But Were They Gay? The Mystery of Same-Sex Love the 19th Century - The Atlantic</tle><meta name="scriptn" ntent="The Atlantic vers news, polics, culture, technology, health, and more, through s articl, podsts, vios, and flagship magaze."/><meta property="kx:tle" ntent="But Were They Gay? The Mystery of Same-Sex Love the 19th Century - The Atlantic"/><meta property="kx:scriptn" ntent="The Atlantic vers news, polics, culture, technology, health, and more, through s articl, podsts, vios, and flagship magaze."/><lk rel="nonil" href="><lk rel="image_src" href="><meta name="thor" ntent="Jennie Rothenberg Grz"/><lk rel="ia:markup_url" href="><meta property="article:publisher" ntent="><meta property="article:opn" ntent="false"/><meta property="article:ntent_tier" ntent="metered"/><meta property="article:tag" ntent="natnal"/><meta property="article:sectn" ntent="U.S."/><meta property="article:published_time" ntent="2012-09-07T20:35:01Z"/><meta property="article:modified_time" ntent="2012-09-07T23:36:55Z"/><meta name="robots" ntent="x, follow, max-image-preview:large"/><meta property="og:tle" ntent="But Were They Gay? The Mystery of Same-Sex Love the 19th Century"/><meta property="og:scriptn" ntent="It was a time of "Boston marriag" between women and passnate iendships between men. But what happened behd closed doors is anybody's gus."/><meta property="og:url" ntent="><meta property="og:type" ntent="article"/><meta property="og:image"/><meta property="twter:rd" ntent="summary_large_image"/><lk rel="alternate" type="applitn/rss+xml" tle="The Atlantic" href="/feed/all/"/><lk rel="alternate" type="applitn/rss+xml" tle="Bt of The Atlantic" href="/feed/bt-of/"/><meta name="referrer" ntent="unsafe-url"/><meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-pable" ntent="y"/><meta name="apple-mobile-web-stat-bar-style" ntent="black"/><meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-tle" ntent="The Atlantic"/><meta name="keywords" ntent="Sarah Orne Jewett, Walt Whman, same-sex timacy Whman, Orne Jewett Hoe, passnate same-sex iendships, censor Whman, John Addgton Symonds, Abraham Lln, Boston marriag, closed doors" emID="#keywords"/><meta name="news_keywords" ntent="Sarah Orne Jewett, Walt Whman, same-sex timacy Whman, Orne Jewett Hoe, passnate same-sex iendships, censor Whman, John Addgton Symonds, Abraham Lln, Boston marriag, closed doors"/><meta name="" ntent="natnal"/><meta name="" ntent="Jennie Rothenberg Grz"/><meta name="" ntent="2012-09-07T20:35:01Z"/><lk rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href=" crossorig=""/><lk rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href=" crossorig=""/><lk rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href=" crossorig=""/><lk rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href=" crossorig=""/><lk rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href=" crossorig=""/><script type="applitn/ld+json">{"@ntext":","@type":"NewsArticle","headle":"But Were They Gay? The Mystery of Same-Sex Love the 19th Century","alternativeHeadle":"But Were They Gay? The Mystery of Same-Sex Love the 19th Century","url":","datePublished":"2012-09-07T20:35:01Z","dateModified":"2012-09-07T23:36:55Z","isAccsibleForFree":false,"hasPart":{"@type":"WebPageElement","isAccsibleForFree":false,"cssSelector":".article-ntent-body"},"publisher":{"@id":"},"maEntyOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"},"thor":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jennie Rothenberg Grz","sameAs":"}],"articleSectn":"U.S."}</script><meta name="next-head-unt" ntent="60"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href=" data-n-g=""/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href=" data-n-p=""/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href=" data-n-p=""/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href=" data-n-p=""/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href=" data-n-p=""/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href="><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href="><noscript data-n-css=""></noscript><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/></head><body><div id="__next"><div data-tegory="story page"><div></div><nav class="Nav_root___6bX9" aria-labelledby="se-navigatn" data-tegory="Se Nav" data-event-module="se nav" id="ma-navigatn"><div class="Nav_maNav__yofcm"><a href="#ma-ntent" class="Nav_skipLk__Evjjd">Skip to ntent</a><h2 id="se-navigatn" class="Nav_visuallyHi__AbSDF">Se Navigatn</h2><div class="Nav_flexContaer__Q3LKQ"><ul class="Nav_leftContaer__cPQgJ"><li class="Nav_navListItem__cEyWT Nav_visuallyHiOnMobile__hxCGG"><a href=" class="Nav_navLk__5SUAA"><svg xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 87.83 134" class="Nav_bigA__XvGGC"><tle>The Atlantic.