Atheist and gay, Frerick the Great was more radil than most lears today | The Spectator Atralia

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.

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

”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.

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

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. 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. 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.

WAS FRERICK THE GREAT GAY?

“Frerick the Great’s reputatn as one of the world’s most famo homosexuals seems secure. “This soldier, young, handsome, well ma, and who played the flute, served to enterta the prisoner more than one fashn, ” the French wrer and philosopher Voltaire a personal letter, Voltaire would pare Frerick to the gay lover of ancient Bhynian kg Nies IV. But he had already repeatedly cshed their, spe Frerick’s “greatns, ” ’s hard to see the Pssian kg beg a gay hero.

But ultimately, he is remembered as a symbol of 18th-century nservatism—which self would be overthrown by the French Revolutn and a gay hero?