Did you know?

[Sig]

Was anyone here aware that Richard the Lionheart and Joan of Arc were gay?

[Sminja]

Beware, the other members have put you on the good list for know, but be warned. I feel this topic can be considered close to what me and T.F.O. used to do, so be warned that if your topic is about mindless spamming, the other peeps will come get you...

[fuzzyoctopus]

First of all, it's Joan of Arc.  Joan of Ark would be Noah's wife.

Second of all, give us proof, or a link to an article, not a random thing that - for all we know- you pulled out of thin air.

[Sig]

Sminja, thank you for the warning, and Fuzzyoctupus, i will as soon as i find the url for the website I got it off of.

[fuzzyoctopus]

Also, thirdly - and this is just a pet peeve of mine- what difference does it make if they were gay?
It's not like homosexuality is something we made up in the last 50 years.  My professor was trying to convince me that Plato was gay.  

SO WHAT?

Does being gay make them less or more imporant in history?  Does it make what they did less important?  No!  Labeling people who have been dead for centuries as gay has NO POINT, except to give people the idea that they're gossiping.  About people who we'll never even know the truth about!  

If Plato was gay, so what?  He was still one of the most brillant men who ever lived, WHO CARES?

[Sminja]

Sig cares...

[Sig]

It makes no difference. I have nothing against homosexuality, but, in my opinion, it is an interesting point. I'm sorry if I have offended you in some way.

[Sminja]

Son't worry, you probably didn't offend her, she's just stating an opinion. Anyway, I think that if you can come up with plausible evidence on how it affected their lives/history, than it is worth mentioning. If it doesn't affect them at all...well, let's just try to prove that it did.

(Nick, check your private messages! I sent you one)

[Sig]

How do I check out my private messages?

[Sminja]

Go to the 'Home' link on the top of the page and click on it. On that page, scroll to the bottom, and you should see the info center box. It will tell you if you have any private messages. Click on the number you have, and it will take you to them. Back to Joan and Richard...

[fuzzyoctopus]

Sig, he's right, it's not you offending me.  It's just a tendency that our world seems to have, and that does sort of offend me.  It seems like the only reason they do it is so they can say "See, look this really famous person was gay, and look he was successful AND smart too! WOW!"

That just seems so offensive.  It's like you're at the funeral of a famous sports player, two guys are standing there. One guy says, "Man, he was so amazing, the way he played sports was unbeatable." and the second guy says, "Yeah, you'd never know that he only slept with redheads."

[Sminja]

I guess, in a sense, that's kinda disrespectful, huh?

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

Joan of Arc was most likely not gay. We probably won't know, since she died less than 10 years after entering puberty. She was fanatically devoted to the Catholic Church, and made everyone in her army go to mass at least once A DAY. the Catholic Church hated gays (still does). It is unlikely Joan was gay for these reasons, and also because she planned to marry after the war was over and was quite the romantic (y'know, barring the whole burned at the stake thing).

[JP Dogberry]

Depending on when Plato lived (don't know my history well enough) I may have to argue that he couldn't have been gay, since the contruct of "Gay" wasn't invented until later. Yes, Entropy, this is that discussion I was having with you over IM.

No, gay wasn't invented in the last 50 years, It was invented late 19th centuary. Before that, men with a preference for sleeping with men existed, but they we're not "Homosexuel" as that implies a whole range of other things about the person that did not go along with the idea then. (These are all ideas I've recently been looking at at uni. May as well mention that so I don't get acused of plagerism)

[Master Xaio]

Plato was an ancient greek, who lived in greece (funny thing that) during the classical period of athens, during the 400BCs.  

As it is the ancient greeks we are talking about, well, to them homsexuality, or at least the sexual preference for men was accepted among them, unlike the main views of today, so i'd have to agree with jp.  'gay' wasn't invented till later, like homsexuality.

wasn't that fun....