McKuen has also composed a considerable amount of classical music. His symphonies, concertos, suites, and song cycles have been performed by orchestras throughout the world. The City: A Suite for Narrator and Orchestra, commissioned by the Louisville Orchestra in 1972, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Music.

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McKuen has used his fame to support progressive causes. Not only has he been an outspoken peace activist (some credit him with coining the phrase "make love not war"), but he has also been a longtime supporter of the gay rights movement.

In 1977, as Florida orange juice spokeswoman Anita Bryant's Save Our Children campaign vilified gay men and lesbians, McKuen wrote "Don't Drink the Orange Juice" in support of the pro-gay boycott. He released the song on a manifestly gay-targeted album called "Slide...Easy In." The album, which was a sophisticated send-up of disco, featured on its cover a bare and hairy muscular male arm pulling a fistful of white lubricant from a can of Crisco, renamed "Disco."

Though McKuen has been very reticent about his private life, he has continued to support gay causes. He has frequently spoken out against in his column, "Flight Plan," published on his website. He ended one such column by describing himself as "an adult who practices several kinds of sex and will do so until he gets one right."

One of McKuen's signature lines is "It doesn't matter who you love, or how you love, but that you love." To the question "Are you married?" McKuen's standard response is the coy statement, "I have no legal certificate that says I am, but, let's just say I'm committed."

In 1981, McKuen abruptly announced that he would no longer tour. In 1982, he was diagnosed with clinical depression. As a consequence, he withdrew from the public eye. When his depression subsided, he returned to a more understated career, one that was active but not in the limelight.

For many years he served as president of the American Guild of Variety Artists. He continues to write poetry and songs and give occasional concerts. He also does voice-overs for movies. He communicates with his many fans through his website.

McKuen has been active in a number of charitable organizations, especially those dedicated to fighting AIDS and child abuse.

McKuen lives in Southern California with his brother Edward and four cats.

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Boycotts, the refusal to patronize companies or institutions, have in recent decades been organized by glbtq rights advocates to protest discriminatory practices and policies.

No popular art form is more closely identified with gay culture than disco and dance music.

Classical music is an important component of Western culture to which glbt people have contributed significantly.

Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered persons have had tremendous influence on popular music, though some musical genres have been more receptive to a homosexual presence than others.

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The bisexual Jack Kerouac omitted references to his homosexuality from his otherwise autobiographical works.

One of the most gifted interpreters of romantic ballads in the history of American popular music, Johnny Mathis is notoriously reticent about his own romantic life.

Now widely acclaimed as one of the greatest voices of popular music, British rock star of the 1960s Dusty Springfield has long been a lesbian icon.