An alternative history of homosexuality through wickedness

There are many popular stories that seek heroes, pioneers, martyrs, and myths in history, but as Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller argue in this essay, the past is full of queer people whose wickedness has been inexplicably ignored. We all remember Oscar Wilde, but what about Bosie, the petulant and cruel son of the British aristocracy who, after being discovered as his lover, publicly and legally disgraced Wilde himself? What about those bad gays whose less exemplary lives reveal more than we might expect?

Partly revisionist history, partly historical biography, and based on the podcast of the same name, Gays malos subverts the notion of homosexual icons and queer heroes and asks what we can learn about history, sexuality, and LGBTQ identity through their villains. From Emperor Hadrian to the notorious gangster Ronnie Kray, the authors dig into the buried history of these queer lives. The list includes fascist thugs, famous artists, conservative puritans, libertine bon vivants, imperialists, government men, and architects. Together, these astonishing life stories expand and challenge dominant assumptions about sexual identity. They show that homosexuality itself was an idea that emerged in the 19th century and that its interpretation has been central in major historical moments of conflict, from the breakups of the Weimar Republic to the attacks on reds in Cold War America.