Durg Prohibn, gay nightlife and culture reached new heights—at least temporarily.
Contents:
- THE 200-YEAR-OLD DIARY THAT'S REWRG GAY HISTORY
- BUT WERE THEY GAY? THE MYSTERY OF SAME-SEX LOVE THE 19TH CENTURY
- HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI
- GAY RIGHTS
- THE OLST GAYS HISTORY
THE 200-YEAR-OLD DIARY THAT'S REWRG GAY HISTORY
A Yorkshire farmer's journal om 1810 reveals surprisgly morn views on beg gay. * gay 1700s *
The character is not explicly wrten as gay, which would have been unthkable this perd, but is clearly lackg heterosexual mascule prows – one scene allus to his propensy to n away when approached by a pretty woman, while another he talks at length of the nuchs and dancg masters he llected around himself while on the Grand Tour of Europe.
BUT WERE THEY GAY? THE MYSTERY OF SAME-SEX LOVE THE 19TH CENTURY
Good golly, Miss Molly! A look si the velopment of both gay culture and homosexual inty the 18th century. * gay 1700s *
Siarly, the prt – which was signed by the ic pater William Hogarth 1746, and is tled Taste High Life – foc on the figure of a fashnable, effemate gentleman orr to make s pot; playg around wh the suggtn of homosexualy whout ever directly referencg .
HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI
The gay and bisexual muny of Ameri pre-dat Columb – and ntu to shape the natn. Why isn't acknowledged? Johann Hari argu that 's time for the activists to e om the margs * gay 1700s *
As we’ve seen, the reprentatn of homosexualy popular culture was d rather than open, implied by behavurs such as the way one drsed, stood or spoke, bee the actual act of sodomy as fed law was nsired too taboo even to mentn by name.
GAY RIGHTS
* gay 1700s *
Image ptn, Claire Pickerg Wakefield library imag the diary wrer speakg a Yorkshire accentA diary wrten by a Yorkshire farmer more than 200 years ago is beg hailed as providg remarkable evince of tolerance towards homosexualy Bra much earlier than prevly imaged. Historians om Oxford Universy have been taken aback to disver that Matthew Tomlson's diary om 1810 ntas such open-md views about same-sex attractn beg a "natural" human diary challeng prenceptns about what "ordary people" thought about homosexualy - showg there was a bate about whether someone really should be discrimated agast for their sexualy.
THE OLST GAYS HISTORY
"In this excg new disvery, we see a Yorkshire farmer argug that homosexualy is nate and somethg that shouldn't be punished by ath, " says Oxford rearcher Eamonn O' ptn, The diari were handwrten by Tomlson the farmhoe where he lived and workedThe historian had been examg Tomlson's handwrten diari, which have been stored Wakefield Library sce the thoands of pag of the private journals have never been transcribed and prevly ed by rearchers terted Tomlson's eye-wns acunts of electns Yorkshire and the Ludd smashg up O'Keeffe me across what seemed, for the era of Gee III, to be a rather startlg set of arguments about same-sex relatnships.
Tomlson had been prompted by what had been a big sex sndal of the day - which a well-rpected naval surgeon had been found to be engagg homosexual ptn, Historian Eamonn O'Keeffe says the diari provi a rare sight to the views of "ordary people" the early 1800sA urt martial had orred him to be hanged - but Tomlson seemed unnvced by the cisn, qutng whether what the papers lled an "unnatural act" was really that unnatural.