# Da Vinci's Demons: Is it offensive that Leonardo isn't gay? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 1, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/da-vincis-demons-is-it-offensive-that-leonardo-isnt-gay/651767 "2013-03-01T21:51:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/da-vincis-demons-is-it-offensive-that-leonardo-isnt-gay/651767/1 "2013-03-01T21:51:40Z")
Da Vinci’s Demons is apparently a new high budget (I think) show about Leonardo Da Vinci produced by David S. Goyer. Seeing as it’s widely know that Leonardo was probably gay, is it offensive that he’s portrayed as straight? The trailer for the show clearly shows him having sex with a woman: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/vgg9nnALFGA/hqdefault.jpg "Da Vinci's Demons - Trailer") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgg9nnALFGA) The show seems to take liberties with history anyways. What with all the seemingly magic stuff going on in the trailer. [Link to Wikipedia article about the show.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da_Vinci%27s_Demons) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2013, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/da-vincis-demons-is-it-offensive-that-leonardo-isnt-gay/651767/2 "2013-03-01T23:43:35Z")
Meh. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2013, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/da-vincis-demons-is-it-offensive-that-leonardo-isnt-gay/651767/3 "2013-03-01T23:46:35Z")
I didn’t know that he was widely known as gay. Or probably gay. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2013, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/da-vincis-demons-is-it-offensive-that-leonardo-isnt-gay/651767/4 "2013-03-02T00:10:27Z")
First i hear of “probably gay”. I doubt it is widely known, and “probably” is not “definitely”. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2013, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/da-vincis-demons-is-it-offensive-that-leonardo-isnt-gay/651767/5 "2013-03-02T00:35:56Z")
From what I know of LBGT history, “gay” as we understand it wasn’t a mindset that existed in Leonardo’s day, and it’s not something he would have identified himself as. [According to Wikipedia,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci%27s_personal_life#Leonardo.27s_sexuality) there’s no evidence he ever had a sexual relation of any kind - he was once accused of having patronized a male prostitute, but the charge was never prosecuted. In any event, the only portrayal of him as gay that I’ve ever seen is in one of the Assassin’s Creed games, where he tries to make a pass at Ezio and Ezio turns him down without realizing it. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2013, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/da-vincis-demons-is-it-offensive-that-leonardo-isnt-gay/651767/6 "2013-03-02T01:44:29Z")
I think it’s widely known that he was gay in the same way that it’s widely known that every male actor in Hollywood is gay, i.e., those who want to widely know it, widely know it. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2013, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/da-vincis-demons-is-it-offensive-that-leonardo-isnt-gay/651767/7 "2013-03-02T03:37:33Z")
A young, hot, buff, frequently shirtless heretic religion fighter Da Vinci is homoerotic enough for me. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2013, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/da-vincis-demons-is-it-offensive-that-leonardo-isnt-gay/651767/8 "2013-03-02T04:45:12Z")
I’ve heard and read the “evidence” that LDV was gay. I’m far from convinced that he probably was. Yes, I thinks it’s fine that they portray him as straight. ---
**Author:** ![Renifer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Renifer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renifer)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2013, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/da-vincis-demons-is-it-offensive-that-leonardo-isnt-gay/651767/9 "2013-03-02T22:46:07Z")
It’s possible he’s bi or heteroflexible. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2013, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/da-vincis-demons-is-it-offensive-that-leonardo-isnt-gay/651767/10 "2013-03-02T23:45:21Z")
I do think that the Duke of Milan hired Leonardo to cast the big bronze horse, knowing that he was notorious for never finishing anything he started, as a cover story for buying up tons of bronze without raising the suspicions of the French. Then the bronze was quickly sent to Ferrara to be made into cannon. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/da-vincis-demons-is-it-offensive-that-leonardo-isnt-gay/651767/11 "2013-03-03T01:32:50Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > I think it’s widely known that he was gay in the same way that it’s widely known that every male actor in Hollywood is gay, i.e., those who want to widely know it, widely know it. Helps them justify their slashfics. ---
**Author:** ![Dan\_Norder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@Dan\_Norder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_Norder)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/da-vincis-demons-is-it-offensive-that-leonardo-isnt-gay/651767/12 "2013-03-03T05:06:48Z")
I think it’s offensive to assume he was gay, in the same way it’s offensive when people assume all sorts of other things about historical figures or events without adequate evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/da-vincis-demons-is-it-offensive-that-leonardo-isnt-gay/651767/13 "2013-03-03T05:08:59Z")
> [@Dan\_Norder](#): > > I think it’s offensive to assume he was gay, in the same way it’s offensive when people assume all sorts of other things about historical figures or events without adequate evidence. Why is that offensive? ---
**Author:** ![FrankJBN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@FrankJBN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrankJBN)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/da-vincis-demons-is-it-offensive-that-leonardo-isnt-gay/651767/14 "2013-03-04T17:58:09Z")
And Da Vinci’s sexuality one way or the other should be included because…? Is it important to the story of your life who you had sex with? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/da-vincis-demons-is-it-offensive-that-leonardo-isnt-gay/651767/15 "2013-03-04T18:00:45Z")
> [@FrankJBN](#): > > Is it important to the story of your life who you had sex with? Well, yeah. The rest is just me watching television and eating buckets of chicken. ---
**Author:** ![FrankJBN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@FrankJBN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrankJBN)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/da-vincis-demons-is-it-offensive-that-leonardo-isnt-gay/651767/16 "2013-03-04T18:03:15Z")
AFAIK, the first biographers suggesting that Da Vinci was homosexual did not appear until the 20th century. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/da-vincis-demons-is-it-offensive-that-leonardo-isnt-gay/651767/17 "2013-03-04T18:35:27Z")
> [@FrankJBN](#): > > And Da Vinci’s sexuality one way or the other should be included because…? > > Is it important to the story of your life who you had sex with? What are you responding to? The trailer in the OP is pretty clearly a) not “the story of Da Vinci’s Life” and b) whether it “should” or not, it includes a depiction of Da Vinci having sex. ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/da-vincis-demons-is-it-offensive-that-leonardo-isnt-gay/651767/18 "2013-03-04T18:43:29Z")
Put me in the category of “Da Vinci is thought to be gay? Who knew?” I imagine that’s the same category of the producers, director, actors, and everyone else involved with this. It’s pretty obvious that this will bear as much resemblance to history as 300 did to the battle of Thermopylae. Can’t say the depiction of Leonardo as a womanizer bothers me. It’s like complaining that Jesus is ok with Lesbians in _Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter_. Whether he was or not, the film should not be taken seriously.