Over the course of four decades, he produced some 3,500 illustrations, mostly featuring men with exaggerated primary and secondary sex traits, wearing tight or partially removed clothing. Touko Laaksonen (Tom of Finland) (1920-1991)ĭubbed the 'most influential creator of gay pornographic images', Touko Laaksonen - better known by his pseudonym Tom of Finland - was a Finnish artist known for his highly masculinised homoerotic fetish art, and for his influence on late twentieth century gay culture. Police were called to the Moulin Rouge back in 1907 when Colette and Missy shared a kiss on the iconic stage.īest known for her novel ‘Gigi’, Colette also wrote the ‘Claudine’ series, which follows the titular character who ends up despising her husband and has an affair with another woman. The French author and legend Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, better known as Colette, lived openly as a bisexual woman and had relationships with many prominent queer ladies including Napoleon’s niece Mathilde ‘Missy’ de Morny.
He was named ‘The Greatest Person of the 20th Century’ following a public vote on the BBC last year.
Turing was eventually pardoned in 2013, which led to new legislation pardoning all gay men under historical gross indecency laws. He took his own life at the age of 41 after using cyanide to poison an apple. At the time it was illegal to engage in gay sex, and Turing underwent chemical castration. In 1952, Turing was convicted for having a relationship with 19-year-old Arnold Murray. Mathematician Alan Turing played a pivotal role in cracking intercepted coded messages that enabled the Allies to defeat the Nazis in many crucial moments and in so doing helped win World War Two. He is considered one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century. In 1963, he painted two men together in the painting ‘Domestic Scene, Los Angeles’, one showering while the other washes his back. Much of his work, including the famous Pool Paintings, featured explicitly gay imagery and themes. He brought to light the challenges and complexities black and LGBT+ people had to face at the time.īorn in Bradford, artist David Hockney's career flourished in the 1960s and 1970s, when he flitted between London and California, where he enjoyed an openly gay lifestyle with friends like Andy Warhol and Christopher Isherwood. In his teen years, American novelist James Baldwin began to feel smothered for being both African-American and gay in a racist and homophobic America.īaldwin escaped to France where he wrote essays critiquing race, sexuality and class structures. His most controversial relationship was with a young Persian eunuch named Bagoas, who Alexander kissed publicly at a festival of athletics and arts. Alexander the Great was king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon: a bisexual military genius who through the years had many partners and mistresses.