Most powerful gay in world history

[Meeker]

I was discussing this last night and we couldn't come to a conclusion. Openly gay only, none of this "Oh well they may have been gay according to this book published in 1957 which is based on diary entries published in 1893..." I want hard facts.

And Dumbledore doesn't count.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Define "gay".

[Torie]

Aristotle.

[The Mikado]

Alexander.

[Meeker]

Define "gay".

Dominantly sexually attracted to those of their own gender.

[Torie]

Alexander.

Aristotle's pupil.

[dead0man]

Elton John?



edit-oh!  Senator Craig!

[afleitch]

Alexander.

Alexander was bisexual, if he even had any homosexual relations at all.

In his time it would have been seen as strange if he hadn't

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Is there any requirement for at what point they became openly gay? If not, Freddy Mercury.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Define "gay".

Dominantly sexually attracted to those of their own gender.

There's no way of knowing that. Possible to tell (to a limited extent) which gender they fucked the most, but that might not be the same thing (especially as you go further and further back, beyond the systems collapse out of which our own civilisation was, more-or-less, born).

[afleitch]

Define "gay".

Dominantly sexually attracted to those of their own gender.

There's no way of knowing that. Possible to tell (to a limited extent) which gender they fucked the most, but that might not be the same thing (especially as you go further and further back, beyond the systems collapse out of which our own civilisation was, more-or-less, born).

You could 'scale' them. But the idea of having exclusively male/male partnerships is fairly modern. Not to say they did not happen, nor that they were not tolerated at any given time but it was a matter of necessity to have an heir. 500 years ago, I too would probably have married, had a child to secure the future of my estate then went back on discrete 'hunting' trips with the boyfriend.

And 500 years later, detractors would say 'oh no it was just a friendship' 'he had a child and was married blah blah' and others would say 'well if you look closely at his supposed friendship with x...'

Which really makes sexuality the play thing of two sides of the divide and the truth can often be lost.

[Person Man]

Well, despite what this thread says, the Greek thinkers, executives and war fighters between 900 BC and 150 BC were pretty gay. I mean, the entire idea that western culture evolved from requiring all guys to have homosexual tendancies to a economic polity based on non-assisted reproduction really clouds this idea. Perhaps the least common denominator would be that they admitted to participating in homosexual behavior when they were alive.

Actually, Emperor Hadrian was pretty openly Gay. He lavishly mourned the loss of his boyfriend, Antonius, and married for political convience. In fact, he was called "The Greekling".


He was also the world's most powerful Emo...

Animula, vagula, blandula
Hospes comesque corporis
Quae nunc abibis in loca
Pallidula, rigida, nudula,
Nec, ut soles, dabis iocos...
P. Aelius Hadrianus Imp.
Little soul, roamer and charmer
Body's guest and companion
Who soon will depart to places
Darkish, chilly and misty
An end to all your jokes...

[Cubby]

Roman Emperor Hadrian

In the United States, President James Buchanan

[Verily]

Roman Emperor Hadrian

Agreed, probably Hadrian. The Qianlong Emperor of China isn't a bad choice, either, but China was in serious decline relative to the rest of the world by that point (and you have to contend with conflicting stories about his relationship with Heshen as to whether he was actually homosexual).

[Chiahead]

Wouldn't it be more PC as "homosexual"?

[Sam Spade]

I like the fact that none of the responses in this thread actually answer the question asked.  Amusing.

[DownWithTheLeft]

John Edwards

[Associate Justice PiT]

I like the fact that none of the responses in this thread actually answer the question asked.  Amusing.

     That would be far too simple.

[YRABNNRM]

Lyndon Johnson.

[Platypus]

Tyson

[TomC]

J Edgar Hoover

[Хahar 🤔]

Elagabalus

This one is really easy, folks.

[Torie]

Elagabalus

This one is really easy, folks.

My wiki does not suggest he was gay, per se, just decadent, and if one if equate power with long term influence, he was a nebbish.

[Verily]

Elagabalus

This one is really easy, folks.

My wiki does not suggest he was gay, per se, just decadent, and if one if equate power with long term influence, he was a nebbish.

Going by historical accounts, he appears to have been transgender, not gay. But there is a wide body of evidence that suggests the period historical accounts were attempts at slander by his successors, not what actually happened. Regardless, it is unlikely that Elagabalus was gay by any modern standard, while Hadrian most certainly was. And the Roman Empire was stronger in Hadrian's day than in Elagabalus's.

I think Hadrian was blatant enough to qualify as openly gay.

[Хahar 🤔]

But if we look at lasting effects, Egalabalus was the founder of Christmas. Hadrian was the founder of a wall in Northern England.