Gay people in the 1800s
Introduction
In terms of gender identity and masculine expression, the eighteenth century was an important time of transition. While in 1700, there was a certain amount of tolerance for effeminacy, and for bisexuality, by 1800 the understanding of what it meant to be a man was considerably more rigid, closely policed, and what we might contact ‘heteronormative’ – treating heterosexual desire, and the presentation of that desire, as the default mode of being. What I want to show you here is a selection of objects in our collection which represent the changing attitude towards male sexuality throughout the eighteenth century, taking a roughly chronological view of the most key shifts and themes. Using these objects as a starting point, I’m going to give you an overview of how male homosexuality, effeminacy and so-called sexual deviancy were practiced and perceived in this period. In this first blog post, we’ll look broadly at male sexuality in the context of popular culture, particularly fashion and the theatre. This will be followed by a second share which looks more closely at the relationship between homoeroticism, nice art and connoisseurship in the eightee
It is dangerous to be distinct, and certain kinds of difference are especially risky. Race, disability, and sexuality are among the many ways people are socially marked that can make them vulnerable. The museum recently composed materials to document gay-conversion therapy (also called "reparative therapy")—and these objects allow curators like myself to explore how real people experience these risks. With the help of the Mattachine World of Washington, D.C., Garrard Conley gave us the workbook he used in 2004 at a now defunct religious gay-conversion camp in Tennessee, called "Love in Action." We also received materials from John Smid, who was camp director. Conley's memoir of his time there, Boy Erased, chronicles how the camp's conversion therapy followed the idea that being gay was an addiction that could be treated with methods similar to those for abating drug, alcohol, gambling, and other addictions. While there, Conley spiraled into depression and suicidal thoughts. Conley eventually escaped. Smid eventually left Love in Activity and married a man.
In the United States, responses to male lover, homosexual, queer, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, and gender non-conforming
Primary Documents
All the documents faithfully reproduce the
spelling, punctuation, capitalization and
italicization of the original sources.
1800–1803 Newspaper Reports (A man apologises for defaming a servant; several cases of blackmail; conviction of a one-armed homosexual seller of obscene prints; a drunken servant molests his master) Lesbians may have a longer linguistic history than gay men. Contrary to the incomplete information given in the OED, the word lesbian has meant “female homosexual” since at least the preliminary eighteenth century. William King in his satire The Toast (published 1732, revised 1736), referred to “Lesbians” as women who “loved Women in the matching Manner as Men love them”. During that century, references to “Sapphic lovers” and “Sapphist” meant a woman who liked “her retain sex in a criminal way”. For centuries before that, comparing a gal to Sappho of Lesbos implied passions that were more than poetic. Unfortunately we don’t recognize the origins of the most ordinary queerwords that became popular during the 1930s through 1950s – gay, dyke, faggot, queer, fairy. Dyke, meaning butch lesbian, goes endorse to 1920s ebony American slang: bull-diker or bull-dagger. It might go endorse to the 1850s phrase “all diked out” or “all decked out”, definition faultlessly dressed – in this case, like a bloke or “bull”. The word faggot goes back to 1914, when “faggots” and “fairies” were said to attend “drag balls”. Nels Anderson in
1802 Trial of Henry Elmstead
1804 Newspaper Reports (Including the hanging of Methuselah Spalding, illustrated)
1805 Newspaper Reports (including a memorable conspiracy case)
1806 Newspaper Reports
1806 A Sodomite Club in Warrington
1807 Newspaper Reports (Many men stand in the pillory; one man kills himself in prison)
1807 A Navy Court Martial
1808 Newspaper Reports (a female blackmailer; a condemned sodomite kills himself)
1809 Newspaper Reports (including the notorious case of the Earl of Leicester)
1809 Defamatory Words between Clergymen
1810 Newspaper Reports (mobs of 30,000 people gather when sodomites are pilloried)
1810 Court Martial of James Nehemiah Taylor(A confession and a diary extract communicate a belief that homosexualty is innate and should not be punished with death)
1810 The