Gay icon Kensington of AIDS-related illnesses (bronchial pneumonia). Artists particularly embraced by the gay community during the 1980s included Whitney Houston, Patti Labelle, Alaska, Charo, Dolly Parton, Elaine Paige, Amanda Lear, Prince and Mylène Farmer. Several Britons were seen as gay icons, including singers Boy George, David Bowie, George Michael, Morrissey, Pet Shop Boys, Kate Bush, Annie Lennox, and writer Quentin Crisp. Elton John also became a gay icon during this decade, a status strengthened throughout the years. Diana Ross, a long time gay icon, of The Supremes; released a song I'm Coming Out which brought a significance to the phrase of
Gay icon by Judy Garland's role in "The Wizard Of Oz" (1939), some speculate it originated with Parker. Actress Bette Davis' performance in "Dark Victory" (1939), was dubbed by queer theorist Eve Sedgwick as "the epistemology of the closet." Davis' portrayal of the melodramatic Judith Traherne made her talent for playing someone with a secret revered and her "camp-worthy" dialog reflexive of the "flamboyant gay queen of the dramatic arts." Ed Sikov, author of "Dark Victory: The Life of Bette Davis", wrote that 20th century gay men developed their own subculture following Davis' example. In Marcella Althaus-Reid's "Liberation Theology and Sexuality", Marlene