The Seven Heavenly Gay Virtues : Giving Chastity a Good Belting

Chastity is one of those words which wreaks of the Middle Ages. Perhaps no other Heavenly Virtue is so unpopular in the modern world. Considering its opposing Deadly Sin of Lust seems much more enjoyable for most people this comes as no surprise! But the medieval Catholic Church thought there was no higher personal virtue than Chastity. And with Lust being associated with the colour blue it was also associated with Chastity in medieval folklore. So let’s put Chastity onto the blue strip of our Heavenly Gay Virtues flag.

But just as Lust means more than an overwhelming desire for sex, so the same can be said of Chastity – it isn’t necessarily all about sex. The original qualities given to this virtue included purity, honesty and wisdom, in thought, word and deed. It was about looking after yourself and not giving in to what was considered at the time to be unhealthy pursuits. Yet it will always be equated with sex in the minds of people today.

In my article a few days ago I mentioned how the Renaissance philosopher Giovanni Pico della Mirandola proclaimed his chastity with regards to his relationship with Girolamo Benivieni. This same-sex relationship was acceptable to the church, as it was for a number of priests, cardinals and popes who are known or suspected of loving men. It became unacceptable if sex was involved. A lot of religions require their clergy to be celibate, but that’s not the same as chastity. Celibacy is the act of refraining from all sexual activity, even with if they are married. Chastity is the act of refraining from sexual activity with anyone other than your married partner.

Whatever you thought of Chastity in the past, this reveals that even a sex maniac can be virtuous – as long as it’s only with a married partner!

The medieval Catholic Church, and many Christian churches today, preached that sex outside marriage was immoral. It didn’t matter who or what you had sex with – another man, another woman, or even an animal, the Church didn’t discriminate on gender or sexuality. There are many married atheists who disapprove of sex outside marriage as well. The medieval world wasn’t ready to accept gay sex as being normal (some governments still don’t). It was usually the punishment you received for sex outside marriage that was discriminatory towards gay men, and it was the governments not the church who decided what that punishment was. The Tudor government in England put the death penalty onto it. In far too many countries today it still is politicians and governments who decide whether homosexuality is legal or not, and what punishment to give.

But I don’t want to drift into theology too far. There are other blogs that do that. So let’s lighten the tone and talk about chastity in a totally different context.

The medieval chastity belt has been a staple of British humour for centuries. One of my favourite comedy films is “Up the Chastity Belt”. This film is set in the Middle Ages, and it may not be one of the best films ever made but it’s a good piece of fun. It was made in 1971 and starred Frankie Howerd and has a very gay feel to it in more ways than one.

The film was part of a series of spin-offs from Frankie Howerd’s “Up Pompeii”, a highly successful BBC comedy series. “Up the Chastity Belt” was the first non-Pompeii spin-off. Its producer was Ned Sherrin, a gay broadcaster and writer who made his name in the 1960s on satirical programmes. He had produced the film version of “Up Pompeii” the previous year and saw the potential for a series of similar films. However, there was tension on the set between himself and Howerd over elements of the script and on Howerd’s off-set behaviour. Nevertheless, “Up the Chastity Belt” did well in British cinemas, outselling the “Up Pompeii” film.

One particular part of the plot dealt with a famous character and his entourage, Robin Hood and his Merry Men. Here the film produced some of the best comedy in the film, which was already packed with many seasoned comedy character actors. As an added bonus the film also starred Eartha Kitt.

The characters of Robin Hood and his Merry Men was written deliberately as gay. That was very much in the “Up Pompeii” style. The idea that the Merry Men were gay was not new. In 1977 when the International Robin Hood Conference was held in Nottingham one noted scholar said that the stories of Robin Hood were very homosocial. The media of the day took that to mean homosexual and caused a bit of a stir in those very anti-gay days of the press.

Robin Hood in the film was played by Hugh Paddick. He was well known to radio listeners as one half of the camp duo Julian and Sandy on the classic comedy series “Round the Horne”. Hugh played Robin Hood in very much the same manner. At one point in the film Robin is introducing Howerd’s character to his Merry Men. Hugh is clearly seen trying to stop himself from laughing at the absurdity of it all.

Playing Little John was the popular blues singer Long John Baldry. He had been part of the blues band Bluesology with a young Elton John, and was widely known as gay among music circles. Unfortunately, he never got the chance to sing in “Up the Chastity Belt”. Also denied the chance to sing was musical theatre expert and regular pantomime dame Alan Rebbeck who played Friar Tuck. Will Scarlett was played (shirtless) by the young Bernard Sharpe in a most tight-fitting pair of leggings. Despite all being very camp and covered in make-up these Merry Men managed to outwit and defeat the villain’s guards in combat and save the day.

Murder Most Philosophical

If there were ever two gay men who can be said to have created the world we live in today it could be the Italian philosophers Marsillo Ficino (1433-1499) and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494). If it wasn’t for them we’d probably be still be living medieval lives with medieval standards. Between them they produced the works and thoughts that turned a local interest in ancient Greek texts into a Europe-wide Renaissance on the 15^th century. Feudalism gave way to capitalism, superstition gave way to science, and a new realism in art flourished.

Underpinning this Renaissance was a “manifesto” and Mirandola was the man who put it all into a book called “Oration of the Dignity of Man” which is acknowledged as the essence of the Renaissance. The Renaissance began before Mirandola was born, but he consolidated its ideas in his “Oration”. What made this possible was two things – Mirandola’s virtually photographic memory and analytical mind, and his patrons the Medici family of Florence.

Florence was a hot-bed of Renaissance thought and the Medici family gathered an amazing group of scholars and thinkers to their court. Mirandola arrived there in 1486 and charmed everyone. In particular he charmed Girolamo Benivieni and Angelo “Poliziano” Ambrosini who are believed to have been his lovers. Mirandola declared his love for Benivieni was chaste and non-sexual (a topic we’ll return to in my next article). In the new Renaissance thinking on love, influenced by the Ancient Greek ideas, male same-sex love was seen as more “perfect” than love for a woman. It wasn’t long before the Catholic Church was preaching the celibate love between men was acceptable.

Mirandola enjoyed the favour of Florence’s ruler, Lorenzo de Medici, but after Lorenzo’s death things changed. The new ruler, Lorenzo’s son Piero, had no time for Mirandola because of the latter’s support for the fanatical Savonarola, a Dominican friar who preached against Medici rule.

Mirandola and his lover Poliziano died two years after Lorenzo in 1494. For many years it was assumed that they both died from syphilis. There was certainly an outbreak of the disease at the time and it is known that Poliziano had caught the infection from a male prostitute. With Mirandola’s death a few months later it was assumed that he died of syphilis also. This immediately suggests that even though his relationship with Girolamo Benivieni was non-sexual the one he had with Poliziano wasn’t. Even Savonarola hinted at sexual activity when he preached a sermon after Mirandola’s death that his soul hadn’t gone straight to heaven but was in Purgatory being cleansed of certain sins. What those sins were Savonarola didn’t say.

However, there were rumours that Mirandola’s death may not have been caused by syphilis. After Savonarola deposed the Medici he began investigations into possible Medici spy rings. Among his interrogations he claimed to have got a confession from Mirandola’s secretary that he, the secretary, had poisoned the philosopher.

There’s no evidence to substantiate this claim, but in the past decade it has been shown that Mirandola’s remains, and those of Poliziano, contained lethal levels of arsenic. However, other documents from that time also reveal that Mirandola’s secretary had, in fact, only given him medicine during his final illness. Savonarola has exaggerated the confession.

The earliest known medical illustration of syphilis sufferers, dating from 1498.

Arsenic was actually used as a medicine as well as a poison. What is particularly significant is that is was used as a treatment for syphilis. Even if the medicine administered by his secretary contained arsenic, was it enough to kill Mirandola? If not, who administered the lethal dose? Was it an accident? It’s a real medieval murder mystery. Was it a Medici plot? Was it because of Mirandola’s support for the anti-Medici Savonarola, or because of his philosophical views? Were Mirandola and his partner Poliziano murdered? Perhaps we’ll never know.

Out Of Their Trees : Shared Genes For Jeans Day

There are two commemorative days today and I didn’t know which to celebrate with an article. Should it be Bi Visibility Day? Or Jeans for Genes Day? In the end I decided to celebrate both by writing about the ancestry of bisexual model Cara Delevingne and her shared genes with Michelle Dumaresq.

Jeans for Genes Day was created to raise awareness and funds for research into genetic conditions in children. Cara Delevingne has spoken of her own struggles with psoriasis, a skin condition which has some genetic component and effects many youngsters.

Cara has a varied ancestry, quite a lot of it from privileged backgrounds. This ranges from the British aristocracy to working class entrepreneurs who made a fortune manufacturing soap. But today I want to concentrate on one specific line of descent because it links to my “Queer Achievement” article on Michelle Dumaresq.

Cara Delevingne and Michelle Dumaresq are 7th-cousins. Both descend from John Dumaresq (1732-1814) of Jersey in the Channel Islands. In the heraldic article on Michelle I gave an illustration of her family coat of arms which were created by the marriage of John Dumaresq to Rachel Bandinel. Below is a family tree showing how Cara and Michelle are both descended from John.

Today I though I’d look at the two people in red on the family tree. Lt.-Col. Henry Dumaresq and his cousin Lt. Perry Dumaresq laid the foundations of the family which still live in Australia and Canada respectively.

Henry Dumaresq (1792-1838) was a highly respected soldier. He fought in many battles, including the Battle of Waterloo where he was shot by a musket ball which became permanently lodged in his lung. Undaunted he carried on with his order to pass a message personally to the Duke of Wellington, whereupon he collapsed. Two years later, at the age of 25, he reached the rank of lieutenant-colonel.

On leaving active service Henry went to New South Wales, Australia, as private secretary to his brother-in-law Lt.-Gen. Ralph Darling who had been appointed governor. Darling was an efficient governor but unpopular. He was accused of nepotism and Henry Dumaresq suffered attacks in the press because of his family connection. One article led to Henry fighting a pistol duel with the newspaper’s editor. In 1829 Henry sold his military commission and settled permanently in Australia. He owned a large estate and bred race horses. His health, however, was never great due to the musket ball in his lung. This was to be the cause of his death at the age of 45.

Henry Dumaresq’s cousin, Michelle’s ancestor, was a naval officer, Lt. Perry Dumaresq (1788-1839). While his cousin was fighting in the Battle of Waterloo Perry was stationed in what is now Canada patrolling the east coast of North America on the look-out for ships carrying supplies and money destined for the US government, who were at war with the UK at that time. After the war his naval background helped him to get a job in the customs office of Nova Scotia, a post previously held by his father which also helped.

Perry was ambitious and sought civic office. He continued to service in the customs office, but twice he persuaded the colonial government to divide an existing county into two and he took up a senior judicial posts in the new counties each time. By the second time, though, he was becoming ill and he died two years later at the age of 51.

Both Henry and Perry Dumaresq served their communities in senior positions. Both helped to establish their family’s connections in the countries in which they settled, and their descendants continued to serve their communities with distinction. Michelle Dumaresq’s ancestors continued Perry’s service right down to her own father who was a member of the Cariboo Regional District council. Cara Delevingne’s ancestors continued Henry Dumaresq’s military service in Australia and married into influential British political dynasties right down to today – through the Sheffield family she shares a set of great-grandparents with Samantha Cameron, wife of the ex-UK Prime Minister.

Cara Delevingne and Michelle Dumaresq carry on the service to the community begun by their ancestral cousins and both continue to speak on various causes. As well as her support of psoriasis sufferers Cara has developed a range of sweaters for Girl Up, a charity which supports the health and education of girls in developing countries. Michelle campaigns for inclusion of transgendered people in sport.

Olympic Alphabet : Z is for ... (Part 2)

Z – LAST, BUT NOT LEAST (Part 2)

Now that we’ve got all the background information out of the way let’s turn to the Olympians themselves.

There’s not enough space to detail the performance of individual athletes because there were so many. However, it isn’t possible NOT to mention Team Lgbt’s first Olympic champion of Rio 2016 as it was the same person who provided Brazil with their first gold medal of the games. Rafaela Silva won her judo gold on August 10^th and opened up to the media on her same-sex relationship.

In the following analysis of the medals I’ve included all of the 57 known out lgbt Olympians, plus 2 who did not wish to be identified.

Of those 59 athletes 26 won medals. There were no multi-medal-winners this time round. Here they are listed by sport:

EVENT		NATION	TEAM/ATHLETE
Women’s athletics 800m	G	South Africa	Caster Semenya
Women’s javelin	S	South Africa	Sunette Viljoen
Women’s basketball	G	USA	Seimone Augustus
			Elena Delle Donne
			Brittney Griner
			Angel McCoughtrey
Women’s flyweight boxing	G	GB	Nicola Adams
Men’s 10m synchro diving	B	GB	Tom Daley
Equestrian team dressage	S	GB	Carl Hester
			Spencer Wilton
Women’s football	S	Sweden	Lisa Dahlkvist
			Nilla Fischer
			Hedwig Lindahl
			Caroline Seger
	B	Canada	Stephanie Labbé
			Marie-Eva Nault
			(one player not out publicly)
Women’s handball	S	France	Alexandre Lacrabère
Women’s hockey	G	GB	Helen Richardson-Walsh
			Kate Richardson-Walsh
			Susannah Townsend
	S	Netherlands	Carlien Dirkse van der Heuvel
			Maartje Paumen
Women’s -57kg judo	G	Brazil	Rafaela Silva
Women rugby 7s	B	Canada	Jen Kish
Women’s 10km swim	S	Italy	Rachel Bruni

But how did Team Lgbt do overall? Where would they have finished in the medal table if they were a “nation”? What I’ve done to provide a more accurate result is take all the individual lgbt medals out of the national table. For team medals where both straight and lgbt athletes competed I’ve simply duplicated the medal – one counted for the national team, and one for Team Lgbt.

From the table above we can see that Team Lgbt won 5 gold medals, 6 silvers and 3 bronzes. That would place them in 17^th position behind Jamaica, higher than New Zealand and Canada. There was no real significant changes to the official medal table as a result. Italy and Australia swapped 9^th and 10^th positions, and Brazil moved down from 13 to 15. Both of these movements were caused by the removal of individual medals being transferred to Team Lgbt. The biggest move was South Africa. Because of the transfer of Caster Semenya’s gold medal they moved down from 30 to 40. The other nations retained their positions.

When I was adding the Rio medals to my own database it struck me how much it was like those Top Ten Singles chart shows. My tables include all the top 8 placings for which the International Olympic Committee award medals and diplomas for each event, and that meant there was more movement within the table. If I only included the medals there would be 121 Olympians, but with the top 8 places there are another 51 who could be included.

Remember, every time a medal is won everyone else on the list below it moves down one place. That means past Olympians will always go down, not up the chart. Even medal winners from Rio can move down if more athletes win higher positions (as is the case with Tom Daley). So, if you’ve got some suitable pop-picking music to play in the background, here’s what’s happening in the new chart!

“Hello pop-pickers and here’s the new chart for Rio 2016. There’s 18 athletes moving up the chart and 14 moving down, with 16 new entries. Highest climber is Sweden’s Lisa Dahlkvist whose silver medal in football takes her from equal 153rd straight up to number 86. Moving up into the Top Ten is Dutch hockey player Maartje Paumen whose silver medal puts her in equal 9th spot with 2 gold and 1 silver. Moving down one place below Maartje is her coach Alyson Annan. Just outside the Top Ten Nicola Adams punches her way up to equal 12th. Brazil’s judoka Rafaela Silva and GB’s hockey player Susanna Townsend go straight in as highest new entries at number 44 with one gold medal each. They are joined by US women’s basketball players Elena Delle Donne and Britney Griner, while their team-mates Seimone Augustus and Angel McCoughtrey double up on their previous gold and move up to equal 12th with Nicola Adams. Moving down are Dutch dressage riders and partners Edward Gal and Hans Peter Minderhoud, both pushed down by the team silver won by GB’s Carl Hester who now moves up 2 places to 28. Tom Daley makes the biggest drop. His bronze medal wasn’t enough to stop him from splashing down 30 places to number 107. With no-one outside the Top Ten retaining their spot in the chart it looks like Aussie swimmer Ian Thorpe, who came out in 2013 and went straight in at Number 1 with his 9 medals, won’t be toppled for a very long time yet.”

Of course, the full movement of positions is very complex but it doesn’t look as though anyone will come near the top five for a very long time. Just out of interest, here is the new all-time Top Ten medal chart with the new entry in joint 9th place –

NAME	NATION	SPORT	G	S	B
Ian Thorpe	Australia	swimming	5	3	1
Ireen Wüst	Netherlands	speed skating	4	3	1
Greg Louganis	USA	diving	4	1
Jayna Hefford	Canada	ice hockey	4	1
Marnie McBean	Canada	rowing	3	1
Charline Labonté	Canada	ice hockey	3
Sheryl Swoopes	USA	basketball	3
Karin Büttner-Janz	East Germany	gymnastics	2	3	1
Mildred Didrikson Zaharias	USA	athletics	2	1
Maartje Paumen	Netherlands	field hockey	2	1