You can't spell America without Gay Cabal
October 7, 2015 11:51 AM   Subscribe

Author and historian Bob Arnebeck writes about early American history and its Founding Fathers' "relationships with men beyond conventional propriety." Featured characters include war hero and Washington D.C planner Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the first inspector general of the US Army Baron Von Steuben , and Alexander Hamilton. Bonus: Revolutinary America's tolerance for homosexuality by Victoria A. Brownworth.
posted by The Whelk (25 comments total) 32 users marked this as a favorite


 
I am compelled to link to the Top Ten Questionably-Unintentional Homoerotic Passages From Published Hamilton Fanfiction ("Hamilton Fanfiction," in this case, being a couple of historical novels, one from the late 19th century, one from the mid-20th.)
posted by Jeanne at 12:04 PM on October 7, 2015 [3 favorites]


I think the PBS documentary where they pointed out that lonely Cowboys out on the range were a little more friendly with each other than what John Wayne would have you believe made me realize that it wasn't just a Greek and Roman thing or confined to the Catholic Church, but pretty much everybody was ultimately fine with Gays in power as long as the Gays in power had money and maintained a caste system. Seeing that we have some political figures today that still can't get over the fact that they prefer same sex companionship seems silly given the long lineage of this occurring. I know, I know... Open secrets make everyone feel special and all, but seriously, would anyone bat an eye if we found out that Nancy was Ronald Regan's window dressing? Well, maybe Bill O'Reilly would have a stroke, but realistically we're progressive enough that we can tolerate our dead historical figures are gay... It's just the live ones that folks want to pretend are still straight.
posted by Nanukthedog at 12:30 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


Looks like the oddly fabulous statue of Alexander Hamilton that stands in my hometown of Hamilton, OH might be a more realistic depiction than I initially thought...
posted by Strange Interlude at 12:31 PM on October 7, 2015 [10 favorites]




"Laurens I like you a lot"

(Supposedly there was a Valley Forge number at some point in Hamilton's development which had more nods to Hamilton/Laurens, but I'm not sure when it was cut. Fingers crossed it'll pop up in the book or mixtapes!)
posted by kmz at 12:41 PM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]


would anyone bat an eye if we found out that Nancy was Ronald Regan's window dressing?

Given his record of utterly ignoring HIV/AIDS during his tenure as president, you bet your sweet bippy people would bat eyes if it turned out he was gay all along. Such a revelation would cause freak outs from both sides.
posted by dnash at 1:03 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


realistically we're progressive enough that we can tolerate our dead historical figures are gay . . .

"Oh, it's you, Abe. Sorry, I didn't recognise you without your beard."
 
posted by Herodios at 1:06 PM on October 7, 2015 [6 favorites]


That's not even the gayest statue of Hamilton and Laurens out there

Wow.

"Uncup my manhood, good sir."
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:39 PM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]


Well, plenty of evil has been done by unhappily-closeted types who were later outed, so I suppose Reagan wouldn't surprise me that much.

I wonder how much evil is done by people who have decided at some point to shut off something essential to their real selves in the name of power, or family pressure, or money. It seems likely that the answer is "a lot."
posted by emjaybee at 2:17 PM on October 7, 2015 [3 favorites]


WASH THAT IMAGE OF GAY REAGAN OUT OF MY HEAD NOW!
posted by symbioid at 2:26 PM on October 7, 2015 [6 favorites]


Doesn't someone from the Cabal with a better sense of design and aesthetics want to advise the author that a website that looks produced on Windows 95 and hosted on CompuServe might want a make-over?
posted by C.A.S. at 2:27 PM on October 7, 2015


WASH THAT IMAGE OF GAY REAGAN OUT OF MY HEAD NOW!

did you mean: GEAGAN
posted by showbiz_liz at 3:22 PM on October 7, 2015 [11 favorites]


I went to a high school named after Von Steuben. Needless to say, we never delved too deep into his personal history. I hope he turns up soon in Hark! A Vagrant.
posted by hydrophonic at 4:08 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


I think the PBS documentary where they pointed out that lonely Cowboys out on the range were a little more friendly with each other than what John Wayne would have you believe...

There is an amazing book called Men in Eden: William Drummond Stewart and Same-Sex Desire in the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade that you should really read if this sort of story intrigues you. I appreciate a good academic slap in the face to the persistent, prevailing historic sentiment that non-straight people can't talk about non-straight people existing in history because we didn't use words like "non-straight" back then.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 4:34 PM on October 7, 2015 [4 favorites]


Oh you mighty gossipers one and all.
posted by Twang at 4:43 PM on October 7, 2015


Speaking to the case of Hamilton, about whom I know a great deal, this is the kind of speculative historiography one gets when one doesn't understand the distinction between eros and agape.
posted by CincyBlues at 5:26 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


Ancient Greek not enjoying the popularity it once held, it was left to Billy Graham to try to interpret those meanings to hoi polloi in the 1980's, so perhaps lost on target market? Twittering ensued in chorus.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 5:39 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


"the distinction between eros and agape" is not an unproblematic position, in this context.
posted by yesster at 6:06 PM on October 7, 2015 [3 favorites]


Yeah, it's just as ahistorical to insist that any potentially saucy correspondence between dudes from over 150 years ago must certainly have been totally non-sexual bromance. Probably it was sometimes, but definitely, definitely not always.
posted by showbiz_liz at 6:17 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


I'm willing to speculate wildly that men might be both passionate friends and also having sex, at the same time, instead of those two things being mutually exclusive according to classical categorizations of love.

[Deborah Sampson's] grandson, ironically named George Washington Gay
Did... did anyone else laugh at this, I feel really immature, but like, in the context of the article and -- I don't know, I wasn't expecting that little detail.
posted by automatic cabinet at 6:24 PM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]


I think the PBS documentary where they pointed out that lonely Cowboys out on the range were a little more friendly with each other than what John Wayne would have you believe...

Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other

posted by univac at 6:55 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


George Washington Gay

Not to be confused with Cincinnati's Camp Washington.
posted by Strange Interlude at 7:24 PM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]


Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other

This is great, especially the Pansy Division version.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:57 PM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]



I think the PBS documentary where they pointed out that lonely Cowboys out on the range were a little more friendly with each other than what John Wayne would have you believe made me realize that it wasn't just a Greek and Roman thing or confined to the Catholic Church, but pretty much everybody was ultimately fine with Gays in power as long as the Gays in power had money and maintained a caste system


Huh? Cowboys are unlanded precarious seasonal workers, they're not "in power." Right? Actually I would love to have my cowboy beliefs corrected, if they're wrong.
posted by grobstein at 8:01 PM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]


I wish I still wrote emails regularly and that I had a signature line because this quote from Hamilton to Laurens would be just great for one:

That you can speak only of your private affairs shall be no excuse for your not writing frequently. Remember that you write to your friends, and that friends have the same interests, pains, pleasures, sympathies; and that all men love egotism.

posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:21 AM on October 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


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