Bonus! A brief history of gay Pirates, Kings, and Mollies

Okay so the thing about the molly houses is that we don't really know exactly what went on in there because it's mostly just accusations by polemical right-wing moral reformers, and one thing we have very clear evidence of these days is that polemical right-wing moral reformers absolutely do not hesitate to lie. That being said, you might want to check out the Reverend John Church, an actual ordained minister who is said to have performed wedding ceremonies for same-sex couples (https://rictornorton.co.uk/church.htm). Also, I haven't actually read it yet, but a friend of mine recommended me a book called The Marriage of Likeness: Same-Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe, by John Boswell, which from the sound of it seems as though it could have some useful info for you!

For an excellent history lesson about King James the sixth and first as well as George Villiers, I would thoroughly recommend https://youtu.be/S_dnFGHfMSM?si=q_gqCGARlg8IYdBM

Anyone who read the ridiculously long essay that I wrote on the Heated Rivalry post from last week would probably peg me as hockey romance groupie. That's not far off I suppose, but I actually came to Hockey romance novels fairly recently. My sister was the one who was into gay hockey books before long before I was, and suggested that I read the novel "Him" and its sequel "Us" by Elle Kennedy and Sarina Bowen. I resisted at first as I muscle-bound athletes are far from my type – either in real life or in narrative form - so why would I even bother? So, imagine my surprise when I was quickly hooked into the narrative, and practically against my will, became an actual fan of gay hockey fiction. Soon after, I discovered Rachel Reid's series and I was off to the proverbial races. Connected to this current post though, my first and most enduring gay literary love was actually historical fiction. I’m not really sure why. While I do like historical stories generally, I don’t make a special effort to seek them out, like I wouldn’t read a whole tome about politics in Victorian England for instance – unless it happened to be in the service of a romance between a Viscount and a Baronet – then I would be all over it. Go figure. Anyways suffice to say, the Molly House as a setting comes up an awful lot in gay historical romance given that a lot of them then to be written within Victorian settings. I think the reason why I love these books is because it's a fascinating window on Queer men, who were in so many ways no different than me, but they have a totally different attitude on what being Queer was that was completely born of the time. Stripped from the hundreds of years of activism and politics that came later, they still found to adapt, to make connections, to have love in their lives. It's inspiring, if nothing else. It goes to show that no matter what comes against us, we still have it in us to find a way towards some kind of happiness. If any one is looking for gay historical fiction recommendations, my top author is probably K.J Charles who I think is absolutely brilliant. For newbies, I would suggest starting with her Society of Gentleman series. I also loved her Will Darling series, although this is far more recent history. I was also a big fan of the Enlightenment series by Joanna Chambers, as well as most of the stories I've read from Cat Sebastian (who writes a balance of both victorian and more recent historical fiction just like KJ.)

From Spain, Galicia: there's a book (in galician) called "Vidas e historias LGTB da Idade Media" (LGBT lives and histories from the Middle Age) by Carlos Callón, who analyzes that subject focusing on galician and portuguese texts. Some points to remark from the book: - Explains how many 19th century historians tergiversed and even altered historical texts to hide homosexual love references because it didn't fit their narrative (changing the sex of the person they talked about for example). - Talks about how even back then some people were aware of the concept of exclusive attraction to one gender, not just "acts" (for example, a troubadour talking about a famous courtesan who liked only p***y and as much as him, and arguing that wasn't slander towards her). - How homosociality was far more accepted and their standards of sex (basically only penetration) and the role of each person in the sex acts were more important. - How things started to change with king Alfonso X who wrote Castilla's first official persecution of homosexuality (though it didn't gain traction until the start of modern age). - How the term "sodomite" as a descriptor was made up by him and linked Sodom's crimes with homosexuality, which while not the first, those who said it earlier in history were in the minority and Sodom's crime was mostly being hurtful towards guests and unhospitality. Unfortunately the book is only in galician and since many references to the topics in old texts were using old wordplay I'm not sure how accessible it would be to you even with a translator, but given this info and the importance of Castilla's invasions in the modern age to spread its conquest and ideology, it seemed relevant to unveil the modern understanding of how homosexuality was perceived and tergiversed, and myths VS facts.