Evil twks and gay gangsters: why we need to remember history’s horrid homosexuals | Culture | The Guardian

Contents:

• ALEXANR THE GREAT: GAY OR STRAIGHT?
• ALEXANR THE GREAT OR ALEXANR THE GAY?
• 19 - ALEXANR THE GAY AND THE GLORYHOLE THAT WAS GREECE
• ALEXANR THE GREAT’S GAY LOVERS
• WAS ALEXANR THE GREAT GAY? THE ACTUAL ANSWER
• EVIL TWKS AND GAY GANGSTERS: WHY WE NEED TO REMEMBER HISTORY’S HORRID HOMOSEXUALS
• BREAKG GROUND WH A GAY MOVIE HERO
• ZACK SNYR'S 300 SEQUEL WAS A GAY LOVE STORY FEATURG ALEXANR THE GREAT, BUT WB WANTED NO PART OF IT
• A THIRD 300 MOVIE WAS PASSED ON AFTER IT BEME A GAY LOVE STORY
• 19 - ALEXANR THE GAY AND THE GLORYHOLE THAT WAS GREECE
• A THIRD 300 MOVIE WAS PASSED ON AFTER IT BEME A GAY LOVE STORY
• EVIL TWKS AND GAY GANGSTERS: WHY WE NEED TO REMEMBER HISTORY’S HORRID HOMOSEXUALS

ALEXANR THE GREAT: GAY OR STRAIGHT?

Yet, to give Stone his due, he was prepared to take on the ch the welter of homophobic cricism he received for pictg his hero  close homoerotic enunter wh the Persian nuch.

For ancient Greeks there was no ntradictn between youthful homoeroticism and predomantly or wholly heterosexual adult proclivy and activy. The Importance of Evince the Heated Debate on Homosexualy Ancient Egypt. Roman Law and the Banng of ‘Passive’ Homosexualy.

At the same time, Ancient Greek ary forc (for example, the Spartans), believed that homosexual sex ma bonds between the soldiers stronger.

ALEXANR THE GREAT OR ALEXANR THE GAY?

Like huntg, homosexualy was thought to foster mascule, pecially martial, bravery. Homosexualy was a norm the ancient tim, but the se of Alexanr the Great and Hephatn, is hard to ratnally nclu what the te relatnship was between them. Even if they were lovers, the beliefs and perceptns about homosexual relatnships was fely different than the way is nsired today.

Alexanr the Great or Alexanr the Gay?

For LGBT history month, gut blogger Prof Lloyd Llewellyn-Jon (Chair of Ancient History, Cardiff Universy) asks: 'Alexanr the Great or Alexanr the Gay? I thk he probably was gay. It was supposed to say ‘Alexanr the Gay’, but someone translated wrong to ‘Alexanr the Great.

19 - ALEXANR THE GAY AND THE GLORYHOLE THAT WAS GREECE

The qutn of Alexanr’s homosexualy, once the prerve of scholars such as Tarn whose termed attempt 1948, ‘to straighten the matter out’ (no pun tend, surely) and close future discsn down, met only wh Badian’s hatchet-job of a dissectn of Tarn’s own pedantic nservatism a later. The sexual revolutn of the 1960s and 1970s stimulated even Classicists to thk new and excg ways, and Alexanr’s sexualy was thrown wi open for bate – classrooms, on gay polil march, popular lerature, magaz, pornography – and the strengtheng gay muni of the liberal wt happily embraced the ancient ler not only as a gay prototype, but as a gay hero. In recent s enthiastic (if flawed) gay-tert webs have been bily appropriatg Alexanr as a role mol for the morn gay man; so much so, ed, that the Cassell’s Queer Compann entry dited to the Macedonian nqueror not that Alexanr is a staple the long list of historil gays that have been ‘claimed ‘om history.

ALEXANR THE GREAT’S GAY LOVERS

The talk is not even ncerned wh iologi surroundg ancient exprsns of sexual inty eher, but do look at ntemporary exprsns of the sexual and genred self bee our foc is explorg morn ncepts of homosexual inti which have attached themselv to the figure of Alexanr the Great.

Takg as s startg pot this lecture will exame several twenty-first century rpons to ‘Alexanr the Gay’ by people who intify themselv through a range of genrs and sexuali. For some though, Alexanr is not jt a top ten gay hero, he is the ultimate fantasy whose kiss we ntue to crave. Homosexual relatns were ordary amongst the upper class, pecially the form of perasty.

Nohels, homosexual men of the same class experienced social stigma as the passive role was more effemate. As the two did not engage sex ancient thors praised Alexanr’s self-ntrol whereas morn advot, like Jam Davidson, e as nformatn of homosexualy. Hephatn secured high-rankg posns the army and, Troy, the two ma sacrific at the shr of Achill and Patrocl: two other likely lovers that suffered history’s homosexual erasure.

WAS ALEXANR THE GREAT GAY? THE ACTUAL ANSWER

Advot for Alexanr’s homosexualy argue that he yearned for children wh his lover, Hephatn, and utilised the Persian prcs as surrogat given that the men’s offsprg would be s.

It is unclear whether the Sa weddgs are a polil ceremony or a secret gay lovers’ unn. The ia of an LGBT or gay in was created the 20th century and is a person revered by the LGBT muny for beg a champn of LGBT rights and/or beg a notor LGBT person themselv.

EVIL TWKS AND GAY GANGSTERS: WHY WE NEED TO REMEMBER HISTORY’S HORRID HOMOSEXUALS

Employg a broad fn, Alexanr uld be nsired an LGBT in for beg a remarkable person that likely engaged homosexual relatnships. Yet, if all necsary morn creria are applied, this may not be the se; Alexanr did not further acceptance of homosexual relatns between social class.

BREAKG GROUND WH A GAY MOVIE HERO

Sce the sexual revolutn over half a century ago, Alexanr’s sexual inty has been reclaimed by liberal Wtern muni as a gay hero. Summary Wh ntemporary Wtern gay muni, Alexanr the Great is often champned as a hero and an spiratnal figure – the ultimate high-stat homosexual.

This chapter explor the var ways which he has been visualised wh the gay muny and s wir – more closeted – muny. The darker, anti-gay, readg of Alexanr is also explored the ntext of right-wg natnalism and the ary. (1999) Somethg for the Boys: Mil Theater and Gay Culture.

ZACK SNYR'S 300 SEQUEL WAS A GAY LOVE STORY FEATURG ALEXANR THE GREAT, BUT WB WANTED NO PART OF IT

(1995) Cassell’s Queer Compann: A Dictnary of Lbian and Gay Life and Culture. THE GAY LOVERS OF ALEXANDER III OF MACEDON, known as ‘THE GREAT’. A group of homophobic Greek lawyers even threatened to sue Warner Bros.

The lawyers, tramplg their own tellectual herage unrfoot, sent a letter to the stud mandg they state the tle creds that the movie was a fictnal surroundg the “gayns” of Alexanr has a precent.

A uple of years prevly, a mob of hundreds of Macedonian Greeks stormed an archeologil symposium after a speaker prented a paper on the homosexualy of Alexanr.

A THIRD 300 MOVIE WAS PASSED ON AFTER IT BEME A GAY LOVE STORY

Stone’s movie uld have been done much better; he uld have portrayed Alexanr as we know him historilly, gay lovers and all, but Col Farrell was not the bt choice to play Alexanr. When the DVD was released, Stone attempted to salvage the movie by rearrangg the scen and takg out much of the homosexual ntent. This relatnship rembled morn gay love and beme legendary for ’s passn.

19 - ALEXANR THE GAY AND THE GLORYHOLE THAT WAS GREECE

What may seem normal to some of today, the gay love of one man for another, ancient days was owned upon as a threat to masculy and the stcture of society. Alexanr saw their love as emulatg that heroic love between Achill and Patrocl, another ancient uple that morn gay upl n look to as an example of votn.

Edorial Board, World History of Male Love, “Famo Homosexuals”, The Gay Lovers of Alexanr the Great, 2000 <> Jt for the rerd, to any of my Greek rears, always remember this, the greatt man Greek History was a homosexual (ο μεγαλύτερος άνθρωπος στην ελληνική ιστορία ήταν ομοφυλόφιλος), not a perast like many ancient Greeks, but a homosexual who had a male lover of equal age, which ma a huge difference the Ancient Greek World. It happens to be one of my favore morn gay art piec.

Alexanr the Great’s Relatnships wh MenAlexanr’s relatnship wh HephatnAlexanr’s relatnship wh BagoasAlexanr the Great’s Marriag and ChildrenAlexanr’s Sexual Orientatn Explaed by the Cultural Aspect of GreeksWas Alexanr the Great Gay or Straight? One of the greatt nquerors, Alexanr the Great, has been the foc of nsirable njecture, and the qutn of whether or not he was gay remas one of the most ntent.

A THIRD 300 MOVIE WAS PASSED ON AFTER IT BEME A GAY LOVE STORY

Alexanr’s close ti wh men like Hephatn and Bagoas have been terpreted by some as proof of his homosexualy, while others have argued that they were merely close panns.

Another mon argument agast Alexanr’s claimed homosexualy is that he was married many tim to different women and had at least one child om them, Alexanr IV. That is why whether Alexanr the Great was gay or not is still an open qutn today.

This clus whether Alexanr the Great was gay. It’s still worth notg that this is not ncrete evince to suggt that Alexanr and Hephatn had a romantic or homosexual relatnship. Plutarch – Life of Alexanr (Part 7 of 7)Alexanr the Great’s Marriag and ChildrenAs unterevince to the claim that Alexanr was gay, many pot to his many marriag to women and the children he had wh them.

EVIL TWKS AND GAY GANGSTERS: WHY WE NEED TO REMEMBER HISTORY’S HORRID HOMOSEXUALS

Such pairgs weren’t tomatilly seen as signs of gay or bisexual orientatn, but rather as a natural part of life. The close iendships often characterized ancient Greek society, and that’s why there wasn’t always sexual tensn between Alexanr the Great Gay or Straight? In ncln, is impossible to state wh certaty whether or not Alexanr the Great was gay or even bisexual, spe evince suggtg he had timate ti wh men.

I’ve always thought of Alexanr the Great as a gay superhero of sorts, but he had sexual relatns wh both mal and femal. Dedg homosexual behavr sects.