Osr Wil's life and work create ntradictory versns of this man. Should he really be nsired a gay in or is time we look to others?
Contents:
- WAS OSR WIL GAY?
- OSR WIL’S ‘CCIAL’ ROLE THE GAY RIGHTS STGGLE
- OSR WILR: INIC GAY WRER
- HOW OSR WIL PAVED THE WAY FOR GAY RIGHTS THE ARTS
- ‘THE LOVE THAT DARE NOT SPEAK ITS NAME’: OSR WIL AS A GAY IN
- OSR WIL’S INFLUENCE ON GAY INTY
- WAS OSR WIL GAY, WHEN DID THE DORIAN GRAY THOR DIE AND WHERE WAS HE BURIED?
WAS OSR WIL GAY?
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 WIL’S ‘CCIAL’ ROLE THE GAY RIGHTS STGGLE
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.
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 WILR: INIC GAY WRER
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. Homosexualy was legalized France 1791 durg the French said no, he won’t flee and cid to sue Douglas’ father for famatn.
HOW OSR WIL PAVED THE WAY FOR GAY RIGHTS THE ARTS
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. 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.
‘THE LOVE THAT DARE NOT SPEAK ITS NAME’: OSR WIL AS A GAY IN
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 .
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.
OSR WIL’S INFLUENCE ON GAY INTY
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.
WAS OSR WIL GAY, WHEN DID THE DORIAN GRAY THOR DIE AND WHERE WAS HE BURIED?
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.
Osr Wil, apart om beg famo as a dramatist, playwright, w and poet, is also famo as beg an inic gay man.