BRILLIANT MINDS IN HISTORY WHO WERE GAY

BRILLIANT MINDS IN HISTORY WHO WERE GAY
Heroic David Is Art’s Most Admired Sculpture

It is no secret that homosexuality has always been tried to be kept in the dark, especially when we talk about the great personalities of history. For some, talking about the sexual orientation of emblematic figures “is not necessary,” but, of course, only assuming that they were heterosexual. And what if not?

Thanks to the queer and gender studies that began to take place in Anglo-Saxon universities, especially in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s, researchers began a historical revisionism of great figures. Using diaries, letters and other resources, she began to question aspects of her personal life, especially her sexual orientation.

READ MORE: “QATAR 2022: A HOMOPHOBIC WORLD CUP

However, possible evidence of homosexuality has not always endured to this day. Therefore, it is often difficult to be one hundred percent sure who was part of the LGBTI community or not. Even so, according to the Spanish philologist Álvaro J. Sanjuán, he has dedicated himself to divulging which historical figures were or could have been homosexual.

HISTORICAL PERSONS WHO WERE QUEER

Among the characters that we can say were (or could be) part of the LGBTI community are great writers, politicians, scientists, Renaissance artists and more. This is a list of some and how we can know:

 

ALEXANDER THE GREAT

ALEXANDER THE GREAT WERE GAY
ALEXANDER THE GREAT

The supposed homosexuality or even bisexuality of Alexander the Great has been discussed for several centuries. It is said that he was in love with his childhood best friend Hephaestion. Although he was married three times, it is said that Alexander did not enjoy sensual pleasures.

 

EDWARD II OF ENGLAND

EDWARD II OF ENGLAND WERE GAY
EDWARD II OF ENGLAND

It is considered that this English monarch had a homosexual relationship with Piers Gaveston, although there is no agreement on this point. However, Gaveston had special treatment manifested as the delivery of the county, one of the richest lands and a title usually reserved for the sons of the reigning monarchs.

 

MIGUEL ANGEL

MIGUEL ANGEL WERE GAY
MIGUEL ANGEL

Unlike other personalities, in this case there is a broad consensus on Michelangelo’s homosexuality. He did not marry or have children, though little is known of his personal life. He dedicated several writings and poems to various young people he fell in love with. It is considered that his great love was the Roman Tommaso Cavalieri, but it is impossible to know if it was consummated or not.

READ MORE: “WHO WAS THE FIRST GAY COUPLE IN THE WORLD?

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN

It is said that the author of ‘The Little Mermaid’ precisely wrote this story as an allegory about his feelings for his friend Edvard Collin, when he got married. Let’s remember that in the original story, Ariel doesn’t stay with the prince, who marries another maiden. Although in several letters it seems that the author confesses romantic feelings, there is no consensus on his sexual orientation tukif.

 

MIGUEL DE CERVANTES

MIGUEL DE CERVANTES
MIGUEL DE CERVANTES

Nor can it be 100% affirmed that Cervantes was homosexual. However, authors such as Sanjuán believe that it was very likely that he was homosexual. On the other hand, Daniel Eisenberg believes that he cannot be called that, but neither does he believe that he fits into a mold as such of “heterosexuality,” referring to the fact that although it cannot be affirmed that he had carnal relations with men, the author had friendship between men as the highest ideal of love.

 

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE WERE GAY
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway with whom he had three children. However, it is speculated that she may have also had relationships and/or fallen in love with men, especially since some of her sonnets were dedicated to a man (“My Fair Youth”), although they could also give clues that she had affairs with other women.

READ MORE“AN IN-BREADTH LOOK AT THE PRESENCE OF GAY PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD, THROUGHOUT HISTORY”

KARL HEINRICHS ULRICHS

KARL HEINRICHS ULRICHS
KARL HEINRICHS ULRICHS

He’s probably one of the most notable on the list as he was a pioneer for LGBTI rights. This German lawyer published different essays defending that homosexual love, which he called urinary, was natural and biological.

In 1867, Ulrichs became the first homosexual to come out openly and publicly before the Congress of German Jurists in Munich when he called for the removal of the law against homosexuality.

 

 

 

 

WHO WAS THE FIRST GAY COUPLE IN THE WORLD?

WHO WAS THE FIRST GAY COUPLE IN THE WORLD?

Nowadays, despite all the prejudices and injustices that the LGBTQ+ community experiences in some parts of the world, love is something natural. Joining the person you love seems like a right that everyone has access to. However it was not always so. What we take for granted today as an inescapable reality was thanks to the hard work of wonderful people who gave their entire lives for these guarantees.

Two of the most relevant names on this list are Axel Lundahl-Madsen and Eigil Eskildsen, the first gay marriage in history in the modern world.

The couple married more than 30 years ago, on October 11, 1989, in a public ceremony officiated by none other than Tom Ahlberg, the Mayor of Copenhagen at the time. However, to get to this point, they fought for more than 40 years for the rights that would allow them to make it possible.

Do you want to know its history? Continue reading.

 

A LOVE OF RELENTLESS FIGHT

Although their love was legally recognized in 1989, it had existed for more than 40 years. All when Axel Lundahl-Madse created the Circle of 1948, the first private organization for the defense of the homosexual and bisexual community in Denmark, a country that at that time was not what we know today.

READ MORE: “A COUPLE IS A COUPLE IS A COUPLE…OF WHAT?”

The name of the organization was inspired by the Declaration of Human Rights, as a way of reminding the whole world that its slogan had nothing revolutionary or special. Being able to choose who to love should be one more human right. At the time of his, Axel hoped to achieve a positive change in his country to give spaces of understanding in the law and society to the LGBT + community, not knowing that this path would lead him to find the true love of the life of the.

A LOVE OF RELENTLESS FIGHT: Axel Lundahl-Madsen and Eigil Eskildsen, the first gay marriage in history in the modern world.
Axel Lundahl-Madsen and Eigil Eskildsen

Eigil Eskildsen joined the Circle a year after its founding. He met Axel in this space, and the two quickly fell in love. The couple turned their love into a motor for their cause, engaging in various activities to promote their rights.

Together they did great things xnxx: they founded a newspaper with content for the community, they created a photography company that employed gay models, among other things.

READ MORE: “AN IN-BREADTH LOOK AT THE PRESENCE OF GAY PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD, THROUGHOUT HISTORY”

Their actions, by then considered scandalous, landed them in jail in 1955. The charges accused them of disseminating material with sensual intentions. It’s not as if magazines like Playboy didn’t exist by then, of course.

 

40 YEARS OF LOVE

When they finally had the opportunity to officially marry, their love was already 40 long years old, demonstrating a courage and solidity that can only be seen in the movies. His activist work paid off, making Denmark the first country to legalize same-sex marriage, on July 7, 1989.

This was possible thanks to the then queen of Denmark, Margaret II, who on that day finally signed and published the law approving the registration of same-sex civil unions.

READ MORE: “GAY HISTORY IN PACIFIC ASIA & AUSTRALIA”

making Denmark the first country to legalize same-sex marriage, on July 7, 1989.

Their wedding was the first of 340 nuptials contracted by the immediate action of this law, and it was celebrated as a historic event. Hundreds of people turned out to accompany the couple, many of them fellow members of the 1948 Circle. Axel and Eigil were 74 and 67 years old when they were finally able to legally call themselves married.

However, this never stopped them or slowed down their life as a couple. Even before their wedding, both had already adopted the surname Axgil, created from the fusion of their names.

Without a doubt, the couple proves that love is stronger than many things, and reminds us that the will to be who you are no matter what can move even the largest and most solid mountains.