Tag Archives: Vintage Gay

This photo comes from the private group on Facebook, Vintage Working Man Beefcake. I always like getting photos of servicemen because their uniforms can usually help date and sometimes even locate the men. Does anyone recognize these uniforms? When or where do you think this chummy couple is posing? I love how the guy on the left is clasping the hand and they lean in to each other despite the camera obviously being quite a distance away from them.

I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.

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Much thanks to my friend Jim L for sharing this photo with the hand written note “Let not your hearts be troubled”. I can’t imagine what that might be referring to and think the heart-shape cut out for the photo seems quite sweet. Does anyone have any guesses on when or where this photograph may have been taken?

I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.

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This week’s vintage gay post breaks with tradition because (try as I might) I could not find a photo of Lewis Duckett and Dr. Billy Jones from years past. The image above is from their wedding in 2013. When this photo was taken, they had already been together for 46 years, having met just prior to Dr. Jones being sent overseas in the Vietnam War. He and Lewis would write to each other almost every day but because being gay was a crime and potentially career-ending, they wrote in code, often with Duckett using a pseudonym, posing as a woman to be able to write more freely about his feelings for Jones. Jones would return safely from Vietnam and the two men would go on to adopt a child and eventually become grandparents. You can learn more about these amazing men by Googling their names, but I first learned about the couple reading, Famous Black Gay Couples in The Spotlight on Black Gay Blog.

I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.

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I believe this may be a photo from the 1980s on Fire Island. I thought it was the perfect photo to share as we go into Memorial Day Weekend because so many of us here in the Northeast have been waiting for the summer to start. It has been a long year and warmer weather and sun makes for great medicine.

I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.

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If you like my weekly vintage gay posts and are on Pintrest, I suggest you follow Jeff Stookey. His account collects vintage images that you are certain to enjoy. I want to thank him for reaching out and sharing his account. It is rare to find photos of men of color from the past. According to Jeff’s Pintrest post, this photo dates back to the 1920s, but I’m unsure where this may have been taken or the nature of the relationship of these two men. Perhaps they are friends, or perhaps there is more than meets the eye to their relationship.

I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.

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Much thanks to my friend Jim L for sharing this playful photo of what I’m assuming are three friends that dates back to the 1910s. There are two lines of text embossed at the bottom of the photo that I can’t quite make out. I beleive the second line is “Eyesville” but I couldn’t find any references online and cannot be certain. Does anyone have any guesses where this may have been taken?

I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.

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The grainy photo makes it difficult to see the photo but they appear to be on a boat or by the water and very happy together. Despite the aging photos spots and deterioration, it is easy to see that they appear relaxed and happy. Anyone have a clue when this photograph may have been taken?

I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.

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Much thanks to my friend Jim L. who shared this photo with me. I love it when you get a photo with a note like this one shared between these two men. The note of love reads like poetry. It makes me want to know more about the man [NE] who wrote this and what happened to these two men.

“Only to hold your hand in mine. Make me forget my tears. Hope on my pathway seems to shine. The sad world appears when in your eye love light I see all the sad world is true telling me that you are to me all that I am to you. NE”

Dunlop, Missouri – August 24, 1911

I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.

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Much thanks to Joseph a fellow blogger who stumbled upon this photo while he was doing research for his own blog, Academic Nudes of the 19th Century. He said the photo dates back to the 1930s. I am guessing the photo was taken in or near Mulhouse, France based on the shirt worn by the handsy guy in the first row on the far right.

Photos from the 19th century and first few decades in the 20th century can sometimes be sexually ambiguous, but I find such photos interesting and can’t help but make up stories about the men in these pictures. In this case, I’m drawn to the intimacy of three of the men. The gentleman in the middle of the second row affectionately has his hands on both shoulders of his teammate in front of him. Then there are the two in the first row with their interlocking legs. This would be enough to turn my head but the playful pinch from the friend on the far right suggests he is either a prankster or something more. His expression gives nothing away while the teammate in the middle seems to have quite a smirk, and that makes me wonder what he is thinking.

I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.

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Above is a photograph dating back to 1939 of Wystan Hugh Auden(left) (right) and Christopher Isherwood (right) (left). Auden was a poet from York, England but became a naturalized American after WWII. He collaborated with Isherwood on three plays from 1935-1938 who is perhaps better known to Americans. Isherwood also became a naturalized American and was a novelist, playwright and screenwriter during the Golden Age of Hollywood. The two maintained a lasting but intermittent sexual friendship from around 1927 to 1939.

While Auden married Erika Mann in 1935 to help her escape Nazi Germany both men were homosexuals. Any doubt of Auden’s orientation would be erased upon reading his erotic poem, The Platonic Blow (A Day For A Lay), written in 1948 to American poet, Chester Kallman.

I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.

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Much thanks to the Twitter handle @oldmasc, which recently shared this as a Fleet. I’m fairly certain these guys are not gay, but the expression on the guy facing the camera makes me laugh and captures a moment in time – probably one of very few lighthearted moments these men were able to enjoy. I assume this was taken during WWII, but I welcome anyone who can shed more light on either this military social or the uniforms that might help date the photo.

I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.

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I’ve posted this photo previously because I find it so funny I thought it might make for a good April Fools post. I can’t recall when people suggested this photo may have been taken but my assumption is in the 1940s or possibly the 1950s. What do you think?

I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.

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This photo was posted on the Twitter account @oldmasc and I swiped it for this weekly blog post. I can’t tell much about this photo other than that Harvey (on the left) was eighteen years old when the picture was taken. I assume these are military uniforms. Are you able to glean anything from the clothing or hair style that might pinpoint a date or location when these three were photographed?

Men in the past were often photographed close together and touching, but the photo strikes me as more intimate with each man interlacing his hands and sharing a seat so that the men on either side are half seated on the arm of the chair and half curled around each leg of the man in the middle. Certainly it would have been more comfortable standing on either side or behind the man in the middle.

I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.

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This is another photo that I can’t place but I like their style, sharing a milkshake. I suppose this could’ve been taken anytime from the 1950s to present day. I’d welcome your thoughts about the photo as well as when or where you think this may have been taken in the comments section.

I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.

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What a great photo. I have no clue where or when this may have been taken and wanted to share it to ask you if you can glean any hints from this grainy photo? Share your thoughts about the photo as well as when or where you think this may have been taken in the comments section.

I dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.

Previous Vintage Gay Photos