Many tend to think that members of the gay community are visible largely because of show business. Nothing can be farther from the truth. While the LGBT community is well represented in the entertainment industry, the literary world is filled to the rafters with gay authors, poets, and fiction writers who are either proud and out about their sexual preference, or at the very least have shown support for LGBT rights.
Oscar Wilde (The Importance of Being Earnest) is a flamboyant Irish writer and poet who is still referenced in modern times for his wit and humor. He was also openly gay even after getting married and becoming a father.
Oscar Wilde—George Eastman House (Flickr.com)
Truman Capote, who wrote In Cold Blood, was also widely known to be gay even as a young man. He was often seen to wear women’s clothing, and was perhaps best described in the conclusion of Capote, A Biography (1988):
Finally, when he goes to join the queer lady in the window, Joel accepts his destiny, which is to be homosexual, to always hear other voices and live in other rooms. Yet acceptance is not a surrender; it is a liberation. “I am me,” he whoops. “I am Joel, we are the same people.” So, in a sense, had Truman rejoiced when he made peace with his own identity.
Truman Capote—D Services (Flickr.com)
Other famous gay writers and staunch LGBT supporters include Walt Whitman, Virginia Woolf, Gertrude Stein, Sappho, and many more.
