Prince Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz

Austrian statesman and diplomat Prince Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz-Reitberg (1711-1794) was born in Vienna. Empress Maria Teresia of Austria relied on his expertise throughout her reign, and he furthered her strength in forging an alliance between Austria and France to keep Prussia at bay. For his successes, in 1764 he was made a prince of the Holy Roman Empire as Reichfürst von Kaunitz-Rietberg, and in 1776 was made a prince of the Kingdom of Bohemia.

Unfortunately, his talent and influence went straight to his head. Eccentric, arrogant, conceited and always happy to hear the sound of his own voice, he was accustomed to getting his own way. If what he wanted was a stable of sexy young men, then, by God, nothing would stand in his way; it was reported that he kept a virtual male harem. His wife’s early death forty years before his own left many decades for him to pursue his interests in young men.

Kaunitz had surprising manias. He hated bright light and would not listen to any reports of death, nor approach a sick man; he would not breathe fresh air and kept a handkerchief over his mouth when outdoors. For two years he refused to receive his employer, Austrian Emperor Josef II (son and successor of Maria Teresia), because Josef had returned to Austria sick from battle. Each morning Prince Anton did some riding indoors. He was also consumed by vanity, spending hours each morning preparing his toilet, surrounded by a bevy of handsome male servants, each assigned a particular task.

On the plus side, however, Kaunitz had some good personal qualities – he was astute, laborious and orderly. Plus, his granddaughter married Prince Metternich, his successor to the post of Austria’s State Chancellor.

Bayard Taylor

Bayard Taylor (1825-1878), was an American poet, novelist, travel writer, literary critic, diplomat, lecturer and translator. He was a frustrated poet who, even though he published twenty volumes of poetry, resented the mass appeal of his travel writings, because his desire was to be known as a poet. Even his travel writings have been relegated to the dustbin of literary history, and he is known today solely for his translation of both volumes of Goethe’s Faust.

He shared Walt Whitman’s penchant for homosexual relationships. Taylor confided to Whitman that he found in his own nature “a physical attraction and tender and noble love of man for man.” Taylor’s novel Joseph and His Friend (1870), which depicted men holding hands and kissing, is considered the first American gay novel. This novel is said to be based on the romantic relationship between poets Fitz-Greene Halleck and Joseph Rodman Drake. As well, Taylor’s poem To a Persian Boy and short story Twin-Love explored homosexual attraction.

In Keith Stern’s Queers in History, it is revealed that the love of Taylor’s life was George Henry Boker, although both men had married. Mitch Gould relates that American banker, diplomat and poet George Boker wrote to Taylor in 1856 that he had “never loved anything human as I love you. It is a joy and a pride to my heart to know that this feeling is returned.”

Taylor wrote popular columns in important newspapers and magazines, and he served as a diplomat to both Russia and Germany. He was so well known at the time of his death in Germany that the New York Times printed his obituary on its front page.

To a Persian Boy in the Bazaar at Smyrna

Excerpt:

The gorgeous blossoms of that magic tree
Beneath whose shade I sat a thousand nights
Breathed from their opening petals all delights
Embalmed in spice of Orient Poesy,
When first, young Persian, I beheld thine eyes,
And felt the wonder of thy beauty grow
Within my brain, as some fair planet’s glow
Deepens, and fills the summer evening skies.
From under thy dark lashes shone on me
The rich, voluptuous soul of Eastern land,
Impassioned, tender, calm, serenely sad, –
Such as immortal Hafiz felt when he
Sang by the fountain-streams of Rocnabad,
Or in the bowers of blissful Samarcand.


The engraving at the top of this post is by John Chester Buttre after a photograph. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Michael Guest

Trail-blazing former U.S. Ambassador to Romania

One week after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Secretary of State Colin Powell presided over the swearing in of Michael Guest, an openly gay longtime state department employee, as U.S. ambassador to Romania. During the ceremony Powell took the time to respectfully acknowledge Guest's partner of six years, Alex Nevarez. The Human Rights Campaign called Powell’s acknowledgment of Nevarez a “small gesture that spoke volumes.”

Michael Guest was the first publicly gay man to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as a U.S. Ambassador. But serving as an openly-gay ambassador under the Bush administration did not prove to be as pleasant as his swearing-in. Guest retired in 2007, and at his retirement ceremony, “he did what few people do — displayed uncommon courage and threw a rhetorical hand-grenade into his own party,” the New York Times reported. “Guest took Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (who was not present) to task for failing to treat the partners of gay and lesbian foreign service officers the same as the spouses of heterosexual officers.” Guest said that was the reason for his departure from diplomatic service.

Quotes from his retirement speech:

“Most departing ambassadors use these events to talk about their successes . . . But I want to talk about my signal failure, the failure that in fact is causing me to leave the career that I love,” said Mr. Guest, 54, whose most recent assignment was dean of the leadership and management school at the Foreign Service Institute, the government’s school for diplomats.

“For the past three years, I’ve urged the Secretary and her senior management team to redress policies that discriminate against gay and lesbian employees. Absolutely nothing has resulted from this. And so I’ve felt compelled to choose between obligations to my partner — who is my family — and service to my country. That anyone should have to make that choice is a stain on the Secretary’s leadership and a shame for this institution and our country,” he said.

“Unlike heterosexual spouses, gay partners are not entitled to State Department-provided security training, free medical care at overseas posts, guaranteed evacuation in case of a medical emergency, transportation to overseas posts, or special living allowances when foreign service officers are assigned to places like Iraq, where diplomatic families are not permitted.”

“This is not about gay rights. … It’s about equal treatment of all employees, all of whom have the same service requirements, the same contractual requirements,” said Guest.

While the Bush administration had previously indicated an unwillingness to outlaw employment discrimination, Guest courageously highlighted the fact that the administration was also practicing it.

Historical note:
When Bill Clinton tried to appoint openly gay Jim Hormel ambassador to Luxembourg in 1997, the Senate blocked him for 21 months. Clinton finally appointed Hormel in 1999 without Senate confirmation while the Senate was in recess.

Updates:

• Former ambassador Guest today serves as senior advisor to the Council for Global Equality. In April of this year a Congressional briefing, moderated by Amb. Michael Guest (ret.), was hosted by the LGBT Equality Caucus to mark the release of the US State Department’s annual Human Rights report. The briefing highlighted trends in the LGBT human rights records of the 194 countries reviewed in this year’s report. Members of the international human rights advocacy community and congressional staff attended the briefing.

• Last month (June 17, 2011), for the first time, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution expressing concern at acts of violence and discrimination committed against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The vote was 23 countries in support, 19 against and 3 abstentions. The United States voted for the resolution. This is the first official UN resolution to focus exclusively on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity, and it is the first time that gender identity has ever been included in such a formal UN text. The resolution calls for a study to identify and make recommendations on how to put an end to such fundamental human rights abuses. The study’s release date is set for next year. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, “Gay rights are human rights. So are the rights of religious minorities, the disabled and so many others who have been historically ignored or persecuted, not for what they do, but for what they are. This is an important step in the quest for dignity for all. And I am proud that the U.S. is a part of it.”