# I think Watson and Holmes were gay **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 29, 2004, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-watson-and-holmes-were-gay/231809 "2004-02-29T23:52:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![curly\_chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@curly\_chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curly_chick)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2004, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-watson-and-holmes-were-gay/231809/21 "2004-03-04T13:58:51Z")
Nice post **Mycroft H** , but we should all have _known_ you’d be a Sherlock buff, shouldn’t we? Elementary, my dear well-named frateral one!! ---
**Author:** ![curly\_chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@curly\_chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curly_chick)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2004, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-watson-and-holmes-were-gay/231809/22 "2004-03-04T14:00:31Z")
Frater **n** al, I meant. With an en. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/898d66/32.png) [@Mycroft\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_H)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2004, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-watson-and-holmes-were-gay/231809/23 "2004-03-05T02:19:15Z")
Thank you very much **BMalion** and **curly chick**. **Curly chick** , I would gladly be frateral with you any time. As long as you explain what it is (conveniently ignoring the correction) or it would not upset my wife. Yes, I am an avid Sherlockian and Doylean. It was an Internet pursuit of Holmes that brought me to SDMD, the Teeming Millions, and Weebl and Bob – and life has been even better ever since. I just hope the real **Mycroft Holmes** (from the Netherlands IIRC) does not mind me stealing part of his name. **freido** , I did not mean to ruin any parties, which is why I added the last bit. But Holmes and Watson being gay is too improbable. Not that gayness is bad, it just has to be appropriate. Now if you would have said you thought Holmes was a trans-dimensional _alien_, that would be understandable, and possibly true! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/898d66/32.png) [@Mycroft\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_H)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2004, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-watson-and-holmes-were-gay/231809/24 "2004-03-05T02:20:40Z")
Thank you very much **BMalion** and **curly chick**. **Curly chick** , I would gladly be frateral with you any time. As long as you explain what it is (conveniently ignoring the correction) or it would not upset my wife. Yes, I am an avid Sherlockian and Doylean. It was an Internet pursuit of Holmes that brought me to SDMB, the Teeming Millions, and Weebl and Bob – and life has been even better ever since. I just hope the real **Mycroft Holmes** (from the Netherlands IIRC) does not mind me stealing part of his name. **freido** , I did not mean to ruin any parties, which is why I added the last bit. But Holmes and Watson being gay is too improbable. Not that gayness is bad, it just has to be appropriate. Now if you would have said you thought Holmes was a trans-dimensional _alien_, that would be understandable, and possibly true! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2004, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-watson-and-holmes-were-gay/231809/25 "2004-03-05T07:53:15Z")
> [@Mycroft H.](#): > > Watson and Holmes were not a gay couple. As outlined previously in this thread, Watson was definitely married. So was Oscar Wilde. He even produced 2 children, which is more than we hear that Dr. Watson ever did. So was Rock Hudson. So was Alexander the Great (multiple times). So was Socrates. Sorry, but saying “he was married, so of course he couldn’t be gay” isn’t much in the way of proof – there are just too many counter-examples. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2004, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-watson-and-holmes-were-gay/231809/26 "2004-03-05T08:06:22Z")
> [@Kizarvexius](#): > > Then there’s [_The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066249/), in which Holmes claims that he and Watson are lovers in order to ward off the attentions of a Russian noblewoman who wishes to add Holmes to her collection of sperm donors. > > I’m not making this up. One of my favorite movies **EVER!** (spoilers) The scenario is that Holmes is invited to visit with a Russian ballerina who wants to have the _perfect_ child. She’s been trying to find just the right guy to be the father and has been approaching all the famous or great men of that time. Her interpreter (played by Clive Revill) tells Holmes of some of the guys she’s approached (famous names) but all didn’t work out for some reason. One name in particular is Tchiakovsky (I’m sure I’m spelling that wrong) who was unsuitable because, the interpreter explains, “Women—not his glass of tea.” Holmes, looking for a way out of this uncomfortable proposition he’s been forced into, explains to the interpreter that he and Watson are in a similar situation as Tchiakovsky. I can’t remember exactly what he says, but he gets all wistful and talks about “two bachelors, living together—you mean you couldn’t guess?” Up until this time Watson has been partying with all the pretty ballerinas backstage. After Holmes’s “revelation” to the interpreter (who quickly spreads the word to the others) all the ballerines that Watson was partying with are elbowed away and replaced by hunky male ballet dancers, who now are interested in Watson. (Watson is later embarrassed and outraged by what Holmes did, of course. Very funny scenes.) Yes, Robert Stephens does look kind of odd in this film—he appears to be wearing eye makeup, or his eyes are emphasized more than usual. Holmes does have a sort of romance with a beautiful lady spy in the film, however. ---
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/898d66/32.png) [@Mycroft\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_H)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2004, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-watson-and-holmes-were-gay/231809/27 "2004-03-06T14:21:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **[t-bonham@scc.net](mailto:t-bonham@scc.net)** > Sorry, but saying “he was married, so of course he couldn’t be gay” isn’t much in the way of proof A very valid point. Getting beyond (or ignoring) Doyle’s authentic viewpoints, which is generally done by Sherlockians, I realize I have to reconsider my thesis and consider bisexuality. As I said earlier, the jury’s still out. Time to pull out the cushions, fill the pipe with shag tobacco, and think about this for a while. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2004, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-watson-and-holmes-were-gay/231809/28 "2004-03-08T13:31:49Z")
The jury is not out. Merely pointing out other historical figures who were homosexual and covered it up publicly by marriage is no proof that all historical figures who were married were homosexual. That’s just not scientific. No proof at all for this wild theory. Perhaps better to ask why someone would need the reassurance of someone famous also being homosexual? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-watson-and-holmes-were-gay/231809.md?page=1)