The Myth Of The Ancient Greek 'Gay Utopia' - CURVE

Contents:

• WERE THE SPARTANS GAY? HOMOSEXUALY SPARTA, ANCIENT GREECE
• THE MYTH OF THE ANCIENT GREEK ‘GAY UTOPIA’
• 20 GAY GREEK GODS
• MEET GAY BOB, THE OUT AND PROUD ANATOMILLY CORRECT DIS-ERA DOLL
• SEX SYMBOL: HOW ANTO BEME A GAY CO WORD THE VICTORIAN ERA
• WAS PLATO THE ONLY GREEK GAY?
• HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT
• GAY GREECE: QUEER CULTURE, LOL LIFE, AND WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW! ??

WERE THE SPARTANS GAY? HOMOSEXUALY SPARTA, ANCIENT GREECE

Heterosexualy and homosexualy were both enuraged and expected at different stag life, wh homosexualy, mon wh prevalent ancient Greek thought, beg seen as the ial form of love and heterosexualy as sential for procreatn.

The persistent dream of a “gay utopia” is one of the nstants gay and lbian historil imaggs over the last 200 years.

This was the world of ancient Greece, a supposed gay paradise which same-sex love flourished whout discrimatn. It was a powerful, ptivatg dream, one which scholars of ancient Greece have started to pull apart, revealg a culture which homosexualy was much more regulated and ntrolled than prevly thought. In this spired fense of same-sex love, Wil created a genealogy of historil moments which homosexual love had blossomed.

THE MYTH OF THE ANCIENT GREEK ‘GAY UTOPIA’

From the days of the Old Ttament through to the flourishg of culture Greece and the Renaissance, Wil sought to bear wns to a gay past of ee romantic exprsn.

Any ted homosexual the 19th century uld have given you a speech along much the same l, cg the same nonil figur and possibly a few more.

20 GAY GREEK GODS

Wil was tappg to a shared gay fantasy about the past, a fantasy which one culture stood out above all others, the world of Classil Greece. Here was the utopia that they dreamed about – a place which homosexualy was not only accepted, but celebrated.

In the warmth and light of the Mederranean, numero 19th- and early 20th-century gays and lbians sought to fleetgly repture visns of this lost paradise and recreate amongst s s.

This legacy ntued well to the 20th century, so much so that the homosexualy of the Greeks probably unts as one of Wtern culture’s worst kept secrets.

MEET GAY BOB, THE OUT AND PROUD ANATOMILLY CORRECT DIS-ERA DOLL

Ined, the associatn between Greece and homosexualy is so strong that even anti-same-sex marriage advot are not above g to support their arguments.

In the US Supreme Court se that legalised same-sex marriage, one of the dissentg judg, Jtice Samuel Alo noted that while the Greeks and Romans approved of homosexual relatns, they never created an stutn of same-sex marriage.

Ined, he was so succsful proselytisg for homosexualy that he upset the lol female followers of Dnys, the god of we and drama.

SEX SYMBOL: HOW ANTO BEME A GAY CO WORD THE VICTORIAN ERA

Neverthels, all the efforts unrtaken by the Greeks to regulate the relatnships do challenge to nsir why societi are so ightened by love, not only gay, but straight sire also. While tolerance is often prented as a sign of civilizatn's advancement, a readg of Greek mythology reveals greater acceptance of homosexualy ancient Athens than n be boasted wh today's world religns. While Homer never explicly stat a gay relatnship between Achill and sikick Patrocl, many scholars read a romantic nnectn between the two, as only Patrocl ever drew out a passnate si to the famoly arrogant warrr.

Rearcher Johanna Hypatia-Cybelaia wr that lbian and gay vote worshipped her as Artemis Orthia, and that lbian port Pamphilia referred to the godss hymn as Artemis Pergaea. Above: Athena, center, a mural by John Sger SargentAphrodeWhile the godss of love is not intified promently as lbian herself, the Greek poet Sappho (as sapphic) of Lbos (y, as lbian) told many homoerotic tal and named Aphrode as the greatt patron and ally of lbians and homosexuals wh the Greek pantheon of gods.

WAS PLATO THE ONLY GREEK GAY?

Above: Enrique Simo, El Juic Paris (1904)ErosWhile the bt-known myths of Eros pict the son of Aphrode as a fertily god -- the versn that proved spiratnal to the popularized Roman god Cupid -- later Greek myths portrayed Eros as one of several wged erot, and the one regard as a protector of homosexual culture, acrdg to rearch the scholarly book Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic the Ancient World. But rerds of the LGBT romanc survived homophobic revisnists and still stand as celebratns of the origal Greek (and Roman) love. A seri of poems about Catull' gay love affairs has drawn more attentn ntemporary tim; some of gets outright vulgar.

Alexanr the Great and HephatnAlexanr III, the famed kg of Macedon, que likely mataed a gay relatnship wh his general Hephatn. Ined, two of the most famed generals of their day, Epamondas and Pelopidas, were lovers who fought wh this famo band of gay warrrs. Pdar and TheoxenThe most famo love poem wrten by Pdar to clare his love for the young Theoxen was scribed by gay rights scholar Magn Hirschfeld as "one of the most perfect love songs the Greek language.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT

Ort and PylasThe relatnship between the two men was celebrated by Greek scholars as a tale of the wonr of homoerotic romance.

He lived wh longtime lover Psanias, who was quoted extensively on the subject of homosexual sire Plato's work. His sensibily as a gay artist has shaped and elevated the magaze’s athetic, but he has to keep his creativy check lt Mx be seen as a magaze for gay men.

GAY GREECE: QUEER CULTURE, LOL LIFE, AND WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW! ??

But fish strong, as the nflict over Richie’s bathhoe project grows and Mx has to nsir whether ’s too risky for the magaze to speak to gay men, or even gay moments like this, the historil fictn feels not entirely historil. While many are qutng the sexual inty of Ken the new Barbie movie, there’s one studly dis-era male doll whose sexual inty has never been Ryan Goslg brought the famed male Ken doll to life on the silver screen oppose Margot Robbie the new Barbie film which opened today, there was a very gay male doll name Gay Gay Bob doll me out of his closet 1977 much to the displeasure of the right-wg culture warrrs of the time, not jt bee Bob was out and proud but also bee he me wh a penis. The Natural History Mm of Los Angel County tailed the history of Gay Bob and his girthy plastic male dollhood a blog post.

Available through mail-orr talogs and at select stor San Francis and New York Cy, the 13-ch-long (or tall pendg upon how you measure the sorts of thgs) doll was the brachild of Harvey Rosenberg, a straight advertisg executive who vted $10, 000 his own money to kickstart the Bob wore a plaid flannel shirt, cuffed blue jeans, wboy boots, wh a gold cha around his neck and a leather man purse on one the packagg and the advertisg of the Gay Bob doll were risqué and tongue--cheek.