Alex Ross on Robert Beachy’s new book, “Gay Berl: Birthplace of a Morn Inty.”
Contents:
- ‘THE KG AND HIS HBAND’: THE GAY HISTORY OF BRISH ROYALS
- HISTORY’S GREATT GAY GENERALWAR IS BORG·FOLLOWPUBLISHED WAR IS BORG·8 M READ·MAR 9, 2014--1LISTENSHARENO, NOT ALEXANR THE GREAT—FRERICK THE GREAT
- QUEER KO: 1970S AND ‘80S GAY GERMAN ARTHOE CEMA
- GAY BERL: BIRTHPLACE OF A MORN INTY
- 5 GAY BRISH KGS AND QUEENS OM HISTORY
- [WATCH] UNSEEN FOOTAGE OF KG VON CLAIMG HE’S GAY TO BE PLACED PRISON PROTECTIVE CTODY
‘THE KG AND HIS HBAND’: THE GAY HISTORY OF BRISH ROYALS
For much of history, LGBTQ+ royalty need to hi their inti. Even though some societi embraced homosexualy, most refed to accept a gay ... * gay german king *
But while the Netherlands, which 2001 beme the first untry to legalize gay marriage, has paved the wave for a queer royal to officially wear the crown, LGBTQ people have long been dog so unofficially. The liph’s sexualy has been the source of some bate: Acrdg to the French medievalist Évariste Lévi-Provençal, the phrase “hubb al-walad, ” found 16th-century historian Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari’s pendium "Nafh at-Tib" reference to Al-Hakam II, translat as a “preference for boys, ” though other scholars mata refers to paternal Medieval Europe scholar Francis Prado-Vilar wrote that knowledge of Al-Hakam’s homosexualy the urt of Córdoba “enuraged the ambns of the factns gathered around his much younger brother, Prce al-Mughira.
”“In his youth his lov seem to have been entirely homosexual, ” queer studi scholar Louis Crompton wrote “Male Love and Islamic Law Arab Spa. )“To the shock of many urtiers, the pair were monstratively affectnate to each other public, spe Jam’ var proclamatns agast homosexualy, ” Daniel Smh wrote “Love Letters of Kgs and Queens.
HISTORY’S GREATT GAY GENERALWAR IS BORG·FOLLOWPUBLISHED WAR IS BORG·8 M READ·MAR 9, 2014--1LISTENSHARENO, NOT ALEXANR THE GREAT—FRERICK THE GREAT
Queen Elizabeth's is expected to wed the first same-sex royal weddg this summer — but he is far om the first gay Brish royal, acrdg to historians. * gay german king *
Frerick the Great of Pssia (1712 - 1786)Even his lifetime, this Pssian royal was wily mored to be a homosexual, though that term wouldn’t be ed till nearly 90 years after his years after the kg’s ath, his physician Johann Ge Rter von Zimmermann published a book which he sperately tried to dispel gossip Frerick had a “Grecian taste love. And rather than let that secret out, Frerick pretend to be gay, “so that he would ntue to appear virile and pable of sexual terurse, albe wh men.
But he did ltle to obscure his sexualy: Sanssouci, his palace Potsdam, was filled wh homoerotic art and, across Europe, “l Potsdamists” beme slang for kg allegedly pursued the Veian philosopher Franc Algarotti and even famed French philosopher Voltaire, who lived wh him at Sanssouci, though ’s not certa if eher relatnship was Voltaire’s ath 1778, a mancript of his memoir tailg Frerick’s homosexual tennci tail was stolen and published the Netherlands.
”The archde spent the rt of his life secln at Klsheim Palace near Salzburg, where he died at the age of 76 1919, three years after his brother’s ath and one year after the Atro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved after the end of World War II of Buganda (1868 - 1903)Discsn of Uganda’s treatment of homosexualy ually settl on Print Yoweri Meveni’s “Kill the Gays” bill, but this 19th century kabaka, or kg, of Buganda allegedly had sexual relatnships wh men along wh his 16 1886, Mwanga II orred the btal torture and aths of dozens of urtiers and pag, wh many burned alive. But before we talk about LGBTQ+ kgs and queens, let's start wh the history of sexual terms heterosexual and homosexual didn't exist until the 1860s. I was speakg to someone I’m iends wh onle and both of grew up wh a fair amount of German our liv; both of are cur (and me as a gay man) if there is any mon lgbt slang the German language like there is English?
QUEER KO: 1970S AND ‘80S GAY GERMAN ARTHOE CEMA
* gay german king *
An art historian disvered a 400-year-old portra of Gee Villiers, the former De of Buckgham who is thought to have been the gay lover of Kg Jam VI and I, the Brish ler om 1567 to 1625 who missned a btsellg book known as The Kg Jam Bible.
Hovn’s bed ment may be more of a polil metaphor than a leral one — polics do make strange bedfellows, after all — but even still, Richard I has long been lnized as a gay in.
The plays of both possibly-gay English playwright Christopher Marlowe and totally-gay English playwright Derek Jarman both picted Edward II as gay. ”The speculatn that Edward II’s relatnships wh the men went beyond iendship was fueled by Christopher Marlowe’s 16th-century play “Edward II”, which is often noted for s homoerotic portrayal of Edward II and VI and I, who reigned over Stland and later England and Ireland until his ath 1625, attracted siar scty for his male favor, a term ed for panns and advisers who had special preference wh monarchs. Here, 11 gay movi, om the dramatic to the edic, om the absurd to the touchg, om the Weimer Republic to unified Berl, straight out of Germany.
GAY BERL: BIRTHPLACE OF A MORN INTY
Explore our gay travel gui to Germany featurg LGBTQ+ safety tips, gay rights , top ci & attractns, where to stay and more! * gay german king *
Madchen Uniform ("Girls Uniform"), 1931: While homosexualy was simply allud to the aforementned flicks, was on full display Madchen Uniform, the tale of a boardg school girl who falls for her teacher.
Anrs als du und Ich ("Different From You and Me"), 1957: Not to be nfed wh the siarly gay 1919 movie Anrs als die Anrn ("Different om the Others"), this mid-20th Century narrative revolv around rich kid Kls's affair wh a lower-class peer named Maned. And drama also ensued when the picture me out -- not only were nservativ displeased wh the gay ntent, early gay activists were livid over an endg which, spoiler alert, Kls is "cured" of his homosexualy. Nicht r Homosexuelle ist pervers, sonrn die Suatn, r er lebt ("It Is Not The Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But The Society In Which He Liv"), 1971: Perhaps one of the most ntroversial gay featur ever to e out of Germany, or anywhere else, this mouthful of a movie and s portrayal of gay men as shallow, fashn-obssed, limp wristed weaklgs created such a stir that the viotaped cricisms om gay activists nstute their own short.
Fstrecht r Freihe ("Fox and His Friends"), 1975: Inic New Cema filmmaker Raer Werner Fassbr directed, wrote, and starred this story of a gay man who falls for a wealthy heir. Taxi zum Klo ("Taxi to the John", or "Taxi to the Toilet"), 1981: Frank Ripploh's semi-tobgraphil drama about a prim and proper school teacher wh a hardre after-hours sex life was groundbreakg and sensatnal for s time, and ed remas a cult classic (and one of the sexit gay films acrdg to director John Cameron Mchell).
5 GAY BRISH KGS AND QUEENS OM HISTORY
A talk wh Robert Beachy spans om Gay Berl to Achwz, providg a warng for our tim of the historic power of hate to stroy the power of love. * gay german king *
Lola und Bilidikid (Lola and Billy The Kid), 1999: Wrer/Director Kutlug Ataman had hoped to film this story of a young man tryg to rencile his homosexualy wh Islam Turkey, the ma character's fay's homeland, but he uldn't shore up enough support.
Instead, Sherry Hormann's rom- tackl homophobia sports by stg Maxiian Bckner as Ecki, a closeted soccer player who back strong after beg booted om his team for beg gay. Still, he had an effect: a few liberal-md lleagu accepted his notn of an nate gay inty, and a Bavarian official privately nfsed to siar yearngs.
The tle of the chapter, “The German Inventn of Homosexualy, ” telegraphs a prcipal argument of the book: although same-sex love is as old as love self, the public disurse around , and the polil movement to w rights for , arose Germany the late neteenth and early twentieth centuri.
[WATCH] UNSEEN FOOTAGE OF KG VON CLAIMG HE’S GAY TO BE PLACED PRISON PROTECTIVE CTODY
This msage may surprise those who believe that gay inty me of age London and New York, sometime between the Osr Wil trials and the Stonewall rts. The btal reprsn of gay people durg the Nazi perd largely erased German gay history om ternatnal nscns, and even om German memory. Beachy, a historian who teach at Yonsei Universy, Seoul, ends his book by notg that Germans hold gay-pri celebratns each June on what is known as Christopher Street Day, honor of the street where the Stonewall prott unfold.
” In the eighteen-eighti, a Berl police missner gave up prosecutg gay bars and stead stuted a policy of bemed tolerance, gog so far as to lead tours of a growg mimon. By the begng of the twentieth century, a non of gay lerature had emerged (one early advote ed the phrase “Stayg silent is ath, ” nearly a century before aids activists ed the slogan “Silence = Death”); activists were bemoang negative pictns of homosexualy (Thomas Mann’s “Death Venice” was one target); there were bat over the ethics of outg; and a schism opened between an clive, mastream factn and a more rto, anarchistic wg. In 1929, the Reichstag moved toward the crimalizatn of homosexualy, although the chaos ed by that fall’s stock-market crash prevented a fal did all this happen Germany?
The towerg legacy of German ialism and Romanticism, which helps to expla why the gay-rights movement took root Germany, has self bee somewhat obscure, pecially outsi the German school system. The episo suggts the gree to which the German cultural and tellectual tradn, particularly the Romantic age, which stretched om Goethe and Schiller to Schopenher and Wagner, embolned those who me to intify themselv as gay and lbian. Lerary figur pursued a cult of iendship that borred on the homoerotic, although most of the time the fervid talk of embrac and kiss remaed jt talk.