. "Nur um zu sehen, wie ich reagiere.'

(Translation:  'Rafal couldn't stand it anymore.  The 24-year-old teacher from Bielsko-Biala in South Poland had it with his job and resigned.  "The homophobic attitude in my school was simply no longer bearable," he says.  In the middle of class the pupils began singing "YMCA" by the well-known gay band "Village People."  "Just to see how I'd react."')

Gerald Cohen
P.S. I compiled the ads-l YMCA thread as a working paper in Comments on Etymology, Oct. 2004, pp. 18-19.

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