20 Historical Figures Who Were Gay

Oscar Wilde rose to fame in the 1890s thanks to such landmark works as The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895). He had relationships with men, notably Lord Alfred Douglas, which was at the heart of the public scandal surrounding him. In 1895, he was found guilty under British anti-homosexuality laws and sentenced to two years of hard labor.

Alan Turing became known during World War II for his role in cracking German codes at Bletchley Park, but his achievements did not shield him from ridicule. Despite his contributions that shaped computer science—particularly following the 1936 publication of his paper on computable numbers—he was prosecuted in 1952 for engaging in a homosexual relationship and was subjected to chemical castration.

It was during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s that Bayard Rustin made his greatest mark, notably by organizing the 1963 March on Washington. He was also openly gay, which caused tensions within the movement’s leadership; in 1953, he was arrested for violating a public decency law related to a same-sex relationship.

Harvey Milk rose to prominence in the 1970s and was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. One of the first openly gay elected officials in the United States, he campaigned for LGBTQ rights and greater protections, but his life was brutally cut short when he was assassinated in 1978, just one year after taking office.

James Baldwin gained well-deserved recognition in the 1950s and 1960s thanks to remarkable works such as Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953) and Giovanni’s Room (1956). His writings addressed all sorts of sensitive topics, such as race and sexuality, with a candor that was unusual for the time. Although he was never officially prosecuted for his homosexuality, he chose to live abroad to escape discrimination in the United States.

Federico García Lorca established himself as one of Spain’s leading literary figures of the 1920s and 1930s, with plays such as Blood Wedding (1933). Even today, his homosexuality remains a subject of much debate in academic circles, although it was not openly discussed in public due to the “norms” of the time. In 1936, he was executed during the Spanish Civil War, likely in part because of his identity and political affiliations.

Magnus Hirschfeld was particularly active between the 1890s and the 1920s, founding the Institute for Sexology in 1919. Surprisingly, he championed the rights of gay and transgender people long before these ideas were widely accepted, but in 1933, Nazi forces destroyed his institute and forced him into exile.

Anne Lister kept very detailed diaries in which she recorded her life and relationships throughout the early 19th century, giving us a glimpse into her thoughts today. Her most significant relationship was with Ann Walker; in 1834, they took communion together as a sign of their commitment. Throughout her life, she faced all kinds of hostility because of the way she expressed herself and her relationships.

Homosexuality, of course, existed long before the 19th century, with Sappho being a prime example. She lived from approximately 630 to 570 B.C. and was known in her time for her lyrical poems set to music. The fragments of her work that have survived to this day, preserved over the centuries, expressed affection and desire for women. However, due to the era in which she lived, her legacy has been reinterpreted and has been the subject of debate over time.

Gertrude Stein became a central figure in the Parisian art world in the early 20th century, particularly between 1900 and the 1930s. Her work, notably Tender Buttons (1914), helped define modernist literature; and as if that weren’t enough, she also lived openly with her partner, Alice B. Toklas.

In this regard, Alice B. Toklas herself became known to the general public following the publication, in 1933, of her autobiography, aptly titled The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. Her life with Stein was stable and well-known within their circle, even though she was not fully accepted outside of it.

Radclyffe Hall rose to prominence after the publication of The Well of Loneliness in 1928—though perhaps not for the reasons she had hoped. The novel, which featured a lesbian protagonist, quickly sparked controversy, and that same year it was banned in Great Britain following a trial for obscenity.

Audre Lorde rose to prominence between the 1960s and 1980s thanks to works such as Coal (1976) and The Black Unicorn (1978). She was not ashamed of who she was, speaking openly about her identity as a Black woman and a lesbian, while using her writing to denounce injustices. Naturally, she faced systemic discrimination affecting multiple aspects of her identity.

Lorraine Hansberry rose to prominence with A Raisin in the Sun, which premiered on Broadway in 1959. In the late 1950s, she also wrote for The Ladder under her initials, addressing themes related to the lesbian community. However, her sexuality was never publicly acknowledged during her lifetime, which was understandable given the risks involved at the time.

Barbara Gittings accomplished remarkable work throughout her life. She was most active between the 1950s and 1970s, as a leading figure in the early days of the LGBTQ rights movement: she helped organize demonstrations in the 1960s and fought to change the psychiatric community’s views on homosexuality. Her efforts ultimately led to the removal of homosexuality as a mental disorder from the DSM in 1973.

W. H. Auden rose to prominence in the 1930s thanks to his work, but it was his relationship with Chester Kallman that influenced his later works and his personal life. In fact, Auden spent much of his adult life in places where he could be more open about his identity, thereby escaping more repressive legal environments.

You may not know his name, but you know his work. Christopher Isherwood rose to fame in the 1930s with Goodbye to Berlin (1939), which later inspired Cabaret. But that’s not all his name is associated with. His long-term relationship with Don Bachardy began in the 1950s and lasted for several decades, causing quite a stir at the time. 

Tennessee Williams rose to fame in the 1940s and 1950s thanks to plays that are still studied today, such as The Glass Menagerie (1944) and A Streetcar Named Desire (1947). That said, at the time, public attention focused primarily on his relationship with Frank Merlo, which lasted from the late 1940s until Merlo’s death in 1963. 

Jean Cocteau exercised his talents across all artistic fields from the 1910s to the 1950s, but his career was far from being his only topic of conversation. His relationship with the actor Jean Marais was common knowledge in artistic circles, and he moved in circles that were more open-minded than those of many of his contemporaries.

Rock Hudson became a major movie star in the 1950s and 1960s, and although his sexuality was the subject of much speculation, he largely kept it secret throughout his career, due to public expectations. All of that changed, however, in 1985, when his death from AIDS-related complications drew widespread attention to the epidemic.