In "The New Life," a 19th-century gay man fights for acceptance as Osr Wil is tried for sodomy - LGBTQ Natn

Contents:

• OSR WIL’S ‘CCIAL’ ROLE THE GAY RIGHTS STGGLE
• OSR WILR: INIC GAY WRER
• WAS OSR WIL GAY?
• RACG TO PRERVE THE HISTORY OF MAE’S 1ST GAY RIGHTS ANIZATN
• ‘YOU FEEL GOOSE BUMPS’: THE PH TO PRERVE WHERE WIL WAS JAILED FOR BEG GAY
• HOW REVOLUTNARY GAY POET OSR WIL LEFT BEHD A LASTG QUEER LEGACY
• HOW OSR WIL PAVED THE WAY FOR GAY RIGHTS THE ARTS
• OSR WIL’S INFLUENCE ON GAY INTY
• IN “THE NEW LIFE,” A 19TH-CENTURY GAY MAN FIGHTS FOR ACCEPTANCE AS OSR WIL IS TRIED FOR SODOMY

OSR WIL’S ‘CCIAL’ ROLE THE GAY RIGHTS STGGLE

Wil, a homosexual, was put on trial for gross cency 1895 after the tails of his affair wh a Brish aristocrat were ma public.

OSR WILR: INIC GAY WRER

He bucked tight-laced Victorian fashn by wearg lorful velvets and silks and keepg his hair Aled Douglas Wil kept his homosexualy a secret. Homosexual acts were a crimal offense England at the time and remaed illegal there until the 1960s. His ma problem was that Queensberry’s allegatns about his homosexualy were te, and therefore uldn’t be judged the trial, Queensberry’s fense acced Wil of solicg 12 other young men to m sodomy.

WAS OSR WIL GAY?

The fense also qutned Wil about the premise of his ntroversial 1890 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, suggtg that Wil had ed the novel’s homoerotic them to sce Lord Aled. Osr Wil was tried for homosexualy on April 26, plead not guilty on 25 unts of gross a prelimary bail hearg, hotel chambermaids and a hoekeeper had ttified that they had seen young men Wil’s bed and found fel stas on his the trial, Wil was qutned extensively about “the love that dare not speak s name, ” a phrase om Lord Aled Douglas’ poem “Two Lov, ” published 1894, that many terpreted as a phemism for trial end wh the jury unable to reach a verdict.

However, Osr is bt known for his 1890 novel The Picture of Dorian AffairFor obv reasons, Osr kept his homosexualy a secret.

The rd said, For Osr Wil, posg somdome [sic] expected, this totally ed Osr’s public relatns sce homosexualy was a crimal offense England back then.

RACG TO PRERVE THE HISTORY OF MAE’S 1ST GAY RIGHTS ANIZATN

Homosexualy was legalized France 1791 durg the French said no, he won’t flee and cid to sue Douglas’ father for famatn. We are remd, particular, of Wil’s signifince the centuri-long stggle for gay rights.

‘YOU FEEL GOOSE BUMPS’: THE PH TO PRERVE WHERE WIL WAS JAILED FOR BEG GAY

Homosexualy was not spoken about at all durg the Victorian perd and fact up until que recently. Bgrapher Ian Kelly was able to rroborate two referenc om Casanova's memoir, The History of My Life, which Casanova had same-sex relatns:"The morn ncept of bisexualy, no ls than of homosexualy, didn't really exist the 18th century, and the nceptn of sexual preference was on the whole a much more fluid affair.

A steadfast patrt, the renowned poet is seen as a inic voice creatg the ncept of 'The Amerin Dream' - but the homophobic nature of the Uned Stat at the time did e Whman grief and spoke publicly of relatnships wh women, but also had. Some have been quick to terme that the thor was actually gay and reprsg his te sexualy his marriage; others are certa that he was, fact, a bisexual 's grandson and bgrapher, Merl Holland, that Wil was heterosexual "up to a certa pot his life", and also spoken about his grandfather's long-term, yet tumultuo, wh poet Lord Aled Douglas. It's been noted that she dated nductor Leopold Stokowski, photographer Sir Cecil Beaton, fellow silent film star Louise Brooks, and openly gay wrer Merces Garbo's ath, the tate of fellow Swedish-born actrs Mimi Pollak between the pair, one of which (dated 1930) shows that Garbo wrote to Mimi after fdg out she was pregnant, "We nnot help our nature, as God has created .

HOW REVOLUTNARY GAY POET OSR WIL LEFT BEHD A LASTG QUEER LEGACY

His long-time iend, Sir Ian McKellan (who is openly gay), allud to Guns' sexualy , sayg the late actor had told him not to bee an activist for LGBTQIA+ issu. "Alec Guns took me out to lunch and said, “You really should not, as a leadg actor, have anythg to do wh anythg polil, pecially anythg as dirty as homosexualy. Source: BORIS ARTZYBASHEFF / TIMEThe creator of - the troductn of a more fluid spectm of sexualy, rather than relyg on strict tegori of homosexual, bisexual, and heterosexual - was thought to personally he himself had same-sex relatnships wh graduate stunts and lleagu, and 's also noted that he and his wife Clara McMillen were polygamo.

He was homosexual om his schooldaysThis is most unlikely, to judge om his rrponnce. His 'nversn' to homosexualy probably me about 1886/7 wh a young man who was to rema a lifelong iend, Robert Ross.

'Earnt' was a -word for 'gay' and wearg a green rnatn was a 'secret' sign of homosexualyBoth explanatns seem to have been nveniently vented years later wh ltle or no foundatn fact. 'Earnt' was supposedly a rptn of 'Uraniste' or one who practic Uranian or homosexual love, and the green rnatn was said to be the badge of Parisian perasts. If eher had been te, Edward Carson, the Marqus of Queensberry's fence lawyer the libel trial, would certaly have ppoted them, as he did the overtly gay passag the magaze publitn of The Picture of Dorian Gray (which were later supprsed the book.

HOW OSR WIL PAVED THE WAY FOR GAY RIGHTS THE ARTS

Osr Wil, apart om beg famo as a dramatist, playwright, w and poet, is also famo as beg an inic gay man. As he famoly had a homosexual relatnship or ‘affair’ wh the son of an aristocrat, his personal life beme public knowledge, and he was ultimately tried, sentenced and imprisoned. Wil, who famoly had a gay relatnship wh Lord Aled Douglas, otherwise known as ‘Bosie’, was acced by his father, who happened to be the Marquis of Queensberry, of homosexualy.

The vast majory says that Wil was homosexual, and that he was merely reprsg his feelgs toward men for the sake of marryg Constance and makg an attempt at a “normal” fay for that era time. A few rearchers claim he was bisexual, but wh strong homosexual leangs (about a 5.

In 2017, Osr Wil was among thoands of gay and bisexual men pardoned posthumoly for engagg nsensual same-sex relatnships.

OSR WIL’S INFLUENCE ON GAY INTY

Same-sex sexual activy was not crimalized the Republic of Ireland until 1993 after a 1988 lg stated Irish laws prohibg male homosexual activi were ntraventn of the European Conventn on Human Rights. In a symbolic gture, however, the Department announced 2017 that if a historil homosexual crime is no longer illegal the UK and volved a nsensual sexual act wh another over the age of 16, the crime will now be emed posthumoly pardoned. Turg, who succeed breakg Nazi German s durg World War II, killed himself by takg cyani 1954 aged 41, two years after his gross cency nvictn which was related to homosexual acts.

“We wele the ernment announcement to issue a posthumo pardon to all gay and bi men unjtly prosecuted for beg who they are, but we don’t thk go far enough, ” stated Pl Twock, director of mpaigns at Stonewall, a gay rights anizatn. Jt 15 weeks after the but of “The Importance of Beg Earnt, ” Osr Wil found himself Readg Prison on charg of homosexual acts.

The astal sailg legend and Mae gay rights pneer died six months earlier  the fall of 2012. Bull and Hasks helped found the groundbreakg stunt group at the Universy of Mae 1973 — then held the first Mae Gay Symposium 1974, which jump-started Mae’s LGBTQ+ rights stggle, lnchg much further ahead toward jtice than most other stat.

IN “THE NEW LIFE,” A 19TH-CENTURY GAY MAN FIGHTS FOR ACCEPTANCE AS OSR WIL IS TRIED FOR SODOMY

They are also anizg a 50th anniversary Mae Gay Symposium Orono and Portland this fall. The club was part of the first wave of gay and lbian stunt groups tryg to w official regnn om llege admistrators.

A photographic ntact sheet showg Steven Bull speakg at the first gay symposium put on by the Wild Ste Club at the Universy pf Mae 1974, is part of Bull’s papers hoed the Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversy’s LGBTQ+ llectn at the Universy of Southern Mae.