80 Gays Around the World: Part 6) Greek Beauties

Last time on “80 Gays”: 15) Father Markus Furhman (b.1971) became the first openly gay Franciscan “bishop” after ministering in Cologne, home of the alleged relics of the Three Kings, 16) Caspar, 17) Melchior, and 18) Balthazar, the latter’s gift to the Baby Jesus traditionally being myrrh, an aromatic resin from a plant named after the mother of 18) Adonis.

The name of 18) Adonis has become a byword for male physical beauty. With the ancient Greeks putting so much emphasis on same-sex activity in the training of athletes and soldiers, it comes as no surprise that Adonis was the sexual partner of both male and female deities.

As a young teenager Adonis was the lover of two Greek gods with many gay connections of their own – Apollo (who features many times on this blog), and Dionysos (also featured several times).

Perhaps Adonis’s most well-known lover was the goddess 19) Aphrodite. It may seem strange that the goddess of love and feminine beauty should have some queer connections, but in this other “Star-Gayzing” entry I point out the dual nature of Aphrodite’s sexuality. There I explain how her birth from the severed genitals of Uranus led her to become a kind of patron goddess of same-sex couples.

At the beginning of this series of “80 Gays” I commented that a lot of botanical connections cropped up. Last time I mentioned how Adonis’s mother Myrrha gave her name to the plant myrrh. Another plant connection comes in one of the annual festivals in Athens called Adonia, which was named after him. This was a female-only festival. Women would go up onto their rooves, singing and dancing, mourning the death of Adonis. On the roof they planted lettuce and fennel seeds into pottery sherds (both plants were considered to be aphrodisiacs – there’s Aphrodite’s name again), which they called Gardens of Adonis. The women then went down into the streets and formed a procession which went to the sea shore (or a stream, it varied depending on how far away they lived from the sea), and buried, or planted, the “gardens” along with little effigies of Adonis.

Aphrodite’s floral connection also involves a garden. This time it comes in the form of one of her patronages. Aphrodite was the patron god of vegetation and fertility, and thus she was known as Aphrodite of the Gardens. There was a shrine and sanctuary to her under this name near the Acropolis in Athens. There were two statues of her, one of which was a herm.

Herm is the term given to a tall square or rectangular column with a carved head (and sometimes a torso) at the top, with a carved penis at the proportional height sticking out of the square column. The Aphrodite herm had her head at the top and a penis further down. There’s a herm statue of Aphrodite in the national museum in Stockholm, Sweden, which depicts her as fully female from the waist upwards. She is holding her dress up to reveal a square column underneath with a penis.

It is from herm statues like this that Aphrodite evolved into a separate deity – 21) Aphroditus.

Historically, Aphroditus was probably based on an earlier deity in Cyprus. Once the cult of Aphroditus made it to Greece it was assimilated into that of Aphrodite Urania, the goddess of spiritual love. What makes things more complicated is that some modern websites confuse Aphroditus with the more familiar 22) Hermaphroditus,

The more I read about both Aphroditus and Hermaphroditus the more I realise that they are not the same. I think that the confusion comes from “herm” in Hermaphrodite, and the fact that the name Aphroditus was first used in reference to herm statues of Aphrodite. Hermaphroditus seems to be a later addition to the pantheon of Greek deities. I wrote about both Aphroditus and Hermaphroditus several years ago (see here), so I won’t go into it in detail here. Suffice it to say that in the later Roman period the image of Hermaphroditus as intersex developed from Greek myths about him being the son of Aphrodite and Hermes, a god not really “invented” until a century or two after the first herm statues of Aphrodite were made. If you’re not already confused, Hermes got his name from originally being a herm statue.

But let’s get back to Aphrodite. As well as two statues of her near the Acropolis as Aphrodite of the Gardens (one of which had male genitalia, remember), the goddess had another temple and shrine in Athens dedicated to her as Aphrodite Urania, the goddess of spiritual love.

The temple was in the agora, the inner-city public square and meeting place. In the sanctuary was a statue of her made by a famous sculptor called Phidias (no. 8 in the 2020 “80 Gays” series). I’ll return to Phidias in a later entry in this current series.

Whenever ancient Athens is mentioned Adonis and Aphrodite are not the first names that spring to mind, Athena is, of course. Another thing that springs to mind is the founding of Greek democracy. So it is not surprising that on the other side of the agora there were once statues of the couple who are regarded as being the people who inspired the creation of Athenian democracy. They were 23) Harmodius and 24) Aristogeiton.

Next time: We carry a torch against tyranny, untangle a gay “incestuous” dynasty, and remove a few statues.

City Pride - Sydney

Following on from the Venice carnival we arrive at the actual day of Mardi Gras. For those who are unfamiliar with the origin of Mardi Gras, perhaps a little information may help. In medieval times Christians put aside several weeks of fasting and abstinence before important Christian festivals like Easter and Christmas. The most common terms for these periods are Lent and Advent respectively. Lent begins tomorrow, the day after Mardi Gras. In preparation, Christians would eat up all the food that they were going to deprive themselves of all the way up to Easter, especially meat. They would also celebrate with carnivals. Actually, “carnival” comes from a 15th century Italian term meaning “remove meat”, which implies the word was created specifically for Christian Mardi Gras celebrations. Today people have generally dropped the fasting element.

Perhaps the most famous Mardi Gras carnivals take place in Brazil and New Orleans, but undoubtedly the most famous lgbt+ Mardi Gras is that held in Sydney, Australia. This year’s Sydney Mardi Gras finished this past weekend. So, as a belated celebration, here is the latest entry in my “City Pride” series about Sydney.

The area I’ve concentrated on is just south of Sydney Harbour Bridge. Because Sydney has so much lgbt+ history it has been difficult to narrow it down to just 12 locations. Most of them may be known to a lot of Sydney citizens, but I have, as always, tried to find some lesser known locations, people or events that show the diversity of the lgbt+ culture in Sydney.

First of all, the area covered is in the Sydney Electoral District (except for a tiny bit of the bottom left hand corner of the map). The current MP for the Sydney electoral district in the New South Wales parliament is Alex Greenwich (b. 1980, into a princely dynasty from Georgia – the country, not the US state), who has been the representative since 2012. He was the first openly gay elected member.

The locations are listed from north to south.

1) Speaker’s Corner, The Domain

John Webster (1913-2008) was a regular speaker at Speaker’s Corner for over 30 years. His distinctive voice is remembered by many older Sydney citizens of all political ideologies, genders and faiths. His opinion on all these issues evolved over the years. Briefly married twice, he is also known to have had gay relationships. His ashes were scattered around the Speaker’s podium.

2) St. James’s Church

In the summer of 1836 Rev. William Yate (1802-1877), a British missionary fresh from New Zealand, was appointed chaplain to this church. It was while he was here that reports were made to the authorities of his homosexual activity with sailors and Maori youths. Yate protested his innocence, and no evidence of actual sodomy was proven. Nevertheless, he was dismissed and was sent back to the UK by December. He took with him Edwin Denison, the Third Mate he “befriended” on the ship that brought him to Sydney. He died as chaplain of the Mariners Church in Dover.

3) Sydney Town Hall

One of the locations that were part of the demonstrations that took place in Gay Pride Week 1973. On 15 September activists marched to the hall. Among the banners they carried was what I consider to be the world’s first lgbt+ community flag – a black flag with a pink triangle in the centre. Previous flags had belonged to specific organisations, but in Sydney this flag was adopted by all sections of the community. I write in more detail about the use of this flag here.

Currently, there are a record four lgbt+ elected members on the city council, Zann Maxwell, Matthew Thompson, Mitch Wilson and Adam Worling, all elected last October. Zann Maxwell was appointed the city’s Deputy Mayor.

This year is the 25th anniversary of the Sydney Olympics. At the end of each day of the torch relay there was a ceremony involving the lighting of a “community cauldron”. On the night before the opening ceremony the final leg of the relay went from Sydney Harbour Bridge and down George Street to the Town Hall. The last torch bearer was the world’s top female golfer at the time, Australia’s Karrie Webb, who lit the community cauldron.

4) St. Andrew’s Cathedral

One of the few non-political Australian state funerals took place here in 1986. It was to honour the Australian ballet dancer and choreographer Sir Robert Helpmann (1909-1986). He is most famous for his role as the Child Catcher in the film “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” (a character invented for the film). Helpmann was the first in a long line of openly lgbt+ performers to play this character in its many theatre productions. These include Stephen Gately, Wayne Sleep, Paul O’Grady, Richard O’Brien, and The Vivienne.

5) Junction of William Street and College Street, Australia Museum

During WorldPride 2023, hosted by Sydney, many artistic expressions of lgbt+ culture were on display. One of the most unusual, located outside the museum entrance, was the Progress Shark, a huge life-size model of a great white shark dressed in a Progress Flag-inspired lycra swimsuit. Created by Sydney-based artist George Buchanan, the shark quickly became a tourist attraction and icon of WorldPride. Like many artworks created for the occasion it was taken down afterwards.

6) 110 Bathurst Street

This is currently a modern multi-storey building home to various businesses, but back in the 1920s it was a residential area. This address was, for a couple of years, the art studio and salon of Australian sculptor and artist Dora Ohlfsen-Bagge (1869-1948) and her partner Baroness Helene von Kügelgen (d.1948). Although they lived in Rome most of the time, Dora revisited Sydney and produced many works for Australian clients. These included designing the ANZAC medal, and many sculptures that are now lost or destroyed.

7) 29 Pelican Street

In 1948 this address became the home of Iris Webber (1906-1953), described by local newspapers as “the most violent woman in Sydney”. She is a perfect subject for one of my “Extraordinary Lives” series. Condensing her life down to a few sentences has been difficult, but here goes. Iris was married twice and had at least two female partners. She shot three men (including her first husband, and killing another) but was acquitted each time. She was either arrested or convicted of assault at least 4 times (twice with a tomahawk). She was arrested many times for busking and begging, illegally selling alcohol, and robbery (with her then partner Vera). Iris’s last court appearance was for contempt of court in 1952.

8) National Art School, formerly Darlinghurst Gaol.

This old jail once housed several notable lgbt+ prisoners, the most well-known being the bushranger known as Captain Moonlite (Andrew Scott, 1842-1880). Born in Ireland, Scott can be said to have been a bit of an adventurer, travelling the world fighting as something of a mercenary before arriving in Australia in 1867. While living as a lay reader in a church in the gold fields, he was masquerading as Captain Moonlite, robbing a local bank agent. Caught and convicted, Scott met James Nesbit in jail and the two formed a relationship. After release he struggled to find work, and attacked a cattle station with his gang. Nesbit was killed, but Scott was captured and later hanged in the jail.

The current art school opened in 1921 has had many lgbt+ alumni and has hosted many exhibition by lgbt+ artists.

9) Green Park – LGBT Holocaust Memorial

This monument, designed by Jennifer Gamble and Russell Rodrigo, commemorates the many lgbt+ victims of the Nazis during the Holocaust. The pink triangle that gay prisoners were forced to wear has become an iconic symbol of gay rights in the 1970s. The Jewish Museum is located across the road to the north on Burton Street. In this year when we remember the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II it is essential we recognise diversity of opinion by people on all sides, without anger, hatred, or violence.

10) 301 Forbes Street – Qtopia

Sydney’s first permanent lgbt+ museum, said to be the world’s biggest, opened here in February 2024 in buildings that were originally Darlinghurst’s police station. As the police station it was where people arrested on homosexual charges were held in custody. This included a large number of participants in Sydney’s first Mardi Gras in 1978, people who proudly sport the name of The 78ers. Sadly, a sign of the times included police brutality against those in custody. The museum also has sections on AIDS, and a reconstructed AIDS ward from the neighbouring St. Vincent’s Hospital where many AIDS patients were treated.

11) Junction of Campbell Street and Little Bourke Street

On the night of 31 March 1962, the body of Frank McLean was discovered several metres south of this junction. He was one of several gay victims of William MacDonald, whom the media labelled as “The Mutilator”. MacDonald picked his victims up in gay venues, took them to a private location and murdered them, slashing their bodies and severing their genitals. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and died in 2015.

12) Taylor Square – The Rainbow Crossing

Sydney’s famous crossing was first established in 2013 for that year’s Mardi Gras. However, due to concerns that people standing on it to take selfies put them in danger of being run over, the city removed it. This sparked as spate of graffiti chalk rainbow crossing popping up across the city in protest. Thankfully, the city council realised the importance of such a statement of identity and repainted crossing in 2019.

Queer Carnival Cats

Carnival season is with us, and in Venice they celebrate in spectacular form next week.

Last year, in “24 for’24”, I mentioned that one specific mask worn by Venetian carnival goers traditionally indicated that the wearer was a gay man. That mask and the person wearing it is called a gnaga.

To tell the full story we have to go back to the early years of the Venice carnival. Carnivals have been held across Christian Europe for centuries to celebrate the start of Lent, a tradition borrowed from the Jewish festival Purim.

In some places carnival season begins just after Christmas. In fact, there is evidence that the Venice carnival once ran from December 26th until Easter. In medieval times, Traditional carnivals only occurred during Lent. Other similar masquerade festivals were not confined to a particular season, month, occasion or religion. If you had the means to travel and knowledge of where to go (not to mention the stamina), you could go around Europe and visit a carnival or other masquerade festival on most weeks throughout the year.

A major component of carnival as it developed over the centuries was the introduction of masquerades. In essence, masquerades were very much like the medieval Feast of Fools held in winter, or the solstice celebrations in summer, in that social roles were reversed (also something not confined to a particular season, month, occasion or religion). The idea behind wearing masks, in whichever carnival you attended, was to remain anonymous, allowing wearers to get away with things they couldn’t in everyday life.

There were various laws across Europe which governed which class of society was entitled to wear which type of clothing and which type of material. During masquerades these laws were relaxed. In Venice, people were allowed to wear anything at the carnival, as long as they also wore a mask. No mask, and you could be breaking the law if you were wearing the wrong type of clothes.

Even though the Venice carnival had been going for over a century, it wasn’t until 1268 that the wearing of masks was recorded. It is also recorded that masked men would go around throwing eggs filled with rosewater at women, someone the man had a crush on. Being masked, however, meant that the men could not be arrested or punished.

While wearing a mask you were playing a character. You weren’t playing yourself. You couldn’t be arrested for playing a character, which is how gay men exploited a loophole in the law.

Venice took a stand on opposite sides regarding homosexuality and prostitution. Like the UK before 1967, homosexuality in Venice itself wasn’t illegal, just immoral. What was illegal was gay sex, or soliciting for gay sex. Men found guilty of having gay sex were hanged in St. Mark’s Square and their corpses burned.

In the 15th century the council of Venice decreed that two noblemen should be elected to monitor gay sex activity. Physicians were required to report any injury or condition in their male patients that implied gay sex was involved.

So, you can understand why gay men took advantage of the loophole in Venetian law which allowed them to solicit for sex in public without being arrested and executed. All they had to do was put on the gnaga cat mask and women’s clothing and go to the Venice carnival as a gnaga.

No-one really knows why gay men began wearing gnaga masks, but it is recorded that they would make meowing noises and speak in a high voice. So, whether the mask came first or the imitation of a cat is open to debate. If the gnaga were feeling particularly dedicated in their portrayal they might also carry a basket full of fluffy little kittens to attract attention.

There’s one known instance of one gnaga who went a bit too far. It is recorded that on 4 May 1710 a gnaga began teasing a group of Turkish visitors to the carnival. They weren’t happy with his “catty” remarks and began to raise their guns. Startled by this, the gnaga turned and ran out of the city. The record doesn’t say if the man stopped to remove his mask and costume, or that he ever came back.

All went well for the first centuries of the carnival, but the loophole enjoyed by gay men and male prostitutes soon began to worry female sex-workers.

While homosexuality was punishable by death, prostitution was seen as a necessary vice, an immorality that was tolerated. In 1360, some houses near the Rialto market were designated as a kind of state-sanctioned red light district. Sex-workers had to live in houses under the management of guardians, who distributed the earnings equally at the end of the month. The women weren’t allowed to leave their house during the most important holy days, or after dusk.

By the 1400s the sex-workers were worried about the many gay men and male prostitutes that had been attracted to Venice and were becoming a bit too successful in attracting male clients, especially during the carnival. The women appealed to the authorities to do something to protect their livelihoods. The solution was quite novel and imaginative.

Bearing in mind that gay men and male sex-workers often dressed as women, female sex-workers were allowed to stand at their windows or on their balconies with their breasts exposed. This would reveal if the sex-worker was female or not. Some were even paid to line up on a bridge with their boobs out for all to see. This bridge soon earned itself new a name – the Ponte della Tette, meaning the Bridge of Tits. The surrounding area also acquired similar names – the Fondamenta de la Tette, and the Calle de la Tette. The bridge still exists, though you’re not likely to see (knowingly) any sex-workers.

Back to the carnival. After Venice came under the control of the Holy Roman Empire (based in Germany and Austria) in the 18th century, the carnival and its masks gradually fell out of popularity and virtually disappeared. It wasn’t until 1979 that the full carnival was revived. The traditional masks were recreated, and the gnaga cat mask has proved to be very popular. However, the link to gay men and male prostitution is largely disregarded and wearing it is not necessarily worn to go cruising for sex. Nor is wearing of the gnaga mask confined to gay men anymore.

With the revival came a new competition to choose the best costume and mask of the carnival. This competition has been held every year (except 2020, the covid year). Among the people who have won this competition several times is the openly gay German designer Horst Raack (7 times between 2009 and 2021, that last occasion was an online carnival due to covid).

I’ll end with two images. On the left is an 18th century illustration of a gnaga by Venetian artist Giovanni Grevembroch (1731-1807). On the right is one of Horst Raack’s winning designs from his entry “The Children of Light” in the 2019 Venice carnival. You can see more of his fantastic costumes on his Facebook and Instagram pages.

25 for '25

Here are 25 facts, figures and trivia about lgbt people and places to celebrate LGBT History Month UK 2025.

1) It is traditional in the West, when heterosexual couples marry, for the wife to adopt the husband’s surname. Same-sex couples can choose to adopt either or both family names. Footballers Tanya Kalivas and Martha West took a unique approach. They organised a football match between members of their families. Whichever family won the match would be the family name the couple adopted. The match ended in a 1-1 draw! Tanya and Martha have kept their own surname names, though they plan to have another football match should they have children to decide their children’s family name.

2) Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, built by the gay King Ludwig II, is one of the most recognised castles in the world due to its appearance in “Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang”. It has also been painted and photographed many times. In 2015 a watercolour painting of the castle was sold for £71,000. It was painted by Adolf Hitler.

3) Dr. Tina Smilkstein, Professor of Electrical Engineering at Cal Poly State University, USA (silver medallist in table tennis at the 1994 Gay Games) was a world record holder at the age of 13. On 2nd June 1974 she broke the world record for the most consecutive jumps on a pogo stick without falling off. She jumped 36,218 times in 5 hours and 15 minutes. The record was beaten 4 months later.

4) Shudō was a form of homosexual relationship common in Japanese samurai society up to the 19th century. It was similar to the practice in ancient Greek in which male athletes and soldiers chose a younger male partner for regular sex. In shudō the elder partner was called a nenja (not to be confused with ninja), and the younger partner was called a wakashū.

5) Jacc Batch (b.1985) of Kettering, England, held the world record for the most items of Silvanian Families memorabilia. In 2018 he had over 5,000 items. Sadly, he sold the entire collection in 2023.

6) Same-sex marriages have taken place on all 7 continents. The last was Antarctica, when the first same-sex wedding on that continent took place on 22nd April 2022 between Eric Bourne and Stephen Carpenter.

7) Following on from that, the first female same-sex wedding on Antarctica took place on 14th February 2023 between Sarah and Jane Snyder-Kamen.

8) Sodomite is a well-known word used in the past as a derogatory term for a gay man. It derives from the Biblical story of the two cities Sodom and Gomorrah. There is a less well-known derogatory word for a gay man which derives from Gomorrah – gomorrhean. It appears in “Glossographia Anglicana Nove: Or a Dictionary”, published in 1719.

9) A sequel to Fact 2 on the “24 for ‘24” list about the entrance gate to Freddie Mercury’s home Garden Lodge being sold, the entire property (which has its own Wikipedia page) went up for sale in February 2024. The auctioneers accepted no offers lower than £30 million ($38 million). As of January 2025 it had not been sold.

10) Figures published by the UK Government in February 2024 showed that there were 268 inmates who identifes as transgender in UK prisons. That’s 71 more than the previous figure published in 2021. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s the same 268 inmates – some will have been released and others imprisoned since 2021.

11) Anthony Morley (b.1972) was voted the very first Mr. Gay UK in 1993. In 2008 he was convicted of murdering and partially eating his boyfriend and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

12) Charles Hawtrey (1914-1988) was the first gay actor to play a parody of James Bond 007 in “Carry On Spying” (1963). His character was originally going to be called James Bind, but the Bond film producers thought this was too close to 007’s name and threatened legal action. The character was renamed Charles Bind.

13) The distinctive national flag and coat of arms of Trinidad and Tobago were both designed by gay artist Carlisle Chang (1921-2001) when the country became independent.

14) Lgbt+ descendants of the Mayflower Pilgrims who “landed on Plymouth Rock” (to quote the song by gay songwriter Cole Porter) include 9/11 hero Mark Bingham; politician Peter Buttigeig, actors Jodie Foster, Vincent Price and Matt Bomer; Olympic figure skater Toller Cranston; and alleged murderer Lizzie Borden.

15) “Caper in the Castro”, a murder mystery adventure, was the first lgbt+ video game. It was created in 1989 by transgender artist and computer programmer C. M. Ralph and was originally sold to raise funds for AIDS support charities.

16) Gay YouTuber Lukas Cruikshank (b.1993) was the first person to reach a million subscribers on a YouTube channel in 2009. The channel is called FRED and was set up with his cousins in 2006 when he was 13.

17) Genderfluid is claimed as modern concept, but back in antiquity the Greek physician and philosopher Hippocrates (c.460 BC-c.370 BC), after whom the Hippocratic Oath taken by doctors is named, referred to sex and gender as being fluid over 2,000 years ago.

18) An ancestor of acclaimed gay actor Sir Ian McKellen (b.1939) invented the weekend. McKellen’s great-great-grandfather Robert Lowes (1817-1874) campaigned for workers to be given Saturday afternoon off work. Until then, only Sunday was a day that workers were allowed off. In later years workers were allowed Saturday morning off work as well.

19) The Portuguese word for deer, “veado”, is used as a slang term in Brazil for a gay man. It derives from the false assumption that deer regularly engage in homosexual acts.

20) Although exact figures are impossible to determine, the biggest Pride events to have taken place so far are World Pride 2019 in New York City and São Paulo Pride, Brazil, 2011. Both claim 4 million attendees. However, the Mayor of New York in 2019, Bill de Blasio, claimed there were 5 million who attended World Pride.

21) The oldest known gay graffiti is a carving of two erect phalluses and an erotic poem of gay sex between two men called Nikastimos and Timiona carved onto a rock on Astypalaia, a Greek island. The carving is 2,500 years old. It is not known if either of the men made the carving.

22) Gay composers Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) and Gian Carlo Menotti (1911-2007) were among those invited to compose a national anthem by the newly independent Malaysia in 1957. Neither of their compositions were chosen.

23) In 2022 a species of trilobite, a fossil closely related to horseshoe crabs and woodlice, was named after gay singer Boy George. The species is called Agerins boygeorgie. The trilobite fossil was first found in Nevada, USA, and is over 443 million years old.

24) Lgbt+ individuals who have asteroids named after them include writers Simone de Beauvoir and Marcel Proust, astronomer Mike Wong; and the entertainer Eddie Suzie Izzard.

25) To celebrate the London 2012 Olympics, an organisation called Team Dorset (a county in England) published a list of 1,000 facts about their county. Fact 25 said that actor Laurence Olivier lived in Dorset and died in a motorcycle accident. Unfortunately, neither was true. Someone confused the bisexual Laurence Olivier with the gay adventurer Lawrence of Arabia who did live in Dorset and did die in a motorcycle accident (on a bike he bought from a company not a mile away from where I’m sitting right now).

Advent 4: Some Basil for the New Year

Of around a hundred Christmas gift-bringers I have researched over the past four years one of the more well-known is St. Basil (c.330-379). He is the gift-bringer to the Greek nation and the millions of people of Greek heritage around the world. Basil delivers his gifts on New Year’s Night, because his feast day is January 1st. Those of Greek heritage will know more about the traditions associated with him than I do.

Recently, historians has looked at Basil’s close relationship with St. Gregory Nazianzen (c.329-390). An increasing number suggest their relationship was homosexual but platonic. I’m very wary about adding people to my files just because someone said he or she was lgbt+. But, as with St. Francis of Assisi, there might be a grain of truth in this case.

A lot of people in the lgbt+ community, and elsewhere, don’t really understand the concept of Christian love and its written expression. Its not sex. With Saints Basil and Gregory it is pure Christian love – soul-mates without all the baggage of sex. Basil and Gregory may be the perfect patron saints of same-sex couples.

Both were born into wealthy families in what is now Turkey. St. Basil is variously named as Basil of Caesarea or Basil the Great. Many members of his family also became saints – his parents and all of his siblings. St. Gregory Nazianzen, Gregory of Nazianzus, or Gregory the Theologian, was about the same age and, like Basil, both of his parents became saints.

Both were among the first generation of Christians to be born after the Roman Emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity in 312 and his decree of religious tolerance of all faiths. This meant that they grew up without the threat of persecution and murder.

Part of their privileged education took place in Caesarea in Cappadocia, now Kayseri in Turkey. It is there that the two saints are thought to have first met just about the time they were approaching 20 years old. They then continued their education in Constantinople, named by and after the emperor. After that they then went to Athens.

In 356 they went their separate ways for a while. Basil travelled around before returning to Caesarea to practice law. Gregory remained in Athens before returning to Nazianzen, the town near his birthplace, after which future historians named him.

Gregory’s father was Bishop of Nazianzen and he ordained his son. Gregory was rather reluctant to accept. It wasn’t because he wasn’t a Christian. Legend says that on the ship sailing to Athens a few years earlier a huge storm threatened to sink the vessel. Gregory prayed that if the ship reached Athens intact he would dedicate his whole life to God. What he had in mind was life as a solitary monk, not an ordained minister in the community. But now that he had accepted ordination his father was now his boss. Years later Gregory wrote that his father’s actions were an “act of tyranny”. Anyway, Gregory did what he thought was best. He ran away.

Meanwhile, Basil gave up the law and, like Gregory, decided on an ascetic, monastic life. However, he soon discovered that solitary living wasn’t for him. He gave away his inheritance and returned to his family estates at Annesi and gathered a few like-minded followers in a monastic commune, which included several members of his family. There Basil wrote extensively on monastic life which became the blueprint for monastic rules in the Greek Orthodox Church. It was to Annesi that Gregory retreated to after he ran away.

Basil attended the Council of Constantinople in 360. This is a significant event in Christian history because it was called to settle a dispute among theologians. Some said that Christ was similar to God the Father but was not God the Son (putting it oversimply). Basil agreed, but by the end of the council he had changed his mind. From this council the current Christian doctrine which developed into the Holy Trinity was formulated. St. Patrick famously illustrated the concept of the Holy Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit) by pointing out that a single shamrock leaf has three separate parts but is still one leaf.

The main supporters of the “losing” side at the council were called the Arians (nothing to do with Aryans and the Nazis) and they were declared heretics. The debate, however, didn’t go away. Both Basil and Gregory were to spend years opposing the Arian supporters. They even agreed to take part in a public debating contest against Arian theologians. They absolutely trashed the Aryans with their arguments and eloquence and were declared victors of the contest.

By 373 Basil had become Bishop of Caesarea and he consecrated Gregory as Bishop of Sasima. Gregory was, again, reluctant to accept and it led to some tension in their friendship. Gregory later told Basil that he was not to be used as a pawn in Basil’s own power play. Despite this, their close relationship remained intact. They had their separate lives, but they lived together on and off, collaborating on various theological treatises or living in communes.

St. Basil died in 329 or 330, on either 1st or 2nd January. No-one knows for certain. This is why both of these dates were chosen as his feast days. He also has several others throughout the year depending on the Christian denomination. In Greek culture his gift-giving day is January 1st.

St. Gregory preached at St. Basil’s funeral, in which he said: “We became everything to each other; we shared the same lodging, the same table, the same desires, the same goal. Our love for each other grew daily and deeper… We seemed to be two bodies with one spirit”.

I’ve read expressions of Christian love, but St. Gregory expressed it far deeper than many of them. Surely, there was more than just Christian love and a bromance between them.

St. Gregory died in January 390. Like Basil he has several feast days throughout the year. The first of these is on January 2nd, on which he is commemorated with St. Basil. Because of their important writings on Christian doctrine and monastic life, as well as their defence against the Aryans, Basil and Gregory were declared Doctors of the Church.

For all his importance as a Christmas-time gift-bringer I cannot find any image of anyone dressing up as St. Basil in the same way that people dress up as Santa Claus in shopping malls or waving at crowds in Christmas parades. I can’t find out why. Perhaps someone else knows and can tell us.

Above is a video which goes into Basil in more detail. I includes stories I haven’t had room to cover, like his influence on your own health – Basil invented hospitals (his hospital is one of the “7 Gay Wonders of the World”, an article I’m preparing for next year).

I’m taking a break in January and will be back on 1st February, so a Joyful Holiday, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year to you all.

Advent 3: Christmas is a Bit of a Drag

Modern drag has advanced little since the start of this century (if at all). Much of it is lingering in the style of the 1980s, desperately trying to appear relevant and significant in today’s world, and failing, due to drag’s outdated gay stereotypes. However, it is far advanced from the drag and female impersonations of a hundred years ago.

If we go back further to look at what influenced modern drag we find the British pantomime dame and, even earlier, the character of the Italian commedia dell’arte. And even further back than that, we have comic female characters played by men in medieval mystery plays based on stories in the Bible.

It has to be admitted that these very early drag-like performances were purely for entertainment purposes and no gender identity was assigned to the performer. It is well-known that at one time women were not allowed, or discouraged, to be actors. That meant that any female character, including the Virgin Mary in Christmas nativity plays, were played by men or boys.

One development of the medieval mystery play is one I wrote about in 2019, the French Société Mattachine. In that article I explained how the early gay rights organisation in the USA, the Mattachine Society, was named after these medieval performers.

The Mattachines were not confined to France. The name seems to derive from the Italian “mattaccino”, which comes from “matto” meaning “mad”. From this we understand how the comic characters found in various mattachine groups throughout medieval Europe act in over-the-top performances, as if mad.

If we skip across to Spain we find the matachines who were popular in the 17th century, quite some time after other European variations had begun to die away. Because of this, the Spanish matachines is the form which has survived today – but not in Spain.

The Spanish matachines had developed into a more musical and dance form rather than drama. It still had the stock characters familiar in all its forms in Europe – a hero, a young woman, an old man, a villain, and more pertinent for our purposes today, an old woman played in drag. A particularly Spanish addition to the cast was a bull.

But what have the matachines got to do with Christmas? Bear with me while I digress. We have to look at how the matachines dances evolved after the Spanish colonised Central America. There’s a debate which is pertinent to the matachines, and Christmas in general. It concerns what I believe is a common misconception constantly repeated at this time of year that Christmas traditions are actually pagan. No matter how much research in many academic papers and books I can find no actual proof of this, only a lot of unsupported opinion based on coincidence from the 18th century onwards (not to mention modern crap about Santa and Coca Cola). Thankfully, an increasing number of qualified historians have debunked many of these pagan lies. Just because two things sound or behave the same it doesn’t prove they’re connected.

Usually, the Christian Church is presented as adopting pagan practices to encourage indigenous communities to convert to Christianity. I believe the opposite. I’m not alone in this. This 2021 article on the history of matachines in Mexico from the Universad Nacional Autómona de México comes to the same conclusion. It is becoming clear through modern research that it was newly converted indigenous communities who looked at what Christian practices were similar to their own and then adapted them without losing their own cultural identity. The Christian Church authorities, in their turn, saw no reason to object and, as long as Christian doctrine was followed, accepted the new ethnic take on their practices (except a handful of puritan extremists, like those today who want to ban “Harry Potter” because it “promotes witchcraft”).

The Spanish Conquistadors spread their matachine dances across Central America. In Mexico the Aztecs in particular merged it with their own dance rituals and produced a variation which they still use today, a variation that actually includes a king character based on Moctezuma (Montezuma). This is performed on special occasions, though not often at Christmas as with their US Pueblo counterparts. It also has a slightly different name – matlachine.

The two female characters of the Pueblo matachine are called Malinche and Perejundia (or Abuela). The Perejundia is always played by a man in drag, and the Malinche is now usually played by a girl. They represent opposites. Malinche is a beautiful, young, innocent girl, while Perejundia is an ugly, bawdy and coarse old woman. The video above shows one of the few clear visual representations on YouTube of the bawdy Perejundia.

Usually, matachine dances are performed during Advent, most often on December 12th, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception celebrating the conception of the Virgin Mary (often referred to as Our Lady of Guadelupe). This is also the date which is generally considered as the start of Christmas in the Pueblo communities. In fact, several matachine performances have taken place this week. Because the celebration is religious and often performed inside churches, the Perejundia character is sometimes omitted. The video below is the matachine from two days ago in Laredo, Texas. You can see the Malinche played by a very young girl, and the old man character, but no Perejundia.

Prof. Brenda Romero of the University of Colorado, an expert on hispano-indigenous music, has noted that matachines among Pueblo communities have become quite inclusive. She says that gay men (and women, as can be seen in the video below) are actively involved. I may be assuming too much, and this is only my theory, but are some Pueblo gay men specifically drawn to playing the Perjundia in the same way that some gay men in the USA become drag performers? I have absolutely no evidence or proof of this, but it’s an interesting thought.

Whatever the gender identity of the person playing the Perejundia in the Christmas matachines, it is clear that there is a direct line of descent from medieval mystery plays to the commedia dell’arte, the Perejundia, the British pantomime dame and modern drag queens.

Next week we look at a Hellenic Christmas gift-giver and his association with a reluctant priest.

Advent 2: Christmas Werewolves Among Us

Werewolves at Christmas? What have werewolves got to do with Christmas?

Well, forget most of what you think you know, because the werewolf of popular culture has been influenced more by modern film than traditional folklore. Werewolves are part of almost every culture in Europe, and the majority of these tell of how werewolves are only created during the Christmas season.

Perhaps the most widespread belief our European ancestors had was that anyone born on Christmas night, between the hours of sunset on Christmas Eve to dawn on Christmas Day, was automatically inclined to become a werewolf when they reached adulthood. There are variations of this idea, including substituting conception on Christmas night instead of birth, making anyone born on the following September 24th likely to be a future werewolf. While it was known who was born or conceived on those dates there is no evidence that their communities tried to kill them before they reached adulthood in order to prevent them from becoming werewolves.

In medieval Normandy, France, it was believed that anyone who was excommunicated from the Catholic Church during Advent would turn into a werewolf every night until received back into the church by a priest. While in Germany it was believed that anyone born on any of the 12 Days of Christmas would become a werewolf.

The date on which people turned into werewolves also differs from place to place. In Poland they would only transform on Midsummers’ Day or on their birthday, Christmas Day. In Italy they transformed on December 13th, which was the date of the winter solstice before the current calendar was introduced in 1582. There is little indication that the moon had anything to do with any transformation, except from a small region of southern France, and transformation was not restricted to a wolf, it can be any were-animal. The moon effect was introduced by Universal Studios for the 1943 film “Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man”.

Belief in a lot of countries say that all werewolves would transform every night after their first transformation until they were either blessed by a priest while in were-form, repented of their sins in church during the day while in human form, or were killed or died.

So, were you born or conceived on any of those dates mentioned? Are you a closeted werewolf and you didn’t know? You’re in good company, because there are many in the lgbt+ community who could be, according to traditional European belief, and here’s a selection of some of them. I haven’t included all the birth dates in Advent or 12 Days of Christmas as mentioned above because there are too many names to include if I do.

Born on December 13th

Anne-Marie Alonzo (1951-2005) – Canadian playwright, novelist, poet and publisher.

Linda Bellos (b. 1950) – British political activist; Leader of Lambeth Council, 1986-8.

Anthony Callea (b. 1982) – Australian singer and actor ("Australian Idol" 2004 runner-up).

Rev. Mari Castellanos (b. 1947) – President, Dignity US Miami chapter.

Jackie Clune (b. 1965) – British singer and actor; former Karen Carpenter tribute singer.

Michelle Duff (b. 1939) – Canadian transgender Grand Prix motorbike racer.

Peter Gajdics (b. 1964) – Canadian writer on surviving conversion therapy.

Anton Hysén (b. 1990) – Swedish footballer (soccer).

Richard Isay (1934-2012) – American writer, broadcaster and psychiatrist.

Hon. Desmond Parsons (1910-1937) – British linguist and aesthete.

Jim Quixley (1931-1991) – Australian children's author; librarian at York University, Toronto.

José Sarria (1923-2013) – American drag performer; 1st known out lgbt person to run for US public office.

Allen Schindler (1969-1992) – Radioman Petty Officer, US Navy (murdered).

Most Rev. Mark Shirilau (1955-2014) – American founding Archbishop of the Ecumenical Catholic Church.

Laís Souza (b. 1988) – Brazilian Olympic gymnast.

Theodora Versteegh (1888-1970) – Dutch classical singer.

Tom Wakefield (1935-1996) – British novelist and short story writer.

Born on December 24th/25th – I’ve included both of these dates because it is difficult to determine who was born between sunset on Christmas Eve and dawn on Christmas Day, the night during which werewolves were born.

Born on December 24th

Bethany Black (b. 1978) – British transgender comedian and actor.

Mauro Bordovsky (b. 1956) - founder member of West Hollywood Aquatics.

Eliza Cook (1818-1889) – British author and Chartist poet.

Dean Corll (1939-1973) – US serial killer (the Houston Mass Murders).

Lee Daniels (b. 1959) – Oscar-winning American film producer ("Monsters Ball").

Maik de Boer (b. 1960) – Dutch fashion stylist and social commentator.

Nathan Fain (1942-1987) – American journalist and co-founder of Gay Men's Health Crisis.

Deborah Glick (b. 1950) – member of the New York State Assembly since 1991.

Adam Haslett (b. 1970) – American fiction writer; Pulitzer Prize finalist.

Brenda Howard (1946-2005) – pioneering American bisexual activist.

Howard Hughes (1905-1976) – American tycoon, aviator and philanthropist.

Robert Joffrey (1930-1988) – American dancer and choreographer.

Kevin Killian (1952-2019) – American writer and poet.

Dominic Koll (b. 1984) – Austrian Olympic swimmer.

Adam Lippes (b. 1972) – American fashion designer.

Ricky Martin (b. 1971) – Puerto Rican pop singer.

Joep Mesman (b. 1981) – Mr. Gay Netherlands 2006.

Nestor Perlongher   (1949-1992) - Argentinian writer and anthropology professor.

Jim Roth (b. 1968) – Chief Deputy and Attorney, Oklahoma County Commission.

Bob Smith (1958-2018) – American comedian and writer.

Ans van Dijk (1905-1948) – Dutch Nazi collaborator (executed).

Born on December 25th

Ramona Bachmann (b. 1990) – Swiss footballer (Women's World Cup 2015).

MIanne Bagger (b. 1966) – Danish transgender golfer.

Brad Benton (b. 1974) – American gay porn actor (and “Dante’s Cove” gay soap opera)

Albert Cashier (1843-1951) – Irish cross-dressing Union soldier in the American Civil War.

Staceyann Chin (b. 1972) – Jamaican spoken-word poet and activist.

Kenny Everett (1944-1995) – British DJ and entertainer.

Noël Greig (1944-2000) – British actor, director and playwright of the early gay theatre movement.

Christine Johnson (b. 1968) – member of Utah House of Representatives 2007-10.

Christine Kaufmann (b. 1951) – Montana State Senator 2007-17.

Ismael Merchant (1936-2005) – Anglo-Indian film producer.

Jessica Origliasso (b. 1984) – Australian singer-songwriter and actor.

Conny Perrin (b. 1990) – Swiss tennis player.

Alexander Scriabin (1871-1915) – Russian classical composer.

Noel Tovey (b. 1934) – Australian dancer, choreographer and actor.

Tonie Walsh (b. 1960) – founder of Irish Queer Archive.

Joey Yale (1949-1986) – American gay porn actor.

Born on January 6th

Jeff Bennett (b. 1965) – American activist; co-founder of Gay.com.

Herman Emmink (1927-2013) – Dutch singer, radio and TV broadcaster.

Juan Goytisolo (1931-2017) – Spanish novelist, poet and essayist.

Bjørn Lomborg (b. 1965) – Danish environmental economist.

Kate McKinnon (b. 1984) – American comedian, impressionist and actor.

Hon. Nancy Ruth (b. 1942) – Ontario Senator, Canada, 2005-17.

Danny Pintauro, (b. 1976) – American actor ("Who's the Boss" child star).

Charlotte Endymion Porter (1857-1942) – American editor and writer.

Walter Sedlemayr (1926-1990) – German actor (murdered).

Hugues Sinclair de Rochemont (1901-1942) – Dutch journalist; member of the Nazi Party.

Hugh Skinner (b. 1985) – British actor (plays Prince William in the UK series “The Windsors”).

Gábor Szeley (b. 1968) – Secretary of State 2006-9; 1st open lgbt member of Hungarian government.

Peter Whittle (b. 1961) – British parliamentary candidate 2015 and 2017.

John Wieners (1934-2002) – American Beat poet.

Born on September 24th

Rt. Hon. Sir Conor Burns (b. 1972) – British MP 2010-24; Minister of State 2019-22.

Luke Clippinger (b. 1972) – member of Maryland House of Delegates since 2011.

Louis Edmonds (1923-2001) – American actor (237 episodes of “All My Children”).

Michelle Ferris (b. 1976) – Australian Olympic cyclist.

Richard Groenendijk (b. 1972) – Dutch comedian, actor and writer.

Simon Hobart (1964-2005) – British club founder (Popstarz), and DJ (Heaven).

Casey Johnson (1979-2010) – American Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical heiress.

Patrick Kelly (1954-1990) – American fashion designer.

Mark Leno (b. 1951) – California State Senator 2008-16.

John Logan (b. 1961) – American playwright and screenwriter (“Gladiator”, “Skyfall”).

Paul Mills (1924-2004) – American Director of Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1970-82.

Ross Mathews (b. 1979) – American tv host and personality.

Yves Navarre (1940-1994) – French novelist.

Jack Pierson (b. 1960) – American photographer and artist.

Amy Scholder (b. 1963) – American writer and literary editor.

Horace Walpole (1717-1797) – 4th Earl of Orford; British writer and gothic novel pioneer.

Next Sunday I hope I’ll give what I had originally planned for today, and explain the links between an early American gay rights organisation, British pantomime dames, and Pueblo dances in New Mexico.