1960 - 1969
Under Construction
1960 Early. E.M. Forster meets the Hungarian refugee Mattieu Radev, obtains his address, and
writes 120 letters to him over the next decade.
Ross by Terence Rattigan – a play about T.E. Lawrence.
Opening the Field, poems by Robert Duncan.
We Think the World of You by J.R. Ackerley. The book describes Ackerley’s long affair with
a petty thief & navy-deserter, Freddie Doyle.
Lord Cucumber by Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell – published 1999.
Here Lies the Heart a memoir by Mercedes de Acosta. The implied hints of lesbianism ends
her friendship with Greta Garbo. Eva Le Gallienne denounced de Acosta as a liar,
but private correspondence proves there was a relationship.
September. E.M. Forster writes, on the suggestion of by J.R. Ackerley & William Plomer, the
long, explanatory ‘Terminal Note’ to the unpublished Maurice.
2 September. Newton Arvin (60), professor of American Literature has his apartment raided
by the police, from which “obscene” pictures and twenty intimate diaries are taken.
His career is ruined. He pleaded guilty to the transport of obscene materials & to
being a “lewd & lascivious person”. He received a 1-year suspended sentence, a
large fine & a long probation. He gives the names of 2 other homosexual men.
Michelangelo’s Cecchini poems published in English for the first time.
Frank Merlo provides confidence whilst Tennessee Williams is writing Night of the Iguana.
However, he feels betrayed when Williams confides to a reporter that he takes
barbiturates, when Merlo thought he’d managed to wean Williams off them.
Baldwin & Happersberger live together again, allowing Baldwin to complete Another
Country.
Checklist: A Complete, Cumulative Checklist of Lesbian, Variant & Homosexual Fiction in
English by Marion Zimmer Bradley & Gene Damon Zimmer.
George Jamieson undergoes a painful 7-hour transitional operation to become April Ashley.
Carol in a Thousand Cities, a collection of short stories by Ann Aldrich.
The Sabbath by Maurice Sachs – causes a scandal.
J.R. Ackerley visits Japan and enjoys a brief relationship with Saito, a businessman with
Nippon Beers brewery, and more rewardingly with Kinoshita, a Buddhist priest.
1961 Eros: An Anthology of Friendship by Patrick Anderson & Alistair Sutherland published. An
An anthology of male friendship, which fails to mention homosexuality.
October – Virgilio Pinera, a supporter of the Cuban Revolution, is arrested for being homo-
sexual.
Merchant Ivory productions is formed. Ivory & Merchant also become romantic partners.
Guy Hocquenghem (15) begins an affair with René Scherer, his high school philosophy
teacher. They remain lifelong friends.
The Sunday Pictorial has an article “How to Spot a Homo”, which includes suede shoes,
tweed jacket, pipe, effeminate manner & mincing steps.
E.M. Forster writes ‘Little Imber’ – a final homosexual story.
1960-1 The Heads of the Town up to the Aether by Jack Spicer – poems with some gay content.
c.1961 ‘Seven People Dancing’ by Langston Hughes is written around this time. A story depicting
Hughes’ attitudes to homosexuality and interracial sex.
1962 Another Country by James Baldwin. People of diverse racial and sexual identities struggle to
live among racism and homophobia.
Cyril Connolly writes ‘Bond Strikes Camp’. James Bond is sent to a gay club in London.
An Unofficial Rose by Iris Murdoch – includes a lesbian couple.
The World, The Flesh and Myself by Michael Davidson – addresses his homosexual life
frankly.
Quantities, poems by Richard Howard. Homosexuality is a significant theme.
Harvey Milk begins a relationship with Craig Rodwell, but is put off by the latter’s gay
activism.
Joe Orton & Kenneth Halliwell are arrested & imprisoned for defacing library books.
The Boy in the Basement by William Inge – a one-act play written in early 1950s has homo-
sexuality as its main theme.
De l’homosexualité by Edouard Roditi – exposes the injustice & inhumanity of the Judaeo-
Christian legal & social persecution of homosexuals in the West.
May. In Greece Mary Renault meets Colin Spencer for the first time. They begin a corres- pondence.
[William] John Vassall’s trial takes place. A homosexual convicted of treason.
Charles Henry Ford, novelist & poet, returns to America.
c.1962 Tamotsu Yato meets Meredith Weatherby, an American expatriate publisher. They
collaborate on several Yukio Mishima projects and become romantically involved
for a decade.
1963 Eros: An Anthology of Male Friendship edited by Patrick Anderson & Alistair Sutherland.
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John Le Carré. Ashe is portrayed as an effeminate
man.
We Two Won’t Last by Ann Aldrich.
Approaching the End by Gerard Reve – his first openly homosexual novel.
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima.
Stand Up Friend with Me, poems by Edward Field – homoerotic when about boyhood friend,
Sonny Hugg.
September. Frank Merlo dies of inoperable lung cancer, ending their 15-year-old same-sex
relationship.
Something in Common by Langston Hughes is published, which includes the overtly homo-
sexual story ‘Blessed Assurance.’
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee is performed. Critics have said it
represents the gay world of drag rather than a heterosexual marriage.
Bosie: The Story of Lord Alfred Douglas, His Friends and Enemies by Rupert Croft-Cooke.
Arena Three, a lesbian magazine is founded by Esmee Ross Langley. Iris Murdoch is involved.
Entertaining Mr Sloane and The Ruffian on the Stair by Joe Orton.
City of Night by John Rechy – a male hustler drifts from El Paso to New York, Los Angeles
& New Orleans.
The Servant starring Dirk Bogarde & James Fox, directed by Joseph Losey.
April Ashley marries the future third Baron Rowallan, but after a fortnight he runs off with
the male heir to a Spanish dukedom.
The Sunday Mirror published a 2-page guide on ‘How to Spot a Possible Homo’.
1964 A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood. A university teaches grieves after the sudden death
of his life-long partner.
Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts exhibits Edward Perry Warren’s Greek vases with homosexual
scenes for the first time.
Tiny Alice by Edward Albee is performed. It features a lawyer and a cardinal who are former
lovers.
It was probably this year that Truman Capote made an unsuccessful attempt to rescue Mont-
gomery Clift a victim of drink and drugs from being a prisoner in his own house.
Ali dagli occhi azzuri by Pier Paolo Pasolini – his adventures with boys.
Jonathan to Gide: The Homosexual in History by Noel I. Garde.
Childhood Game by Giovanni Comisso. A world-weary young European man is immersed
in the delights of Sri Lanka & China.
The Madness of Lady Bright, a one-act play by Lanford Wilson – features a drag queen.
Lost on Twilight Road by ‘James Colton’ ie. Joseph Hansen. Gay pulp fiction.
‘The Moral Decision about Homosexuality’ by Iris Murdoch in Man & Society.
Walter W. Jenkins, chief aide to Lyndon B. Johnson is arrested for disorderly conduct in the
same YMCA lavatory in which he was arrested in 1959. He is forced to resign.
Harvey Milk begins a romantic relationship with Jack McKinley (16).
Larry Rivers paints a provocatively gay picture of his lover Frank O’Hara, poet, playwright,
editor and critic.
Andrew Tobias begins his studies at Harvard obsessed to ensure no-one finds out he was gay.
Herbert Hunke (31), drug addict, and petty thief, is imprisoned for possession of narcotics. In
prison he writers a series of love letters to a young friend, Noah.
Juan Goytisolo Gay writes to his wife that he was irrevocably homosexual, which she
accepted. He was having sex with Arab men, whom he found less repressed.
A Message in Code: The Diaries of Richard Rumbold is edited by William Plomer. Rumbold
was a military man, whose homosexuality led him to suicide.
Andy Warhol films a long kiss between Mark Lancaster & Gerard Malanga.
The Daily Mail mentions a relationship between an outlaw and as Tory peer, and is sued for
libel by Baron Bob Boothby. Labour MP Tom Driberg was also involved with
Kray & Boothby importuning males at a dog track.
E.M. Forster makes a note: “When I am 85 how annoyed I am with Society for wasting my
time by making homosexuality criminal.”
Bernard Boursicot, French diplomat in Bejing, meets Shi Pei Pu (38), at a Christmas party.
Pu claimed to be a woman. They begin a fumbling affair in which Boursicot
never sees Pu naked. Boursicot is blackmailed into spying for the Chinese.
Homosexuality “may be tolerated by the French, but we are British – thank God.”
Luchino Visconti (58) meets his final lover Helmut Berger (20), Austrian actor.
1965 The City and the Pillar by Gore Vidal – revised & reissued from 1949 text.
Strange Marriage by ‘James Colton’ ie. Joseph Hansen. Gay pulp fiction.
Ma Vie by Serge Lifar – a self-aggrandising autobiography.
c.1965 When Did You Last See Your Mother? by Christopher Hampton. A play about adolescent
homosexuality, written and performed at Oxford University.
1966 First republication of John Wilmot’s Sodom: or, The Quintessence of Debauchery since 1684.
‘City Midnight Junk Strains’ by Allen Ginsberg, a love elegy for Frank O’Hara.
22 July. A naked Montgomery Clift is found dead by his companion Lorenzo James.
Autumn. The Mask of Apollo by Mary Renault.
Somerset and All the Maughams by Robin Maugham.
Where’s Daddy? a play by William Inge includes Pinky, who is openly homosexual.
Paradiso by José Lezama Lima – Jose Cemí, the young protagonist, has a friendship with 2
boys, with whom he has long discussions about homosexuality.
Mijn vriend Andre Gidé by Joseph Last - Last’s memoirs as a tribute to a great example.
An Alabama sodomy court case mistakenly mentions the historical precedent of Sodom &
Gomorrah.
Nearer to You by Gerard Reve – an openly homosexual novel.
You Dirty Ones, Do Dirtier Things by Matsuo Takahashi –celebrate homosexuality.
Ronnie Kray shot a man who allegedly referred to him as a “fat poof”.
Jean Sénac writes ‘Brahim the Generous’, which is a tribute to a lover.
Felice Picano leaves America for Europe that enabled him to “become a homosexual.”
The Paris Diary of Ned Rorem – includes homosexual encounters dating back to 1948.
Mattei Radev, a Bulgarian art conservator is arrested for cottaging. E.M. Forster offers to
speak for his character if his case comes up for trial. Radev avoids court by
paying a small fine.
Oliver Messel retires to Barbados with his long-term partner Vagn Riis-Hansen.
J.R. Ackerley sells 1100 letters to University of Texas from E.M. Forster for £6000.
Ramon Navarro is allegedly murdered by the dildo supposedly cast from Rudolph
Valentino’s member.
1966-7 Rev. Anthony Mercieca enjoys a 2-year relationship with future congressman Mark Foley,
who was still a child.
1966-8 Lord Byron, an opera composed by Virgil Thomson with libretto by Jack Larson.
1967 July. The Sexual Offences Act of 1967 based on some of the recommendations of The Wolf-
enden Report (1957) finally becomes law.
9 August. Joe Orton is bludgeoned to death by his lover Kenneth Halliwell.
A Meeting by the River by Christopher Isherwood, his final novel – a bisexual film-maker
attempts to prevent his younger brother from taking his final vows as a swami.
Numbers by John Rechy – Johnny Rio wants sex with a certain number of men in LA.
Where the Singers Come From by Severo Sarduy – free-floating sexual identities.
Paul Bailey drinks a glass of champagne with his partner to celebrate no longer being a
criminal.
The artist Francis Bacon did not want to be tolerated by the change in the law. “Tolerance is
so boring.”
Allen Ginsberg writes ‘Elegy Ché Guévara.’
Eustace Chisholm & the Works by James Purdy – intensely homophobic men are attracted to
each other, but cannot articulate their feelings, resulting in violence.
The Disposal by William Inge includes Archie, who is openly homosexual.
Feasting with Panthers: A New Consideration of Some Late Victorian Writers by Rupert
Croft-Cooke.
Variety Photoplays, poems by Edward Field. ‘Graffiti’ is gay, whilst ‘Sweet Gwendolyn and
the Countess’ & ‘Nancy’ are about lesbians.
The Damages, poems by Richard Howard. Homosexuality is a significant theme.
Billy Strayhorn dies from esophageal cancer in the arms of his partner, Bill Grove.
Donald Friend, Australian artist, lives in Bali for several years using young males as models.
Many of these models appear to have been underage.
Young Samurai: Bodybuilders of Japan by Tamotsu Yato. It contains many homoerotic
photographs including of Yukio Mishima.
Jean Sénac writes ‘La Course’, a poem which deals with thwarted love and lust.
The Wrong People by Robin Maugham.
1968 An enlarged & revised edition of Shakespeare’s Bawdy: A Literary & Psychological Essay &
a Comprehensive Glossary by Eric Partridge.
Naked Festival by Tamotsu Yato is published, which contains many photographs of naked
young men.
A Violent Life by Pier Paolo Pasolini – translated into English [1959].
Betrayed by Rita Hayworth by Manuel Puig published with problems in Argentina.
Allen Ginsberg writes ‘Elegy for Neal Cassady’.
The Naked Civil Servant by Quentin Crisp.
Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone by James Baldwin. The homosexual Eric plays a
redemptive role.
Total Eclipse by Christopher Hampton. Deals with the love affair between Rimbaud &
Verlaine.
The Palette by Hubert Fichte – set in a Hamburg bar’s underworld including gay men.
Sun and Steel by Yukio Mishima
Myra Breckenridge by Gore Vidal – a clinical sex change – proved controversial.
9 May. Mary Renault writes to the Commission of the South African House os Represent-
atives complaining that the homosexuals they were contacting were almost
certainly the promiscuous homosexuals who lived in an exclusive homosexual
set, but they should also hear evidence from the respectable and domesticated
homosexual.
September. My Father & Myself by J.R. Ackerley is published posthumously.
Michel Foucault begins a relationship with the gay activist Daniel Defert.
31 October. Film star Ramon Novarro is murdered after he was called by the Ferguson
brothers who offered their sexual services.
A North Carolina sodomy case refers to the: “famous Biblical lore in the story of the
destruction by fire and brimstone of the cities of Sodom & Gomorrah where the
practice was prevalent.”
Valentine Ackland dies of breast cancer, bringing her 30-year-union with Sylvia Townsend
Warner to an end.
Ronnie Kray was arrested allegedly while in bed with a blond young man. He later boasted
he was free from prejudice having tried Anglo-Saxons, Arabs, Chinese, Latins,
Negroes, Scandinavians & a Tahitian.
Tom Driberg MP was suspected of being a child abuser by the Met, but the DPP was advised
it was not in the public interest to continue with the case.
Reinaldo Arenas (25) claims to have sex with 5000 men by this date.
1968-9 Roland Barthes is a sexual tourist in North Africa, especially Morocco.
1969 What Percy Knew by H*nr* J*m*s by Louis Umfreville Wilkinson (Louis Madlow) is
published in a limited edition of 200 copies. Written c.1912.
Hubert Fichte begins writing his main work about the history of the sensibility, or the story
of the pettishness: Die Geschichte der Empfindlichkeit.
Keep the River on Your Right by Tobias Schneebaum – a travel book, including adventures
with naked Akarama cannibals.
‘Runaway Horses’ by Yukio Mishima.
Marks of Identity by Juan Goytisolo Gay, which addresses his new-found sexual openness.
This Day’s Death by John Rechy – exploring a gay sexual identity.
Playroom, a novel by Olivia Manning – contains a possible transvestite character & other
‘queer’ aspects.
Les Garçons by Henry de Montherlant – a pederastic interest in adolescent boys is revealed.
Luchino Visconti meets Helmut Berger during the filming of The Damned, and they become
lovers.
John Bruce sells his story of the 12-year whippings he administered to T.E. Lawrence in the
1920s & 30s.
My Father and Myself by J.R. Ackerley is published posthumously. Ackerley attempts to
discover if his father had homosexual relations when he was a young guards- man.
Textbook of Psychological Disorders by Clifford Allen: “I have seen many homosexuals and
am able to observe them in a crowd by minute gestures, tones of speech, & so on.
Bibliography
Ackroyd, Peter, Queer City: Gay London From the Romans to the Present Day, London: Chatto & Windus, 2017.
Aldrich, Robert, Gay Life Stories, London: Thames & Hudson, 2023.
Aldrich, Robert & Garry Wotherspoon (eds.), Who’s Who in Gay & Lesbian History: From Antiquity to World War II: London,
Routledge, 2001.
Bray, Alan, The Friend, University of Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2003.
Griffin, Gabriele, (ed.), Who’s Who in Lesbian & Gay Writing, Routledge: London, 2002.
Norton, Rictor, My Dear Boy: Gay Love Letters through the Centuries, San Francisco: Leyland Publications: 1998.
Rowse, A.L., Homosexuals in History, London: Wiedenfeld & Nicholson, 1977.
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