# First high profile homosexual ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 13, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-high-profile-homosexual/380310 "2006-11-13T22:18:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-high-profile-homosexual/380310/1 "2006-11-13T22:18:40Z")
Who is the first public person, world figure or American to come out of the closet and declare he or she is gay? And in what year ? ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-high-profile-homosexual/380310/2 "2006-11-13T22:20:10Z")
[QUOTE=The Flying Dutchman] Who is the first public person, world figure or American to come out of the closet and declare he or she is gay? And in what year ? [/QUOTE] Tou mean in all of history? World figure covers a lot of territory. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-high-profile-homosexual/380310/3 "2006-11-13T22:22:59Z")
yes ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-high-profile-homosexual/380310/4 "2006-11-13T22:23:23Z")
[QUOTE=The Flying Dutchman] Who is the first public person, world figure or American to come out of the closet and declare he or she is gay? [/QUOTE] Are these three really mutually exclusive? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-high-profile-homosexual/380310/5 "2006-11-13T22:24:14Z")
The definition of “out” is a little slippery too. There hasn’t always been a closet. Homosexuality was a fairly open practice in much of the ancient world. For a publicly “out” celebrity in the contemorary sense, maybe Truman Capote? ---
**Author:** ![FormerMarineGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/65b543/32.png) [@FormerMarineGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FormerMarineGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-high-profile-homosexual/380310/6 "2006-11-13T22:24:35Z")
Sappho? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-high-profile-homosexual/380310/7 "2006-11-13T22:25:17Z")
Or Oscar Wilde. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-high-profile-homosexual/380310/8 "2006-11-13T22:28:24Z")
I’m looking for a well known American or non American whichever comes first. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-high-profile-homosexual/380310/9 "2006-11-13T22:34:13Z")
I don’t t think “gay” (as we define the modern concept) existed until relatively recently. Before that you were a “sodomite” or something else fairly pejorative. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-high-profile-homosexual/380310/10 "2006-11-13T22:34:29Z")
[QUOTE=The Flying Dutchman] I’m looking for a well known American or non American whichever comes first. [/QUOTE] Why bother distinguishing between them? I’ll try Plato. ---
**Author:** ![FormerMarineGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/65b543/32.png) [@FormerMarineGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FormerMarineGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-high-profile-homosexual/380310/11 "2006-11-13T22:41:37Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Why bother distinguishing between them? I’ll try Plato. [/QUOTE] Didn’t Plato later condemn homosexuality as unnatural later on in their lives? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-high-profile-homosexual/380310/12 "2006-11-13T22:45:04Z")
[QUOTE=FormerMarineGuy] Didn’t Plato later condemn homosexuality as unnatural later on in their lives? [/QUOTE] Actually, your answer of Sappho predates Plato anyway. I think you may be the winner. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-high-profile-homosexual/380310/13 "2006-11-13T22:48:14Z")
[QUOTE=FormerMarineGuy] Didn’t Plato later condemn homosexuality as unnatural later on in their lives? [/QUOTE] Plato and Xenophon certainly both described the, umm, master/pupil intimate relationship in a fashion that was not wholly unapproving. I don’t have the books handy to dig up passages though. If you’d accept a 19th century Irishman, then Oscar Wilde is your man. ---
**Author:** ![FormerMarineGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/65b543/32.png) [@FormerMarineGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FormerMarineGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-high-profile-homosexual/380310/14 "2006-11-13T22:49:49Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] Actually, your answer of Sappho predates Plato anyway. I think you may be the winner. [/QUOTE] And what could the prize possibly be? ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-high-profile-homosexual/380310/15 "2006-11-13T22:50:21Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] Actually, your answer of Sappho predates Plato anyway. I think you may be the winner. [/QUOTE] The OP wonders about closets. I think Wilde may well be the chap, at least in the western world. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-high-profile-homosexual/380310/16 "2006-11-13T22:51:23Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] Actually, your answer of Sappho predates Plato anyway. I think you may be the winner. [/QUOTE] [Per this article.](http://www.infopt.demon.co.uk/greatgay.htm) When Socrates was executed for corrupting the youth of Athens were they referring purely o his teachings, or also to his homosexuality? > [@](#): > > Practiced educational method using analytical cross-examination, emphasizing self-knowledge and rejection of received opinion. Dialogues with his pupils recorded by Plato. Sentenced to death for “corrupting” the youth of Athens. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-high-profile-homosexual/380310/17 "2006-11-13T22:54:49Z")
[QUOTE=Struan] The OP wonders about closets. I think Wilde may well be the chap, at least in the western world. [/QUOTE] Yes, in the modern sense of “out of the closet,” I can’t think of anyone before Wilde. There were some writers like Whitman and Melville but I don’t know how “out” they were at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-high-profile-homosexual/380310/18 "2006-11-13T23:18:12Z")
[QUOTE=Struan] The OP wonders about closets. I think Wilde may well be the chap, at least in the western world. [/QUOTE] Does Wilde actually count? Wilde was “out” as bisexual because he was pretty much forced out, with the ill-advised libel case against the Marquis of Queensberry and the gross indecency trial. ---
**Author:** ![FormerMarineGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/65b543/32.png) [@FormerMarineGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FormerMarineGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-high-profile-homosexual/380310/19 "2006-11-13T23:30:58Z")
What does the OP actually mean by coming out of the closet? I don’t think some of the subjects from years ago actually used the term ‘to come out of the closet’, but basically did come out, in some form or another. If it is made public at one point in their life they were gay/homosexual/lesbian, does that not count as coming out? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-high-profile-homosexual/380310/20 "2006-11-13T23:36:42Z")
[QUOTE=FormerMarineGuy] What does the OP actually mean by coming out of the closet? I don’t think some of the subjects from years ago actually used the term ‘to come out of the closet’, but basically did come out, in some form or another. If it is made public at one point in their life they were gay/homosexual/lesbian, does that not count as coming out? [/QUOTE] I meant voluntarily. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-high-profile-homosexual/380310.md?page=2)