Gay History Month

O

Orleander

OH JOY!!!!
Valued Senior Member
I can't wait to see how this one plays out.
Why would they change Romeo & Juliet to celebrate gay history month instead of actually studying historical gay people like Leonardo DaVinci, J Edgar Hoover, etc?


Prosecution for Parents Dodging LGBT History Month

The parents of at least 30 students who were yanked out of school for a week of LGBT history lessons at a primary school in the United Kingdom are facing prosecution.

Students at the George Tomlinson Primary School in Leytonstone, East London were absent without leave for a week of instruction on gay history – including a special adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet retitled Romeo and Julian and a lesson about gay penguins Roy and Silo.

Now the Waltham Forest Council is treating this as a mass truancy and threatening to prosecute, saying parents could be dragged into court, fined and forced to sign parenting contracts.

Many of the parents said the history month was at odds with their religious beliefs. Some say they notified the school of their intent to keep their children home. Some say they were told it was their only option if they didn’t want their kids to attend the school lessons.
 
Orleander said:
I can't wait to see how this one plays out.
Why would they change Romeo & Juliet to celebrate gay history month instead of actually studying historical gay people like Leonardo DaVinci, J Edgar Hoover, etc?
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Why didn't they also have live demonstrations? Then the kids could see as well as hear about gays and gay activities. Much better lesson plans, wouldn't you say? :D

Hmm, when is "Celebrate Pedophile Day"? Perfect for elementary kids, don'cha' think?

Baron Max
 
I just hate that they are saying "respect gay rights" while wanting the parents prosecuted for enforcing their rights.
and when did Gay History Month come about???
 
Orleander said:
I just hate that they are saying "respect gay rights" while wanting the parents prosecuted for enforcing their rights.
and when did Gay History Month come about???
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When is "Respect Heterosexual Rights" month?

We have "National Black Month" or something like that ...when is "National White Month"? Or "National Mulato Month"?

Baron Max
 
Baron Max said:
When is "Respect Heterosexual Rights" month?

We have "National Black Month" or something like that ...when is "National White Month"? Or "National Mulato Month"?

Baron Max
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well, growing up, every month was National White Month. The only black guy in our history book was George Washington Carver.
 
Mod Hat - The problem with second-tier hatemongers

Mod Hat — The problem with second-tier hatemongers

Baron Max said:

How was it celebrated? You're either very fuckin' confused, or you're just saying that bullshit in some misquided attempt at irony.
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Go troll someone else's subforum. If you wish to apply as a special-needs member whose intellectual and psychological handicaps require exclusive consideration, send Plazma a letter explaining what your particular mental retardation is, and we'll do our best to accommodate it.

In the meantime, either contribute something useful to these discussions or simply shut the fuck up, Max.

Seriously, I'm sick of putting up with your lack of good faith. No more hatemongering from you, Max. Either contribute something of value or I will see you out the door—permanently.
 
Wait for the imported version

Superstring01 said:

Really? Gay history month? Honestly?

Oye veh.
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Yeah, wait 'til it comes to the States. Hell, we can just sequester the kids and make them watch MTV for a month.

After all, they're public school students, so detailed lessons on Oscar Wilde or Sir Isaac Newton wouldn't help.

And I wonder how it would go over in Kansas or wherever when they got to the part about the gay Vice President of the United States in the 19th century.
 
spidergoat said:
J. Edgar Hoover wasn't gay, and there is no evidence Leonardo was either.
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the alleged transvestitism of John Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI from 1924 until his death in 1972, has never been established, and reputable historians say it's an urban legend. The story probably got its start because of much more plausible rumors that J. Edgar was gay. He and his right-hand man, Clyde Tolson, were constant companions for more than 40 years, even vacationing together, and both remained lifelong bachelors. (Hoover lived with his mom until she died in 1938.) They say Richard Nixon, on hearing of Hoover's death, exclaimed with his customary delicacy, "Jesus Christ! That old cocksucker!"
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http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2423/was-j-edgar-hoover-a-cross-dresser

LEONARDO DA VINCI [Gay?]
Maybe Yes, Maybe No: In 1476 Leonardo and three other young Florentines were anonymously accused of committing sodomy with an angelically beautiful boy model and male prostitute named Jacopo Saltarelli. The Ufficiali di Notte e dei Monasteri, Florence's very sinister vice squad, frequently acted on such denunciations, which anyone could make without proof or even without revealing themselves, by dropping a note in a "suggestion box" called the tamburo. Leonardo was actually confined for two months and subjected to a grilling into his sexual life and thoughts that was quite as thorough as, and far more brutal than, a contemporary encounter group procedure. Eventually the charges were dropped without a trial.
... Secondly, there is absolutely no trace of a woman in his life, but there was a series of beautiful boy apprentices of apparently little artistic talent.
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http://www.trivia-library.com/b/was-renaissance-artist-leonardo-da-vinci-gay-part-2.htm
 
I don't have a conceptual problem with Gay History Month if the perception is that the accomplishments of gay historical figures is downplayed or overlooked. The problem is that the homosexuality of most historical figures is raised as a speculation (even if a plausible speculation) rather than a matter of well settled fact.

"Suspected Gay History Month" has a bad ring to it.

The truth is that it is a good thing that we do not have hard evidence oon the sexuality of figures like Lincoln or Da Vinci. Facing facts, some proportion of historical figures were gay, and the truth of the matter is that we can't tell their accomplishments from anyone elses. That is a more positive message than the implication that either (i) homosexuality in some way contributed to the figure's accomplishments or (worse) (ii) the figure accomplished these things "despite" being gay.
 
Tiassa said:
so detailed lessons on Oscar Wilde or Sir Isaac Newton wouldn't help.
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Oscar Wilde and Alan Turing were both gay and both killed themselves because of persecution.

Sir Isaac Newton avoided women and lived with his male Cambridge room mate for twenty years, but he was also rabidly religious and there is no record that they were lovers. He could well have been asexual in his expression. As it is, there is no record.
 
The chief evidence, if such it be, of Lincoln's homosexual inclination is his relationship with Joshua Speed, a handsome 22-year-old shopkeeper when the two men met in 1837. Abe, then a 28-year-old lawyer with bright prospects but poor cash flow, arrived in Springfield, Illinois, and asked about the price of bedding at Speed's general store. Learning that Lincoln was nearly broke, Speed invited him to share his bed upstairs.....While two young single guys in the same bed might seem pretty hot to us, the objective in pioneer days was usually just to stay warm. Nonetheless the intimacy of the two men's friendship suggests to some that there was more going on than frontier privation or fear of frostbite...[on the otherhand]Abe's enemies accused him of plenty, but never a yen for men. Today we're all but sure J. Edgar Hoover was gay and that Jefferson sired children by a slave, but people suspected as much at the time. No comparable rumors swirled around Lincoln. It's not like folks in the 19th century didn't know what homosexuality was--Lincoln's predecessor, James Buchanan, the only bachelor president, roomed for years with an unmarried U.S. senator and took plenty of flak for it.
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http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2502/was-abraham-lincoln-gay
 
Nicholas Fatio de Dullier

Swarm said:

Sir Isaac Newton avoided women and lived with his male Cambridge room mate for twenty years, but he was also rabidly religious and there is no record that they were lovers. He could well have been asexual in his expression. As it is, there is no record.
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Sir Isaac's most likely lover was Nicholas Fatio de Dullier.

The book [Principia] was widely accepted, and soon after this, Newton became a Member of Parliament. But all the while he was in the House of Commons, the only time he spoke was to say, "Could someone close the window? I've got a draught on my back." Shortly after this fiery maiden speech, Newton became depressed, to the point that he almost had a breakdown. This came during the only time the unmarried Newton ever appeared to be in love in any sense, when he became obsessed with a young Swiss mathematician called Nicholas Fatio de Duillier. The lad shared Newton's interest in alchemy. But then Fatio sent Newton a desperate letter:

"Yesterday, I had a sudden sense as might be caused by the breaking of an ulcer. As yet I have no doctor that perhaps could save my life. I thank God my soul is quiet, in which you have had the chief hand."​

Then Fatio spoiled this by living for another sixty-one years.

Even now, you can't help changing your perception of Newton slightly once you know he was probably gay. Can you imagine him saying, "Because of gravity, I can't help but go down on a body with a large mass"? But worryingly for Newton, Fatio started leaving papers around that would give away Newton's secret life as an alchemist. Which shows how fleeting the prejudices of society are, that in the 1680s a bloke could think, "If I'm not careful, that bloody boyfriend could get me outed as an alchemist".

Newton and de Duillier parted after about four years, when the pressures of the relationship seemed to get to Newton.

(Mark Steel)​

There's more to the story, but the online episode is gone, and I haven't the time right now to transcribe those parts. I'm out for a few hours, so I'll catch you all in later hours.
__________________

Notes:

Steel, Mark. "Sir Isaac Newton". The Mark Steel Lectures. See http://www.open2.net/marksteel/newton_lecture.html
 
Oh goodness, I'm surprised I didn't see this thread sooner.

I agree with them teaching GBLT rights and stuff in school, but I don't agree they should be going after the parents because of it.

"Support Gay Rights or DIE!" seems a bit too... forceful. :p
 
MZ3Boy84 said:
"Support Gay Rights or DIE!" seems a bit too... forceful. :p
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Indeed. This is precisely why the core curriculum & base funding should be set at the state level, and the "extra" stuff done at the local level, voted on by the citizens of each school district.

I've been reading on Richard I "Cœur de Lion" of England, and all evidence shows that he was pretty damned gay. Turns out that there were a lot of us.

Baron Von Steuben apparently came to the fledgling USA on account of having to flee Prussia due to some scandals involving him and another man.
Alex The Great is a tough call because sexuality wasn't defined as clearly as it is now, but it's obvious that he was quite fond Hephaestion, more than was normal for even those times.
Word around the scuttlebutt has it that James Buchanan was family.
God knows how many kings and queens (ha) throughout Europe.
While it's easy to portray a great many of the Roman aristocrats as gay, it's hard to determine who was, truly, and who was not, truly, queer on account of the fact that to them you were only "gay" if you bottomed.

While I could not care less if it was taught in schools (again, let the locals figure that one out), I do wonder who was and who wasn't just to satiate my own personal curiosity.

~String
 
W. R. D. King

Superstring01 said:

Word around the scuttlebutt has it that James Buchanan was family.
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The centerpiece of that, it seems, is one William R. Devane King, perhaps the first gay vice president of the United States.

(Boyblue's telling of the story is a bit more entertaining for being both a bit more presumptuous and considerably dressed up in nearly stereotypical gay melodrama.)
____________________

Notes:

Roberts, Gregory. "A look at King County's original (ex) namesake". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. March 13, 2006. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/262697_gcenter13.html

Blueboy. "William Rufus de Vane King". Boyblue's Backdoor. Accessed March 12, 2009. http://www.geocities.com/boybluetoo/rufey.html
 
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