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MisterSpocksSocks t1_j8jvd2t wrote

Who are some LGBT+ people who made history, outside of the arts or 21st century politics?

To my mind, I can only think of these gay (by modern standards) men:

  • Alan Turing (father of modern computing and AI)
  • Sacred Band of Thebes (150 male couples who defeated the Spartans in battle, among others)
  • Mark Bingham (led the effort to fight terrorists aboard Flight 93 on 9/11)
  • Glenn Burke (first out professional baseball player, who likely invented the high-five)
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Forsaken_Champion722 t1_j8mcbk0 wrote

Alexander the Great and Roy Cohn come to mind. It used to be much easier for people to maintain their privacy. There are plenty of figures throughout history where there were rumors about their sexuality, but where there is no way of knowing for sure.

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AngryBlitzcrankMain t1_j8o9b89 wrote

There is a large portion of people that its very hard to tell, because not many people would be openly LGBT and claims to be part of LGBT was easily used to discredit/disparage someone (e.g. roman emperor Elagabalus and claims of him being trans). However there are much more clear example for the poet Sappho and prussian king Frederick the Great.

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GSilky t1_j8rteuu wrote

Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, and probably Harun alRashid for a start.

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Hazenkinch t1_j8ssalk wrote

This is a serious inquiry: in reading the definitive book on Thomas Jefferson by Jon Meacham, the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Merriweather Lewis (of Lewis and Clark fame) appears to paint a picture of a extremely close relationship to the point where a homosexual relationship could thrive. Is there any scholarly report of this?

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