Cecil Rhodes

Cecil Rhodes (1853-1902) was an English-born South African who was a co-founder of the De Beers diamond company as well as the honored namesake of the southern African country of Rhodesia (today’s Malawi, Zimbabwe and Zambia). Notably, upon his death he bequeathed funding to establish the Rhodes Scholarship program, which to this day is endowed by his estate. During his short life he was active as a businessman, politician and philanthropist who lived and dreamed on a grand scale.

Rhodes moved from England to South Africa while still a teenager in hopes that a better climate would ease his asthma. He was frail and also suffered heart problems. His brother Herbert lived there, having made a failed attempt at farming cotton. Moving on, with outside partners they bought up southern African diamond and gold deposits and formed the De Beers company in 1888. Rhodes was named chairman of the new enterprise.

Cecil was a British Imperialist who thought the United States would eventually rejoin Britain (!). He believed that in the near future the United Kingdom (including Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and Cape Colony), the USA, and Germany together would dominate the world and ensure peace. He wrote of the British, “I contend that we are the finest race in the world, and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race...to be born English is to win first prize in the lottery of life.”

He was a friend of Jan Hofmeyr, leader of the Afrikaner Bond, and it was largely because of Afrikaner support that Rhodes became Prime Minister of the Cape Colony (1890-1896), a British controlled area of southern Africa. Rhodes was also president of the British South Africa Company. Politically, Rhodes advocated greater self-government for the Cape Colony, in line with his preference for the empire to be controlled by local settlers and politicians rather than by London. Rhodes was also a racist, an early architect of apartheid, the separation of blacks and whites.

As for his private life, Rhodes employed a number of robust young male companions, ostensibly as bodyguards and secretaries.  He did not have relationships with any member of the opposite sex, platonic or otherwise. Neville Pickering, the first secretary of the De Beers company, has been singled out as Rhodes's first significant male lover. When Pickering – young, fit and extraordinarily handsome – turned 25, Rhodes returned from serious business negotiations for Pickering's birthday in 1882. On that occasion, Rhodes drew up a new will leaving his estate to Pickering; the new will read simply: “I, C.J. Rhodes, being of sound mind, leave my worldly wealth to N.E. Pickering.”  When Pickering later suffered a riding accident, Rhodes nursed him faithfully for six weeks, refusing even to answer telegrams concerning his business interests. Pickering died in Rhodes's arms, and at his funeral, Rhodes was said to have wept “with fervor”. Rhodes had passed up a deal worth millions to be at his companion’s bedside during his final days.

Pickering was replaced by Henry Latham Currey, who had become Rhodes's private secretary in 1884. When Currey became engaged to be married in 1894, Rhodes was mortified, outraged and immediately ended their relationship. Over the years Rhodes accumulated a shifting entourage of fit young men, known as “Rhodes’s lambs,” almost always blonde haired and blue-eyed athletic types.

Rhodes later maintained a significant relationship with Scotsman Sir Leander Starr Jameson (a Baronet known as “Dr. Jim”), British administrator of the lands constituting present-day Zimbabwe, who ended up nursing Cecil Rhodes during his final illness. Jameson was a trustee of his estate and residuary beneficiary of his will, which allowed him to continue living in Rhodes's mansion after his death. Although Jameson died in England in 1917, after the conclusion if WW I his body was transferred to a mountaintop grave in 1920 beside that of Rhodes in Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe). Tellingly, Cecil Square is today one of the main gay cruising areas of Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe.

Rhodes had died from heart failure in Cape Town at age 48. Upon his death he was one of the wealthiest men in the world, and his will established the Rhodes Scholarship, the world’s first international study scholarship, enabling male students to study at Oxford University. Rhodes's aims were to promote leadership marked by public spirit and good character, and to "render war impossible" by promoting friendship between the great powers. According to Rhodes’s will, applicants were restricted to men only – it was not until 1976 that women were allowed to apply, which went against Rhodes’s wishes. According to Rhodes’s guidelines for scholarship selection, “candidates must display a fondness for success in manly outdoor sports, such as football and cricket.” Of course.

Sources: 

(update) Robert Calderisi - Cecil Rhodes and Other Statues: Dealing Plainly with the Past (2021)

Dean McCleland – The Casual Observer (2015)
Keith Stern – Queers in History: The Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Historical Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals (2009)
Wayne Dynes – Encyclopedia of Homosexuality (1990)

Pete Buttigieg

Gay Rust Belt Mayor Pete Buttigieg Qualifies for First Presidential Debate; Pinch Yourself

For the first time in history, an openly gay man will participate in a Democratic party presidential debate. South Bend (Indiana) Mayor Pete Buttigieg announced on Saturday, March 16 that he had reached the 65,000* individual donor goal which qualifies him to be invited to the first DNC debate (June 2019) before the 2020 presidential election. He also met the requirement that donors must come from at least 20 states.

*76,025 donors as of Saturday morning, March 16, 2019

Buttigieg is competing for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2020 national election. If successful, he would be the first openly gay president, as well as the youngest (39 on inauguration day 2021). Mayor Pete, as he likes to be called, considering that tongue stopping last name (BOOT-edge-edge), turned in a star performance March 10, 2019, on a live CNN Town Hall held in Austin, TX. If you have not listened to this broadcast, see the YouTube link below. 

Your blogger was born (and continues to live) in the Washington DC suburbs, so I have been saturated with politics my entire life, yet I have never heard a politician speak so calmly and eloquently, with a quiet determination and assurance. He answers every question! No deflections! He mentions solutions and policies that need to be explored, all delivered with a refreshing candor and vision. And relatable. I’m still pinching myself. Consider it your civic duty to listen to the entire broadcast of 43 minutes. If nothing else, he should be hired by any candidate on how to handle an interview or town hall session.

My favorite quote from the CNN Town Hall:

When asked how he would respond to criticism from Trump:

"I'm a gay man from Indiana. I know how to handle a bully."

This man is only 37 (born January 19, 1982), openly gay (married public school teacher Chasten Glezman in June 2018; photo below), informed and eloquent. A Harvard graduate (BA) and a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford (MA), where he received a “first” in economics. Not to mention a veteran of the war in Afghanistan; he remains a lieutenant in the Naval Reserve. Mayor Pete speaks English, Arabic, Dari, Spanish, Norwegian, French, Italian and Maltese (his father emigrated from Malta, where Buttigieg is a common name). When he ran for reelection for mayor as an out gay man in 2015, he won with more than 80% of the vote. In red state Indiana. Believe it.

P.S.: Interested in learning more about Mayor Pete? He has a new book out, a memoir -- Shortest Way Home: One Mayor’s Challenge and a Model for America’s Future (pub. Feb. 12, 2019). The Guardian (British daily newspaper) stated that Buttigieg “has written the best political autobiography since Barack Obama”. 

An excerpt:

(Buttigieg met his husband online, and their first date included a visit to the South Bend Cubs. They made it to the sixth inning before they ditched the game for a walk by the river.)

“I felt the slight brushing of his hand coming closer to mine,” he writes, “and I took hold of it. Nothing in my life, from shaking hands with a president to experiencing my first rocket attack, matched the thrill of holding Chasten’s hand for the first time. I was electrified. We got back to the car just as the post-game fireworks began, and as the explosions and lit colors unfolded over us, he went in for a kiss … It only took a few weeks for me to acknowledge the obvious: I was in love.”

Photo below: Buttigieg upon returning from deployment in Afghanistan.

Leo Varadkar

Openly Gay Leo Varadkar to Become
Prime Minister of Republic of Ireland

Ireland has just elected its first gay Prime Minister. 38-year-old Leo Varadkar (b. 1979) will become the youngest ever Taoiseach* and the fourth openly gay world leader, after Belgium, Iceland and Luxembourg. However, Varadkar must wait until Tuesday, June 13, before formally being appointed Taoiseach under Ireland’s election method. The Dubliner previously served as the Minister for Social Protection and Minister for Health, and was first elected to parliament at the age of 27.

“If my election...today has shown anything, it is that prejudice has no hold on this republic,” Varadkar said after his victory was announced in Dublin yesterday.

He is leader of the ruling Fine Gael party and will become Ireland’s first Prime Minister from a minority ethnic background. Varadkar’s father Ashok, who comes from Mumbai, met his Irish mother Miriam while they both worked at an English hospital. Dr. Matt Barrett has been Leo’s partner for two years, and both are fitness enthusiasts. Leo studied medicine at Trinity University (Dublin), so both Matt and Leo are qualified medical doctors. Prior to the election, Leo had stated that he would not expect Matt to accompany him on official government business (the couple are not married).

Varadkar is now one of two openly gay world heads of state currently in office – Luxembourg’s prime minister Xavier Bettel is the other. Other previous world leaders were former Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo and former Icelandic Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurõardóttir.

In 2015 the Republic of Ireland became the first country to pass gay marriage by public vote.

*Pronounced “TEE-shocks”. It means “chieftain” or “leader” in Irish. Outside of Ireland the term Prime Minister is used.

Guido Westerwelle

Germany's former Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle, died from leukemia last Friday at age 54. As vice chancellor (2009-2011) he was the first openly gay man to hold high office in Germany. He “came out” when he attended Angela Merkel’s 50th birthday party with his male partner, Michael Mronz. They entered into a civil partnership in 2010. In a recent statement on the Westerwelle Foundation website, the couple said they were "thankful for an unbelievably good time together. Love remains."

Westerwelle, a former chairman of the Free Democratic Party (FDP), saw his party form a coalition with Angela Merkel’s government. He went on to serve as a deputy in her cabinet. A lawyer by profession, Westerwelle was a member of the Bundestag (Germany’s parliament) from 1996-2013.

Among the controversies that peppered his political career, Westerwelle announced in 2010 that he would not be taking his civil partner Michael Mronz along with him to countries with anti-gay policies. Other official trips as foreign minister, however, included Mronz, who is an events manager.

Guido Westerwelle became ill with leukemia just months after leaving government in 2014. His last public appearance was in November, 2015, when he was promoting his book about his battle with acute blood cancer, “Between Two Lives.”

Westerwelle with partner Michael Mronz:

Frank M. Robinson

Openly gay San Francisco resident Frank M. Robinson (1926-2014) wrote science fiction novels, thrillers, magazine columns and political speeches. Born in Chicago, in 1973 he migrated to San Francisco, where he met Harvey Milk, the first openly gay American elected to a prominent public office (San Francisco city supervisor). Milk asked Robinson to be his speech writer, and Frank later found himself working on Milk’s famous “You’ve Got to Have Hope” gay pride speech: "We will not win our rights by staying quietly in our closets.... We are coming out to fight the lies, the myths, the distortions.... I am tired of the conspiracy of silence."

Frank became such a valued advisor to Harvey Milk, that Milk designated him as his successor in 1977 by way of a recording filed with Milk’s attorney (Milk was well aware of the possibility of his own assassination). Director Gus Van Sant persuaded Robinson to play himself in a cameo role in the 2008 film, Milk. When Sean Penn, in the role of Harvey Milk, stood in front of San Francisco’s city hall, just as Milk had done 30 years previously, Robinson was again in the crowd. “When I heard Sean say those words [almost verbatim] that I had helped write, I was so proud," Robinson said.

Unlike Milk, however, Robinson remained closeted for for many years for fear of not being able to keep his job or get new work. Little did the straight readers of Playboy magazine’s sex advice column (Playboy Advisor) realize that the columnist was a closeted gay man. Playboy had earlier published some of Frank’s fiction. Robinson also wrote for other magazines – Gallery, Cavalier and Rogue.

Three of his novels were made into films: The Glass Inferno (co-written with Tom Scortia) became The Towering Inferno (1974), The Power was made into a 1968 film starring George Hamilton, and The Gold Crew became an NBC miniseries retitled The Fifth Missile (1986).

Robinson was inducted into the First Fandom Hall of Fame (2001) for contributions to the field of science fiction, won an Emperor Norton Award* (2004) and received a Moskowitz Archive Award (2008) for significant achievement or contributions to Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror fandom. He was named the recipient of the Special Honoree Award by Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) earlier this year.

*Google this award. Unbelievable back story.

Robinson died a few weeks ago on June 30, at age 87, following a long illness. A public memorial service will be held at 7 pm on August 8 in San Francisco.

Per-Kristian Foss

On January 4, 2002, Per-Kristian Foss (b. 1950), Norwegian Finance Minister of the Conservative Party (Høyre), entered into a registered same sex partnership with his long-term partner Jan Erik Knarbakk, a top manager of Schibsted, a media conglomerate. Foss, shown at left in photo, thus became the world’s first cabinet level official to marry a same sex partner. The two men have often been described in the news media as being among Norway's most powerful couples.

Tantalizingly, Foss became the first openly gay head of state on January 25, 2002, when he was temporarily installed as acting prime minister when the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister (second in the line of succession) were both out of the country.

Foss was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Oslo in 1981, and was subsequently re-elected on six occasions. At present Foss is deputy chairman of  Høyre (the Conservative Party) and a member of the party's central board.

The couple entered into a legally binding partnership at the Norwegian embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, on January 4, 2002, when Foss was 52 years old. The openly gay couple reside in Oslo's fashionable Frogner district.

In 1993 Norway became the second country in the world, after Denmark, to allow gay and lesbian partnerships. Norwegians have a reputation of being tolerant of homosexuals and respectful towards the private life of public figures. The local media only briefly mentioned the wedding.

Foss, at left wearing glasses, with partner Jan Erik Knarbakk.

Sean Eldridge

According to the Federal Election Commission, 26-year-old Sean Eldridge, the political activist/investor who married Facebook co-founder mega-millionaire Chris Hughes last summer, has just filed papers in New York to run for U.S. Congress.

Eldridge, a staunch Democrat known in political circles for his advocacy of same-sex marriage and public financing of political campaigns, currently heads an investment firm in New York. He will be seeking a House seat in New York's 19th District, represented by Chris Gibson, a two-term Republican and former West Point professor who was reelected last November by just a 6-point margin. But because the 19th District went with Obama, it is one of the vulnerable districts Democratic strategists are gunning for in 2014, in hopes to reclaim the House. Heady stuff, no?

For previous posts about Sean and Chris, click on their names in the sidebar.

Here's Sean Eldridge with hubby Chris Hughes:

Brian Sims

When Democrat Brian Sims (b. 1978) won a seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives last November, he became the first openly gay member elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly. In a sort of group hug gesture, on the first day Sims reported for work, Republican representative Mike Fleck came out in a newspaper article later that day.* Commenting on Fleck’s revelation, Sims said, “The representative is an honorable man who has served his community well, and while I may disagree with him on a number of policy issues, if we are ever going to claw our way back out of this awful partisan divide that so many of our politicians have thrust us into, it's going to have to start with finding places of mutual respect and common ground. This is the perfect place to start.”

*Nothing like a little friendly competition, and pretty good for a state that spawned the political career of Rick Santorum.

Thirty-four-year-old Sims, who was sworn in Tuesday, has vowed to focus on gun control, saying, "We had more murders last year in Philadelphia than in all of Germany. Some people may have a deer problem. We have a murder problem."

In his role as a state legislator, he also plans to focus on jobs creation and education. His outspoken comment on the recent swearing-in ceremony:

"Each of us put our hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the constitution. We did not put our hand on the constitution and swear to uphold the Bible." - Brian Sims

Activist Sims recently stepped down as board president of Equality Pennsylvania, the statewide lesbian and gay advocacy organization. He also brings to politics a celebrated past as an openly gay football jock. As defensive tackle Sims had been captain of his college football team. In a 2009 article on OutSports.com, Sims shared with reporter Cyd Ziegler jr. that midway through the 2000 football season at Bloomsburg University (Pennsylvania) an ex-boyfriend tried to seek revenge by telling one of Sims’s teammates about their gay affair. When several of the guys on his team asked for confirmation, Sims was honest with them, freely admitting that he was gay.

To the credit of everyone involved, as word spread to the other players, no one made a big deal of it or kept their distance in the locker room. The team went on to complete a winning season and won playoff games until they found themselves participating in the Division II National Championship game. Sims said that his teammates actually took pride in having a gay player. He was hearing comments like, “Not only is this guy an All-Conference player, and not only is he a starter, and not only is he a good friend of mine, but I'm all right with the fact that he's gay.”

Relating to the Philadephia Inquirer how his sports career might help him in politics, he said, “If your opposition is dumb machismo, I speak the language.”

Sims earned a law degree from Michigan State University (2004) and took a job with the Philadelphia Bar Association, where he drafted a resolution in support of state legislation to protect against sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination. Sims also joined the Board of Directors for Gay and Lesbian Lawyers of Philadelphia.

Citing our constitution’s separation of church and state and equal protection under the law for our citizens, Sims said, “There's not a valid policy argument to be made for why there isn't...100% equal rights for LGBT folks. There just isn't. The only argument that can be made... trace(s) back to religious norms. I happen to pay taxes to a government that says it won't base how it treats me on what a religion has to say about me.”

As a contributor to The Huffington Post, Sims commented last month, “Let's show the haters, the naysayers, the cynics and the critics all across the country that honesty is rewarded, integrity widespread, and an open mind and an open heart will always carry the day against fear, judgment and contempt.”

Joe Saunders and David Richardson

On Tuesday, November 20 (2012), Florida representatives Joe Saunders and David Richardson became the first openly gay members to be sworn into Florida’s state legislature. Richardson represents District 113 (Miami) and Saunders District 49 (Orlando). You should not be shocked to learn that both are Democrats.

Saunders and Richardson took their oaths with more than 50 state legislators in Tallahassee. Until now, Florida was the largest state in the union to have never elected an openly gay candidate to its state legislature. Richardson, a CPA and former auditor for the U.S. Department of Defense, had never before run for public office.

29-year-old Saunders was accompanied in the legislative chambers by his partner, Donald Rupe (on right in photo, below). "Standing there with him was a dream realized and a memory I'll have for the rest of my life," Saunders told the Orlando Sentinel.

Michael Kenny, Executive Director of Florida Together, a statewide LGBT advocacy coalition commented yesterday, "For the first time in the history of our state, we have openly gay State House Representatives. David Richardson will not only be representing the residents of State House District 113 in Miami Dade County - he will be a voice for all of Florida's LGBT residents, (and) congratulations to Joe Saunders on his victory as State Representative in District 49. There is no doubt that the people of Florida will be well served by Joe Saunders being in the legislature."

"Before you can participate in the conversation, change hearts and minds, and impact policy, you must first have a seat at the table. Until today, LGBT Floridians were shouting from the spectators section."

Florida's statehouse in Tallahassee:

"Francophile" Takes On His Father

My Dad Was Going to Vote for Romney,
Until I Wrote Him This Letter


This letter from a gay son to his Romney-supporting father was posted by Francophile on Reddit. Feel free to plagiarize with wild abandon to take a similar action. I have added the generic photo, edited the letter for length and corrected several glaring grammatical errors:

Dad,

Since coming out to you and mom nineteen years ago, I’ve watched you vote for the Republican candidates in every major race. I’ve held my tongue, despite the hurt and anger that came from watching you vote for a party that has made a sport out of demonizing gay and lesbian people, like me, for political gain.

Now, for the first time in our nation’s history, a U.S. President and his party have publicly stated that gays and lesbians are equal citizens and should be protected as such under the law. I know you’re aware that Obama believes gays and lesbians, like me, should have the rights and responsibilities of marriage, and that the 2012 Democratic Party Platform will include marriage equality as one of its tenets. You will never know what it is to be gay in this world at this moment, but I’d bet at some point in your life you’ve known how it felt to have your essential worth validated by someone with authority. I can’t overstate the power of having my president and his party say to me, and the nation, that I am not less than, but equal to every other citizen, and to validate my inherent right to pursue my life with liberty and unimpeded happiness. Never before has this happened. So, never before have I made the argument that you should vote for a Democrat. But today’s a new day.

Four months ago, I sat at my younger brother’s wedding and watched you well up, speaking publicly with pride for the man he’s become and the woman he chose. His life, though certain to have unexpected turns ahead, has a clear path, one available to him simply because of his sexual orientation at birth. Mine has never been so clear. Oftentimes, being gay feels like being a salmon swimming upstream. Our relationships aren’t supported by tradition or institution. Too often role models we could have remain closeted, as openness invites derision. Further, the pressures in carving out a life with another person can often be too much to bear, because of the ever-present fear, instilled in us from our earliest memories, that we’re different and unlovable and/or bad.

Yet the resiliency of my community, in the face of such misunderstanding and hate, is astonishing and inspiring. They’ve taught me to think twice before underestimating the will of the human spirit in its slow march toward progress, whatever the circumstances.

I’m almost forty. Both of my younger brothers are married, enjoying all the rights and responsibilities of that government-issued status. Do you want that for me? Do you believe I should have someone beside me on my life’s journey, legally recognized as my spouse, able to visit me in the hospital, able to make my end-of-life decisions, with whom I’m able to build a financially interdependent life? I have to believe you do. I have to believe you’re too good a man not to.

But – if, like the candidate you’re supporting, you believe marriage should be only between one man and one woman, I feel sorry for us both: you, because it means you’re on the wrong side of history and your own son’s happiness – and me, because it means my father believes I’m “less than.”

In any other election, given any other choice, I’d stay quiet. If you, and others like you, wanted to believe the worst about Obama – a good man, trying to do good work – and vote against your own interests (Romney’s tax and Medicare plans won’t help you), I’d shake my head in wonder and watch you do it anyway. But this isn’t any other election. This election presents a clear choice between two people whose policy beliefs directly affect the course of my life. Let me be clear: A vote for Mitt Romney is a vote against me. There is no argument to counter that fact.

You might want to argue that you’re not a single-issue voter, but when the single-issue is your own son’s equality under the law, I wouldn’t recommend that argument. You might want to argue that, because you live in New York State, your vote won’t ultimately matter since Obama will carry the state anyway. You’re correct. He will. In that way, I suppose, your vote won’t matter. But it matters to me. You might want to argue just because you don’t like the idea of your son telling you what you ought to do. But, whatever else, you know I’m a good man. It’s been said, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing;” and I’m a good man who’s never been good at taking action.

Can I change your mind? I hope so. I’m sure Mom would tell me it’s a lost cause, and maybe she’s right. But that would be sad. Because it might be nice one day to have my father stand up at my own wedding, realizing he helped make it happen.

Your Son

UPDATE: The father’s reply, in part: "I will honor your request because you are my son, and I love you. I do support the Democratic position on gay marriage. I hope this is a position that they really stand for and not just a political statement for votes."

Note from your blogger: My own father is deceased, but I remember having a conversation with my mother four years ago after she had returned from wintering in a bigoted southern state. I was able to turn her head, and she changed her vote to support Obama in 2008. All of us need to take part in this. Send this letter to your friends and urge them to do the same.