1995, Fiona Cooper, Blossom at the Mention of Your Name, Serpents Tail
Historically, if you weren't sure, because you just could NOT be faintly camp, they talked about the friends of Dorothy. Do you know Dorothy? Are you one of Dorothy's friends? I assume it came from a passion for the divine Miss Garland.
2002, Stephen Tropiano, The Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV, Hal Leonard Corporation (→ISBN)
Beecher and Keller aren't the only friends of Dorothy living in Oz. The population includes a group of self-admitted homosexuals who play integral roles in some of the major storylines. In the show's first season, Billie Keane (Derrick Simmons), […]
2003, Liz Lochhead, Willie Rodger, The Colour of Black & White, Birlinn Limited
Yet all of my friends are friends of Dorothy,
Yeah, friends of Dorothy.
Now, I'm cool and glib about gay lib
But suddenly it's got to me
That all of my friends are friends of Dorothy.
And why oh why do they get that vexed
About my mainstream […]
2005, Karen Christel Krahulik, Provincetown: From Pilgrim Landing to Gay Resort, NYU Press (→ISBN), page 136:
Others, like Alice Foley, heard about “P-town's” “artistic” climate from “friends of Dorothy.” Calling one another “friends of Dorothy,” a reference to the Wizard of Oz, or “Mary” and using terms like “artistic” to mean gay friendly, were passwords […]
2014, Richard J. Gray II, The Performance Identities of Lady Gaga: Critical Essays, McFarland (→ISBN), page 85:
Closeted “Friends of Dorothy” started using the film as a secret reference to their own homosexuality, while “Over the Rainbow” and its singer Judy Garland became gay icons to such an extent that […]
