Anyone needing a dose of heartwarming gay history in uncertain times, look no further than Loving: A Photographic History of Men in Love the new photo book from married authors Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell.
Nini and Treadwell compiled the photo catalog over 20 years, scouring antique shops and flea markets to find as many pictures depicting men in love as possible. The new book, which covers the years 1850 to 1950, features images of men kissing, cuddling in bed, and even wearing wedding bands together.
Related: Here’s how Jennifer Tiexiera & Michael Seligman discovered a treasure trove of gay history
“The subjects of our photos will publicly narrate their own lives for the first time in history,” the authors told MetroUK. “And far from being ostracized or condemned, they will be celebrated and loved. And the love that they shared will inspire others, as they have us. Love does not have a sexual orientation. Love is universal.”
Loving landed on bookshelves October 14, and is available from fine retailers. Have a look, and try not to smile.
charlietex
Some of these guys are definitely gay, while it is certain that others are only showing affection. The application of today’s belief of what male intimacy looks like to a past when men who were related or friends were much more comfortable with physical contact is incorrect.
michael_totzke
… ‘zactly. There have been periods of history where straight men could more openly show affection for one another.
hogo
I agree.
Georgeiv2
Well said there , In England it was after the Oscar Wilde trial that men started to feel awkward about showing affection to each other , Here on the continent men still do but it says nothing about their sexuality merely that they are confidant in their own masculinity
trsxyz
Agreed… good point.
Gadfeal
I concur.
There was often only one photographer in a small town and it is highly unlikely that men on months long cattle drives or trips would pay the high cost to broadcast a sexual preference for other men. Men spent months without female company before roads, rail and modern transport infrastructure carpeted the US i.e. until the 20th Century. They formed “bromances”, even throwing all male parties where men danced in couple – for lack of women; not many could or would pay for prostitutes (despite the typical Hollywood depictions of saloon-bordellos).
Pre universal education, pre broadcast technology, pre-Freudian era. Freud was obsessed with his postulate that much mental illness was “caused” by unfulfilled homosexual desires. His ideas gradually spread by printed media; before him, not many even had a word or could conceptualize what we now call “homosexuality”. However, Freud not only instigated a label upon which bigots could attach hateful attitudes but also the association between mental illness and sexual orientation that was only disavowed or disproven by psychiatrists some 100 years late.
So, physical closeness in a pre-mass-media, pre-Freud, illiterate society among groups of men who had no female company for months was normative.
In an era when central heating was not common, there was also a physiological motivation to sleeping in bed together.
Chrisk
For many of them gay hadn’t even been coined yet so guys were more free to show affection towards one another so who knows.
Still it’s fascinating to see these guys just living their lives from a generation long since dead now.
ingyaom
3 of these pictures look like brothers to me.
tominchicago
People say the same thing about me and my husband.
cosmostephen
I hate to burst anyone’s bubble, but I have my doubts about most of these men being gay. In late 19th century and early 20th century it wasn’t uncommon for men of all classes of society to pose with very close friends or male members of their families in a physical way. My Dad was born in 1913 and we had long discussions about it. In WW1 many men posed themselves this way with their closest friends and there was no shame involved. In early black and white movies you’ll often see fathers kiss their sons on the lips as this was not uncommon in real life. (And mothers and sons, as well.) I believe that the stigma about men physically touching and being intimate with one another grew at the end of WW11 as North America entered a more conservative phase and “fear of other” became more commonplace in a period of conformity.
raisinhead
I doubt this is taken by the editor or the reader as a history book. Whilst these particular photos are questionable, some look as if there is genuine affection of a different kind from bothers etc.
And there is no doubt that male couples did exist at these times and that some of those coupes would have had pictures taken. In that sense these cute pictures are something universal rather than particular. I’m glad about that.
Cam
Except that is false, there were harsh laws and people would be jailed and their lives destroyed for being gay.
So yeah, they were aware of it.
CityguyUSA
The Repuglicans need another wedge issue to run elections on and the religious love to keep things on the straight and narrow in the bedroom. In fact, they’d prefer if you only had sex when you were procreating it’s soooooo dirty.
wikidBSTN
I think the photo of the one guy with the other guy’s dick in his mouth – I think they are gay.
Cam
Whenever Queerty does an article like this there are always new account names coming in desperate to try to say these people aren’t gay.
These are the same people that got offended when people were saying that Ricky Martin, Rosie O’Donnell, Ellen Degeneres, Lance Bass, etc. were gay.
Mort
Most “naysayers” aren’t claiming that these guys definitely weren’t gay, just that – given the changes in attitudes and behavior over the decades – many of them weren’t necessarily gay. There’s nothing unreasonable or bigoted in that.
azjeff17
I work with mostly men from India. Many of them are very demonstrative with their fondness for each other. Especially upon running into an old friend. They will openly hold hands and warmly embrace one another. It’s very sweet. They dont even think about it reflecting on their manhood or sexuality.