Gay stories and pics
A beautiful group of photographs that spans a century (1850–1950) is part of a new novel that offers a visual glimpse of what life may have been enjoy for those men, who went against the law to find love in one another’s arms. In Loving: A Photographic History of Men in Passion 1850s–1950s, hundreds of images tell the story of adore and affection between men, with some clearly in love and others hinting at more than just friendship. The collection belongs to Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell, a married couple who has accumulated over 2,800 photographs of “men in love” during the course of two decades. While the majority of the images hail from the United States and are of predominantly white men, there are images from Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, France, Germany, Japan, Latvia, and the Combined Kingdom among the cache.
What do images of men in love during a time when it was illegal explain us? What are we looking for in the faces of these people who dared to challenge the mores of their moment to seek solace together? Flipping through the book, it wasn’t that I felt that I learned a fantastic deal about organism LGBTQ, but what gave me comfort was the feeling that we
Our life in 17 photos: A gay sailor’s love story
February 06, 2013
On a warm fall sunlight nearly two years ago, Dwayne D. Beebe sat anxiously on the edge of the Plaza Fountain in Plaza Ferdinand Park in Old Pensacola, Florida. He was waiting for the arrival of Jonathan Franqui, the male he had met nearly a month before and with whom he found an instant connection. It was their first true date - after over a week of talking on the phone and texting about their lives, learning about each other's families and friends and existence aspirations, they were finally conference up in person. When Jonathan arrived at the park, Dwayne stood up from his seat on the fountain and, without a word, pulled two coins from his pocket. He held them up and said to Jonathan, "The first thing we are going to do is make a wish in this fountain with these two coins." They silently reflected on their wishes, and together, threw them into the water.
Jonathan and Dwayne have never shared with each other their wishes that evening. But if their wishes were at all related to something positive and life-changing emerging from their first date, it's guarded to say that their wishes have come true. "We've been inseparable s
23."At around 28 years aged, I had a decent grasp that I'm overwhelmingly gay, with some uncommon and specific attraction towards women. I wasn't interested in doing anything sexual for the first 23 years of my being, including masturbation. Then my internal sexual ‘switch’ was turned on. I gradually developed more and more sexual tension to the point it was feeling distressed. After a scant months of experiencing very novel and intense sexual feelings, I overcame my fear of masturbation and started doing it to various kinds of unbent and gay porn. It didn't take long to figure out that I liked men to an extent, but it took me years to flesh out the details."
"At 30 years old, I experienced sexual attraction to a man for the first time after we’d been online friends for a month. I came out to some close online friends and got into online dating for the first time. Then COVID happened and online virtual dating became too stressful, so I'm holding off on meeting prospective partners until it’s more safe.
My next goal is to say my parents and family about my sexuality. That's still a work in progress." —u/rbtur
See Photos of Lgbtq+ Men in Adore Dating Back to the 1850s
LGBTQ+ Pride
A Smithsonian magazine extraordinary report
A new exhibition features romantic snapshots found at flea markets, antique shops and online auctions
In a series of photographs, men from around the planet kiss, hug, picnic and gaze into each others’ eyes. So far, more than 4,000 such images—all taken between the 1850s and 1950s—have been found.
Now, 400 of these romantic snapshots are on display at the Musée Rath in Geneva, Switzerland, which hosts the Musee d’Art et d’Histoire’s temporary exhibitions. The show, titled “Loving,” is based on the 2020 photography book Loving: A Photographic History of Men in Love by Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell.