Thread by @brennusuperior

This year marks 170 years since the birth of legendary author and playwright Oscar Wilde. To celebrate, let’s take a closer look at the man who became the world’s first gay icon.

Born in Dublin, Wilde showed great intellectual capacity from a young age and proved himself to be a great classicist while studying Oxford. In London he quickly found massive success writing plays and married the wealthy Miss Constance Lloyd. Look at that handsome couple!

But there was trouble in paradise. Wilde's marriage began to fall apart when he became repulsed by his wife’s pregnancy. Fortunately, fate came calling when Wilde (now 32) met the 17 year old Robbie Ross at Oxford. Their affair awakened Wilde to his true self.

Now involved in the underground gay scene, and becoming ever more famous from his writings, the 37 y/o Wilde met the great love of his life - the 20 year old Alfred Douglas. Their heated on-off relationship became an open secret at a time when homosexuality was still illegal!

While his plays were showed across the country, Douglas brought Wilde into the hidden Victorian world of gay prostitution. He introduced Wilde to a never-ending series of young working-class rent boys to enjoy. At the same time Wilde kept rendezvousing with both Douglas and Ross.

Unfortunately, Douglas’s father the Marquess of Queensburry did not approve of Wilde’s relationship with his son. Telling Wilde: “if I catch you and my son again in any public restaurant I will thrash you” and calling him a ‘sodomite’. All too familiar to my gay readers I'm sure.

In response, Wilde launched a prosecution alleging criminal libel. The Marquess had one way out - proving Wilde guilty of sodomy in court. The trial was on.
With all the country watching, a parade of young boys were summoned - all giving testimony in court against Wilde.

Wilde mounted a spirited defense but the evidence was overwhelming. Under cross-examination, he said of his relations with underage boys: “Such a great affection of an elder for a younger man. It is that deep affection that is as pure as it is perfect .” His fate was sealed.

The revelations of the relationships between the 40 year old Wilde and boys as young as 16 shocked the public. Wilde was convicted of sodomy and abandoned by his friends and lovers, including Douglas. He spent the next two years in prison. But he kept himself busy.

Tragically, Wilde never recovered from his trial & imprisonment. Exiled from England he spent 3 years in Europe, spending his small allowance on rent boys and alcohol (a true Irishman!). In 1900, like many gay legends to follow him, he died of an STD (syphilis) at the age of 46.

Oscar Wilde may be dead but his legacy lives on through the many gay icons he inspired and continues to inspire.

I'm sure they too will touch the lives of many young men, just like Mr. Wilde.