#alexander as queer icon

[jeannereames]

Why are alexander and hephaistion usually important figures for the queer community when we can't be sure that they were lovers?

A while back, my publisher asked me to do a blog tour when Dancing with the Lion was first released. (It’s a “thing” in publishing.) In one of those visiting blogs, I talked about Alexander’s importance as a queer icon, then reposted it to my own blog:

Alexander as LGBTQI Icon.

To be fair, it talks about Alexander, not really Alexander and Hephaistion, but I think the explanation still suits. There’s little doubt among most modern professional historians that Alexander was attracted to men, as well as to women. It takes a lot of twisting and rejection of multiple sources to turn him straight. (Although W. W. Tarn tried mightily in the early 1900s.)

These days, serious (not strident) questions about whether Alexander and Hephaistion were lovers centers largely on source issues: where does the Roman poetasting begin? Did they invent, or merely exaggerate, the Alexander-Hephaistion/Achilles-Patroklos pastiche? I tend to think the Romans exaggerated it, my friend and colleague Sabine Müller thinks they invented it. Neither of us would argue that Hephaistion wasn’t enormously important to Alexander emotionally (or that Hephaistion was incompetent). Whether they were lovers depends at least somewhat on when they met. She thinks they met as adults, once the campaign began, and the whole childhood friendship is part of the Roman invention. I think they did meet as teens (if not even earlier). By the time of the campaign’s latter phases, they were probably no longer physical lovers, even if they had been earlier. Or it was a very occasional thing. (E.g., I wouldn’t rule it out, but I also don’t necessarily assume it.) All of that has more to do with Greek patterns of socially permitted homoerotic expression than an attempt to erase Hephaistion’s importance to Alexander.

So, if one must put them together as a “power couple” in order for Alexander to be a queer icon, then yes, it becomes an issue. But, with all due respect to Hephaistion, he’s not the important part of that equation. ALEXANDER is. And Alexander is pretty safely queer … even as he’d be rather baffled by the label. 😉

[bestwitchsam]

Cooper Koch <3

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story

[anotherdescentintomadness]

Xiao Zhan closed out Pride Month by wearing a rainbow suit from a queer designer on June 29.

That is all.

See my rainbow boys post 🌈💚❤️

Happy Pride, everyone.

[ijustthrewawaymyshot]

Y'all answer me this.

If France is gay does that mean every francophile is secretly queer? 🤨

[queermalefashionmodels]

Alexander Zamrano, Mexico

[ithaca-my-beloved]

The Battle of Chaeronea was some real fruit on fruit violence smh

[fxoye]

i'm honestly at a loss right now. like... what even is happening on the SNW star trek reddit thread?

i know i shouldn't be surprised at this point, but the level of pushback and dismissal when it comes to even the mere possibility of spock being queer is just... baffling.

like, i get that reddit has its share of toxicity and closed-mindedness, but for some reason i thought the star trek fandom would be a bit more evolved, you know? this is literally a franchise that has always been about inclusivity, diversity, and pushing social boundaries. and yet here we are, in 2024, still having to justify the basic idea that hey, maybe the character with a decades-long history of queer subtext and coding could, in fact, be queer.

it's just wild to me that this is even a debate. like, i'm sorry, but the idea of kirk and spock's relationship having homoerotic undertones is not some fringe tumblr headcanon - it has been acknowledged and explored by literal cast members, writers, and even gene roddenberry himself. the term "slash" in fanfiction comes from kirk/spock stories, for crying out loud. this is not new!

and yet we have people in that reddit thread acting like the mere suggestion of a queer spock is some sort of sacrilegious retcon that would ruin the character forever. as if spock's entire 50+ year history would be erased if he so much as looked at a man with anything other than heterosexual brotherhood.

it's just so frustrating and disheartening to see this level of knee-jerk dismissal and erasure, especially in a fandom that prides itself on being progressive and imaginative. like, we can envision a future with warp drives and aliens and literal magic space gods, but a queer vulcan is a bridge too far? okay then.

and the thing is, no one is even saying that spock is definitively, unquestionably gay, or that every single iteration of his character needs to be explicitly queer. all we're saying is that there is room for that interpretation, and that queer stories have just as much right to be told as any others. but apparently even that is too much for some folks.

it's a reminder that even in supposedly "enlightened" geeky spaces, homophobia and heteronormativity are still alive and well. and it's exhausting, honestly. as a queer trekkie, i'm just so tired of having to constantly justify my existence and fight for scraps of representation.

you know what, i'm gonna say it: the erasure and denial of spock's queer subtext, and specifically the spirk ship, is not just frustrating - it's straight up homophobic.

like, let's look at the facts here. kirk and spock's relationship has been coded as romantic and even erotic since literally the beginning of the franchise. the term "t'hy'la", which has been used to describe their bond, translates to "friend, brother, lover" in vulcan. that's not subtext, that's just... text.

and the evidence just keeps piling up from there. the way spock is the only person who can pull kirk out of his darkest moments, the way they constantly risk their lives and careers for each other, the "this simple feeling" speech in the motion picture... like, come on. even the kelvin timeline movies had scenes of them practically eye-fucking on the bridge.

and don't even get me started on the plethora of literary references that heavily code their relationship as queer. kirk and spock's dynamic has been compared to achilles and patroclus, gilgamesh and enkidu, alexander the great and hephaestion... all classic examples of homoerotic male partnerships. the iconic back-to-back pose from the episode "bread and circuses" evokes imagery reminiscent of these historical and mythological duos, visually reinforcing the deep bond between kirk and spock. plus, their relationship has been likened to that of horatio nelson and his "band of brothers," particularly his close friendship with captain thomas hardy, which some historians have interpreted as having romantic undertones.

these are not coincidences or fan delusions - they are deliberate, well-documented artistic choices layered into the very foundation of kirk and spock's relationship. and the fact that so many people are eager to ignore or downplay them in order to cling to a heteronormative fantasy of male friendship is honestly pretty telling.

and look, i get it. it's easy to claim "they were just best friends" because that's what we've been culturally conditioned to see as the default. but the reality is, intimate male relationships have been historically desexualized and stripped of romantic coding in order to maintain heterosexual norms. the achilles/patroclus model of male love used to be widely understood as having a romantic and even sexual element - it was only in the 19th and 20th centuries that it was aggressively reframed as "platonic friendship" in a textbook example of straightwashing.

so when people insist that kirk and spock's bond could never be anything other than a sexless bromance, they are literally upholding centuries of homophobic revisionism designed to erase queer love from our cultural narratives. and i'm sorry, but that's not something i can get behind as a queer fan.

you cannot look at the overwhelming evidence of kirk and spock's queer subtext, the decades of analysis exploring their relationship through a romantic lens, the undeniable impact and influence of queer interpretations on the very fabric of this fandom... and tell me with a straight face that it's all meaningless or invalid.

kirk/spock walked so that every other slash pairing could run. it is the ur-text of queer shipping in modern fandom. and while it may have started as subtext, it has long since transcended those limitations to become an integral part of star trek's cultural legacy.

but at the end of the day, i know that fandom will always be what we make of it. no amount of downvotes or closed-minded rhetoric can change the fact that queer interpretations of spock have been part of his story since day one, and will continue to be so long as there are lgbtq+ fans who see ourselves in him.

so to my fellow queer trekkies: keep boldly going, keep reading the subtext, keep telling our stories. they can call it illogical all they want - we know the truth. and as a wise vulcan once said: "there's no point in denying the facts of one's nature." 🖖🏳️‍🌈

[hummussexual]

BY ABBY MONTEILApril 30, 2024

More than 60 LGBTQ+ organizations are calling for broadcasters, competitors, workers, and viewers to boycott 2024’s Eurovision Song Contest following the competition’s decision to include Israel in this year’s event, which takes place in Sweden.

Support for the boycott has come from LGBTQ+ organizations around the world, including QPEN in the United States, Queers in Palestine in Palestine, Pride in Protest in Australia, and Dyke March Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

“Israeli soldiers wave rainbow flags atop the ruins of Palestinian homes destroyed by the Israeli military in Gaza — a cynical attempt to rebrand Israel’s genocide as an act of queer liberation,” the boycott’s organizers said in a press release statement.

The statement likely refers in part to a viral November 2023 post from the state of Israel's official X account, which showed an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier standing amidst rubble it what was reportedly northern Gaza holding a Pride flag that had “In the name of love” written on it in English, Hebrew, and Arabic. The post said that the soldier is “a member of the LGBTQ+ community” who “wanted to send a message of hope to the people of Gaza living under Hamas brutality.” The post was criticized by LGBTQ+ advocates for being a prime example of “pinkwashing.”

The statement continued: “Allowing Israel to participate in Eurovision — an international pop cultural event with a massive LGBTQ+ audience — further contributes to Israel’s desperate pinkwashing attempts.”

The groups’ press release noted that although Eurovision excluded Russia the day after the country invaded Ukraine, similar measures have not been applied to Israel following the January International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that it is “plausible” that Israel is committing acts of genocide in Gaza. While the ICJ stated that it would proceed on South Africa’s case charging Israel with violation of the 1948 Convention of the Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the court did not order Israel to stop its military operations. Since Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 and took 250 hostages, Israeli military actions have killed over 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza and injured more than 75,000 Palestinians.

This isn’t the first time that artists and LGBTQ+ organizations have protested the international music competition’s inclusion of Israel. Back in 2019, over 100 LGBTQ+ groups endorsed a Palestinian call for a boycott of that year’s competition, which took place in Israel, following what Amnesty International described as “deliberate attempts” to kill and maim Palestinian civilians participating in protests in Gaza.

This past January, more than 1,000 Swedish musicians, including LGBTQ+ icon Robyn, called for Eurovision to exclude Israel from the 2024 competition in an open letter to the European Broadcasting Union, who said in a statement to Billboard that the Israeli public broadcaster KAN has met all the competition rules for this year and is eligible to compete.

Later, in March, over 1,900 queer artists and organizations called on the UK’s Eurovision contestant, queer actor and musician Olly Alexander, to boycott the competition out of solidarity with Palestine.

Eurovision 2024 is set to begin on May 7.

[oniwa-a]

can’t wait for queer media history/analysis youtubers (alexander avila, rowan ellis, and obviously queer are my favs) to post about byler once s5 comes out… like whatever happens, there’s going to be so much content to analyse within a wider scope of queer media and i’m so so excited for that

and IF byler isn’t endgame, the queerbaiting/queercoding debates and “Are They Gay?” videos would be so iconic

[emma-dennehy-presents]

Celebrating Black Queer Icons:

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy

Born on October 25, 1940, Major is a trans women well known as a leader in the broader trans community and an activist, with a particular focus on black and incarcerated trans women. Major grew up in Chicago's South Side and participated in the local drag scene, during her youth. Major described the experiences as glamorous, like going to the Oscars. While she did not have the contemporary language for it, Major has been out as a trans women since the late 1950s. This made her a target of criticism, mistreatment, and violence, even among her queer peers. Majors transition, especially getting her hands on hormones, was largely a black market affair. Given the lack of employment opportunities for black trans women at the time, she largely survived through sex work and other criminalized activities. At some point Major moved to New York City and established herself amongst the cities queer community, despite the prejudice against trans women. She participated in the 1969 Stonewall Uprising. Later, after getting convicted on a burglary charge, Major was imprisoned with men at Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, NY. There she met Frank "Big Black" Smith, a participant in the 1971 Attica Uprising at Attica Correctional Facility. He treated Major, and her identity as a woman, with respect and the two built a friendship. Smith also taught Major a good bit about advocating for herself and other trans women being mistreated by the US Justice System. Major was released from Dannemora in 1974. Major moved to San Diego in 1978 and almost immediately began working on community efforts and participating in grassroots movements. Starting by working at a food bank, she would go on to provide services directly to incarcerated, addicted, and homeless trans women, and would provide additional services after the AIDS epidemic started. In the 1990s Major moved to the San Fransisco Bay Area, where she continued her work, alongside organizations like the Tenderloin AIDS Resource Center. In 2003 Major became the Director of the Transgender Gender Variant Intersex Justice Project, shortly after its founding by attorney and community organizer Alexander L Lee, a trans man. The group works to end human rights abuses in the California Prison System, with a focus on trans, intersex, and gender variant POC. The position has since been passed on to Janetta Johnson, a previously incarcerated trans woman who mentored under Major. She is the focus of the 2015, award winning, documentary Major!. Major has five sons, two biological and three runaways she adopted, after meeting them in a California park. Her oldest son, Christopher was born in 1978, and her youngest, Asiah (rhymes with messiah) in 2021. At 82 years old Miss Major Griffin-Gracy continues to be an active member of her community and an advocate for our rights as trans people.

Haven't settled on which yet, but Willmer "Little Ax" Broadnax or Victor J Mukasa will be next!

[jefferson-starkid]

An incomplete list of things I loved about the RWRB movie

First and foremost he total of TWO (2) lil bicep kisses Henry gives Alex (my hearttt I will never shut up about this)

Their faces when Alex gets cake on Henry’s coat

That whole scene actually. Comedy gold

Zahra straight up attacking Alex with a pillow for being an idiot

Alex looking and acting like a 10 year old petulant child during the whole hospital closet scene lol

Heny’s little voice crack when he says “I didn’t say ‘get me out of here’ I said ‘I need to get out of here’ there is a difference” BABY

on that note you don't wanna know the amount of times I said 'oh baby' to Henry during this movie :(

The eyelashes thing making it in there even though it’s not henry who says it in the movie but idc because Taylor Zakhar Perez your eyelashes sir

Alex actually grabbing Henry’s hips at the party to show him how to dance WE LOVE A BOOK ACCURATE MOMENT

On that note GET LOW

And Henry saying ‘Did he say ‘sweat drops down my balls?’ I hollered I love that moment in the book

Henry’s lost puppy look when Alex kisses the girls

Nick Galitzine managing to perfectly portray Henry’s mannerisms in the first kiss scene ‘Henry’s whole face grimaces in frustration, his eyes casting skyward like they’re searching for help from an uncaring universe.’ Like he did that perfectly

Zahra being the iconic queen she is

“You’ve been wanting him to dick you down forever”

EVERYTHING ABOUT THE RED ROOM:

the Alexander Hamilton portrait good job movie

Alex being nervous and not knowing how to stand when waiting for Henry (ik in the book this detail was after the state dinner in his room, but idc I love that they at least kept it in this way)

SHUT UP STOP TALKING

Henry’s horrified little moment of realization when he sees Alex isn’t actually gonna yell at him for kissing him but he’s actually into this like Nick Galitzine your face sir!!! It’s so soft and sad and adorable arrgghhh

The detail of Alex hitching Henry’s tigh up around him like in the book

Amy’s ‘oh god!’ when she walks in on them

Henry immediately pretending to inspect the book case and Alex randomly playing with the flowers all ‘ACT NATURAL’ lol that made me cackle

Henry’s face as he leaves Alex’s room and lingers in the doorway a bit to just…stare at him UGH

The rich white people sex dungeon scene with the polo and alex just shamelessly thirsting after Henry lol

PARIS

“Who says ‘make love’ anymore? Are we like gonna listen to Lana Del Rey while we do it?” PLEASE

That sex scene was handled with so much care. It was so soft and sensual and they worked their asses off to show their connection and it paid off lemme tell u everyone say ‘thank you intimacy coordinator’

Like I could talk for 45 minutes about that hand shot alone

How small Henry looks lying on his side next to Alex afterwards

FIRST BICEP KISS everyone say thank you whoever wrote that in the script

Henry’s disorientated ‘sgoingon?’ when Zahra wakes them up lol just like the book

EVERYTHING ZAHRA SAYS after she finds Henry in the literal closet

You could feel the ‘Zahra does not appreciate being told to chill’ radiating off of her Sarah Shahi you absolute genius

Their faces when ‘oh and I told my sister!’ :D ‘Oh I didn’t know that!’ :D ‘Yeah she was really happy for us’ ‘I can’t wait to see her again she’s real-‘ “OKAY SHUT UP THE BOTH OF YOU” lol Zahra is going THROUGH it

‘Would it make any difference if I told you not to see him again?’ ‘No.’ he said that so fast I’m gonna cry

Zahra calling Henry Little Lord Fuckleroy

Ellen at least mentioning the powerpoint even though they didn’t show it

Ellen giving alex the Queer Talk™

On that note ‘the B isn’t silent’ making it in there is so important to me as a bi person

Alex reading One Last Stop

I am NOT singing karao-

Cut to henry singing karaoke

HE DID IT HE SANG DON’T STOP ME NOW and he’s all smiley and real and open and Alex noticing it and falling more in love by the second

On that note Taylor Zakhar Perez your face sir

The lake scene (SECOND BICEP KISS HOLLAA)

On the deck when Henry is slowly realizing what Alex is trying to say (aka ‘I love you) and nick’s face just goes so desperately soft as he starts to understand that this means he’ll have to leave Alex and then his face just slowly closes off like NICK GALITZINEs FACE ACTING don’t talk to meee

That little moment afterwards that Henry spends underwater with his hand on his heart just…ACHING. Ugh someone kill me

Henry is my absolute baby can you tell

David first appearing. A real ‘and everyone cheered’ moment even though the scene is heartbreaking

‘Do you love him?’ ‘What difference would it make if I did?’ and then that sad barely there smile *insert captain Holt ‘PAAAIIINNNNN’ gif here*

“I stormed a fucking castle to look you in the eye and tell you that I love you, knowing that you wouldn’t say it back. So no, Henry, in fact, this is costing me everything.” LORD

”I can love you and want you and still not want that life. I’m allowed, all right? And it doesn’t make me a liar. It makes me a man with some infinitesimal shred of self-preservation, and you don’t get to come here and call me a coward for it” is one of my favourite passages in the book and I am so fucking happy they kept it. Nick slayed that scene

In fact their acting in that whole sequence was amazing

“tell me to go” NOOOO I love that they kept it but it’s so sadddd

The fact that they actually filmed in the V&A

Henry mentioning dreaming of dancing there with a person he loved and Alex wasting zero time putting on a song (cry emoji)

Henry giving Alex his signet ring like in the book, but then them adding that Alex gives Henry his key in return I AM UNWELL

That little montage of cute intimate moments between A&H during Alex’ speech

YAYYYY they kept the Zahra and Shaan subplot

“Yeah I thought you might see it our way, I’ll hold” QUEEN ZAHRA

BABY

BABY

BABY

BABYYY

And then Henry’s little breathless ‘Alex?’ STOPPPP

I’m serious baby making it into the film had me WEAK I had to pause for a full 30 seconds to scream into my pillow

Running towards each other on the stairs :’)

PLAYING PIANO TOGETHER AAAAAA

“I’m white and upper class so my affection comes with strings” lol at least he's self aware

The hand holding during the meeting with he king

“I love you”  “I love you more “  “I think that’s up for debate”

Henry wearing the tie with the yellow roses of Texas :’)

In conclusion was the movie perfect? No! did I still love it? Yes!

[obscure-song-tournament]

Bracket H - Fifteenth Set

Rusalka and the Shepherd Girl - The Forgetmenauts

“It's about an entity from slavic folklore!!! which is so so fun!!! I have no comprehensible thoughts about this song. It's SO good and i'm losing my mind over it. It's also very queer. which is a given because.........well yeah it's the forgetmenauts. […]” & “SO BASICALLY!!! YEAH IT'S A SONG ABOUT A RUSALKA AND A SHEPERD GIRL WHO SHE LURED INTO THE RIVER!!! HELL YEAH!!! DROWNING FOR LOVE!!! WITH THEMES OF SINNING AND CHRISTIANITY!!! ITS SO SOSOSOSO FUN!!! The coven (a group of like....30-50 people on tumblr who go ballistic over the forgetmenauts) is SO not normal about this song. it's in the top 3 songs we all collectively lose our minds over on a regular basis.”

He of Sidhe - Alexander James Adam

“fantasy celtic” & “okay so. listen. this is the Official Canon Lore of the world's most iconic transmasc elder. It tells the story of how he defeated the Faerie Queen in a Fiddle Duel in order to escape fairyland and (re)claim his rightful place in the real world, from the Changeling who was so long ago left in his place, and whose music career he inherited (after proving himself Worthy in this duel, of course.) This is a legend of the grandest proportion and the man is iconic, as previously stated.”

[jeannereames]

If you could change or insert one aspect of the common pop culture picture most people have in their heads when they think about ATG what would it be?

I'm going to jump this in the queue because I can answer it swiftly, but also because I have TWO things that are personal pet peeves.

FIRST: That "historians" keep insisting Alexander and Hephaistion were "just good friends" in the face of obvious evidence to the contrary.

SECOND: Alexander called Hephaistion his Patroklos (to his own Achilles), and they used this comparison frequently throughout their lives.

So, let’s take on the “Fake News,” shall we?

The notion that "historians" keep insisting Alexander and Hephaistion were "just good friends" in the face of what would seem clear evidence to the contrary is over 50 fucking years out of date.

Are there “historians” out there who say that? Sure. But they tend to come in two flavors: 1) people who aren’t specialists, Hellenists, or even historians,⸸ or 2) Greeks.* Since Badian, Green, Hamilton, and Schachermeyer (et al.) took over Macedonian/Alexander studies mid-century, few specialists claimed Alexander and Hephaistion couldn’t have been lovers, or Alexander couldn’t have been attracted to men. Even Hammond cagily acknowledged it.

Yet—TBH—I don't think those who repost that meme really care. They just want a convenient strawman/whipping horse to make them sound "smarter than the experts."

You don't. You sound as if you haven't read much about Alexander since about 1975. Historians who have died of old age by now said Alexander and Hephaistion were probably lovers.

But that raises another problem: the implication that anybody who might argue they aren't lovers must be an old, white homophobic dude. Again, this is wrong.

The current discussion centers more on source problems, and separates Alexander having male lovers from Alexander and Hephaistion being lovers themselves (not the same thing, actually). Those making the best argument for caution are young, very much not homophobic (but absolutely brilliant) women (e.g., Sabine Müller). Follow the link to see a picture of Sabine, if you don’t believe me. I don't agree with her, but you can't shoot down her argument by screaming "Homophobe!" at the top of your lungs. The points she raises are all good ones and any responsible (and smart) historian will take them seriously.

As for the Alexander-Achilles/Hephaistion-Patroklos pastiche… yeah, sorry, no.

I realize this torques off folks, as it’s become a mainstay of queer culture surrounding Alexander as a gay icon and owes more than a little to Miller’s The Song of Achilles.

Busting it probably makes me sound like a Grinch.

BUT…the facts just don't support it. Yes, Alexander compared himself to Achilles--but not as much as to Herakles and Dionysos. Not even close.

How do I know? I COUNTED THEM. Facts ... not impressions.

After all, looking closely at what the sources (not impressions) actually say about Hephaistion is how I came to the conclusion the man was a lot more important than heretofore recognized. 😉

Again, as I’ve said elsewhere, Alexander did compare himself to Achilles. That’s not in dispute … it just wasn’t as frequent or common as modern fans like to pretend. And Hephaistion was compared to Patroklos only twice. There’s also a problem with WHO made those comparisons: chiefly Arrian. Again, I’ve talked about this elsewhere, so won’t go over it again.

Yes, I made the comparison myself in Dancing with the Lion: Becoming. But it concerned one circumstance near that book’s end (not giving spoilers), and isn’t something they harped on otherwise. That mirrors how it appears in our sources: it’s limited, and situational.

“Patroklos” was not Hephaistion’s nickname. Wish folks would stop claiming it was.

—————

⸸ Just because somebody is tagged “historian” on a History Channel special—or his own private blog—doesn’t mean they actually have a PhD, or even a Master’s, much less one in ancient history, Classics, Classical archaeology, or ancient art history. The number of idiots on Tik-tok yapping about how Alexander thought this or did that—and clearly know jack shit—routinely stuns me…even while it doesn’t. Dunning-Kruger Effect all over the damn place.

* Greeks must often work within the confines of official narratives in order to secure jobs and funding, which can limit what they say on certain topics, from who’s buried in “Philip’s Tomb,” to the Greekness of the ancient Macedonians, to any possible homosexual “taint” staining Alexander’s greatness. This may swim against the current of academic discourse outside Greece, even by other Greeks. The Greek Ministry of Culture and Sport has softened on some of these topics in recent years, especially as LGBTQIA rights have gained better traction in Greece.

[ijustthrewawaymyshot]

Anyone obsessed with their love?? ❤

[queermalefashionmodels]

Alexander Zamrano, Mexico

https://www.instagram.com/alexzam91/

[bobfloydsbabe]

Listen, I love Olly Alexander. He’s a queer icon, but this is bland as fuck