A Story of Gay Farmers Kicks Off Diverse Agriculture Seri

Contents:

• THE 200-YEAR-OLD DIARY THAT'S REWRG GAY HISTORY
• IS MATTHEW GAY
• A GAY FARMER ON LOVE, ISOLATN, AND DISPTG THE MEAT INDTRY ATRALIA
• THIS STORY OF GAY FARMERS KICKS OFF A DOCERI ABOUT DIVERSE HERO AGRICULTURE

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

I n remember, I was about 10 years old, beg at my grandparents hoe when an em me on the news about gay rights.

I left school to go to work wh my gay-dog-hatg grandad and my father on a 120 acre farm a populated and unprospero b of South Llnshire the Uned Kgdom.

I ped wh the circumstanc by listeng to the Smhs pretty much non-stop on a CD Walkman for five years, before pluckg up the urage to tell my bt iend, Melanie, that I was gay when I was 20.

IS MATTHEW GAY

When I first me out, I had never actually met another gay person, certaly no one who intified themselv as gay. I hadn’t even seen a credible or posive gay character on the televisn. The joyo thg is that once you e out, all those dly homophobic remarks that you endured at social gathergs stop beg ma ont of you.

A GAY FARMER ON LOVE, ISOLATN, AND DISPTG THE MEAT INDTRY ATRALIA

Growg up gay a straight world gave me a strong sire to prove myself and bs has been my foc. HomeNewsYorkshire farmer argu homosexualy is natural 1810 diary disvery. In a newly-disvered passage om a private diary, a Yorkshire farmer argu 1810 that homosexualy is nate and should not be punished by ath.

The diary entry by Matthew Tomlson suggts that regnisably morn unrstandgs of homosexualy were beg discsed by ordary people earlier than is monly Tomlson was a farmer at Dog Hoe Farm, which is on the se where a golf urse now stands near Wakefield Wt Yorkshire. Although historians have wrten about other parts of the Tomlson diary, this passage has not prevly been brought to O’Keeffe said: 'In this diary we see a Yorkshire farmer argug that homosexualy is nate and somethg that should not be punished by ath.

Matthew Tomlson’s diary illtrat that, by 1810, even an ordary Yorkshire farmer uld serly enterta the ia that homosexualy was not a horrible perversn that served the ath penalty, but simply a natural, dively ordaed human qualy. 'Dr Rictor Norton, an expert on the history of homosexualy this perd, said “the view that homosexualy was a natural clatn was rarely so clearly exprsed” as Tomlson’s wrgs. 'Tomlson's diary reflectns on homosexualy are unique for their time.

THIS STORY OF GAY FARMERS KICKS OFF A DOCERI ABOUT DIVERSE HERO AGRICULTURE

Newspapers Bra and Ireland published acunts of the se, remdg rears of the dranian state penalti for homosexual O’Keeffe add: 'Contemporary media reportg on sodomy s, often uched the language of moral panic, both reflected and rerced social stigma agast same-sex timacy, but Tomlson’s wrgs suggt that not all rears uncrilly accepted the homophobic assumptns they enuntered the prs. Although the diarist serly nsired the proposn that sexual orientatn was nate, he nohels allowed for the possibily that homosexualy might be a choice and therefore ( his view) servg of punishment. In 1885, all male homosexual acts were clared illegal, even private.

More rmatn on legislatn agast homosexualy n be found on the Brish Library’s webse. 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.

"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.