Famous Gays Through History
Mike W Miller
Subject: Time:11:02
OFFICE MEMO Famous Gays Through History Date:2/25/91
Larry Stratton asked for a list of famous LBG through history. In addition the
ones Jari already posted, there are:
Keith Haring, Artist
David Hockney, Artist
Lily Tomlin, Entertainer
Paul Lynde, Entertainer
Sandra Bernhardt, Entertainer
Joseph McCarthy, Asshole Senator
Roy Cohn, Asshole Lawyer
Aristotle, Philosopher
Socrates, Philosopher
Cary Grant, Actor
James Dean, Actor
Tony Curtis, Actor
Perry Ellis, Designer
Calvin Klein, Designer
Emily Dickenson, Author
Leo Tolstoy, Author
Philip Johnson, Architect
Michael Graves, Architect
Gerry Studds, US Congressman
Barney Frank, US Congressman
Susan B. Anthony, Women's Rights Advocate
Julian III, Pope
Sebastian, Catholic Saint
Greg Louganis, Olympic Diver (and hunk)
Bart Conner, Olympic Gymnast
Add to these all the musicians from the LGB Musicians list. (E-mail me if you
need a copy of this.)
Considering the thread that followed from the LGB Musicians, I'm a little
frightened by how big this might get. Nonetheless, I volunteer to be Custodian
of the Names for this thread, and will repost a complete listing as things
begin to die down. A couple of requests... As people add to this list, please
include a brief statement of what the person is famous for (if it might not be
obvious) and their approximate historical period. And let's try to limit this
to people we are sure about, to avoid the Well-I've-Always-Wished-So-And-So-Was
subthreads.
Peace,
Mike!
Jari Junikka
>
>
>Considering the thread that followed from the LGB Musicians, I'm a little
>frightened by how big this might get. Nonetheless, I volunteer to be Custodian
>of the Names for this thread, and will repost a complete listing as things
>begin to die down. A couple of requests... As people add to this list, please
>include a brief statement of what the person is famous for (if it might not be
>obvious) and their approximate historical period. And let's try to limit this
>to people we are sure about, to avoid the Well-I've-Always-Wished-So-And-So-Was
>subthreads.
>
This list would be even more useful, if it contained a reference to
something one could use to verify the sexual orientation of the person.
This could be a book, an interview or something like that.
With all of us in the net, we should be able to find something
for most of the people.
So I'd like to see the following entries for each person:
1) name 2) time period 3) famous for 4) reference for the orientation
Jari
John W. Beers
to second Jari's motion. I *do not want* names of musicians about whom
there are rumors or names of musicians who are g/l/b but still in the
closet. As I said before (I think), I am fiercely opposed to outing. I
was hoping that people would offer some sort of reference when making
suggestions. I do not want a list of innuendo and gossip.
Thanks to all the people who have responded so far! I will do my best
to post a playlist after the show airs.
Also, to help avoid outing problems, I have decided (after getting
advice from a few people) to include *songs* with LesBiGay themes (so it
doesn't really matter what the orientation of the performer is). Any
help here, too, is appreciated. Just be advised that it will most
likely run from 6 to 8pm, so I will have to limit "nasty" stuff (i.e., I
won't be playing "Fist Fuckers Associated" by The Leather Nun!)
Still no name for the show.
--John
John Donald Collier
I don't think Aristotle was gay. Plato was. He was one of
Aristotle's teachers. Al;exander was. He was one of
Aristotle's students. But I don't think Aristotle was
gay himself.:w
D
John Passaniti
> Larry Stratton asked for a list of famous LBG through
> history. In addition the ones Jari already posted,
> there are:
You might add:
Alan Turing, mathmetician
--
John Passaniti - via FidoNet node 1:260/230
UUCP: {smart-host}!ur-valhalla!rochgte!201!John.Passaniti
INTERNET: John.Pa...@f201.n260.z1.FIDONET.ORG
Shawn Kammerdiener
>
>include a brief statement of what the person is famous for (if it might not be
>obvious) and their approximate historical period.
This is an excerpt from "The Book of Lists",
by David Wallechinsky, Irving Wallace, and Amy Wallace. copyright 1978
by Bantam Books.
This portion is reprinted without permission of the author or
publisher, and I assume no responsibilty for accuracy or
transcription of content.
The following quoted material precedes the two lists on page 336 & 337:
"With the assistance of the researchers of the _Advocate_, a national
gay periodical published in San Mateo, Calif., two lists have been
assembled of the leading female and male homosexuals from past times
to the present. Included, also, are celebrated persons who were both
homosexual and heterosexual-that is, bisexual. In noting modern day
names, we have confined ourselves to those who have announced or
publicly discussed their homosexuality."
ed. note. - where a birth date and no death date is used, the person was
living in 1978.
FEMALE:
Sappho, flourished c. 600 BC, Greek poet
Christina, 1626-1689, Swedish queen
Madame de Stael, 1766-1817, French author
Charlotte Cushman, 1816-1876, US actress
Gertrude Stein, 1874-1946, US author
Alice B. Toklas, 1877-1967, US author-cook
Virginia Woolf, 1882-1941, British author
Victoria Sackville-West, 1892-1962, British author
Bessie Smith, 1894-1937, US singer
Kate Millett, b. 1934, US author
Janis Joplin, 1943-1970, US singer
MALE:
Zeno of Elea, fifth century BC, Greek Philosopher
Sophocles, 496?-406 BC, Greek playwright
Euripides, 480?-406? BC, Greek dramatist
Socrates, 470?-399 BC, Greek Philosopher
Aristotle, 384-322 BC, Greek philosopher
Alexander the Great, 356-323 BC, Macedonian ruler
Julius Caeser, 100-44 BC, Roman emperor
Hadrian, 76-138 AD, Roman emperor
Richard the Lion-Hearted, 1157-1199, British king
Richard II, 1367-1400, British king
Sandro Botticelli, 1444?-1510, Italian painter
Leonardo da Vinci, 1452-1519, Italian painter-scientist
Julius III, 1487-1555, Italian Pope
Benvenuto Cellini, 1500-1571, Italian goldsmith
Francis Bacon, 1561-1626, British philosopher-statesman
Christopher Marlowe, 1564-1593, British playwright
James I, 1566-1625, British king
John Milton, 1608-1674, British author
Jean-Baptiste Lully, 1632-1687, French composer
Peter the Great, 1672-1725, Russian czar
Frederick the Great, 1712-1786, Prussian king
Gustavus III, 1746-1792, Swedish king
Alexander von Humboldt, 1769-1859, German naturalist
George Gordon (Lord Byron) 1788-1824, British poet laureate
Hans Christian Andersen, 1805-1875, Dansih author
Walt Whitman,, 1812-1892, US poet
Horatio Alger, 1832-1899, US author
Samuel Butler, 1835-1902, British author
Algernon Swinburne, 1837-1909, British poet
Petr Ilich Tchaikovksy, 1840-1893, Russian composer
Paul Verlaine, 1844-1896, French poet
Arthur Rimbaud, 1854-1891, French poet
Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900, British playwright
Frederick Ralfe (Baron Corvo), 1860-1913, British author
Andre Gide, 1869-1951, French author
Marcel Proust, 1871-922, French author
E. M. Forster, 1879-1970, British author
John Maynard Keynes, 1883-1946, British economist
Harold Nicholson, 1886-1968, British author-diplomat
Ernst Rohm, 1887-1934, German Nazi leader
T.E. Lawrence, 1888-1935, British soldier-author
Jean Cocteau, 1889-1963, French author
Waslaw Nijinksy, 1890-1950, Russian ballet dancer
Bill Tilden, 1893-1953, US tennis player
Christopher Isherwood, b. 1904, British author
Dag Hammerskjold, 1905-1961, Swedish U.N. secretary-general
W. H. Auden, 1907-1973, British-US poet
Jean Genet, b. 1909, French playwright
Tennesee Williams, b. 1911, US playwright
Merle Miller, b. 1919, US author
Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1922-1975, Italian film director
Brendan Behan, 1923-1964, Irish author
Malcolm Boyd, b. 1923, US theologian
Allan Ginsberg, b. 1926, US poet
David Bowie, b. 1947, British singer
Elton John, b. 1947, British singer
david carlton
Or maybe none of these categorizations really apply too well. The
Greeks didn't seem to divide up their sexualities in the same way that
we do, and for that matter neither did most other societies. (Read,
say, _100 Years of Homosexuality_, by David Halperin or _The
Construction of Homosexuality_, by David Greenberg for more discussion
of these issues.) I really do think that the term 'gay' carries along
too many cultural connotations to apply to members of cultures that
are significantly different from ours. 'Engaged in homosexualities'
might work, but not 'gay'. For that matter, did Plato? My memories
of reading gave me the feeling that he was more than a bit prudish
about such matters, and so while he would talk about man/boy relations
he (or Sokrates in place of him) didn't seem to actually fuck very
much. But it's been a while since i've read most of that stuff, and
at any rate it's hard to draw too many conclusions about behaviour
from 2300+ year old dialogues.
david carlton
car...@husc9.harvard.edu
Homosexuality was invented by a straight world dealing with
its own bisexuality.
- Kate Millett, _Flying_
mike.siemon
(david carlton) writes:
> In article <4...@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au> jcol...@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au
(John Donald Collier) writes:
> I don't think Aristotle was gay. Plato was...
> Or maybe none of these categorizations really apply too well. The
> Greeks didn't seem to divide up their sexualities in the same way that
> we do, and for that matter neither did most other societies.
Too true. Nonetheless, sexual love among the philosphers was "documented"
quite thoroughly. I gather all this thread is in reaction to a list that
was posted a short while ago. I found this peculiar in a number of ways
(not only in the inclusion of Aristotle, for whom I know *no* reports of
homosexual liasons). For example, Zeno is listed, but not his (elder)
lover Parmenides, who is arguably vastly more important. Our authority
that they were lovers, incidentally, is Plato (cf. the _Parmenides_)
> 'Engaged in homosexualities'
> might work, but not 'gay'. For that matter, did Plato? My memories
> of reading gave me the feeling that he was more than a bit prudish
I think this attitude has little basis. There is a *lot* of homoerotic
flirtation in the early dialogues, not to mention the wildly fun treat-
ment of sex in the Symposium. Yes, Plato grinds a philosophical axe that
tends towards "spiritualizing" things, and he got to be a repressive old
bastard by the end of his life. How much actual fucking he was involved
in is not a question our sources can answer. However, two of the most
gloriously homoerotic epigrams in Greek are attributed to Plato. One is
playful:
Te:n psyche:n, Agatho:na philon, epi cheilesin eschon
e:lthe gar he: tle:mo:n ho:s diabe:somene:
which is, roughly,
My soul, Agathon my love, kissing your lips
came forward, rashly, to cross over the brink.
[the translation is my own, and is disprespectful of the grammar; the
translations I have seen are frightfully wimpy and ignore some of the
wild puns in the Greek.]
And one is on my mind at almost every death from AIDS of anyone I know:
Dakrua men Hekabe:i te kai Iliadessi gynaixi
Moirai epeklo:san de: pote geinomenais;
soi de, Dio:n, rexanti kalo:n epinikion ergo:n
daimones eureias elpidas exechean.
Keisai d'eurychoro:i en patridi timios astois,
o emon ekme:nas thumon ero:ti Dio:n.
And I can't cope with translating this, so I will cite the Penguin Book
of Greek Verse:
The Fates wove tears for Hecuba and the Trojan women at the hour
of their birth; and the gods poured away your far-reaching hopes,
Dion, after you had celebrated victory for your noble deeds.
You lie in your spacious homeland, honored by your citizens, Dion
-- you, who maddened my soul with love.
--
Michael L. Siemon "I cannot grow;
(E.C.I.S --'E' division) I have no shadow
m.si...@ATT.COM To run away from,
standard disclaimer I only play"
r l reid
>(not only in the inclusion of Aristotle, for whom I know *no* reports of
>homosexual liasons).
Yeah, well, a friend of a friend of mine works in an emergency room
and he said they brought Aristotle in one night and pumped an urnful
outa his stomach.
Ro
Eric Pepke
>
>Alan Turing, mathmetician
This is insufficient tribute to Alan Turing. Were it not for Turing, you
probably wouldn't have a terminal or workstation right now. You would be
sitting at a typewriter writing a letter to the editor. You might also
have to write it in German.
-EMP
Princess
he's gay?
Daniel A. Murphy
>I was wondering if George Michael should be on this list. Do you know if
>he's gay?
My understanding is that he is, indeed, gay or bisexual.
--
-------------------
Daniel A. Murphy Net: mur...@well.sf.ca.us
San Francisco, CA GEnie: D.MURPHY11
U.S.A. MCI Mail: 377-7947
kel...@ul.ie
> I was wondering if George Michael should be on this list.
It all depends. Firstly, *who* was George Michael????
then, as you ask:
> Do you know if he's gay?
:-)
Cathal
---------------------------------------------
| Cathal Kelly
| Ollscoil Luimnigh (Uni. Limerick), For the benefit of
| Plassey Technological Park, the non-Irish the
| IRL Limerick 't' in 'Cathal' is |
| silent and the name |
(Ireland) is attached to the |
male of the species. |
kel...@ul.ie |
--------------------------------------
r l reid
>In article <91073.09...@CUNYVM.BITNET>, KI...@CUNYVM.BITNET (Princess) writes:
>> I was wondering if George Michael should be on this list.
There's speculation in some TS circles that GM is TS. This is based
on the song Freedom, coupled with the symetrical earrings. Assuming all
this is true (which is quite a leap), you can further conjecture that
due to the earring symetry that GM is hetero, since stereotypical
Lesbians do not wear symetrical earrings, and TSs are stereotypical
in their behavior.
Or we could just go listen to Harry Partch instead (queerer than most)...
(For the brain dead - I don't buy any of the above mentioned stereotypes
as anything more than stereotypes.)
Ro