Fairness - The Commentary

In LGBTQ History Month, it’s worth recognizing how difficult it is not to read modern prejudices or hopes back into the lives of famous characters. Before the nineteenth-century category of sexual orientation labelled “homosexuality” was invented there wasn’t a way to categorize those we’d today expect were, or we’d consider, lesbian, gay, transgender, or queer. The creation and subsequent demonization of modern categories of sexual orientation and gender identity that aren’t straight enough by today’s definitions has raised complaints about what has been ignored about LGBTQ people in history.  But it’s also invoked negative responses to the reexamining of historical documents without modern homophobic reactions that expend a lot of effort trying to prove that those examples weren’t really lovers but “friends, brothers, sisters” who expressed their love more intimately than siblings and friends would in today’s apparently more homophobic cultures. LGBTQ History Month - interestingl...