Milan Opens and Closes

NOTE: History is always changing – or rather our knowledge of historical events change when new evidence is discovered. The information below is accurate on the date of publication. Further research may reveal information which changes or replaces some of the details. Check later postings to keep up to date by selecting “Olympics” in the search box or the tag list.

There was little overt acknowledgement of the lgbt community in the Milan Cortina opening and closing Olympic ceremonies. This was a refreshing change from the blatant virtue signalling of some previous ceremonies (such as Paris 2024). What acknowledgement the ceremonies did contain were championed by the diverse cast members and performers who were treated like everyone else, as an equal participant, not an exhibit to justify “inclusion”

But there were some examples on our community being involved for something other than their gender or sexuality – their talent and desire to provide a good ceremony.

FASHION AND COSTUME

We’ll begin with what has become a frequent element in an Olympic ceremony, a fashion catwalk. I wrote about the first official Olympic fashion show last week, and figure skating has always had a large element of fashion in the costumes. Today we’ll concentrate on fashion in the ceremonies.

There are three categories of fashion that I apply to Olympic ceremonies. These are: 1) a specific fashion-based segment involving some form of catwalk; 2) costumes worn by performers and participants; and 3) outfits worn by the athletes in their entry parade. All categories have had contributions from prominent lgbt fashion designers in the past.

For category 1, there have been several catwalk elements in previous opening ceremonies, including Italy’s previous Winter Olympic Games in Turin 2006. The Italian national flags on both occasions were brought into the stadium by a famous model in a dress specially designed by that same well-known designer, the late Giorgio Armani (1934-2025). Model Vittoria Ceretti entered the Milan stadium carrying the Italian flag and wearing a white Armani dress. Model Carla Bruni performed the same duty in Turin 2006. Preceding Vittoria Ceretti were rows of models in three columns in Armani trouser suits in the colours of the Italian flag – Red, white and green.

In category 2 we had another flag-bearer. This time it was a boxer from Paris 2024 and the first member of the Refugee team to become Olympic champion, Cindy Ngamba (b.1998). She was one of the 8 escorts carrying the Olympic flag into the stadium. Armani designed their costumes as well. There were no other known openly lgbt fashion or costume designers in either the 2026 opening or closing ceremonies.

Several designers contributed to some of category 3’s athletes outfits. We encounter Armani again. As he has done many times, Armani designed the outfits worn by the Italian team. Team GB’s outfits included knitted scarves and hats designed by Olympic diver Tom Daley (b.1994).

Shortly after the entry of the Italian flag a poem by Count Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837) was recited. I’d like to digress a little here. Leopardi is one of Italy’s greatest poets and philosophers, if not their greatest during the 19th century. For a long time there has been speculation and debate about his sexuality, ignited by romantic comments made in his letters to his friend Antonio Ranieri.

Although we will never know for sure, I tend to agree with the prominent Italian gay historian, Milan-born Giovanni Dall’Orto (b.1958) who believes Leopardi was gay. You can read Dall’Orto’s reasoning here.

THE ATHLETE’S PARADE

For the second time in a row, the athlete’s parade departed from the traditional. For Paris 2024 the parade was moved onto the River Seine in a flotilla of boats. For Milan the parade was spilt across four locations. Being the first official multi-location Olympics not every athlete could make it to the opening ceremony if they were expected to start competing the next morning. If you saw the opening ceremony you would have noticed how many nations did not parade in Milan but elsewhere. The format seems to have worked well, and it is possible that it will be copied at future games now that the International Olympic Committee is moving away from single host cities to a multi-city, host region format.

Bearers of the national flags are always a highly regarded honour for the athlete chosen. In Milan only one lgbt athlete was chosen. She was Nicole Silveira (b.1994), representing Brazil in skeleton racing, who carried the flag in Cortina. The only other flag-bearer at the opening ceremony was the above-mentioned Cindy Ngamba.

The final contribution at the opening ceremony was by Paolo Egonu (b.1998), who carried the Olympic torch in the stadium with two fellow Olympic handball champions for Italy from Paris 2024.

This brings us to the cauldron, or rather cauldrons, because I’m sure you were aware that there were two cauldron that were lit. Their design was inspired by knot-work featured in art by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), whose legacy in Milan was covered in the previous article.

A lot has been said in the media about Milan Cortina 2026 being the first to have two cauldrons. Those of us who are Olympic nerds know this is not entirely true. However, It is the first time two cauldrons have been lit during the same opening ceremony in different cities immediately one after the other. As far as the Winter Olympic goes, the Innsbruck 2012 Youth Olympics had three cauldron lit one after the other, but they were in the same venue to celebrate Innsbruck being the first city to host three Olympics Games (1964, 1976 and 2012). The 2024 Summer Olympics had two cauldrons lit in different cities – Paris and Tahiti. In fact, two cauldrons have been lit before (Helsinki 1952, Melbourne-Stockholm 1956). Often the stadium cauldron has been temporary and a permanent one was lit elsewhere (Vancouver 2010, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020, Beijing 2022). An honourable mention goes to London 2012 who had mini-cauldrons for each competing nation that joined together to form one single flame. This was extinguished after the ceremony and relit after it was moved from the centre of the stadium to one end. This photo below (copyright Colin Bilton) shows me at the London 2012 Paralympic Games and the Paralympic cauldron in the position it also occupied during the Olympics.

THE CLOSING CEREMONY

Only a handful of lgbt participants took part in the closing ceremony. Let’s start with more flags. Unlike the lone lgbt national flag carrier at the opening ceremony, the closing ceremony had three, all chosen by their fellow athletes for their athletic achievements. They were Tineke den Dulk (Belgium), Martina Sablikova (Czech Republic), and Hilary Knight (USA).

After the ceremonial entry of the Italian flag there was segment featuring gay ballet dancer Roberto Bolle (b.1975). He would return at the end of the closing ceremony as one of the principal performers who symbolically extinguished a group of candelabras which represented the extinguishing of the Olympic flame. As mentioned last time, Roberto had taken part in the torch relay. Roberto had also performed in the opening ceremony of the Turin 2006 Winter Olympics, the only performer to have featured in both Italian host ceremonies.

A new element was introduced into the Milan ceremony, and it happened twice. At the raising of the Italian flag at the start of the ceremony, all of the Italian medallists paraded into the stadium and stood by the flag poles. There were no lgbt athletes among them, but later on during the handover section from Milan to the French Alps (host of the 2030 Winter Olympics), there was one among the French medallists who stood in a circle in the middle of the arena. He was the only gay male Olympic champion of Milan 2026, Guillaume Cizeron (b.1994) who, with his ice dance partner won the gold medal. He is also the only male lgbt athlete who successfully defended his title from Beijing 2022.

I can’t help but think that this element may have been partly inspired by a similar event in the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics. On that occasion there were 260 British summer and winter Olympic medallists, some from the London 1948 Olympics, who formed a tribune of honour for the six young athletes who would light the cauldron.

As usual, the closing ceremony ended with a party. Among the DJs was Thomas Pentz (b.1978), aka Diplo, who once described himself as “not not gay”. This Grammy-winning performer and music producer has worked with many international stars over the years. For the Milan ceremony he teamed up with his fellow members of his electronic dance group Major Lazer.

And that rounds up the ceremonies of the Milan Cortina Olympics 2026. All that remains for me to do is finish the analysis of the all the sporting results and that’ll be it until Los Angeles 2028. This analysis has been delayed a couple of weeks because I have had some personal issues I needed to deal with. Hopefully, I’ll have it all ready for you by Easter.

The Road to Milan

NOTE: History is always changing – or rather our knowledge of historical events change when new evidence is discovered. The information below is accurate on the date of publication. Further research may reveal information which changes or replaces some of the details. Check later postings to keep up to date by selecting “Olympics” in the search box or the tag list.

The dust hasn’t quite settled after the Winter Olympics, but everything has picked up again this week with the Paralympics. I reduced my research into lgbt Paralympics a couple of yeas ago because there are so many members of Team LGBT at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games (which include Para-athletes) that it is difficult for me to keep up with what’s happening.

I’m still analysing the results of the Milan-Cortina Olympics in view of two more lgbt athletes that have been identified this week and will bring this to you in a few weeks. In the meantime, here’s a look at how the lgbt community has been involved in the run-up to the Olympics.

BIDDING FOR THE GAMES

The bidding to host the 2026 Winter Olympics began in 2017. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to modify the bidding process to allow for more flexibility over the geographic range of the events and to take a more targeted approach towards possible candidates that they felt most suitable and capable to mounting the games. This is not unusual with a lot of modern Olympic Games. Some sports often take place in locations outside the official host city (Paris 2024 had surfing in Tahiti; Melbourne 1956 had equestrian events in Sweden; London 2012 had football events all over the country; and there are many more examples).

Several host cities considered bidding, including Barcelona, Spain, the host of the 1992 Summer Olympics. They announced their intention of forming a potential bid in 2013. However, in 2015 the newly-elected openly lesbian Mayor of Barcelona, Ana Colau Ballano (b.1974), said that bidding was no longer a priority and the idea was dropped. After she left office, Barcelona put in new bids in 2024 to host either the 2030 or 2034 Winter Olympics. But because of differences between the governments of the two proposed host regions these bids was also dropped.

PRIDE HOUSE

Once the hosts Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo were announced as the hosts for the 2026 Olympics, the next thing the lgbt community had to consider was whether to set up a Pride House that would run throughout the Olympics and Paralympics. The answer was “yes”.

Pride Houses have been set up during many international sporting events since 2010. You can read about Pride Houses on the website of the parent organisation, Pride House International.

Italy and Milan have several significant lgbt ports organisations who have joined together with Pride House International. Among them is Pride Sport Milano, an organisation founded in 2019 by a variety of local lgbt teams covering different sports. There is also Milan Pride, who are hosting the Milan Pride House website. Pride Sport Milano has participated in many Pride marches in the city. Then there’s CIGA Arcigay Milano, the parent organisation that produces Milan Pride. This is the local regional committee of the national Arcigay organisation. Its primary function is on campaigning for rights and non-discrimination in all parts of society as well as sport.

There are also many other organisations who helped to bring the Milan Pride House to life, including the Canadian Embassy, sporting apparel company Lululemon, and we must not forget the municipal council of Milan itself.

The programme of events organised by Pride House Milan provided a wider variety than most of the previous Houses. There were the regular discussions, social events and exhibitions covering the lgbt community in the region and human rights issues, as well as sport and the chance to meet some lgbt Olympians, both summer and winter, competing or retired.

THE TORCH RELAY

The first time that the public becomes aware of an approaching Olympic Games is coverage of the torch relay. As has become the custom, the Milan-Cortina torch was lit at the site of the ancient Olympics in Greece. The site has many lgbt connections, which you can read about here.

After touring Greece the handover to the Italian Olympic Committee and Milan-Cortina organising committee took place in another venue with its own lgbt legacy, the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens.

The Italian section of the relay began on 4th December 2025 in Rome. The second torch bearer was Elisa di Francesca (b.1982), Olympic fencing champion at the London 2012 games. Exactly 5 years earlier Elisa made headlines in the Italian media when she admitted to having a year-long relationship with a female team-mate, even though Elisa was married. The relationship seems to have been purely romantic and platonic.

At the time of publication I have identified 6 lgbt torch bearers in the relay, all of them Italians. They are:

Irma Testa (b.1997), Olympic fencer, on 23rd October 2925 in Naples;

Alice Bellandi (b.1998), reigning Olympic judo champion, on 17th January 2026 in Brescia;

Lucilla Boari (b.1997), Olympic archer, on 19th January 2026 in Mantua;

Joseph Naklé, an organiser of Pride House Milan, on 5th February 2026 in Milan;

Roberto Bolle (b.1975), ballet dancer, performer at the 2025 Turin opening ceremony and the 2026 Milan Cortina closing ceremony, on 6th February 2026 in Milan;

Paola Egonu (b.1998), reigning Olympic volleyball champion, on 6th February 2026 in Milan during the opening ceremony.

And, no I haven’t ignored them (unfortunately, who can, they’re in the lgbt media more than Donald Trump), the actors Hudson Williams (b.2001) and Connor Storrie (b.2000) who star in a television series called “Heated Rivalry” (it seems to be popular with the minority of the people who like ice hockey and are rich enough to subscribe to the channel – apparently the general feeling is that they’re not very good actors, so I don’t know why people watch it). Hudson and Connor play a couple of gay ice hockey players. They carried the torch on 25th January 2026 in Feltre.

DA VINCI’S MILAN

Perhaps the most influential lgbt person with connections to Milan was Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), and the city and the Milan-Cortina organising committee played on this. The most tangible connection to the games were the two Olympic cauldrons.

Leonardo’s time in Milan lasted from about 1482 to 1513, with a period in Florence in the middle. He worked for the 7th Duke of Milan, Prince Ludovico Sforza (1452-1508). It was the duke who commissioned Leonardo to paint his now famous fresco “The Last Supper”. Leonardo got his job at the ducal court because he wrote to Ludovico describing his paintings and engineering designs. The Duke was impressed by the latter as much as the former, because he commissioned Leonardo to design and build elaborate stage decorations and mechanisms for several pageants.

At this time in the Renaissance, pageants were frequent, and each Italian noble would try to outdo their neighbours with spectacular effects and staging. Leonardo also designed the decorations and celebrations for the joint wedding of Ludovico to Duchess Beatrice d’Este, and his niece, Princess Anne Sforza (1479-1497) to Beatrice’s brother, the heir to the Duchy of Ferrara (one of the “Game of Gay Thrones” heirs featured here). I wouldn’t be surprised, if the Olympics had been held in his life-time, that Leonardo da Vinci would have been the designer and producer of the opening and closing ceremonies.

The ducal palace, the Sforza Castle, now a museum, organised three major events featuring Leonardo de Vinci. There was an exhibition about Leonardo’s workshop and the other artists who worked there. There was multi-media installation on the history of Leonardo’s role at the ducal court. There was also special access to see the restoration work being done the wall and ceiling paintings in the Sala delle Asse, a room in Sforza Castle.

OLYMPIC FASHION

One of the most discussed elements of an Olympic opening ceremony is often the uniform or costume that athletes wear (or not, in the notable cases on Tonga and Fiji) during their parade into the stadium. There has always been at least one outfit that is the most popular, and at least one that people tend to think “why that?” I’ll talk more about fashion at the opening ceremony another time, but it is well-known that many outfits have been designed by lgbt fashion designers. In Milan there was a fashion first.

Milan is the fashion capital of the world, so it isn’t surprising that the organising committee came up with a fashion show. On 4th February 2026 a small catwalk was constructed in the official Olympic hospitality venue in Milan called Clubhouse 26 in the Dazi Milano building in the Piazza Sempione (others were established in Cortina and Livigno). The fashion show included designs by Italian students who used the winter Olympics and sports as their inspiration. But the most unique part was a catwalk of some Olympic athletes in their official outfits. There were athletes from Italy, obviously, Croatia, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Germany, among others. I wonder if an official Olympic fashion show will appear at future games. Here’s a short video.

But I seem to have written more than I expected, so I’ll leave it there for now. Next week I’ll take a look at the lgbt involvement in the opening and closing ceremonies, and deal with the sporting aspects, results, and the full Winter Olympics Team LGBT list in a few weeks time.

Star-Gayzing: Dressed For Space

I’m back. The history exhibition of my home village that I produced with my siblings was a modest success. It’s still creating a buzz on the village history Facebook page. But now I must return to this blog and reveal more hidden or forgotten aspects of lgbt history.

Earlier this year I wrote about lgbt costume designers in the “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” franchises. Today we look at another science fiction television series, one which celebrates its 50th anniversary today. That series is “Space: 1999”.

“Space: 1999” is one of my favourite shows, and I saw that very first episode on 4 September 1975. What appealed to me most, apart from the theme tune and opening credits, were the costumes. In particular, the costumes of the crew of Moonbase Alpha, the protagonists of the series.

But first, I want to give an update on my Time Lord cosplay. I mentioned on May 4th that I was dusting off the costume and doing repairs. Well, one week before I was intending to wear it at EmCon I changed my mind. I was still going to cosplay a Time Lord, but now I wanted to cosplay Ncuti Gatwa as Doctor Who himself. Specifically, in the costume he wore in his final episode that was broadcast exactly a week before the convention. Below is a couple of screenshots I took to help me make the costume. All I had was a white, short-sleeved top, so I had 6 days to come up with something that looked like that.

A black pin-striped waistcoat and black trousers that I already had would be substitutes for the blue, denim ones Ncuti wore. All I needed was to buy enough denim material to make the kilt, and as I own a genuine kilt I knew that it required a LOT of material.

Below in the finished costume. I was very pleased with the end result, even though it wasn’t an exact copy, and I had enough material left over to make a denim waistcoat in the future. Unlike the purple Time Lord robes, I wasn’t embarrassed walking through the busy Saturday morning streets of Nottingham city centre to the convention half a mile away. The success of my endeavours was proven by people recognising the costume, including actor Jemma Redgrave who co-starred with Ncuti Gatwa in the final episode.

You may think all that was irrelevant, but you’ll be surprised just how much it isn’t.

Back to “Space: 1999”. The Moonbase Alpha uniforms were designed by openly gay designer Rudi Gernreich (1922-1985). Rudi was one of the most well-known fashion designers of the 1960s and ‘70s. He was born in Austria and, as a Jew, was forced to flee to the USA with his mother when Nazi Germany annexed Austria in 1938.

Rudi’s talent in fashion was sparked as a child by visiting his aunt’s dress shop in Vienna. He would spend hours sketching the high society dresses that his aunt sold. These sketches caught the attention of Ladislaus Czettel, a costume designer who had recently returned to Austria after having found it difficult finding work in Germany because he was Jewish. Czettel offered Rudi an apprenticeship in London, but Rudi’s mother though he was too young to travel abroad (Rudi was only 12).

Rudi’s fashion career in the USA started in Hollywood, but he hated it. Likewise, he worked for various fashion designers and disliked the fact that he was required to follow “house design” and current fashion trends. However, during this period he was also designing and selling some of his own designs.

By 1960 he was able to found his own design house, G. R. Designs (later renamed Rudi Gernreich Inc.). Now he was able to let his own ideas about fashion turn him into a leading figure of the 1960s fashion revolution with daring experiments in fashion theory, design and colours. In particular he advocated the wearing of unisex clothing, something that seems quite normal today, but some of his ideas may strike us as being unusual (his monokini still attracts controversy among fashion historians).

It was the unisex look that Rudi came up with for the “Space: 1999” Moonbase Alpha uniforms. It was a simple plain, beige two-piece – trousers and long-sleeved top. The only indications or rank or occupation was in the colour of one sleeve and subtle rank markings (photo below). He also designed a vesion with a skirt. These were worn through the first sries, but another designer altered them for the second.

Rudi became something of a celebrity in the 1960s. He even appeared as himself in an episode of the classic television series “Batman”. A screenshot of that appearance is below.

But, wait. Haven’t I seen that orange and brown plaid combination recently? Actually, yes, I have, and it brings us back to Ncuti Gatwa’s costumes as Doctor Who.

The first costume anyone ever saw Ncuti Gatwa wearing was in the publicity photos released in 2022 to reveal what his Doctor would look like. It consisted of an orange sweater and brown plain coat (pictured below). It’s one of several costumes Ncuti wore it in his first full episode as the Doctor, “The Church on Ruby Road”, broadcast on Christmas Day 2023, and he wore in a later episode called “Dot and Bubble”.

This similarity may have been just a coincidence, except that I don’t believe in coincidence. The costume designer for Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor was Pam Downes. Pam hasn’t admitted in any interview that I’ve read that the orange sweater and brown plain coat combination was inspired by Rudi’s costume in the “Batman” episode, but I’ll leave it up to you to make your own conclusion.

However, Pam has said that she tried to experiment with the Doctor’s costume. One design element she was keen to include, as was the show’s producer, Russell T. Davies, was the use of kilts or skirts for he Doctor. Ncuti’s Doctor wore several kilts throughout his tenure. Pam said she was inspired by the look of the “men in skirts” of 1970s New York. Guess who was the leading advocate for men wearing skirts in the 1970s? Yes, Rudi Gernreich.

There are other lgbt costume designers in science fiction to write about and they will appear next year, where we will encounter the late Queen Elizabeth II and a long lost “Doctor Who” story (not together).

Star-Gayzing: May the Force Be With You

This is a different Star-Gayzing entry in that I don’t look at queer stories of stars and planets, or at lgbt+ astronomers. Instead I turn to science fiction and fashion.

Today has become popularly known as Star Wars Day. I like to think that it is day on which we can celebrate all types of science fiction and science fantasy. I’ve watched “Doctor Who” from the day it began in 1963 (I was only 3, but my family always watched it). I’ve been going to Doctor Who conventions since 1978, and have met many cast members, past and present. For the past 6 years I have also been cosplaying as a Time Lord in the ceremonial robes from the 1976 story “The Deadly Assassin”. I wrote about my first time in cosplay here, and here’s an image from 2023.

As I am dusting off my costume and making repairs ready for EmCon in Nottingham next month, I thought about other science fiction franchises. I knew about a couple of lgbt costume designers from famous franchises and looked around to see if there were more. Here is a brief look at some on them.

For the purposes of this article I won’t be looking at monster or alien designs. I will concentrate on costumes worn by humanoid characters.

As this is Star Wars day, let’s start there.

Of the dozen or more costume designers who have made their mark on the Star Wars franchise since the very beginning, the most prominent among the lgbt designers has been Michael Kaplan. He has been designing costumes for science fiction films since 1982. The first film on which he was given screen credit as costume designer was for “Blade Runner”. It was a very illustrious start, because he received a BAFTA (UK film Oscar) for it.

Kaplan’s first venture into the Star Wars franchise was in 2013 when J. J. Abrams chose him as costume designer for the first film of the sequel trilogy “The Force Awakens”, released in 2015. Kaplan was invited back for the remaining two films in the trilogy.

As with all long-running franchises, Kaplan modified previous costume designs to reflect the times and fashions of the era in which the films were being made and to reflect his own style and interpretation of the characters.

Among Kaplan’s other film work are “Flashdance”, “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” and “Fight Club”. Perhaps it is best to gloss over one of his earliest films, “Can’t Stop the Music” (1980), in which he was credited as “costumier – men”. This film is almost universally panned and was intended to showcase The Village People at the height of their fame. It also featured Caitlin Jenner and the male lead.

“Star Wars” wasn’t the first major science fiction franchise for which Kaplan designed costumes. He had worked for J. J. Abrams before on the first rebooted “Star Trek” film in 2009. One interesting fact merges from this film concerning Mr. Spock actor, Leonard Nimoy, which I’ll elaborate on later.

As with “Star Wars”, there are many costume designers in the “Star Trek” franchise, and there are two lgbt designers who deserve special recognition.

What relaunched “Star Trek” back onto our television screens in the 1980s was “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” (1979). The costume designer for this film, and the three that immediately followed it (“The Wrath of Khan”, “The Search For Spock”, and “The Voyage Home”) was Robert Fletcher (1922-2021).

Fletcher’s designs for the Star Fleet uniforms were quite different to the original distinctive, bold, colour co-ordinated uniforms of the original series. Fletcher’s uniforms were in pastel shades. This was deliberate. The film’s director, Robert Wise, didn’t want the old, bold, colours of the original uniforms to upstage the return of the original cast. For Fletcher’s subsequent three films the Star Fleet uniforms began to regain some of their colour-coding.

For the costumes of many of the alien humanoid races, Fletcher used a lot of fabric that had been used by blockbuster pioneer Cecil B. DeMille that had been in storage since the 1950s, including some of the redesigned Klingon uniforms.

With the success of the films came the return of the television series, starting with “Star Trek: The Next Generation”. For this, the creator of the franchise, Gene Rodenberry, turned to the costume designer from the original 1960s series, William Ware Theiss (1931-1992). The colour-coding of the uniforms came back with a vengeance.

Theiss’s only pre-Star Trek science fiction designs were for the comedy series “My Favourite Martian”. It was another “Star Strek” legend, the writer D. C. Fontana, a close friend of Weiss, who recommended him to Rodenberry when the pilot was being produced.

Which brings me back to Leonard Nimoy, Mr. Spock. He is the only original “Star Trek” character to have worn costumes by lgbt designers in the original series, the original film series, “The Next Generation”, and the Abrams reboot.

I was going to continue with designers in other well-known science fiction franchises, but there are a couple of things I need to fact check first.

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.

Cosplay Comes Out

When I was doing the final editing and fact-checking for this article I read about the sad passing this month of Rich Thigpen, one of the co-founders of Prism Comics (see below) and a pioneer of lgbt comic conventions. This article is dedicated to his memory in appreciation for his contribution to lgbt visibility at comic conventions.

Like everyone else I was looking forward to so many events this year. One event I was particularly looking forward to was EM-Con in Nottingham.

EM-Con is one of several annual comic, gaming and fantasy genre conventions (called comic cons) in the East Midlands of England. Last year my youngest brother and I decided to cosplay. My brother has been doing it for several years but 2019 was my first time, not that I’m a stranger to dressing up. For most of the 1990s I was a medieval re-enactor, but that’s not quite the same as cosplay – the wearing of costume to portray a fictional character, usually at a convention.

There wasn’t a specific character I wanted to cosplay as. There are no role-models or superheroes that I can identify with but I’ve always loved the Time Lord costumes from “Doctor Who”, especially the big ceremonial collar, so I decided to make my own. You can see the finished full costume in all its purple fabulousness below. I was very pleased with the final result and the reception it received.

Over the past few decades lgbt appearance and inclusion in the comic, gaming and fantasy genres in general has been increasing. There have been many lgbt characters introduced since I wrote my article on lgbt superheroes in 2017.

Mainstream comic cons welcome lgbt attendees and cosplayers and many have non-discriminatory and anti-harassment regulations. There has also been an increase in openly lgbt cosplayers launching their own social media sites. Another trend in cosplay is crossplay, the portraying of a character of a different gender or ethnicity. Gender crossplay is particularly prevalent among lgbt cosplayers, with its long tradition of drag in the community and the blossoming of androgynous identities. At the present time, however, there is some debate among ethnic cosplayers over white crossplayers portraying a character of a different race, while ethnic crossplay of white characters appears to be acceptable. You’ll see examples of both types of crossplay in the video below.

One quite well-known cosplayer is Jonathan Stryker. He rose to fame some years ago by cosplaying various Disney princes. In 2006 he attended Florida Supercon where he caught the cosplay bug. Inspired by Supercon and the desire to see more open lgbt attendance at such events Jonathan founded OUT Con, Florida’s first lgbt comic con. As an openly gay man Jonathan Stryker realised “There are people who need to feel safe who might not feel comfortable going to other places”, as he told South Florida Gay News. “I wanted to create one.” As well as the multi-genre OUT Con Jonathan also created Okama Con, an lgbt convention specifically for anime, Jonathan’s main passion. I can only find record of one Okama Con being held, on 14th January 2017.

There were three OUT Cons, all held at the Miami Airport Convention Center. The first was on 14th May 2015 and attracted 500 attendees. The second was on 6th-7th May 2016, and the last was on 4th August 2017.

OUT Con was not the first lgbt comic con. Bent-Con was created in 2010 by gay comic artist Sean Holman and gay tattoo and comic artist Dave Davenport. Like Jonathan Stryker they had felt a need for a convention where lgbt comic and fantasy fans could feel welcome. Sean’s words were “Bent-Con started out of a desire of a bunch of queer geeks who were tired of going to cons and being the niche within the niche within the niche”.

The first Bent-Con was held on 5th December 2010 in a vacant store in Silver Lake, Los Angeles. Over the next few years it moved to the Marriott Convention Center in Burbank. The last was held on 6th-8th November 2015.

But do not despair. Even if OUT Con and Bent-Con have gone there’s still Flame Con.

Flame Con has become the biggest lgbt comic con. It was created by Geeks Out, a charity (non-profit) founded in 2010 that supports and promotes lgbt inclusion in the genres of comic, video games and science fiction-fantasy and horror fandom. They have attended many mainstream comic cons. In 2015 they created Flame Con, the first of which was held on 13th June at the Grand Prospect Hotel, Brooklyn. It has been held ever year since then until the pandemic forced the cancellation of its 2020 event.

Geeks Out is just one of many lgbt organisations to attend mainstream comic cons. Prism Comics is a charity that supports and promotes lgbt comic artist and writers and since its formation in 2003 has been present at the biggest comic con of them all, San Diego Comic Con.

Very early on Prism Comics realised that there was no list of lgbt comics and comic artists, so they published one and called it “The Gay Agenda”. The person who led the way in its production was Andy Mangels, one of my “80 Gays” from 2018. Prism now also host many lgbt guest panels and events within San Diego’s and other big comic cons.

Finally, back to cosplay. Below is a YouTube video of Flame Con 2019. Maybe it’ll inspire you to take up cosplay, you’re never too old – I started when I was almost 59! Here’s some advice – you don’t need to have the body of a superhero to cosplay as one, that’s not the point of cosplay, and don’t worry or be disillusioned about people not knowing who you’re dressed as because some people may not be familiar with the character (there were several people at EM-Con who didn’t know I was dressed as a Time Lord, only true Doctor Who fans recognised it). Look around YouTube for other cosplay videos for inspiration. Be imaginative. Be yourself. It’s fun.

Hadrian's Beard

Have you noticed how the fashion in men’s facial hair keeps changing? You can almost tell which decade a particular style of beard comes from. History has some famous examples (William Shakespeare, Charles Darwin).

Just over nineteen hundred years ago there was a time and person to whom a specific change in beard fashion can be attributed. The year was 117 AD and the man was the Roman emperor Hadrian (76-138), pictured below. It was because he was the emperor that his preferred style of beard became fashionable.

In the main Romans considered beards as “un-Roman”. Around the empire there were various traditional hair styles used by the inhabitants of the conquered nations (think Asterix the Gaul), but if you wanted to be considered a citizen of the Roman Empire you were clean-shaven. Some younger male Romans had neatly-trimmed beards, perhaps as a sign of reaching manhood. Older Romans tended to have no beard at all.

Roman emperors had preferred to be depicted as clean-shaven, as can be seen from their coins and statues. Below is a composite of the depictions of emperors in chronological order. Note the absence of beards before him and the preponderance of beards after him.

In pre-imperial times beards were common. As the empire expanded Romans began to see themselves as superior to the conquered nations, and to have a beard like their conquered people meant they were just as inferior as them. So, beards became of sign of barbarity and uncivilised communities.

The words “barbarity” and “barbarian” were Greek in origin and meant someone who didn’t speak Greek. They “babbled”, and the Greek for that was “barbaros”. The meaning was extended to any behaviour that was considered un-Greek and uncivilised. Ironically, it was the Greeks who influenced Hadrian in his choice of un-Roman “barbaric” facial hair.


ven though the Romans had a low opinion of anyone with a beard they hero-worshipped the ancient Greek philosophers who were always depicted with bushy beards. Most of these philosophers followed the traditional practise of having beardless boy-lovers, and had themselves been boy-lovers to older men.

This boy-lover tradition appealed to Hadrian. In general the Romans were opposed to such relationships but Hadrian was living during a period of Hellenisation in the empire which was to blossom during his reign through his influence.

This Hellenisation was actually sparked by Greece itself. There was a move among the Romanised Greek aristocracy to re-adopt the dress and styles of earlier ages to re-assert their Greekness. Through Roman influence the Greeks were also generally beardless, but around the beginning of the first millennium they began start to dress like ancient Greeks and grow beards. These became popular even among the populace. Big, bushy philosopher beards were everywhere, and you didn’t need to be a wise philosopher to grow one.

Hadrian knew Greece well. He had spent time in Athens as Archon, the appointed ruler, in 112 following the death of his mentor Sura. There were some political machinations against Sura’s supporters and Hadrian seems to have been pushed off to Greece to keep him out of Roman politics (he had been made a Roman consul in 108). This actually worked in Hadrian’s favour, and by the time the political situation had died down and he was recalled to Rome he had become enamoured of the Greek way of life. Perhaps this was when he began to grow his beard.

Hadrian’s political career got back on track on his return to Rome. He became a trusted companion and military commander to the emperor Trajan. When Trajan died on 7th August 117 Hadrian was popularly acclaimed as his successor. Hadrian kept his beard, neatly trimmed and fashionably styled. Beards were back! His Hellenisation of the Roman Empire was just as popular.

For almost a century Hadrian’s successors had beards of various lengths. Even the teenage emperors such as Elegabalus had wispy beards. The only ones who didn’t were Emperor Geta, and Diadumenian who was made co-emperor at the age of 9 by his father Emperor Macrinus. They were both killed the following month. From the reign of Elegabalus’s successor, Severus Alexander, onwards beards came and went. When the Roman Empire was converted to Christianity by Emperor Constantine the Great in 313 beards went out of fashion once more. Very few emperors were depicted with facial hair after that.

Who knows what would have happened if Hadrian didn’t keep his beard. Perhaps beards would never have become “civilised”, after all the Roman Empire continued for about another 300 years after his death and its influence would have lasted well into the so-called Dark Ages. Maybe beards never would have become popular. Who knows?

For people like myself with some form of facial hair we have much to thank a gay emperor for turning the beard from the facial adornment of barbarians into the fashionable style for the respectable and civilised gentleman. What’s more, next month’s Movember charity (where men grow beards to raise awareness and funds for male cancer research) may never have been invented.

Plaid at the Palace

Well, it’s Tartan Day in America again and I’m celebrating British tartan by looking at three men from the lgbt community who have proudly sported tartan as they received honours from the Queen. All three have worn plaid in public on many other occasions and can be called Champions of Tartan.

From left to right these champions are Alexander McQueen CBE, Alan Cumming OBE and John Barrowman MBE, all pictured below in the Buckingham Palace courtyard after receiving their honours.

First we have Alexander McQueen (1970-2010) who was made a CBE – Companion of the Order of the British Empire (one step below a knighthood) in 2003 for services to the fashion industry. With a name like McQueen you’d expect a fashion designer to make use of the family tartan and Alexander did so prominently.

The McQueen tartan tartan is a striking red design. It can easily be confused with the more famous Royal Stewart tartan worn in the above photo by John Barrowman. In fact, like a lot of things we often perceive to have been around for centuries the tartan is quite modern. A lot of the co-called “ancient” clan tartans, like the read McQueen tartan, actually originated in a book published in 1842 called “Vestiarius Scoticum”. While claiming to reproduce clan tartans found in a manuscript dated 1577 it was later proved to be pure fiction. However, the tartan designs, including the Royal Stewart, were actually adopted by the families the book claimed were theirs! Since the publication of “Vestiarius Scoticum” clan tartans have become a vibrant and living part of Scottish heritage, not to mention fashion. Which brings me back to Alexander McQueen.

McQueen used tartan in many of his collections, not only his own but others. I’ll concentrate on his use of the McQueen tartan today. Alexander was proud of his Scottish heritage and used it as inspiration in his designs. In his autumn 1995 collection called “Highland Rape”, named in reference to the forced eviction of Highland families in the Clearances of the 19th century, Alexander created 19th-century-style bodice shapes and silhouettes in which the McQueen tartan was often the only colour fabric, with its vivid red signifying the bloodshed of the displaced Scots peasantry.

Alexander returned to history again in his autumn 2006 collection called “Widows of Culloden”. The famous Battle of Culloden in 1746 was one of the last doomed attempts of the Jacobites to regain the throne of Great Britain. Alexander’s designs in this collection were more military in essence. Again the clan tartan was dominant in many designs.

In the latter part of his illustrious career Alexander McQueen was seen at fashion shows, parties and galas wearing his own designed highland dress as seen at his Buckingham Palace investiture.

Alan Cumming was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in 2009 for “services to film, theatre and the arts and to activism for equal rights for the gay and lesbian community”. At the investiture he wore a full outfit in the Cumming Hunting Weathered tartan.

This might be the right moment to explain some of the terms, such as “hunting” and “weathered” which you might see in tartan names. A hunting tartan is just what it sounds like. It’s a tartan you might go hunting in. The difference between a hunting tartan and a regular tartan is that the colours are tinted towards more brown and green colours, or colours you find in the forest. The tartan stripes and basic pattern remains the same and recognisable as the clan tartan. A weathered tartan is also the same pattern but the colours are more muted as if the tartan has been out in all weathers and has faded. A hunting weathered tartan combines the two.

As with most weathered tartans the Cumming Hunting Weathered design is much more visually appropriate as a complete kilted suit than the standard Cumming tartan, as the suit Alan is wearing shows. Imagine the assault on the eyes is Alexander McQueen had worn a full kilted suit in his own tartan.

Alan Cumming’s frequent wearing of tartan led to his being invited to become Grand marshal of the Tartan Day Parade in New York city in 2009. North America makes more of Tartan Day than the British (except the Scots of course). The annual parade through New York has been taking place since 1999 and, like all themed parades, is jam-packed with tartan of all shades. Other Grand Marshal over the years have included Sean Connery and three Presiding Officers (Speakers) of the Scottish Parliament.

Finally we come to John Barrowman, MBE (Member of Order of the British Empire). He was awarded the honour in 2014 in recognition for his contributions to light entertainment and charity. He, too, has taken to wearing tartan in a big way. The tartan he is wearing in the photo taken after his investiture is the Royal Stewart. Technically, and historically, only members of the royal family are allowed to wear this tartan, though recent decades have seen a more relaxed attitude to who wears which tartan.

It has been difficult to discover which tartan belongs to the Barrowman family, so I’ll just write about the ones John actually wears. In an interview he has said he owns four kilts in different tartans. One striking blue-based tartan suit belongs to his mother’s clan, the Andersons. John Barrowman has been photographed wearing this suit several times (below right) and illustrates my opinion that a full tartan suit is such a striking tartan has a huge visual impact.

One final tartan suit worn by John Barrowman is one which was seen by millions of people in 2014 at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow (below left). This was a tartan designed specially for the opening ceremony. Next year on Tartan Day we’ll look at other special tartans worn by lgbt athletes at the Commonwealth Games to celebrate the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games of 2018.

The reason why I chose these particular men today is because of their common membership of the Order of the British Empire. This chivalric order celebrates its centenary in June when I’ll be writing about some of the many lgbt recipients of this popular award.