LGBTQ+ History

From the Renaissance to today

The LGBT+ community primarily influenced the Renaissance period’s art.

Florence tolerated homosexuality more, but it was still a crime and not embraced publicly. Leonardo Da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli, and Benvenuto Cellini were arrested for sodomy several times. Michaelangelo faced sodomy charges but was acquitted because of his elite connections. He also never wanted to paint the Sistine Chapel and hated the Pope, who forced him to do so. Therefore, Michaelangelo retaliated against the pope by placing many hidden items in his work that the church would not approve of, such as hidden accolades to science and nude figures with men kissing in The Last Judgment.

Alan Turing was a British mathematician, scientist, computer science founder, and codebreaker who broke the code for the unbreakable Nazi Enigma machine the German government used to send messages to military commanders. Turing’s work enabled the Allies to defeat Hitler in WWII. The British government turned around and arrested him in 1952 for the crime of homosexuality. He was offered prison or chemical castration. He chose the latter and died by suicide in 1954. We will never know what other…