22 Russians Who We Won’t Let Vladimir Putin Forget Were Gay

From:  Advocate

Peter Tchaikovsky 

(1840 - 1893)

He wrote the most deleriously beautiful music ever: Romeo and Juliet, the 1812 Overture, his three ballets The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, among many others. The history of Tchaikovsky's homosexuality was suppressed in Russia by the Soviets, and it has only recently become widely known in post-Soviet Russia. Tchaikovsky's letters and diaries, as well as the letters of his brother Modest, who was also gay, make clear his orientation. But as so often is the case, letting the facts speak for themselves about orientation is often denied and countered by censoring views. Some historians still consider evidence scant or non-existent. Many of Tchaikovsky's most intimate relationships were homosexual: Tchaikovsky's servant Aleksey Sofronov and his nephew, Vladimir “Bob” Davydov. Gay author E.M. Forster referenced Tchaikovsky and Davydov in his love story Maurice, written in 1913-14 and published in 1971: “...Tchaikovsky had fallen in love with his own nephew, and dedicated his masterpiece [Symphonie pathetique] to him.”