Gay rulers in history

Politicians openly identifying themselves as members of the LGBTQ community have served as national leaders in nine sovereign states. Of those countries, two have had an openly LGBTQ head of state, who serves as the country's public persona.

A number of Roman rulers had homosexual relationships, including the Emperor Hadrian and his lover Antinous, and the Emperor Elagabalus and his lovers Aurelius Zoticus and Hierocles. From ancient rulers to modern-day pioneers, LGBTQ+ individuals have played key roles in shaping our world. Some, like King William II of England, lived openly despite the constraints of their time. Others, such as Hollywood star Tab Hunter, only revealed their sexuality later in life.

Powerful male concubine of Emperor Ai (r. 6 BC-AD 1), who one day cut off his sleeve rather than wake up Dong Xian, who lay sleeping across it, giving rise to "the passion of the cut sleeve" as the Chinese term for gay love.

gay queens in history

Pictured here on the right with his husband James Coyle, Mountbatten became the first member of the British royal family to come out as openly gay when he announced he was dating Coyle. Even though some societies embraced homosexuality , most refused to accept a gay monarch. The terms heterosexual and homosexual didn't exist until the s.

And until the s, heterosexual meant an abnormal attraction to the opposite sex. For centuries, many societies didn't see sexuality in binary terms at all. Ancient Greeks and Renaissance Florentines took both male and female lovers. King Edward II of England openly kissed his male lover on his wedding day. And the Roman emperor Hadrian named a city after his male lover.

Many kings and queens needed to keep their sexuality quiet, but others defended their lifestyle openly. The last of the Stuart monarchs, Queen Anne of Great Britain maintained a long-term relationship with Sarah Churchill in the early s. Anne wrote to Sarah, "I hope I shall get a moment or two to be with my dear… that I may have one dear embrace, which I long for more than I can express.

Anne has been called England's lesbian queen because of her close relationship with Churchill, who served as "Lady of the Bedchamber. Anne stayed above the fray, however, and remained popular through her death in He also created a scandal thanks to his young male lover. Julius met Innocenzo , a year-old beggar, in , when Innocenzo was fighting with his pet ape on the street. The future pope swept the boy away and named him a cathedral provost.

When Julius became pope two years later, he convinced his brother to adopt Innocenzo, and later named his alleged lover a cardinal. Julius's enemies called Innocenzo "Cardinal-Monkey" and complained the boy shared the pope's bed. Most stories about a royal's sexuality were only mentioned in secret and whispers.

When Edward married Isabella of France, he showered kisses on Piers in front of the entire court. As chroniclers wrote at the time, Edward's affection for Gaveston was "beyond measure and reason," "excessive," and "immoderate. One of Douglas's close friends told Botham that Sass confessed to being the princess's lover in the s. Richard the Lionheart became King of England in Today, he's famous for his role in the Third Crusade and his alleged association with Robin Hood.

To others, though, Richard I is a gay icon. The king chose not to marry and never fathered an heir. Instead of having a queen by his side at his coronation, Richard invited his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, to play the role of his partner. One chronicler even wrote the men were so close that "at night the bed did not separate them.

In the s, George became addicted to morphine and cocaine during an affair with American socialite Kiki Preston - known as the girl with the silver syringe. George died in in a tragic plane crash. Roman emperor Hadrian is best remembered for building Hadrian's Wall , marking the northern border of his empire. And although Hadrian married around the year CE, he also had a male lover.

Hadrian's partner was a young Greek named Antinous. When his lover drowned, Hadrian founded a city in Egypt and named it Antinopolis in his honor.