October is LGBTQ History Month! To celebrate, I have compiled a list of some famous historical figures whom you might not have known were LGBT! Enjoy.
- Achilles (Greek Mythology: Trojan War Hero)
The love between Achilles and Patroclus was originally shown in the Iliad, and was replicated in the works of Aeschylus, Aeschines, and Plato. In Plato’s Symposium it is said that “great was the reward of the true love of Achilles towards his lover Patroclus.” Also in the Symposium? An actual debate about whether Achilles was a top or a bottom. (Picture: Achilles mourning Patroclus’s death)
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Socrates (470 BC – 399 BC)
Homosexuality in Ancient Greece is tricky, because it was very common for adult men to have sex with young boys as a way of mentorship (yes, very weird). They did not conceive sexuality in the way that we do now. That being said, though, Plato writes about how when Socrates was around attractive young boys, he went into a sort of sexual frenzy. Another one of Socrates’ students, Xenophon, also notes that Socrates always wanted to kiss the beautiful young boys that he was teaching philosophy to.
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Alexander the Great (July 356 BC – June 323 BC)
Though he also was known to have another male lover named Bagoas, the love of Alexander’s life was his friend Hephaestion. Hephaestion is described as “by far the dearest of all the king’s friends; he had been brought up with Alexander and shared all his secrets,” and the two are actually compared to Achilles and Patroclus. Aristotle said Alexander and Hephaestion’s relationship was like “one soul abiding in two bodies.” (Picture: tapestry showing Alexander kissing Hephaestion)
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Caligula (August 31, 12 AD – January 24, 41 AD)
The Roman Emperor, who ruled from March 37 AD –January 41 AD, was definitely crazy. He appointed a horse to be senator, he built a temple for himself because he thought he was Jupiter, and he really liked to torture people. But anyway, aside from that, he was known for his sexual promiscuity—he had sex with men, with women, and with men and women.
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Leonardo Da Vinci (April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519)
Ah, one of the most brilliant minds to ever exist. Da Vinci was accused of sodomy in 1476, by a male prostitute named Jacopo Saltarelli, and it was a pretty solid charge (though dropped because Da Vinci had money). Furthermore, Da Vinci made many erotic paintings of men, such as that of John the Baptist (pictured); he also had a preoccupation with the male body, and very little interest in the female body.
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Michelangelo (March 6, 1475 – February 18, 1564)
First of all, no straight man could have sculpted David (pictured). That’s just common sense. But for real, in between painting the Sistine Chapel and writing over 300 homoerotic poems, Michelangelo had a lover: Tommaso dei Cavalieri. Michelangelo wrote to him, “I feel as lit by fire a cold countenance/ That burns me from afar and keeps itself ice-chill/ A strength I feel two shapely arms to fill/ Which without motion moves every balance,” to which Cavalieri replied: “I swear to return your love. Never have I loved a man more than I love you, never have I wished for a friendship more than I wish for yours.”
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Louis XIII (September 27, 1601- May 14, 1643)
I mean. All the French kings were gay. Philippe II Auguste, Philippe III, Charles IX, Henri III, Louis XVIII, Philippe I (Duke of Orléans), like these guys were all having affairs with men. I should honestly do a whole separate article on French monarchs & homosexuality, because I cannot fit it in here. Jot that down.
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Mary Wollstonecraft (April 27, 1759 – September 10, 1797)
Author of the “Vindication of the Rights of Women,” Mary was truly the original feminist. She was very anti-marriage, calling it “little more than a state of legal prostitution,” and also she was romantically involved with her friend Frances/ Fanny Blood. Not only did they live together in their 20s, but when Fanny married and moved away, Mary went with her. Unfortunately, Fanny died–in Mary’s arms–during childbirth shortly after.
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James Buchanan (April 23, 1791 – June 1, 1868)
The 15th president of the United States was the only U.S. president (so far) who was not married. This might have been due to the fact that he was in love with William Rufus King, who was Vice President under Franklin Pierce. The two men lived together for 10 years in D.C., until King left for France in 1844. Afterwards, Buchanan wrote to a friend, “I am now ‘solitary and alone’, having no companion in the house with me. I have gone a wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any one of them. I feel that it is not good for man to be alone, and [I] should not be astonished to find myself married to some old maid who can nurse me when I am sick, provide good dinners for me when I am well, and not expect from me any very ardent or romantic affection.”
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Walt Whitman (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892)
Whitman’s poetry is pretty homoerotic, but he also had at least 3 lovers: Peter Doyle (pictured, on the right), who said that when he met Whitman on a bus, “We were familiar at once—I put my hand on his knee—we understood. He did not get out at the end of the trip—in fact went all the way back with me,” Bill Duckett, who is in a series of photos with Whitman that resemble marriage portraits, and Harry Stafford, whom Whitman gave a ring to, which was returned, and re-given, over several years.
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Emily Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886)
She may have been a recluse, but she wrote some letters to Susan Gilbert (pictured, on the right) that shed lots of light on the situation. For example: “Susie, forgive me Darling, for every word I say — my heart is full of you, none other than you is in my thoughts, yet when I seek to say to you something not for the world, words fail me. If you were here — and Oh that you were, my Susie, we need not talk at all, our eyes would whisper for us, and your hand fast in mine, we would not ask for language — I try to bring you nearer, I chase the weeks away till they are quite departed, and fancy you have come, and I am on my way through the green lane to meet you, and my heart goes scampering so, that I have much ado to bring it back again, and learn it to be patient, till that dear Susie comes.”
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Pyotr Tchaikovsky (May 7, 1840 – November 6, 1893)
Composer of both The Nutcracker and Swan Lake ballets, Tchaikovsky was gay and living under very strict tsars in St. Petersburg. He wrote to his brother, saying, “Surely you realize how painful it is for me to know that people pity and forgive me when in truth I am not guilty of anything. How appalling to think that those who love me are sometimes ashamed of me. In short, I seek marriage or some sort of public involvement with a woman so as to shut the mouths of assorted contemptible creatures whose opinions mean nothing to me, but who are in a position to cause distress to those near to me.” Even still, he had 2 boyfriends: his servant Aleksey Sofronov, and his nephew, Vladimir/ Bob Davydov (pictured, standing). He ended up dedicating many of his works to Davydov, and left everything to him when he died.
Well, there is a little bit just to whet your appetite. Check back next week for even more LGBTQ historical figures!