Joan Rivers' connection to the gay
community was enduring.
“My gay fans have been wonderful from
day one,” she told gay glossy The
Advocate in May.
“I remember when I was working at the
Duplex in Greenwich Village in New York at the beginning of my career
and the only ones who would laugh at my jokes were the gay guys. I
think if I had started out in straight clubs and bars I never
would've gotten anywhere.”
“Even today, when I'm on tour I
always know if I get eight gay men in the front row, it's going to be
a great show. Maybe it's just me and I know they're going to laugh
at what I'd laugh at, but when my gays are in the audience it's
always a good time,” she added.
Rivers, 81, died Thursday, a week after
something went wrong with a minor procedure involving her vocal
cords. Emergency medical workers called to the clinic where she was
undergoing the procedure said they found her unconscious and in
cardiac arrest. She was moved to nearby Mount Sinai Hospital.
Rivers was also an AIDS activist who
helped raise awareness and money for research since the early years
of the epidemic.
She served on the board of the New
York-based God's
Love We Deliver, which delivers hot meals to AIDS patients.
Over the summer, Rivers presided over
the wedding of a gay couple, her second this year.
(Related: Joan
Rivers to opponents of marriage equality: “Go f*ck yourselves.”)