Goethe and the gay-friendly approach

The term "gay friendly" is commonly used to designate places and institutions that make an effort to welcome gay men and lesbians. Gay friendly, however, are also courageous individuals who without having any personal stake in the matter defend gay rights, sometimes vociferously. A case in point is the NFL player Chris Kluwe, whose energetically stated writings leave no doubt where he stands.

While this enlightened approach is currently prominent, it is not new. Perhaps the first eminent gay-friendly person was the German writer J. W. von Goethe (1749-1832). Basing himself largely on his studies of classical antiquity, Goethe repeatedly stressed the continuity and naturalness of same-sex love. Until recently, there have been efforts to obscure this aspect of the writer's work, especially in Germany, where he is a national institution. Conversely, a few have sought to "out" Goethe, even though it is unlikely that he ever gave physical expression to his perceptions.

The tendency to posit a "gay Goethe" illustrates an uncritical tendency that sometimes occurs in histories of homosexuality - to reason from the work to the life. Once the continuity of the gay-friendly theme is recognized, this mistake should become less common.

My observations stem in large part from a book by an American Germanist who teaches in England. I have just finished reading it, and it seems pretty definitive though hard going at times. It seems that an English-language version is not coming, at least not soon.http://www.amazon.de/Goethe-M.../dp/3458175423/ref=sr_1_2...

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  Goethe Männer Knaben: Ansichten zur >Homosexualität<​

  Goethe Männer Knaben: Ansichten zur...
• Evidence adduced by Wilson includes the following: the early poem "Ganymed" in which Goethe presents the Phrygian youth not as a victim of abduction but as the actor in a freely chosen pantheistic vision of ascent; such male-male partnerships as thoseof Apollo and Hyacinth and Antinous and Hadrian; the gay archaeologist Winckelmann as the exemplar of wholeness; Mephisto's sparing of Faust's soul in the penultimate scene of Part II because he is enchanted by the beauty of the boy angels; and finally Goethe's presentation of Saki the cup bearer as a gay favorite in his last collection, the "Divan," based on Persian poetry.