
VILLAGE PEOPLE'S DAVID HODO, C. 1979
Village People weren't the first, or only, mainstream act to slyly infiltrate gay iconography into Middle America; in 1976, the film Lifeguard introduced the Castro Clone to the world, via one Sam Elliot.
A few years later, Al Parker became the biggest gay porn star in the world, sporting a startlingly similar look (if a bit less feathered).
To the pioneering ambassador of the Castro Clone look to society at large, we say, Happy Birthday, Sam Elliot! (August 9, 1944)