Editing Donna Summer (section)

==Alleged homophobic remarks==
{{criticism section|date=May 2025}}
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| footer            = Summer's 1989 apology letter to [[ACT UP]]
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In the mid-1980s, Summer was embroiled in a controversy when she allegedly made anti-gay remarks about the relatively new disease [[AIDS]] at a 1983 concert (it was not clear what was originally said with the statements changing, over time and in different publications).<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Scanlon |first=Kelly |date=2023-11-23 |title=The misconstrued homophobic reputation of Donna Summer |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-misconstrued-homophobic-reputation-of-donna-summer/ |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=faroutmagazine.co.uk |language=en-US}}</ref>

According to ''[[Far Out (website)|Far Out]]'' there is little evidence to suggest that Summer actually said these statements.<ref name=":1" />

In 1989, Summer told ''[[The Advocate (LGBT magazine)|The Advocate]]'' magazine, "A couple of the people I write with are gay and they have been ever since I met them. What people want to do with their bodies is their personal preference."<ref name="OutSmart">{{cite magazine |last=Groover |first=D.L. |year=2008 |title=Summer Fans, Some Are Not |url=http://www.outsmartmagazine.com/cms-this_issue/200507--Summer+Fans,+Some+Are+Not.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071031092517/http://www.outsmartmagazine.com/cms-this_issue/200507--Summer%2BFans%2C%2BSome%2BAre%2BNot.html |archive-date=October 31, 2007 |access-date=July 14, 2008 |magazine=OutSmart magazine}}</ref>

In July 1989, [[ACT UP]] activists at a [[Boston Gay Pride]] event protested the playing of a Donna Summer song, chanting "shame, shame, shame".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Staley |first=Peter |date=2012-06-12 |title=Donna Summer's Letter to ACT UP |url=https://www.poz.com/blog/donna-summers-letter-to-act-up |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=[[POZ (magazine)|POZ]] |language=en}}</ref> On July 26, Summer sent a letter to ACT UP apologizing for the statements that they were "a terrible misunderstanding", closing the letter with a quote from the bible (Chapter 13 of [[1 Corinthians]]).<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rrsDAAAAMBAJ&q=donna+summer+aids&pg=PA38 |title=Gay Community Frowns on Disco Diva Donna Summer |date=September 18, 1989 |publisher=Johnson Publishing Company |page=38 |access-date=July 17, 2011}}</ref><ref name=":1" />

Summer also later stated, "I never said, 'If you are gay, God hates you.' Come on... Be real. I don't understand that. Anybody who really knows me knows I wouldn't say that."<ref name=":1" />

A few years later, she filed a lawsuit against ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' magazine when it printed an old story about the rumors as fact, just as she was about to release her album ''[[Mistaken Identity (Donna Summer album)|Mistaken Identity]]'' in 1991.<ref>{{cite web |last=Burnett |first=Richard |url=http://www.ottawaxpress.ca/music/music.aspx?iIDArticle=15092 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120907102338/http://www.ottawaxpress.ca/music/music.aspx?iIDArticle=15092 |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 7, 2012 |title=Donna Summer – The Queen is back |work=Ottawaxpress.ca |date=May 18, 2012 |access-date=August 20, 2014 }}</ref> According to a ''[[Biography (TV program)|Biography]]'' television program dedicated to Summer in which she participated in 1995, the lawsuit was settled out of court although neither side wanted to divulge any details.<ref>{{Cite episode|title=Donna Summer|series=Biography|credits=Ruben Norte (w/prod)|network= A&E|air-date=February 9, 1995|season=8|number=15}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biography.com/people/donna-summer-9499073?page=2|title= Donna Summer |publisher= A&E Networks|year= 2012|work=Biography.com|access-date=May 22, 2012}}</ref>