The articles on the sexual orientation of the Founders might be interesting to some, but as the author, Pier Angelo, suggests it is largely subjective, and may be far less interesting than understanding how fluid sexuality and orientation was (and is) going all the way back to the earliest humans.

As seen in other mammals, interactions that humans think of as sex and or foreplay, homo and hetero, are visible in many species (maybe all). Sex is not always sex, but it is always intimate and about building bonds, showing dominance, and a wide range of other responses that are vital to survival of the species.

Pinning labels on people from different periods of time, without context, as Angelo does, limits the value of the discussion.  Our exhibit of von Steuben uses the word "Gay" but emphasizes the role he played in the United States' quest for freedom and independence. We discuss his interest in men because it is understood that it was possible if he stayed in Europe, he was going to be arrested for his behavior with young men (or boys).

Knowing how sexuality and gender, orientation or other ideations of sexual behaviors exist in the animal kingdom, and the history of humans is something to look at seriously. What some think of as unusual or abnormal has always been there. Humans have always been sexual beings and the division of the sexes for so much of human history explains the physical and psychological relationships humans have always had. That physicality when men spent years at war, at sea, in all-male arenas while women were with women in the home and tending to "women's" things explains a great deal more than the supposition of our Founders who were people of their time.

Robert Kesten
President & CEO
Stonewall National Museum, Archives, & Library