Odd Portrait Has Many Guessing Shakespeare Was Gay

Reuters ^

[pabianice]

Then, clearly, Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, et al, were also gay as they appear in pictures wearing long wigs and flowing coats.

I love it when the Gay Fruitcake Brigade stops taking its anti-psychotic meds...

[tkotemecula]

No way Willy's Gay.

But, wait...he did write "AS YOU LIKE IT," and "TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA."

Hmmmm...

And rumor has it that the Scottish Play was originally entitled, "MacBESS." That was before he decided to write it with a lisp.

[tkotemecula]

"Let's face it -- without Jews, fags and Gypsies there would be no theater!" That's funny. I'm guessing Mel is talking about the current situation, and not the case of the Ancient Greeks.

[CaptRon]

Geez Lou-eeze. I think I get it now. Everyone, without exception, who ever accomplished anything of worth in history, is gay.

[maximus@Nashville]

Actually, it was not de Vere or Elizabeth. O.J. did it.

[toddst]

So now we'll see O.J. suing someone for his royalty checks??

[The Great Satan]

I don't claim my gaydar is as accurate as (say) John McCain's, but le patron does look a bit light in the loafers, certainly.

[Cicero]

More nonsense. The connection between the Earl of Southhampton and the Sonnets is speculative. The sonnets are dedicated to the unknown Master W. H. by the printer, not by Shakespeare. Noblemen at the time wore their hair long. Earings too are not unknown. A portrait of John Donne in his youth shows him wearing a gold crucifix in one ear. Donne was still Catholic then, and was a notorious "visitor of ladies," as one contemporary put it.

[twigs]

I personally ascribe to the theory that Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare. There's a preponderance of evidence that he did.

[Alas Babylon!]

But, wait...he did write "AS YOU LIKE IT," and "TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA."

I heard he also wrote "Deliverance", too.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Joe Sobran wrote a pretty convincing book that the real author of "Shakespeare's" works was Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. But maybe that guy was gay too.

You are correct. I read the book, and everything Sobran says makes sense. I have no doubt the 17th Earl of Oxford authored Shakespear's works.

The 17th Earl of Oxford didn't sound as if he was too straight, but who knows. In an article here on FR a few weeks ago, it said the British don't ask if so and so is gay, but rather, how gay is he.

[MarineDad]

Odd Portrait Has Many Sodomites Hoping Shakespeare Was Gay

[newcats]

DUH ! He was in the theater wasn’t he? But seriously, wasn’t all the female parts back then played by males?
I resent that stereotype! I have been involved in the theater for over 35 years, and am not gay...just ask my wife and kids!
Following your logic, then John Wayne was gay (he did some theater early in his career). Ronald Reagan was gay too.
Yes, back then female parts were playerd by men, because women were not allowed to join the Guild. And FYI, I have played a woman on stage...ever seen the play (or movie) "Charlie's Aunt"?
Newcats

[TopQuark]

Oh, what a great clarification, including

The sonnets are dedicated to the unknown Master W. H. by the printer, not by Shakespeare.

Things of that sort must be known to the specialists. Why are they so conveniently omitted? This is a rhetorical question, of course.

Thanks, orator.

[Alouette]

Sir Frances Bacon actually authored the works of Shakespeare.

There's another theory which claims that rival playwright openly gay Christopher Marlowe wrote plays as "Shakespeare" after faking his own death at the hands of a jealous lover.