I don’t know enough about the people **Wallon **posted on, and this thought doesn’t predate them, if he says they meet the OP that is the answer but my thoughts went to:
Quentin Crisp who by his late teens/twenties (as early as ~1923ish) lived in an outsized effeminate manner and refused to hide who he was in almost any manner - he was subject to shocking homophobic attacks along the way so I don’t know if you would say he truly “got away with it” … but he basically lived like an “out” Liberace in everyday life from the roaring twenties on.
Huh - I wish it was one toaster per conversion. I’m currently at four and keep getting told by HQ that I haven’t reached target yet
I agree Quentin Crisp is a good contender as the first person who was out, proud and gay in the modern sense - Wilde was only one (at best two) of the three.
I can’t remember a name and Google isn’t helping but wasn’t there also a British peer serving as a diplomat on the continent who, around age 60, announced he was really a woman and started wearing dresses. If I recall he even kept his post.
This would have been in the powdered wig era, I think.
If you are addressing me I just had my memory tickled by the mention of Chevalier d’Eon and thought I recalled a parallel in British History. Not necessarily exactly on point but I thought someone reading might be able to refresh my memory.
I believe that the first openly homosexual figure in history would have to be Grog, the caveman who discovered fire. Story goes that the creation of fire gave him riches immense enough by buy and relocate himself to his own island, which he aptly named, “Fire Island” to honor the phenomenon that gave him his wealth. Just a joke, folks. But seriously, I’d have to say Sappho.
Hee hee. As it happens I converted a straight girl to become gay. Well, I don’t really believe that but I was with her and her boyfriend and I was her first girl, and I later heard she had abandoned hertosexuality. So I was an inspiration . (And what I did to her…well you had to be there.)
And I did it out of pure honest lust but at the moment I could really use a toaster oven.
Regarding Sappho, I know that she’s commonly considered to be a lesbian (we know she was a Lesbian, but… ), and of course, the term"lesbianism" owes its origins to the link with Sappho, but it’s my understanding that we don’t actually know much about her life. Is there any actual evidence other than that some of her love poems seem to have been written to women?
Before you rev up the search engines, let’s just take a look at the text. I know there are many, many cites out there purporting that he is. They aren’t quite right.
What gets Gilgamesh into trouble originally is his habit of buggering all the maidens among his subjects. Sometimes whether they are willing or not. Gilgamesh is the first on record for many things, just one of which is sex addition, or more accurately, hyper-sexuality.
Enkidu is sent to kill Gilgamesh. As the two wrestle, they realize they are meant to be friends. OK, so that is one unusual wrestling match. At this point, Gilgamesh is perhaps a bit bi-curious, or maybe he just continues to be a victim of his own hyper-sexuality. He isn’t gay, however. Interestingly, Enkidu is male, but he isn’t a human. He is an anthropomorphized monster. Is Gilgamesh into bestiality? Eh, perhaps not. He just suffers from extreme versions of human passions just like many other gods and demi-gods.
The ancients use a lot of sexuality both literal and symbolic in their myths (to be fair, what we call myths they called religion. Don’t forget Amut, who takes semen into his mouth and sneezes it back out to gave birth to the first man and woman. Do NOT do a google search for this! Was Amut teh gay?
None that I know of, and, of course, most of her work is lost. Also, whatever she wrote doesn’t necessarily mean anything. After hearing a few KT Tunstall songs I was sure she was the gayest gay girl that ever wore a toolbelt until I found out she’s dating a man and has publicly stated she’s straight.
. (And what I did to her…well you had to be there.)