Ben Gazur’s whistle-stop tour of the history of gay men London tak om 14th-century persecutn to morn Pri events.
Contents:
- THE 200-YEAR-OLD DIARY THAT'S REWRG GAY HISTORY
- GAY MEN LONDON, OM PERSECUTN TO PRI
- HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI
- FOR CENTURI, BLACKMAIL WAS A TOOL USED TO INTIMIDATE GAY MEN
- A BRIEF HISTORY OF POLARI, GAY ENGLAND’S ONCE-SECRET LGO
THE 200-YEAR-OLD DIARY THAT'S REWRG GAY HISTORY
A Yorkshire farmer's journal om 1810 reveals surprisgly morn views on beg gay. * gay 18th century *
The character is not explicly wrten as gay, which would have been unthkable this perd, but is clearly lackg heterosexual mascule prows – one scene allus to his propensy to n away when approached by a pretty woman, while another he talks at length of the nuchs and dancg masters he llected around himself while on the Grand Tour of Europe.
Siarly, the prt – which was signed by the ic pater William Hogarth 1746, and is tled Taste High Life – foc on the figure of a fashnable, effemate gentleman orr to make s pot; playg around wh the suggtn of homosexualy whout ever directly referencg . As we’ve seen, the reprentatn of homosexualy popular culture was d rather than open, implied by behavurs such as the way one drsed, stood or spoke, bee the actual act of sodomy as fed law was nsired too taboo even to mentn by name. 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.
GAY MEN LONDON, OM PERSECUTN TO PRI
Good golly, Miss Molly! A look si the velopment of both gay culture and homosexual inty the 18th century. * gay 18th century *
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".
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.
HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI
* gay 18th century *
Von Stben had been summoned by Benjam Frankl to tra the Contental Army, at a time when the Pssian was beg hound his homeland by mors of his homosexualy, wr journalist Randy Shilts Conduct Unbeg: Gays and Lbians the U. The scholar Omise’eke Natasha Tsley argu that the history of enslaved people mt be open to different kds of evince, at the risk of total erasure, her paper “Black Atlantic, Queer Atlantic: Queer Imaggs of the Middle Passage, ” published GLQ: A Journal of Lbian and Gay Studi.
The late 17th century saw a rise not jt journal entri on the subject, but other mediums, such as entire plays voted to homosexualy, newspaper articl on the raids of male brothels, sculptur and drawgs showg same-sex affectn, letters between lovers or letters referencg gentlemen pubs, and more. Intertgly, much of the documentatn we have on the gay culture of the 18th century om that group, for their sire to brg more awarens to sodome ss and showse their victori brought attentn to what many outsi of London and even those outsi of the subculture London did not know about, turng this (advertently) to a known and talked about topic. While we won't get to the different subsets of the gay culture durg the 18th century, I will add briefly that there is evince of subcultur wh the larger cultural nstct, jt as we might expect there to be.
FOR CENTURI, BLACKMAIL WAS A TOOL USED TO INTIMIDATE GAY MEN
Durg Prohibn, gay nightlife and culture reached new heights—at least temporarily. * gay 18th century *
A homosexual is not synonymo wh a sodome (I'll leave that for you to unpack), nor a sodome synonymo wh a homosexual, as much as might seem at first glance, and th open homosexualy did not put one at jeopardy for beg tried for sodomy, and certaly not if one was a social or polil ele. It's somethg tertg to mull over, specifilly relatn to act (sodomy) vs inty (homosexualy) Ho or Molly Clubs--meetg tablishments for those intifyg as homosexual--prospered durg the 18th century.
The were the s of the fops and maronis, an era of the most fashnable gents and the precsors to Be Bmmel (let's save Bmmel's sexual appete for another nvo) d'ye like me [A Maroni] by Cargton Bowl, 1772Let's be clear that not all persons who engaged risqué behavr wh a member of the same sex intified themselv as beg homosexual. Regnn and acceptance of this as an inty rather than a sexual act veloped the 18th century, as we've discsed, but there were variatns of this inty: suatnal homosexualy, bisexualy, homo-Platonic, heteroromantic, etc; for example, a person fdg romantic love wh someone of the same sex but sexual love wh the oppose or vice versa.
For the purpos of both accuracy and societal reflectn, is most likely that a novel set the 18th century, namely om the mid-18th century (1750s) to the early-19th century (1810s), would have openly homosexual characters.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF POLARI, GAY ENGLAND’S ONCE-SECRET LGO
By the end of the Regency era, we're ls likely to meet an openly homosexual character, and once we reach the Victorian era, anyone not ftg wh the heteronormalcy dictate would be livg their private life behd closed doors, although would be entirely appropriate for a wrer to clu a Wil-spired character, jt be aware of the external nflicts herent dog so. 326 BC - Alexanr the Great, known for preferrg the pany of men, plet his nqut of the majory of the known wtern world and hers the Hellenistic Age, where homosexualy is viewed 18th Century - Dutch gay men the term "Kisen" for lookg for suable partners, and sticks for hundreds of years. 1950s - Barton Scully, based on multiple characters om the real William Masters's life (and portrayed by Be Bridg on Showtime's Masters of Sex), subms himself to harsh aversn therapy to attempt to cure his homosexualy.
1971 - Wakefield Poole's Boys the Sand, nsired the first feature-length gay pornographic film to be shown arthoe cemas, opened New York Cy, precedg Deep Throat, the first mercial straight pornographic film by nearly a year. As I was rearchg my novel, The Adventur of Tom Fch, Gentleman, which is set the opera world of Covent Garn 1735, I kept g across surprisg, fascatg tails about gay, lbian, and bisexual people. Although the tle character is straight (this is not a m-m romance), the novel explor many different typ of margalized people, so I cid to clu some gay and bisexual characters, wh referenc to real practic and people of the time.
It did not stop the great paters of the Renaissance, many of whom are today acknowledged as gay, om portrayg the sexual allure of famoly, the var versns of St Sebastian’s martyrdom, showg a spicly mcular torso punctured by arrows, achieved inic stat among homosexual admirers who rpond not only to his physil bety, but also to his plight as a tortured, yet steadfast, martyr. ESTIMATE: £18, 000–25, took until the epochal social chang of the 1960s (and specifilly the crimalisatn act of 1967 the UK) for homosexualy to prise self out of the closet, and art acted as both talyst and rerr of the moment.