Here you will discover the back stories of kings, titans of industry, stellar athletes, giants of the entertainment field, scientists, politicians, artists and heroes – all of them gay or bisexual men. If their lives can serve as role models to young men who have been bullied or taught to think less of themselves for their sexual orientation, all the better. The sexual orientation of those featured here did not stand in the way of their achievements.
Air Commodore Lionel Evelyn Oswald "Leo" Charlton (1879-1958) was a British soldier with a distinguished career. He served in the Second Boer War in South Africa as an infantry officer and later as a brigadier general in the British Army during WW I. Charlton transferred to the Royal Air Force (RAF) upon its creation to became Chief of Air Staff in Iraq in 1923. A year later he resigned that post in protest against the British air raids against helpless Iraqi civilians. He visited hospitals where he saw many horribly mangled Iraqis, including women and children. Charlton expected that there would be an investigation upon his resignation. Unfortunately, there was none, and he requested early retirement from military service, which was granted in 1928.
His military awards included Companion of the Order of the Bath, Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, Distinguished Service Order and Knight of the Légion d'honneur. In recent years, the memory of Charlton was taken up by opponents of the recent war in Iraq, specifically by British opponents of their country's involvement in that war, who hold him up as an example to be emulated by present-day officers.
Charlton's longtime lover was an ex-RAF airman named Tom Wichelo. The couple remained together for 23 years, until Charlton’s death in 1958. When Charlton and Wichelo "pitched camp" in Dover in the late 1930s, much of literary London followed them. The main attraction seems to have been the easy availability of soldiers and sailors on leave in the coastal town.
W.H. Auden pictured the scene in his poem "Dover":
Soldiers crowd into the pubs in their pretty clothes, As pink and silly as girls from a high-class academy.
Prominent homosexual personalities like Raymond Mortimer, Duncan Grant, and actors like John Gielgud revolved around Charlton. They met in London at Gennaro’s, in New Compton Street, which was famous for the astonishingly handsome waiters selected by the owner during repeated visits to Italy.
Charlton was also the author of a series of boys’ books, such as “The Camp at Auld-Man-Shiel”. These were adventure novels for adolescents, featuring athletic boys who loved aviation. Charlton became a close friend of famed writers J.R. Ackerley and E.M. Forster. When Charlton wrote his autobiography (1938), he dedicated it to Wichelo, Forster and Ackerley.
Twenty-six year old Robbie Rogers just became the second* openly
gay active athlete in U.S. men's professional team sports. He ended his
retirement yesterday to join the LA Galaxy of Major League Soccer (MLS).
Rogers declared that he was gay three months ago, upon announcing his
retirement from the sport. More alert readers will recall that the LA
Galaxy was David Beckham’s home for six years until his departure last
December.
*the first was NBA center Jason Collins (Washington Wizards, now a free agent without a contract to play next season).
Rogers wrote on his website how difficult it was to keep his sexuality hidden:
“For the past 25 years I have been afraid, afraid to show whom I really
was because of fear. Fear that judgment and rejection would hold me back
from my dreams and aspirations. Fear that my loved ones would be
farthest from me if they knew my secret. Fear that my secret would get
in the way of my dreams...Secrets can cause so much internal damage.
People love to preach about honesty, how honesty is so plain and simple.
Try explaining to your loved ones after 25 years you are gay. I always
thought I could hide this secret. [Soccer] was my escape, my purpose, my
identity. [Soccer] hid my secret, gave me more joy than I could have
ever imagined."
Robbie Rogers is an accomplished international soccer player now in his
prime. He wants to play for the American team at the 2014 World Cup in
Brazil, but the only way that can happen is if he excels with the
Galaxy. Robbie also hopes to use soccer as a platform for tolerance and
acceptance, leading more gay athletes to come out.
Rogers says his epiphany came after speaking to an LGBT youth group in
Portland: "I seriously felt like a coward. These kids are standing up
for themselves and changing the world, and I'm 25, I have a platform and
a voice to be a role model. How much of a coward was I not to step up
to the plate?" Now, just days after his 26th birthday, he's back in the
game.
The Southern California native attended the University of Maryland and
represented the U.S. at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. He then played for
the Columbus Crew, where he engaged in four productive seasons. Rogers
won an MLS Cup in 2008, two Supporters Shield titles and a spot on the
2008 MLS Best 11. He has also played British-based soccer for Leeds
United and Stevenage.
UPDATE:
May 27.2013: Soccer midfielder Robbie Rogers made his LA Galaxy last night (Sunday) night against the Seattle Sounders. He entered the game to a rousing ovation in the 77th minute, becoming the first openly gay male athlete to play in an American professional team sport. Galaxy chalked up a 4-0 rout. The 26-year-old Huntington Beach, CA, native had five touches, one tackle and three completed passes in the final 13 minutes.
Said teammate Robbie Keane, "It was great to see Robbie [Rogers] get that kind of reception from the fans, and now he can concentrate on being a Galaxy player."
Although the ink was barely dry on his contract (Rogers had signed a scant 24 hours before yesterday’s game), Robbie had been practicing with the team for several weeks.
Video excerpt from an interview with Anderson Cooper (April 15):
One cannot help but take notice when pianist Garrick Ohlsson enters a room. At 6’4” and 260 pounds, he’s hard to miss. He is possessed of a muscular style at the piano that matches his frame. One of today’s top virtuosos, Ohlsson, age 64, was the first American to win the prestigious International Frederick Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 1970. Over the subsequent years he’s embraced a broad range of repertoire, yet Chopin has always held a place of honor, not just because of the competition that launched his career. He grew up in New York City at a time when all-Chopin piano recitals were standard practice.
A 2003 profile in the New York Times by James Oestreich mentioned that Ohlsson lives in San Francisco with his companion, Robert Guter, an historic preservationist. While Ohlsson doesn’t like being labelled solely as a gay pianist, he doesn’t pretend to be otherwise. He is out and proud, and “I’m no coward,” he says.
No coward, indeed. As proof, late last year Ohlsson released Close Connections, a disc on which most of the music was written by gay male composers. I received this album as a Christmas gift, and I’m embarrassed that I’m just now listening to it (sorry, Rob!). It contains Triptych (1969), a solo piano piece by Louis Weingarden (1943-1989) written for Ohlsson. Weingarden also wrote a piano concerto (1974) for Ohlsson, and that composition was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1977. Weingarden and Ohlsson were good friends, even roommates for a time. Also on this disc is Handwork, a piece for solo piano commissioned by Ohlsson in 1986, written by gay composer William Hibbard (1939-1989). Robert Helps (1928-2001), another gay composer, is represented by the solo piano composition “Shall We Dance”.
Of Sicilian and Swedish heritage, Mr. Ohlsson was born in White Plains, NY. A late starter, he did not begin piano lessons until age 8, but by age 13, he was a student at Juilliard. During his student days he was a whiz at math and languages (he speaks English, Polish, Italian, Spanish, French, German and Swedish).
He has long championed the finger-busting piano compositions of Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924), going back to his days with his teacher Frida van Dieren, whom Ohlsson called ''a great-grand-pupil” of Busoni. ''I played my first Busoni when I was 12,'' he said. ''So I grew up with the legend.'' Mr. Ohlsson went on to win the Busoni Competition in Bolzano, Italy, in 1966, at 18. He brags that playing the Busoni piano concerto (a staggering 70 mintes in length) is no harder than playing the Brahms first piano concerto (D-minor) twice.
Here we have Ohlsson’s performance of Chopin’s Etude #1, Op. 10, from the time of his winning the International Frederick Chopin Competition in Warsaw (1970):
