Closet

Closet (pronounced kloz-it)

(1) A small room, enclosed recess, cupboard or cabinet for storing clothing, food, utensils etc.

(2) A small private room, especially one used for prayer, meditation etc.

(3) A state or condition of secrecy or carefully guarded privacy.

(4) A clipping of “closet of ease” or “closet of decency” and later “water closet” (WC), early names for the flushing loo (toilet; lavatory; privy with a waste-pipe and means to carry off the discharge by a flush of water).

(5) Of or pertaining to that which is private; secluded or concealed; undertaken unobserved and in isolation.

(6) To shut up in a private room for some purpose.

(7) A private room used by women to groom and dress themselves (obsolete).

(8) A private room used for prayer or other devotions (archaic).

(9) A place of (usually either fanciful or figurative in that typically it referred to the state of thought rather than where it took place) contemplation and theorizing (archaic).

(10) The private residence or private council chamber of a monarch accompanied by a staff establishment (page of the chamber; clerk of the closet etc) and related to the bedchamber (archaic).

(11) In a church, a pew or side-chapel reserved for a monarch or feudal lord (regarded as obsolete but the concept endures in that the order of precedence is often used when seating is allocated for ceremonial events conducted in churches).

(12) In heraldry, an ordinary similar to a bar but half the width.

(13) A sewer (Scots dialectical, now obsolete).

(14) The state of maintaining one's sexual orientation as a secret (“closeted” “in the closet”, “closet case” etc).

1300-1350: From the Middle English closet (a small private room for study or prayer), from the Old French closet (small enclosure, private room), the construct being clos (private space; enclosure) +‎ -et (the suffix used to form diminutives), from the Latin clausum (closed space, enclosure, confinement), the neuter past participle of claudere (to shut).  In French, it tended to be applied to small, open-air enclosures.  The suffix –et was from the Middle English -et, from the Old French –et & its feminine variant -ette, from the Late Latin -ittus (and the other gender forms -itta & -ittum).  It was used to form diminutives, loosely construed.  Some European languages picked up the Old French spelling while others used variations including Czech (klozet) & Spanish (clóset).  Closets can be tiny or fair-sized rooms so the appropriate synonym depends on context and architecture and might include: cabinet, container, locker, room, vault, wardrobe, bin, buffet, depository, receptacle, recess, repository, safe, sideboard, walk-in, ambry, chest of drawers & cold storage.  Closet is a noun, verb & adjective, closeting, closetful & closetry are nouns & verbs, closetlike & closety are adjectives, closeted is a verb & adjective; the noun plural is closets.

The adjective dates from the 1680s in the sense of “private, done in seclusion”, extended by 1782 as "fitted only for scholarly seclusion, not adapted to the conditions of practical life" (ie in the sense of the “ivory tower”).  The meaning "secret, not public, unknown" was first applied to alcoholism in the early 1950s but by the 1970s had come to be used principally (probably exclusively) of homosexuality.  This, and the earlier forms (closet anarchist, closet alcoholic, closet Freemason, closet smoker etc) were all based on the idiomatic “skeleton in the closet” (which existed also as “skeleton in the cupboard”), describing some undisclosed fact which, if revealed would cause reputational damage (or worse) to a person.  Literally, the imagery summoned was of someone with a human corpse secreted in a closet in their house, one which had sat there so long the flesh had decomposed to the bone.  The earliest known appearance in print was in 1816 but it’s not known how long it’d been in oral use and it usually implied culpability for some serious offence though not necessarily anything involving a corpse.

A walk-in closet.  To optimize space utilization, the hangers are very thin and covered with black velvet to ensure no fabrics are marked.  In a well-organized closet, items can be arranged in a number of ways such as color, season or type and some do it by manufacturer, the name of the label printed on rail-tags.

The phrase “come out of the closet” (admit something openly) was first recorded 1963 and the use rapidly became exclusive to homosexuals, lending a new sense to the word “out”.  This meaning itself became nuanced: “To come out” (openly avowing one's homosexuality) emerged as a phrase in the 1960s and was an overtly political statement (obviously different from the earlier “a confessed homosexual”) whereas “outing” and “outed” came to be used in the 1970s to refer to people making the homosexuality of others public knowledge.  Outing became controversial because of the argument (made sometimes by those within the gay community) that it was justified if exposing hypocrisy (usually a conservative politician who publicly condemned homosexuality while in private indulging in the practice).  In Spanish use (most notably in Latin America) the noun clóset is used to refer to the state of being secretly gay (from salir del clóset), the plural being clósets.

Lindsay Lohan in part of her walk-in closet, here choosing what to pack for an appearance at the Cannes Film Festival, May 2014.

The verb closet (shut up as in a closet) was originally usually for purposes of concealment or private consultation and dates from the 1680s.  The water closet (WC and described also in the helpfully descriptive terms “closet of ease” or “closet of decency”) was the ancestor of the familiar modern loo (toilet; lavatory; privy with a waste-pipe and means to carry off the discharge by a flush of water), the term first used in 1755 and later perfected by the famous plumber, Mr Thomas Crapper.  The phrase “walk-in” was used first in the 1890s as a slang term by hotel check-in clerks to refer to those arriving without a reservation (it’s now a standard statistical category in hotels) and by 1928 was used in many forms of commerce to mean “customer who arrived without an appointment”.  The “walk-in closet” was first advertised in the US in 1946 where it described a built-in wardrobe large enough to walk into, (some equipped with mirrors, tables, chairs etc) although, among the rich, such structures had for centuries been in use.

The Gay Bob Doll

Gay Bob; note the man-bag.

There’s evidence that for much of human existence, homosexuality has been at least widely tolerated and often accepted but in the West, under the influence of the Christian churches, it came to attract much disapprobation though even in the nineteenth century there were those who (without much success) campaigned for legislative and social change, the odd self-declared homosexual sometimes urging others to out themselves.  However, it wasn’t until the 1960s that the still embryonic “gay liberation” movement understood that “coming out en masse” was of importance because with critical mass came political influence.  Social attitudes did change and it was perhaps an indication of acceptance that in 2005 the cartoon show South Park could run an episode called Trapped in the Closet in which the Scientologist film star Tom Cruise (b 1962) refuses to come out of a closet (the episode entered industry jargon as “closetgate”).  Not discouraged by the threat of writs, South Park later featured an episode in which the actor worked in a confectionery factory packing fudge and was labelled a “fudge packer”.  Attitudes and legislative changes didn't always move in unison and things unfolded gradually but that process was still incomplete when, in 1977, the Gay Bob doll was released.  There is probably no phrase that better encapsulates gender-role stereotyping than “girls play with dolls and boys play with trucks” though, in the narrow technical sense, boys have long “sort of” had their own dolls because toy soldiers are (in a sense) a “doll” but everybody understands the difference and nobody confuses the two.

Gay Bob in his closet (with accessories and instructions).

That was what made the Gay Bob doll so subversive: it used a form structurally similar to the dolls parents had for generations bought for their daughters but was obviously something different and vested with a political message.  Even today, such a doll might be controversial (certainly in some countries or US states) but in 1977 when Gay Bob was released, the world was a different place.  Interestingly, some critics now argue that while in the West the legislative environment has become more liberal (same-sex marriage now lawful in many jurisdictions) the liberalization in social attitudes achieved in the decades since the mid-1970s have in some regions or sectors of the population reverted.

Clothes and accessories were available, including those for dressing the “gay farmer”.

By 1977, the winds of change clearly were blowing because in that year Harvey Milk (1930–1978; member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, 1978) became the first openly gay man elected to public office in California (it’ll never be known how many of his predecessors were closeted).  However, if Milk was out of the closet, Gay Bob was delivered neatly packaged in his own (cardboard) closet, buyers able to “out him” or put him back as circumstances dictated.  Designed as something of a caricature of popular film & television stars of the era, Gay Bob’s creator described the doll as perfect for “…an executive’s desk, dash board ornament, the attaché case, the bathtub rim or a health club gym bag”.  Of course, among the homophobic, Gay Bob could always be repurposed as a voodoo doll upon which unspeakable acts of violence could be visited so that was another niche market.  A notable feature was the doll’s “anatomical correctness”, presumably a sales feature but one that necessitated production being out-sourced to Hong-Kong because US manufacturers declined the contract. 

Gay Bob stepping out of the closet.

Just so there were no misunderstandings, Gay Bob was supplied with a fashion catalogue including an explanation:  Hi boys, girls and grownups, I’m Gay Bob, the world’s first gay doll.  I bet you are wondering why I come packed in a closet. “Coming out of the closet” is an expression which means that you admit the truth about yourself and are no longer ashamed of what you are.  Gay people are no different than straight people.  If everyone came out of their closets, there wouldn’t be so many angry, frustrated, frightened people.  It’s not easy to be honest about what you are, in fact it takes a great deal of courage.  But remember, if Gay Bob has the courage to come out of his closet, so can you! With an attitude like that, one can see why Gay Bob was such a threat. 

Popular since the nineteenth century, mail-order was the on-line shopping of the analogue era.  Lee Harvey Oswald (1939–1963) purchased the rifle (a military surplus 6.5 mm Carcano) he used to assassinate John Kennedy (JFK, 1917–1963; POTUS 1961-1963) via mail-order for US$19.95 plus US$1.50 P&H.

Conservative activists were of course appalled by Gay Bob, his anatomical correctness and threateningly optimistic message, describing it all as “a threat to family values” and more “…evidence of the desperation the homosexual campaign has reached in its effort to put homosexual lifestyle, which is a death style, across to the American people”.  The forces of capitalism either agreed or were unwilling to risk a backlash because attempts have the big department stores stock Gay Bob on their shelves were unsuccessful so the doll was sold via mail order, advertisements placed in gay magazines.  One doll cost US$19.50 (including P&H within the US) while a pair could be purchased at a discounted US$35.00 (and to take advantage of the anatomical correctness, buying a brace would presumably have been in vogue.)  Over 2,000 were sold within months and in liberal cities like New York and San Francisco and while some boutiques would later carry the product, it's unlikely any were seen on shelves south of the Mason-Dixon Line.  Something of a footnote to the LGBTQQIAAOP timeline, Gay Bob is a now a collector’s item, examples in good condition realizing over US$200 at on-line auction sites and those with a pristine, un-violated closet will command a premium.  That's the charming paradox: While Gay Bob existed as part of a movement to make easier “coming out of the closet”, among collectors, the doll is now most valued if Gay Bob remains sealed in.

The other Romish way

In the Closet of the Vatican by Frédéric Martel (b 1967).

The author of In the Closet of the Vatican was what used to be called “a confessed homosexual” and the book was a study of what the publisher described as “an account of corruption and hypocrisy at the heart of the Vatican”.  Blurbs of course rely on punchy phrases but it might have been better to suggest “some of corruption and hypocrisy” because the focus very much was on the matter of the “substantially gay priesthood” within the upper reaches of the Roman Catholic Church and some of the implications of that state, a central thesis being “the greater a prelate’s homophobia, the more likely it is he is gay”  “Behind rigidity there is always something hidden, in many cases a double life” was how Francis (1936-2025; pope 2013-2025) put it.  Remarkably, a large number of priests, bishops and cardinals agreed to be interviewed and while they did discuss topics such as the condemnation of the use of contraceptives, cases of sexual abuse by clergy and the collective misogyny of the priesthood, what emerged also was an amusing picture of an institution beset by internecine squabbles, careerism and Masonic-like plotting and scheming; in other words, within the Vatican’s corridors, things are pretty much the same as institutions everywhere.  It’s an entertaining read and one who emerges as a sympathetic figure is Benedict XVI (1927–2022; pope 2005-2013, pope emeritus 2013-2022), a theologian of pure thought overwhelmed by what he came to realize what his pontificate was confronting; he resigned because he realized not only could he not do what needed to be done but probably it couldn’t be done by anyone and, at least debatably, his successors have “solved” the problem by “doing other things”, taking the view it’s better to achieve small successes somewhere.

Titus Oates in the pillory as a punishment for perjury (1685), engraving by unknown artist.

The notion of the Vatican as “the world’s biggest closet” is of course amusing but the matter of a “network of gay clergy” probably has existed for a thousand years or more although in recent decades it has become better documented and, well before the scale of clerical sex abuse of minors became public knowledge, diaries and memoirs often contained sometimes oblique references to the phenomenon, even Hermann Göring (1893–1946; leading Nazi 1922-1945, Hitler's designated successor & Reichsmarschall 1940-1945) (an unlikely lay-theologian) remarking to one of the prison psychologists at the first Nuremberg Trial (1945-1946) of his impressions of young men and their mentors he’d observed during a visit to a seminary.  Centuries before, Titus Oates (1649-1705), at various times an Anglican and Roman Catholic priest (both offices held through some form of fraud, his life summed up by one historian as: “By birth an Anabaptist, by prudence a clergyman, by profession a perjurer”) had crafted a career as “a part-time religious conspirator and full-time homosexual” that saw him in 1685 sentenced to life imprisonment, the highlight of which was to be “…whipped through the streets of London five days a year for the remainder of his life”.  At least one public whipping was carried out, a diarist noting of one account: “I heard him say that he saw Oates, that discovered the Popish Plot, whipped according to his condemnation most miserably; and as he was hauled up the streets the multitude would much pity him, and would cry to the hangman or he whose office was to whip him, ‘Enough! Strike easy!’  To whom Mr Oates replied, turning his head cheerfully behind him, ‘Not enough! good people, for truth, not enough.’  That showed a certain commitment to the cause but it was the historian John Philipps “J.P.” Kenyon (1927–1996) in The Popish Plot (1973) who had an interesting slant of what was even then clearly the Catholic Church’s “structural closetism”: “The fact that Oates was an active and practising homosexual has always been known, but historians have evaded one obvious conclusion; that this explains the astonishing ease with which he was admitted to certain Catholic circles which one would have supposed barred a disreputable Anglican clergyman with heterodox leanings.”

The Church has a well-know position (some prefer “fudge”) on the subject, the official teaching being an inclination for same-sex attraction is “an objective moral disorder” yet it remains “not a sin to be gay” but it is sinful “if one succumbs and acts on the inclination” (ie you can have your cake but not eat it).  Neatly that encapsulates the advice a potential sinner’s confessor would be compelled to provide: “Stay in the closet my son”.  While not a book of verifiable statistics, Martel does quote the estimate of the pope’s former chief Latinist that “up to 80% of the Vatican staff could be gay” and while (one hopes) that’s impressionistic, such an official might be thought a NRS (normally reliable source) and while “80%” must be treated as “rubbery”, it does hint the real number would be “big”.  Martel’s point of course was the number was significant only in the content of the consequences and hypocrisy inherent in such a cabal administering a church with rigid doctrinal positions on just about anything to do with sex and gender and one gay priest did provide nuance to the “Vatican as a closet” model by suggesting it was more the place being “a honeycomb of closets” in which dozens of groups, factions and alliances all operated with their own secrets and while “everybody knew they had secrets”, they were known only to a few.  Counterintuitively, reaction to the book by the church establishment was one almost of relief because, while the interviews reputedly were extensive, what was published usually stopped short of “naming names” or detailing times and places unless such details were already in the public domain: there were no appendices of incriminating documents or other “smoking guns”.  So, from the Holy See came an almost dismissive “nothing to see here” which probably can be deconstructed as “our lawyers found nothing actionable” but reviewers generally were positive and, while acknowledging the limitations, did commend the word for its breadth of approach and sheer entertainment value although several did grumble about the lack of an index; the most diligent readers will seek the digital version. 

Gay

Gay (pronounced gey)

(1) Of a happy and sunny disposition (now rare except for historic references although "gay" is sometimes used in this sense when some mischievous ambiguity is sought); festive, bright or colourful.

(2) Given to or abounding in social or other pleasures; sexually promiscuous (of any gender although also often linked with prostitution (probably obsolete except for historic references).

(3) Of relating to, or exhibiting sexual desire or behavior directed toward a person or persons of one's own sex (homosexual); technically gender and sex-neutral but use tends now to be restricted to males.

(4) Of, indicating or supporting same-sex interests or issues.

(5) Slang term among certain classes of youth for something thought bad or lame; use now frowned upon in polite society.

(6) Quick, fast (obsolete).

(7) Of a dog's tail, upright or curved over the back.

(8) Considerable, great, large in number, size or degree (in dialects in Scotland and northern England and probably obsolete, some etymologists noting that the further north it was use, the more common spelling appears to have been "gey").

1275-1325: From the Middle English gay, from the Old French gai (joyful, laughing, merry), usually thought to be a borrowing of Old Occitan gai (impetuous, lively), from the Gothic gaheis (impetuous), merging with earlier Old French jai (merry) and Frankish gāhi, both from the Proto-Germanic ganhuz and ganhwaz (sudden).  Origin was the primitive geng or ǵhengnh (to stride, step”), from ǵēy or ghey (to go), cognate.  Word was cognate with Dutch gauw (fast, quickly) and the Westphalian Low German gau and gai (fast, quick) which became the German jäh (abrupt, sudden), familiar in the Old High German gāhi.  There is alternative view, promoted by Anatoly Liberman, that the Old French gai was actually a native development from the Latin vagus (wandering, inconstant, flighty) as in French gaine (sheath).  The meaning "full of joy, merry; light-hearted, carefree" existed from the beginning but "wanton, lewd, lascivious (though without any suggestion of homosexuality) had emerged at least by 1630 and some claim it can be traced back to the work of English poet Geoffrey Chaucer (circa 1344-1400).  The word gay has had various senses dealing with sexual conduct since the seventeenth century. Then, a gay woman was a prostitute, a gay house a brothel and, a gay man was a womanizer.

Irregular forms like gaydar or gaynessness are coined as required but in many cases, use of some outside the gay (or in certain cases the the broader LGBTQQIAAOP community) is socially proscribed.  There are at least dozens (and likely hundreds) of derived words and terms in which “gay” (in the sense of sexual orientation) appears, some positive, some neutral and some negative.  Use is highly nuanced and, as an example, if used of joyfulness, the comparative “gayer” & superlative “gayest” conveys the expected effect but if in the context of gay people, the meaning range can be wider and even within the gay community there's the notion of “excessively gay” which refers to affected behavior or exaggerated mannerisms.  Humorous constructions like “gaynessness” are often non-standard and should be used with caution.  Gay is a noun, verb, adjective and adverb, gayness, gayification & gaiety are nouns, gayify is a verb, gayer & gayest are adjectives and gayly is an adverb ; the noun plural is gays.

A few landmarks in the history of gay

Rootes Corporation (UK) advertisement for the Hillman Minx, 1955.  "Go gay" was an advertising slogan and not an editorial imperative; at this time, reflecting the early practice of newspapers, advertising was carried on the covers of magazines.  It was not until the 1960s the relationship between cover photography and the news-stand sales of magazines became better understood.

There’s a widespread perception that gay shifted meaning from describing happy folk or events to a chauvinistic assertion of group identity as an overtly political act dating from the late 1960s.  The specific use actually dates from the 1920s, the years immediately after the First World War when first it appeared as an adjective.  It was used thus by Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) in Miss Furr & Miss Skeene (1922), becoming widespread in certain circles in US cities by the late 1930s.  Academic literature picked this up and reports of gay as slang began to be cited in psychological journals in the late 1940s.  Later, archivists found the term gay cat existed as early as 1893 among itinerants in north-east American cities and the use clearly persisted, attested to in Erskine's 1933 dictionary of Underworld & Prison Slang.  Nothing is known about the author of this work and the name N. Erskine may be a pseudonym, one assumption being he had served time in prison.  However, not for decades would, in most of the English-speaking word, shift in predominant meaning from "happy; joyful".

Ford (UK) advertisement for the Cortina (1962-1982), 1963.

The letters on the license plate (HRT) attracted some wry comment when this image began circulating on the web but HRT (Hormone replacement therapy) refers to a class or regimes administered to women to treat the symptoms of menopause; the companion treatments in matters associated with gender being MHT (Masculinizing hormone therapy) and FHT (Feminizing hormone therapy).  As this example indicates, in 1963 the word “gay” was, in general use, still most used as a synonym of “happy; joyful”.  Nor would “HRT” have bothered the advertising agency because although as early as the late nineteenth century, research was being undertaken into using ovarian extracts to treat menopausal symptoms and the term “Hormone replacement therapy: had appeared in the medical literature in 1945, it wasn’t until the late 1960s the initializm began with any frequency to appear in such publications and not for two decades did it come into common academic use.  By the 1970s, manufacturers had of course ceased suggesting their cars were associated with gayness and because late in the century “HRT” had entered general use, a license plate including “HRT” probably also would have been avoided.

Lesbians (some in sensible shoes, some not) in Le Monocle nightclub, Paris, 1932, one of a series of “authorized” images taken by Brassaï (professional name of Hungarian–French photographer & writer Gyula Halász, 1899–1984).

An institution created as a dedicated space for lesbians, Le Monocle opened in 1926 and operated continuously until the occupation of France in 1940.  As might be imagined, the Nazis did not tolerate such places and among their first acts upon taking power in Germany in 1933 had been a swift crackdown on Berlin's thriving club scene for homosexual men, a milieu described vividly in the writings of Christopher Isherwood (1904–1986). 

Within the community, those “in the linguistic know” certainly made use of “gay” in the modern sense well before the 1960s.  The troubled English mathematician Dr Alan Turing (1912–1954) spent time in the US (taking his PhD at Princeton University (1936-1938)) and it may have been there he, by some path, became acquainted with the re-purposing.  Whether it was part of his general speech (at least is some circles) isn’t recorded but in 1951 he wrote a “short story” (three pages of which still exist) in which appeared: “Now that his paper was finished he might justifiably consider that he had earned another gay man, and he knew where he might find one who might be suitable.”  There is though little to suggest that in the early post-war years “gay” in that sense was widely used outside the US with “homosexual” still the prevalent term although it seems between gay man, it wasn’t uncommon for them to reclaim “queer”, then otherwise a gay slur.

Admiring glance: Lindsay Lohan (right) during her "L" phase with former special friend Samantha Ronson (left). 

It wasn’t gay’s first fluidity in meaning; for centuries it’d been used in reference to various flavors of sexual conduct, ranging from female prostitutes to womanizing(!) men, all while the traditional use continued in parallel.  The most recent shift, essentially an appropriation for political purposes, ended the duality and has become so entrenched this may be final.  This final shift began in the late 1960s and quickly won the linguistic battle, use of gay in the new sense being common, though not universal, throughout the English-speaking world within a decade.  Other things changed too, some quickly, some not.  When in 1974 the American Psychiatric Association (APA) issued the seventh printing of second edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-II (1968)), they (sort of) de-listed homosexuality as a mental disorder although it wasn't wholly removed the publication of until the DSM-III in 1980; legislative changes unfolded over many decades.  One practical effect of removing homosexuality from the DSM's list of mental disorders was that overnight, millions instantly were "cured", a achievement which usually would gain someone the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Flying the rainbow flag: Members of Gay Men Fighting AIDS with their pink SPG, London for Pride Parade, 24 June 1995.

In service with both the British and Indian armies variously between 1965-2016, Vickers built 234 of the FV433 "Abbot" 105 mm Self-Propelled Gun (SPG) Field Artillery vehicles, using the existing FV430 platform with the addition of a fully-rotating turret.  The factory project code (and informal military designation) was “Abbot”, in the World War II (1939-1945) British tradition of using ecclesiastical titles for self-propelled artillery (following the Bishop, Deacon & Sexton).  The official model name was “L109” but to avoid confusion with the US-built 155 mm “M109” howitzer, 144 of which also entered British Army service in 1965, this rarely was used.  While the sight of a cluster of gay men atop a pink SPG might have frightened a few, the thought of one in the hands of a pack of lesbians truly is terrifying.    

LGBTQQIAAOP: The Glossary: The generally accepted oral shorthand used to be “LGBT” but any truncation can suggest issues around the politics of hierarchy and exclusion.  The modern practice seems to be to use variations of “LGBTQI plus” (often written as LGBTQI+).

L: Lesbian: Women attracted only to women.

G: Gay: Men attracted only to men (historically gay can used to describe homosexual men and women but modern convention is still to use lesbian for women although many lesbians self-describe as gay).

B: Bisexual: A person attracted to both sexes.

T:Transgendered: A person who has or is transitioning to the opposite sex, as they were born as the wrong sex, in the wrong body.  The most obvious category to illustrate sex and gender are not synonymous.

Q: Queer: A non-heterosexual person who prefers to call themselves queer.  Often used by those in the queer art movement, especially by those who maintain there is a distinct queer aesthetic.  Queer used to be a term of disparagement directed at certain non-heterosexuals but (like slut in another context), became a word claimed and re-purposed.

Q: Questioning: Someone questioning their sexual orientation, either unsure of which gender to which they’re attracted or not yet ready to commit.

I: Intersex: Anyone anywhere on the spectrum which used to be defined by the term hermaphrodite.  Intersex is now the accepted term and hermaphrodite should be used only where necessary in the technical language of medicine.

A: Asexual: A person not sexually attracted to anyone or anything (sometimes styled as aromantic).

A: Allies: A straight person who accepts and supports those anywhere in the LGBTQQIAAOP range(s).

O: Objectum: A person attracted to an inanimate object.  Curiously, despite being the only category which, by definition, can't harm another, objectum is now the most controversial entry on the spectrum.

P: Pansexual: A person attracted to a person because of their personality; sex and gender are both irrelevant.

Crown Prince Wilhelm (1882-1951) of the German Empire (the so-called “Second Reich”, 1871-1918), on the Western Front, inspecting troops, circa 1915.

In popular culture, there definitely exists a number of tropes and clichés which are use as signifiers of “gayness” including “gay poses”.  A “pose” is a static thing but if a image in snapped while and individual is moving, what’s captured can look like the stereotypical stance of someone gay.  As far as is known, Crown Prince Wilhelm definitely was not gay.

One amusing footnote in the history of matters LGBTQQIAAOP is the persistent urban myth Queen Victoria (1819–1901; Queen of the UK 1837-1901) prevailed on the government not to include women under the provisions of “Gross Indecency contrary to Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885” because she didn’t believe there was anyone lesbionic in the world (or at least the British world).  Unfortunately, the tale almost certainly is apocryphal and no evidence has ever emerged suggesting the government even contemplated including lesbians in the legislation.  Anyway, Victoria clearly had no illusions men were capable of such things and without objection granted royal ascent to an act with the new phrase “Gross Indecency” (which covered the whole vista of “unnatural caresses”) and it was under this law the the Irish writer Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) was tried and convicted, receiving a sentence of two years.

Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas (1870–1945, left) and Oscar Wilde (1854–1900, right) in sepia, London, 1893.

It seems only to have been in the late 1960s the “Queen Victoria didn’t believe lesbians existed” story appeared in print when it was reported as “campus student lore” and it first attracted wide publicity when, during a lesbian rights demonstration in Wellington, New Zealand in 1977, protestors draped a statue of Victoria with a banner reading: “Lesbians Are Everywhere”.  No evidence (parliamentary records, government papers, royal correspondence etc) has ever emerged to suggest she was ever consulted about the matter or attempted to “warn, counsel or advise” and that’s in accordance with British constitutional law in which the monarch possesses no “line-item power of veto”; no king or queen had since the early eighteenth century withheld royal assent to a act.  While it was true Victoria did on occasion try to influence things (by threatening to abdicate), her interest was piqued by great matters of state or foreign affairs, not the details of criminal law, especially if something she’d likely have thought distasteful.  Historians have concluded lesbians were not included in the 1885 act because male politicians and churchmen (1) believed women were unlikely to engage in such acts and (2) if they did it didn’t really matter because it was just something women did.  Victorian legislators were more anxious about the threat of male homosexuality to patriarchal structures, military, and public schools.  However, as the diaries of many middle and upper-class chaps in twentieth century Britain attest, “unnatural caresses” between men remained far from uncommon.   

The Illustrated Police News reports the final Wilde trial, 4 May 1895.

There were though many judges and politicians who, drawing on classical literature and other sources, were aware of the long history of female same-sex activity but it does seem to have been thought an “upper class” thing of the drawing room set and thus less of a concern to the law, the argument being criminalising lesbianism would risk drawing attention to it and encouraging it among those “not of the better classes”.  However, in 1921 the House of Commons did vote to add women to the act because of the moral panic around the so-called “Black Book”, compiled during World War I (1914-1918) by the German espionage service which listed the names of thousands of “sexual perverts” (men and women).  Fearing the subjects may be subject to blackmail and thus a threat to national security the government decided to discourage such acts but the House of Lords rejected the bill, deciding that to acknowledge sapphism in statute was at some level to legitimize it in cultural discourse; their lordships thought it might give women ideas, never something of which men much approve.

The wheel: Tread-wheel and oakum-shed, City Prison, Holloway.

The “Gross Indecency” provision was called the Labouchère Amendment because it was introduced (apparently as an afterthought) by Liberal Party MP Henry Labouchère (1831–1912) during the late stages of debate on the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885.  As originally envisaged, the act primarily was concerned with raising the age of consent (from 13 to 16) and tackling child prostitution with Mr Labouchère adding his clause as a proposed amendment during the second reading (the substantive debate) after agreement mostly had been reached.  The wording of Labouchère’s amendment was clever in that it was an early example of “fuzzy law”, a vague, catch-all provision which, by not descending to specifics allowed to state to prosecute any conduct between men much beyond a handshake; to the many moralists in the state, it was delightfully vague with the additional attraction of not demanding as much evidence to secure a conviction.  What Dr Kevin Rudd (b 1957; Australian prime-minister 2007-2010 & 2013) might have liked to describe as “terminological exactitude” had, by the mid-nineteenth century, become an impediment to successful prosecutions because even though the wording in the statute of 1553 (dating from the reign Henry VIII (1491–1547; King of England (and Ireland after 1541) 1509-1547) had in 1861 been updated from “the detestable and abominable vice of buggery” to “the abominable crime of buggery”, the operative word remained “buggery” and thus a high standard was imposed on the evidential onus of proof (the responsibility of the prosecution which needed, beyond reasonable doubt, to prove the act (anal penetration) had occurred, when, where and between the two male persons alleged).  As late as 1861, a conviction could attract the death penalty and this had come to be regarded as too onerous a punishment for what was often a consensual act so, with little prospect of success, prosecutions had become rare.  By comparison, judges and juries could more easily be persuaded a “gross indecency” had been committed and, with capital punishment no longer available, juries in particular were more amenable.  

Truth, 10 February, 1937.

Henry Labouchère was described as “a paradoxical Victorian figure: a radical in some respects, yet profoundly reactionary in others, a defender of democracy and free speech yet the man who authored the repressive law used to persecute Oscar Wilde.”  That is however a modern view and on matters of personal sexual morality, the “small l liberals” of the nineteenth century probably tended to be as conservative as many of the era.  Also, there’s nothing novel about individuals holding apparently disparate views, Arthur Calwell (1896-1973; Australian Labor Party (ALP) leader of the opposition 1960-1967) in his memoir (Be Just and Fear Not (1972)) writing of one colleague: “…he was left-wing on some issues and right-wing on others, just as many men are.”  It's doubtful old Arthur Calwell ever thought to discuss politics with a woman but his point was well-made and Labouchère was in this vein, backing causes such as republicanism, extending the franchise, Irish Home Rule, opposition to the monarchy’s lavish spending, and anti-imperialism while being deeply prejudiced in other fields: he was anti-Semitic, homophobic and a puritanical moralist who helped entrench one of the harshest anti-homosexual laws in modern Europe.  He may also have had a financial interest, being the founder and editor of the popular weekly newspaper Truth, which specialised in muckraking exposés of corruption, quackery and hypocrisy.  The Truth often featured articles concerned with sexual “immorality” and giving the police scope to “scoop up” men performing “gross indecencies” upon each other would have provided much juicy content.