A take on Tammy Faye.

'Tammy Faye's religious background made her an unlikely object for this kind of adulation, but in many ways she had the classic profile of a gay icon.

Like many others, she became celebrated for her perseverance.

She fell from grace (and lost much of her money) when it was discovered that her husband, Jim Bakker, had cheated on her and swindled their followers out of $158 million.

But Tammy Faye talked openly about her pain on TV and stood by her man after his conviction, singing at a press conference, "On Christ the solid rock I stand/ All other ground is sinking sand."

Her refusal to change her unique style—runny mascara, gawdy jewelry, and all—also made her icon-worthy.

When asked by a makeup artist to lose those garish false lashes, she said, "Without my eyelashes, I wouldn't be Tammy Faye. I don't know who I would be."

And gays appreciated the fact that she had long refused to denounce homosexuals on the Bakkers' TV show and that she had urged sympathy for those with AIDS.

In her final interview last week, she said, "When we lost everything, it was the gay people that came to my rescue, and I will always love them for that."'

Tammy Faye Messner, Gay Icon - What does she have in common with Miss Piggy, Princess Di, and Madonna?