Adam Turner: I was the face of NY Magazine's controversial 'Trophy Boys' cover story

Maer Roshan writes: 

Thirty years ago, Eric Konigsberg and I wrote a @nymag  cover story called ‘Trophy Boys’ that landed in the middle of the Andrew Cunanan panic, the aftermath of Gianni Versace’s murder, and a very complicated moment in gay culture. it became one of the best-selling -- and most controversial -- issues of the year. (After it appeared, the New York Post reported that I was burned in effigy at the Pines, lending new meaning to the term “flaming queen.” 

This week @vanityfair published a thoughtful first-person piece by Adam Turner, the shirtless young man who unexpectedly became the face of that story. At a time when journalism can seem fleeting and ephemeral, it’s a reminder that some stories linger far longer than anyone anticipates. 

Nearly 30 years after he became the face of one of the most talked-about gay magazine covers of the 1990s, Adam Turner is looking back on the experience in a new essay for Vanity Fair. Turner was the young man featured on New York magazine's August 1997 "Trophy Boys" cover, a story inspired by the media frenzy surrounding serial killer Andrew Cunanan and the murder of fashion designer Gianni Versace.

Turner writes that he was not a professional model when he unexpectedly landed the assignment after attending an open casting call. The article examined the world of attractive young men who were rumored to trade companionship, sex appeal and social cachet for access to wealthy older gay men, a phenomenon that fascinated and alarmed mainstream media at the time.

Looking back, Turner argues that the cover captured a complicated moment in gay history. The late 1990s saw increasing LGBTQ visibility, but also lingering stigma fueled by the AIDS crisis and sensationalized media portrayals of gay life. He notes that the "Trophy Boys" story reflected those tensions, blending curiosity, glamour and moral panic into a package that generated considerable attention.

The essay is less about the accuracy of the original story than about what it felt like to become its public face. Turner recalls weighing the potential impact on his acting career, family and friends before agreeing to pose for the cover. What seemed like a fun, unexpected opportunity ultimately turned him into a symbol of a cultural moment he neither created nor fully controlled.

Today, Turner views the cover as a fascinating time capsule -- one that reveals as much about 1990s attitudes toward gay men, beauty and class as it does about the young man holding the cocktail by the pool.

Read HERE.