Were Voltaire and Kg Frerick the Great, a secret uple? Were they gay?

Contents:

• THE REVOLUTNARY WAR HERO WHO WAS OPENLY GAY
• HISTORY’S GREATT GAY GENERALWAR IS BORG·FOLLOWPUBLISHED WAR IS BORG·8 M READ·MAR 9, 2014--1LISTENSHARENO, NOT ALEXANR THE GREAT—FRERICK THE GREAT
• HISTORY’S GREATT GAY GENERAL
• ATHEIST AND GAY, FRERICK THE GREAT WAS MORE RADIL THAN MOST LEARS TODAY
• WERE VOLTAIRE AND KG FRERICK THE GREAT, A SECRET UPLE? WERE THEY GAY?
• WAS FRERICK THE GREAT GAY?

THE REVOLUTNARY WAR HERO WHO WAS OPENLY GAY

Gay men have always been part of the Amerin ary.

HISTORY’S GREATT GAY GENERALWAR IS BORG·FOLLOWPUBLISHED WAR IS BORG·8 M READ·MAR 9, 2014--1LISTENSHARENO, NOT ALEXANR THE GREAT—FRERICK THE GREAT

In an era before gay marriage or open pri, ary men fell love, formed passnate iendships and had same-sex enunters. But the se of one of the ary’s foundg hero, homosexualy was always part of the story.

Historians also thk he was homosexual—and served as an openly gay man the ary at a time when sex between men was punished as a crime.

HISTORY’S GREATT GAY GENERAL

He also downplayed mors that the baron had been dismissed om the Pssian ary for homosexualy.

But he was gay, and homosexualy was viewed as a crimal aberratn by many of his peers. ”After the war, von Stben legally adopted both men—a mon practice among gay men an age before same-sex marriage was legal. John Mulligan, who was also gay, served as von Stben’s secretary and is thought to have had a relatnship wh the baron.

ATHEIST AND GAY, FRERICK THE GREAT WAS MORE RADIL THAN MOST LEARS TODAY

Durg von Stben’s lifetime, the ncept of gay marriage, gay pri or g out was unthkable and there was no language or open culture of homosexualy. But historil homosexual relatnships were actually don’t mean beg gay was ndoned: Sodomy was a crime lonial Ameri. Homosexualy is nate—at least is for me—but the social nceptn of what beg gay means has varied over we e the word “orientatn” today, 18th-century wrers would ll a “taste.

WERE VOLTAIRE AND KG FRERICK THE GREAT, A SECRET UPLE? WERE THEY GAY?

It was so wily known, the late historian Louis Crompton wrote his book Homosexualy and Civilizatn, that historians had trouble rencilg Frerick’s sexualy wh his greatns.

WAS FRERICK THE GREAT GAY?

Several bgraphi have more than a whiff of his haggraphy of the kg, historian Thomas Carlyle rejected assertns that Frerick was gay as a “thrice-abomable mor” spread by those wh a “solacement to human malice and impertent cursy.

”But even Zimmermann tried to straighten his hero, spng a dub and far-fetched theory that Frerick wasn’t gay, he jt wanted other people to thk he was. Beg whout his grap wouldn’t f the image of a ary manr, Zimmermann’s theory go—though there’s no evince Frerick was strated—so he played gay. “Frerick the Great’s reputatn as one of the world’s most famo homosexuals seems secure.