Judy Garland (1922-1969)

Judy Garland, born Frances Ethel Gumm, was an American entertainer widely regarded as a gay icon. Gay men admired her power as a performer, saw their own struggles reflected in her public hardships, and embraced her as a camp figure. Her role as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939) is central to that bond, and the coded phrase "Friend of Dorothy" came to mean a gay man in eras when being openly gay was dangerous. Garland died of an accidental barbiturate overdose in June 1969. Her New York funeral drew thousands of mourners the same week as the Stonewall uprising, and while historians debate any direct link, her memory remains woven into that moment.