Sir John Clanvowe and Sir William Neville were English knights who served Edward III and Richard II in the 14th century. They were incredibly close and died within days of each other while on pilgrimage in what is now Turkey. Theyāre buried together. Their tomb is in a mosque that used to be a church and the sign on it calls it āthe tomb of an English couple.ā The tomb shows their coats of arms impaled (something women did with their arms and their husbandsā). Clanvowe and Neville were both faithful Christians and have been associated with the Lollard movement. The way the tomb is configured suggests some kind of symbolic marriage between them. Oh to be a loyal gay knight, buried beside my husband.
King Richard II of England was bisexual. He was deeply in love with his wife, Anne of Bohemia, and had a male favorite, Robert de Vere, who was clearly his boyfriendā thereās a letter from Richard to Robert where he expresses his desire to live and die with him. He was also just as nuts about his wife Anne. Depictions of him show an almost androgynous pretty man. Part of what caused his reign to be so troubled was his queerness, with people thinking the men he liked, like Robert, misled him. His queerness is portrayed in Shakespeareās Richard II and heās a queer icon among Shakespeare and Middle Ages fans online. We stan a bisexual literal king.
John/Eleanor Rykener was a sex worker in medieval England, at the same time Richard was king. We know of them through a report of their arrest. They presented as both male (their gender assigned at birth) and female, and serviced both men and women. We donāt know specifically what their identity was, if they were a trans woman or nonbinary or perhaps bigender, but we know they were there.
Leonardo da Vinciās partner was his assistant Gian Giacomo Caprotti, better known by the nickname Salai (ālittle devilā). Salai would live with Leonardo for nearly 30 years. His name appears more than anyone elseās in Leonardoās notes and Leonardo drew him many times. He was the model for Leonardoās John the Baptist, and the erotic drawing often called the Angel Incarnate. The Angel is interesting because it emphasizes Salaiās androgyny. Androgyny was one of Leonardoās favorite themes to explore in his art (seriously, look at his angels like in The Virgin of the Rocks) and itās so cool Leonardo depicted Salaiās androgynous features with so much love.
Michelangelo, the Renaissance artist, who besides expressing his love of male beauty in his visual art wrote the first substantial modern collection of poetry by a man about his love for another man. The recipient of his love was a Roman nobleman named Tommaso dei Cavalieri, who would be his friend/kind of boyfriend for life. Michelangelo was a devout Christian and struggled with his queerness in a homophobic culture, and appears to have kept himself celibate for most of his life because of this. He should totally be an icon for queer Christians, he put so much of his love for men into his love for God. While he was definitely gay, he also had a deep friendship with Vittoria Colonna, and their relationship could be interpreted as a queerplatonic relationship.
Albert Cashier, transgender soldier in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Albert lived as a man both before and after the war and was beloved by his comrades. When he was outed in his old age and the government tried to take his pension away (because he was born female), his old army buddies actually insisted Albert was a guy and their fellow soldier. Jenny Hodges? Never heard of her, this is our old pal Albert. Thereās a musical about him, The Civility of Albert Cashier.
Alan L. Hart was a physician and researcher specializing in radiation and tuberculosis, he pioneered the use of X-rays to identify tuberculosis. He was one of the first trans men to receive a hysterectomy. Thereās a lot of controversy over if Hart was a transgender man or a lesbian who posed as a man. However, the facts that he underwent gender-affirming surgery, legally changed his name, and lived as a man for most of his life should prove he was a man, thatās a lot of effort to blend in so you can be a lesbian. Transmasc erasure is unfortunately pretty common in history, but we should remember the man who saved countless lives while living his own true life.
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