LGBT+ folks: never forget that we have always existed. We are not some fad or some trend. We are the movers and shakers of history.
Our terms and labels may be modern, but our existence is not.
- (Since the following list will be of historical figures, I will use what might be the best modern equivalent for their identity based on evidence, though they would not have described themselves in these terms)
William Shakespeare, famous playwright, is thought to have been bi.
Langston Hughes, poet of the Harlem Renaissance, was gay.
Abraham Lincoln, American President, is thought to have been bi.
Chevalier D'eon, french solider and spy, was a trans woman (or non-binary?)
Emperor Ai of Han, Chinese Emperor, was gay
Emperor Hadrian, Roman Emperor, was bi
Babur, the first Mughal Emperor, was bi
Anne Seymour Damer, English sculptor, was a lesbian (possibly bi)
Sappho, famous Greek poet, was a lesbian
Casanova, Italian adventure and author, was bi
Michelangelo, famous renaissance artist, was gay
Alexander the Great, Emperor of Macedonia, was gay
Eleanor Roosevelt, US First Lady and philanthropist, was bi
Alan Turing, British Mathematician and father of modern computers, was gay
Sally Ride, first American woman in space, was a lesbian
Leonardo di Vinci, Renaissance inventor, was gay
James Buchanan, US President, was gay
Sylvia Rivera, activist, trans woman
The list goes on and on and on. Wikipedia has an “LGBT people in history” page for each letter of the alphabet.
We are more common, more important, and more amazing than we give ourselves credit for.
Sources? I call bullshit on so many of these
Which ones specifically? Because these are all pretty well documented and easy to Google.
Unfortunately @fandomsandfeminism in a scholarly setting, burden of proof is upon you.
Not saying you’re wrong at all, mostly curious myself.
1) This isn’t a scholarly setting, but
2) I will happily find the sources if
3) People can be specific about which figures they would like sources about.
Dear @rivettjake, as you are evidently allergic to Google:
William Shakespeare - his first 126 sonnets are addressed to a man, the Fair Youth; there’s been a longstanding debate about his bisexuality
Langston Hughes - have an academic summation of his queerness
Abraham Lincoln - biographers have been arguing about his queerness for decades, particularly given his relationship with David Derickson
Chevalier D'eon - a famous historical figure who doctors claim would have been assigned male at birth, the Chevalier lived as female for 33 years and went on record as having been born that way, though they also lived as male for 49 years
Emperor Ai of Han - Emperor Ai’s relationship with his male lover, Dong Xian, is what inspired the phrase ‘the passion of the cut sleeve’, a euphemism for homosexuality
Emperor Hadrian - had his lover Antonius deified after his death
Babur, the first Mughal Emperor - have some quotes from his memoirs describing his sexual relationships with men and women
Anne Seymour Damer - frequently specualted to be queer
Sappho of Lesbos - she is the literal source of the words lesbian and Sapphic; all her surviving writing is love poetry about women
Casanova - actual archival evidence proving he slept with both men and women
Michelangelo - known as gay to his contemporaries, who wrote about him
Alexander the Great, Emperor of Macedonia - frequently held to have been in love with Hephaestion
Eleanor Roosevelt - considered to be bi because of her relationship with Lorena Hickok, as revealed in their letters
Sally Ride - was comeplled to hide her sexuality while alive, it was announced by her partner of 27 years in her obituary
Leonardo di Vinci - charged with sodomy in the 1400s, a traumatic event speculated to have left him celibate despite his homosexuality
James Buchanan - there are multiple competing historical theories about his queerness
Sylvia Rivera - a trans woman who was a leader in the Stonewall riots
The fact that you’ve never heard of the queerness of certain historical figures doesn’t mean it didn’t exist; just that it’s been elided by decades or centuries of cultural homophobia.
(via fandomsandfeminism)
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