20 people in history you didn't know were queer

Yes, we've always been here and doing amazing things. The world would not be what it is today if it weren't for the extraordinary queer folks who made history.

Florence Nightingale

Henry Hering/public domain

Not only was Florence Nightingale a pioneer in the field of nursing, she also was reportedly a Sapphic who once wrote: "I have lived and slept in the same beds with English Countesses and Prussian farm women. No woman has excited passions among women more than I have,” in her memoir.

William Shakespeare

John Taylor/Ppublic domain

While perhaps best known for his many plays William Shakespeare also famously wrote sonnets, to both men and women.

Julius Caesar

public domain

Julius Caesar may have been the first emperor but he was also a bisexual king. At 19 he had a an affair with King Nicomedes of Bithynia but also engaged in many adulterous affairs with women.

Hadrian

sailko

Roman Emperor Hadrian famously having erected a wall marking the edge of Roman rule in the modern day United Kingdom, which bares his name. But he also was well known for his romance with male consort Antinous.

Alexander the Great

public domain

Alexander the Great is another world conquerer who took both male and female lovers. There are historical records like that written by Plutarch about Alexander which seemingly document him having relationships with men and women,

Audre Lorde

Elsa Dorfman

Audre Lorde has famously said, "Your silence will not protect you." She was an outspoken writer, lesbian, and feminist when she was alive, and we are all too lucky to still have her literature around so we can continue learning from her wisdom.

Bayard Rustin

public domain

Bayard Rustin is the famous activist who helped Martin Luther King organize marches and demonstrations during the Civil Rights Movement. Not many know his name today, but his contributions as an out LGBT person during that era should be celebrated.

Billie Holiday

William P. Gottlieb/public domain

Billie Holiday was openly bisexual in the 1930's. *mic drop*

Cary Grant

public domain

According to Cary Grant's daughter, the iconic Hollywood actor "liked being called gay."

Chavela Vargas

miguelca/Shutterstock

Chavela Vargas came out of the closet when she was 81 years old in the most awesome way possible. She told El País, a newspaper in Columbia, in 2000: “Nobody taught me to be like this. I was born this way. Since I opened my eyes to the world, I have never slept with a man. Never. Just imagine what purity. I have nothing to be ashamed of.”

Eleanor Roosevelt

public domain

Eleanor Roosevelt was the HBIC in the White House during her husband's tenure. Let's be real. It was long rumored that she had a verrrry close relationship with a female reporter back in the day.

Emily Dickinson

public domain

Emily Dickinson, the poet and recluse, was rumored to be bisexual based on some letters she wrote to her sister-in-law that were uncovered posthumously.

Greta Garbo

public domain

The New York Times says that Greta Garbo, the actress, "called homosexual affairs 'exciting secrets.'" That is all.

Langston Hughes

Gordon Parks/public domain

Langston Hughes, the iconic American poet, is believed to have hidden "gay codes" in his poems, according to the University of Illinois, Springfield.

Leonardo da Vinci

public domain

Ever heard of some painting called the Mona Lisa or The Last Supper? Leonardo da Vinci created both of those iconic works of art.

Lorraine Hansberry

David Attie/Getty Images

Lorraine Hansberry blessed the world with A Raisin in the Sun AND she was the inspiration for Nina Simone's "To Be Young, Gifted and Black."

Sally Ride

public domain

Sally Ride was the first woman to fly in space AND the first queer woman to fly in space. Where is her biopic at? The world needs it.

Tennessee Williams

Orlando Fernandez, World Telegram staff photographer/public domain

Tennessee Williams wrote some of the most ICONIC American plays. Where would we be without A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof?

Virginia Woolf

George Charles Beresford / Adam Cuerden/ public domain

Virginia Woolf brought the world A Room of One's Own, and it's no surprise that queer women today still love and fawn over Ms. Woolf.

Walt Whitman

George Collins Cox/ public domain

Walt Whitman's Calamus poems became a part of the queer canon of literature because of the love between dudes expressed in the poems.

20 people in history you didn't know were queer