Reply #34: i wouldn't be so sure.

[skypilot]

Some gay men can sometimes be a little too quick to claim that some historical figure was gay, based on amorous sounding letters or a particularly close relationship with a male friend. The thing is that men in that era expressed their affection for one another alot more openly, and even passionately, than men today. There is a book that I came across a few years ago (the title escapes me at the moment) that explores this subject. It contains lots of photos of men who apparently wanted to memorialize their friendship in a photograph. Many today would look at these photos and the level of intimacy and affection being expressed in them and assume that the men in the photos were gay. They'd mostly be wrong.