Filling in the Missing Gaps with Historical Novels

The Closet Door and Hidden Lives: Challenges in Discoverying LGBTQ History

Much of our history remains a mystery and a series of unanswered questions. For example, we don’t know who built Stonehenge nor the reason for building it. While there is scientific consensus about the big bang creating the universe, we still do not know what triggered it. There are still a variety of opinions on how the Roman Empire fell.

Unearthing LGBTQ history presents a unique challenge: the invisibility factor. Due to societal pressures and fear of persecution, LGBTQ individuals often hid their sexuality throughout history. This makes it difficult for researchers to find clear evidence of their identities.

Here’s how the ability to hide one’s sexuality creates hurdles:
• Limited Sources: Historical documents often focus on heterosexual relationships, marriages, and families. LGBTQ relationships were rarely documented or coded in a way that’s easily recognizable today.
• Coded Language: Even personal letters might use coded language or euphemisms to express same-sex attraction. Deciphering these requires a deep understanding of historical context and LGBTQ cultural references of the time.
• **Focus on Public Lives: **Biographies often concentrate on public figures’ professional achievements, neglecting their private lives. This can obscure the existence of same-sex relationships.

Examples of Potentially LGBTQ Historical Figures:
Here are some examples of this challenge.
• Henry James: A famous bachelor writer, James’s never-married status and close relationships with other men have fueled speculation about his sexuality. However, there’s no clear evidence to confirm or deny it.
• Phillips Brooks: A prominent 19th-century minister, Brooks’s lifelong close friendships with men and lack of romantic relationships with women raise questions. But without definitive proof, it’s impossible to know for sure.
• Malcolm Forbes: The flamboyant publisher’s personal life was shrouded in secrecy. Rumors swirled about his sexuality, but again, concrete evidence remains elusive.

Importance of Nuance:
While it’s tempting to label these figures as LGBTQ based on suggestive clues, it’s crucial to be mindful. We must acknowledge the limitations of historical evidence and avoid making definitive pronouncements without clear proof.
However, researching these possible examples above helps paint a richer picture of LGBTQ history. It highlights the struggles individuals faced and the societal norms that forced them to live hidden lives.

Using Historical Novels
Because of all the lack of credible documentation in queer history, a historical novel can suggest what might have happened. For a historical novel to be credible it must be supported by the facts. For example, if a novel has its protagonist arrested for gay sex in Atlanta Georgia in 1986, it must be a fact that indeed “sodomy” was a punishable crime in Georgia in1986.

One example might be the 1969 Stonewall protests. Much has been made about the police raid on Stonewall, a Mafia run bar. Much has been made of the violence that occurred when there was an uprising after the raid. But little has been documented about the people who were arrested during the police raid. How did their lives change after being reported in the newspapers? Did their relationships with their families, their lovers, employers and their landlords change? An interesting historical novel could follow the life of one who was arrested. Keeping true to the laws and general attitudes of the time, one could trace out the lives of imaginary characters and richly describe the challenges of living after their exposure. For example, a novel could describe the lives of two lovers who were at the bar that night, one was a Wall Street banking analyst and the other a violinist at the New York Philharmonic. Wall Street was very homophobic in 1969 and the New York Philharmonic less so. The challenges that these two faced would have probably been very different, and this could have affected their relationship. It would make for an interesting queer romance novel.

Weaving Fact and Fiction to Come Up with a Credible Story
My favorite historical novel is Gore Vidal’s Burr that was published in 1973. At the time conventional history portrayed Aaron Burr as an unsavory character who assassinated Alexander Hamilton, was a bon vivant and a troublemaker. At one point he was tried for treason for trying to start a separate nation in Florida and the southwest. He was acquitted, but his reputation was tarnished. Burr challenges this conventional wisdom. The story takes place in Aaron Burr’s later years as he confides to a fictional character, Charles Schermerhorn Schuyler who also serves as the novel’s narrator. Gore’s story is consistent with all the historical details such as Burr’s losing to Jefferson in 1800 by one electoral vote. But the novel makes the argument that neither George Washington nor Thomas Jefferson were the solid statesmen of conventional history. It gives evidence that Washington was a bumbling general who lost most his battles, and Jefferson was a conniving fraudster. I don’t necessarily agree with Gore’s verdict, but in Burr he has successfully challenged conventional wisdom and given us a different historical prespective.