Newly Published Portras Document a Century of Gay Men's Relatnships | Smart News | Smhsonian Magaze

the oldest gay couple in history

A Yorkshire farmer's journal om 1810 reveals surprisgly morn views on beg gay.

Contents:

THE OLST GAYS HISTORY

’ This le, ed by Seth on his nephew, is probably the olst rerd chat-up, gay or straight, all of history. As far as the rerd go, Nyankhkhnum and Khnumhotep are, I thk, the olst gays history.

AFTER S-LONG LEGAL BATTLE, GAY UPLE'S 1971 MARRIAGE OFFICIALLY REGNIZED

But they did not have a rigid nventn of sexualy as eher heterosexual or homosexual, and, at least at certa tim, and certa strata, may have tolerated and even celebrated same-sex love. In 1971, gay uple Michael McConnell and Jack Baker applied for a marriage license om Blue Earth County, Mnota.

“This jt simply prov that the first same-sex marriage ever rerd the public fil of any civil ernment anywhere the world happened Mnota, ” Jack McConnell uple, who penned their story the memoir “The Weddg Heard ’Round the World: Ameri’s First Gay Marriage, ” exchanged vows durg a small ceremony at a iend’s home Mneapolis September marriage was later legalized — first Mnota 2013, and two years later across the U.

“I was gog to fd someone to grow old together wh, ” Jack McConnell Mneapolis uple, both longtime LGBTQ activists, rema steadfastly optimistic about the trajectory of lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer rights. This was the first and only tomb the necropolis where a same-sex uple was buried most of the history gettg lost translatn, Egyptologists have extrapolated om the evince their tomb that Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum are history’s first documented gay upl. When Douglas's father grew spic about their relatnship, he lnched a mpaign agast Wil that eventually led to his arrt on grounds of gross cency ( for beg gay) and was sentenced to two years Wil was released, the two tried to rekdle their love, only to be forced apart by their fai, who threatened to whhold funds.

HISTORY’S FIRST GAY COUPLETHEY LIVED, DIED AND WERE BURIED TOGETHER AS EARLY AS 2400 B.C EGYPTKAMNA KIRTI·FOLLOWPUBLISHED LSONS OM HISTORY·3 M READ·AUG 13, 2020--5SHARENIANKHKHUM AND KHNUMHOTEPSOURCE: PUBLIC DOMAWHEN EGYPTOLOGISTS DISVERED THE TOMB AT SAQQARA, EGYPT 1964, THEY WERE SURPRISED. THIS WAS THE FIRST AND ONLY TOMB THE NECROPOLIS WHERE A SAME-SEX UPLE WAS BURIED TOGETHER.WH MOST OF THE HISTORY GETTG LOST TRANSLATN, EGYPTOLOGISTS HAVE EXTRAPOLATED OM THE EVINCE THEIR TOMB THAT KHNUMHOTEP AND NIANKHKHNUM ARE HISTORY’S FIRST DOCUMENTED GAY UPL. THE CLAIM OF A FIRST RERD SAME-SEX UPLE HAS MET NSIRABLE BATE ACROSS AMIANS.HIEROGLYPHS ADORNED ACROSS THE TOMB PICT THEM AS HOLDG HANDS, FACE TO FACE WH THEIR NOS TOUCHG, EMBRACG A WAY THAT PICTS A MARRIED UPLE.THE TOMB

“Lovg” featur around 300 photos that offer an timate look at gay relatnships between the 1850s and 1950s. Gay Rights,. 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.

NEWLY PUBLISHED PORTRAS DOCUMENT A CENTURY OF GAY MEN LOVE

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. "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.

"It mt seem strange ed that God Almighty should make a beg wh such a nature, or such a fect nature; and at the same time make a cree that if that beg whom he had formed, should at any time follow the dictat of that Nature, wh which he was formed, he should be punished wh ath, " he wrote on January 14 there was an "clatn and propensy" for someone to be homosexual om an early age, he wrote, " mt then be nsired as natural, otherwise as a fect nature - and if natural, or a fect nature; seems cel to punish that fect wh ath" diarist mak reference to beg rmed by others that homosexualy is apparent om an early age - suggtg that Tomlson and his social circle had been talkg about this se and discsg somethg that was not unknown to this time, and also Wt Yorkshire, a lol landowner, Anne Lister, was wrg a d diary about her lbian relatnships - wh her story told the televisn seri, Gentleman knowg what "ordary people" really thought about such behavur is always difficult - not least bee the loust survivg voic are ually the wealthy and has exced amics is the chance to eavdrop on an everyday farmer thkg aloud his source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Tomlson was appalled by the levels of rptn durg electns"What's strikg is that he's an ordary guy, he's not a member of the bohemian circl or an tellectual, " says O'Keeffe, a doctoral stunt Oxford's history acceptance of homosexualy might have been exprsed privately aristocratic or philosophilly radil circl - but this was beg discsed by a ral worker. O'Keeffe says shows ias were "perlatg through Brish society much earlier and more wily than we'd expect" - wh the diary workg through the bat that Tomlson might have been havg wh his the were still far om morn liberal views - and O'Keeffe says they n be extremely "jarrg" someone was homosexual by choice, rather than by nature, Tomlson was ready to nsir that they should still be punished - proposg stratn as a more morate optn than the ath ptn, Tomlson's former home was still there the 1930s (bottom left), but has sce disappeared beneath hog and a golf urseO'Keeffe says disverg evince of the kds of bate has both "enriched and plited" what we know about public opn this pre-Victorian diary is raisg ternatnal Fara Dabhoiwala, om Prceton Universy the US, an expert the history of attus towards sexualy, scrib as "vivid proof" that "historil attus to same-sex behavur uld be more sympathetic than is ually prumed".

WHO WERE THE FIRST GAY COUPLE HISTORY?ALLEGEDLY THE FIRST SAME-SEX UPL HISTORYBELDA MALLASASIME·FOLLOWPUBLISHED THE STORY HISTORY·3 M READ·JUL 13, 2021--SHAREPHOTO BY SHIL NASH ON UNSPLASHIN 1964, WHILE EXVATG THE ARTERY OF THE PYRAMID OF KG UNAS, AN EGYPTOLOGIST NAMED AHMED MOSA DISVERED A TOMB AT SAQQARA EGYPT, THAT HAD THE SCRIPTNS OF TWO MEN LISTED AS “ROYAL NFIDANTS” THEIR JOT TOMB. THE SCRIPTN ALSO HAD THE NAME “KHNUMHOTEP” WRTEN ON THE RIGHT AND “NIANKHKHNUM” ON THE LEFT,THE NAM OF THE MEN SCRIBED ON THE TOMB ARE BELIEVED TO BE BOTH EMBEDD NAM TO THE CREATOR-GOD KHNUM THAT FORM A LGUISTIC REFERENCE TO THEIR LEVEL OF TIMACY. WH KHNUMHOTEP MEANG “KHNUM IS SATISFIED” AND NIANKHKHNUM MEANG “LIFE BELONGS TO KHNUM”.THE TOMB HAPPENED TO BE THE ONLY ONE WH THE NECROPOLIS WHERE HIEROGLYPHS DISPLAY TWO MEN POSNS THAT APPEAR TO BE SOME SORT OF TIMATE (HOLDG HANDS, EMBRACG, STANDG FACE TO FACE WH BOTH NOS TOUCHG, AND LAYG AGAST EACH OTHER). THOUGH THERE HAVE BEEN BAT ON WHETHER OR NOT THEY WERE ACTUALLY A UPLE, MANY SCHOLARS BELIEVE NIANKHKHNUM AND KHNUMHOTEP TO BE THE FIRST SAME-SEX UPLE HISTORY.NIANKHKHNUM AND KHNUMHOTEP WH THEIR OFFSPRG (PHOTO SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA)KHNUMHOTEP AND NIANKHKHNUM

Instead of seeg homosexualy as a "horrible perversn", Prof Dabholwala says the rerd showed a farmer 1810 uld see as a "natural, dively ordaed human qualy" Norton, an expert gay history, said there had been earlier arguments fendg homosexualy as natural - but the were more likely to be om philosophers than farmers. 5 (320pp) ISBN 978-1-55972-426-5A lerate, still gent man who has been livg Manhattan sce the mid-1920s, Harwood was a monogamo gay relatnship om the late 1920s until 1995, when his partner, Bhs (pronounced ""Bce"") Mero, died.

Harwood and Mero lived through most of gay Amerin history but kept their liv closeted until they me out the 1980s. Their story reunts the trials and triumphs of a gay uple makg their way straight society. An anecdotal qualy prevents this memoir om buildg the cumulative impact that a more reflective text might nvey, yet the story is a tribute to gay upl who rema fahful throughout a long relatnship.

THE OLST GAY UPLE AMERI

THE 200-YEAR-OLD DIARY THAT'S REWRG GAY HISTORY

THE OLST GAY COUPLE AMERI: A SEVENTY-YEAR JOURNEY THROUGH SAME-SEX AMERI

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* THE OLDEST GAY COUPLE IN HISTORY

The Olst Gay Couple Ameri: A Seventy-Year Journey Through Same-Sex Ameri by Gean Harwood.

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