male homosexuality

…young man working as a homosexual hustler makes his way to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Rechy followed with Numbers (1967) and This Day’s Death (1969), both of which deal with obsession and identity. The Vampires (1971) concerns the nature of evil, and The Fourth Angel (1972) records the adventures…

…and unadorned examination of a homosexual main character. In 1974 Vidal explained to The Paris Review why he used what he called a “flat, gray, naturalistic style” in that novel:

…acclaimed work focuses on male homosexual society in America. His studies of evolving attitudes toward homosexuality and of the impact of HIV/AIDS on homosexual communities in the United States were significant contributions to contemporary sociological and social history.

In Classical times, strong homosexual attachments were another way in which values were inculcated, passed on by the older man (the erastes) to the younger eromenos, or beloved. The gymnasium was the venue where such relationships typically developed. As with the symposium, there was an almost ritual element to…

…and demonstrated the effectiveness of homosexuality as a form of bonding for elite troops.

…with the consolidation of male homosexuality as a distinct social identity, given legal definition at the time (in the Labouchere amendment of 1885, which criminalized homosexuality as gross indecency), not least in the famous case involving the arrest and imprisonment of Irish poet and dramatist Oscar Wilde. From this time…