Invisible People

In his nonfiction work, > Invisible People: History's > Homosexuals Unhidden , Frank Sanello explores the lives of prominent gays and lesbians of the past and also asks why squeamish historians often shove famous homosexuals into a closet or mausoleum they never occupied in their own lifetime. A prominent homosexual and bisexual, Frederick the Great and Peter the Great, respectively, flaunted their male "favorites." And yet some mainstream historians insist that the relationships were platonic despite contemporary correspondence to the contrary. Peter exchanged love letters with a stable boy he promoted to prince. The emperor of Russia also took naps on his lover's stomach. In biographies of Louis XIV, the open homosexual behavior of his brother, Philippe, is often consigned to a few throwaway paragraphs if mentioned at all. > Invisible People offers theories on why some chroniclers of the past feel compelled to airbrush homosexuality from their portraits of famous gays and lesbians.