The Gay 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Gay Men and Lesbians, Past and Present

Rating:
Summary: A Starting Primer...
Review: "There is no doubt that if it became widely known _who are_ the Uranians, the world would be astonished to find so many of its great or leading men among< them."
-- Edward Carpenter, 1908. [from book-- "Uranian" referring to one of the titles associated with Aphrodite, or "the heavenly Aphrodite," who was supposed to be the patroness and inspirer of love between males, as mentioned in Plato's _Symposium_.]
This volume is an excellent "beginners" guide to knowledge of the well known, and not so well known, gays, bisexuals, and lesbians in history. The members of this group, each, has 3 or more pages devoted to his or her life and influence on culture. As the author, Paul Russell, states: "Whether tangible or intangible, evidence that a person's legacy continues in the world, luminous and alive, is what I have sought in attempting to gauge the extent of his or her influence. By influence, then, I mean the ability to effect change, to reconfigure the parameters, to leave in one's wake
a set of challenged assumptions and transformed lives. For the purposes of this particular ranking of influence, I have asked myself a twofold question: How has the individual in question, specifically as a gay man or lesbian, contributred both to history in general and to gay/lesbian identity in particular?" Thus, there are persons included from all areas of influence: philosophers, poets, playwrights, scientists, novelists, social reformers, female liberationists and equal status advocates, generals, rulers and emperors, painters, sculptors, composers, ballet dancers and impresarios, film directors, actors, actresses, and others.
This is not a sensationalist work, nor is it meant as a scholarly study. The lives are interesting, informative, and upbeat -- but not glitzy or poorly written. The person who is very knowlegable about gay history and contributions may find some notable omissions (several composers are listed in one of the lives, but they do not have sections of their own in the volume)-- others, with less knowledge will find the work a very helpful beginner's informative guide.
There are a few inclusions which some might find questionable -- or troubling to themselves -- as well as some omissions which might cause the same response. Some of the perhaps "troubling" ones (but the author explains the reason for their inclusions within the sections) are: the inclusion of Socrates (who wrote nothing), but not Plato (who wrote the _Dialogues_ in which Socrates gives voice to his thoughts), St. Augustine, Emily Dickinson, David and Jonathan (from the Bible, though many writers through the centuries have emphasized the phrase from Samuel II, "your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women" as speaking of a special type of male bonding beyond mere friendship), and perhaps a few others. The best words to sum up the value of the work come from the author himself in the "Introduction": "One of the ways by which gay men and lesbians have survived through the centuries is by recognizing one another in the various disguises we have worn. We have survived on the consolation of knowing there were others like ourselves. We have been given courage by the rare example of someone like ourselves who has burned brightly in the imagination. We have been fed by the creative dreams and visions of our comrades, widely scattered and persecuted and all but silenced
though they may be. The men and women whose names were secretly whispered, repeated, cherished as homosexual helped create and sustain that amorphous phenomenon we know today as gay culture. These people have signaled who we were, who we might one day be. Their example has answered the world's calumny, has put the lies and stereotypes to rout, has enhanced our sense of possiblity." -- Paul Russell.

Rating:
Summary: Good message, questionable ranking and inclusions
Review: THE GAY 100 seeks to dispell the myth that gays and lesbians are dangerous and that their presence in popular consciousness is a new phenonemon. In fact, as the book points out, gay men and lesbian women have been an integral part of society from ancient times.

THE GAY 100 is certainly an interesting read, and the biographical information provided is enlightening. This is a well-written book. But the problem is that, one, how can we really know a "ranking" is accurate? And, two, how can we really know who was gay? THE GAY 100 makes it clear that some people did not come out until shortly before their deaths, and others never came out at all. This sort of speculation leads to some dubious inclusions, the most striking being Emily Dickinson, Anna Freud (daughter of Sigmund Freud), and Madonna.

THE GAY 100 admits that there is no tangible evidence of Emily Dickinson having affairs with *anyone* (male or female), but proceeds to rank her as an influential lesbian because she has been adopted as an icon by many lesbian women, and because she seemed at war with "the patriarchy." Madonna is included as a lesbian because she has "contributed to creating a society more tolerant of gays and lesbians" by using aspects of gay culture in her art, and has admitted to lesbian experimentation. Anna Freud is included because she never married and had a close friendship with a female colleague. Am I the only one who sees something a bit odd about this? Does a person become gay because they are adopted as an icon by the gay community? Does experimentation that was eventually abandoned for a heterosexual marriage, make one a lesbian? Does having a close friend of the same gender, and never having married, make one a homosexual? Apparently they do by the author's standards. But I think that many people would question this judgment.

The dubious inclusions of certain people on this list seems to detract from THE GAY 100. I think the author would have done better to forgo judgments on who is the most influential, and to let go of who is gay and who isn't. Maybe this could have been the criteria: those supportive of gay rights . . . those who furthered the cause of tolerance. The result of the dubious inclusions is that rather than driving home the message of gays as a postive cultural force, THE GAY 100 drives home the question of what qualifies one as being gay. That's an interesting question . . . but I don't think it was the one the author intended to raise.

Rating:
Summary: very interesting book, but.....
Review: This is a very readable and useful book, I appreciate it. However, almost of all people in the book are the westerners with few exception ;( Mishima Yukio and Hafez ). Therefore, you cannot find famous Arabian, Persian, Turkish, Indian, Chinese, Japanese gay & lesbian people. And in the book, there do not exist important figures like Platon, Epameinondas, Harmodios and Aristogeiton et al. In addition , even Jean Cocteau, Ludwig 2nd , Truman Capote, Somerset Maugham, and Luchino Visconti also are absent.