You’re The Immortal Dictator Of The World, Ruling With An Iron Fist…and Bored Out Of Your Mind. To

What color of a meteor says about its chemical composition

“Drapery Studies”, c. 1545

 By: MICHELANGELO….

Your radiant smile

Form of flower

The inner beauty

Love's power

                                                   Marble And Fire

was barron von steuben gay? a while ago someone told me he was and he was kicked out of the army because of it

Here, I made a presentation that includes this. But yes! He was gay!

Baron von Steuben was one of the first cases of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.“ 

Benjamin Franklin learned of a "brilliant Prussian” military genius, Lt. Gen. Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, who had a string of successes across Germanic Europe. There was a problem- he’d been asked to depart many of those states and countries because of his “affections for members of his own sex,”.

Then in 1777 von Steuben literally escaped imprisonment in what is now Germany and traveled to Paris. There, Franklin was interviewing candidates to assist Washington back in the colonies when his fellow Colonial representative Silas Deane brought von Steuben to his residence for an interview.

During the process, Franklin discovered von Steuben’s reputation for having “affections” with males and the issue became pressing, as members of the French clergy demanded the French court, as in other countries, take action against this sodomite, whom they considered a pedophile. 

Those allegations were fueled by von Steuben’s close ties to Prince Henry and Frederick the Great, also “widely rumored to be homosexual.”

Franklin decided von Steuben’s expertise was more important to the colonies than his sexuality. Along with Franklin and Deane, and personal friends of the baron: Pierre Beaumarchais, author of the “Figaro” plays and an arms dealer who supplied arms for the ship von Steuben eventually sailed on, and Claude Louis, Comte de Saint-Germain, the minister of war under Louis XVI. What the letter didn’t mention was that he was about to be arrested and appear before judges in France.

“It has come to me from different sources that M. de Steuben is accused of having taken familiarities with young boys, which the laws forbid and punish severely. I have even been informed that that is the reason why M. de Steuben was obliged to leave Hechingen and that the clergy of your country intend to prosecute him by law as soon as he may establish himself anywhere.”

Washington rewarded von Steuben with a house at Valley Forge, which he shared with his aide-de-camps Capt. William North and Gen. Benjamin Walker. Walker lived with him through the remainder of his life, and von Steuben, who neither married nor denied any of the allegations of homosexuality, left his estate to North and Walker. His last will and testament has been described as a love letter to Walk and has been purported to describe their “extraordinarily intense emotional relationship,”.

Adding to that were the constant rumors about his sexuality, which by 1790, reached one of the revolution’s first families, the Adamses of Massachusetts.

Charles, the son of John and Abigail Adams- was what today would be called the black sheep of the family. His biggest problem was alcoholism but, as revealed in letters among the various members of the family, the Adamses had other concerns.

“There are references to [Charles’] alleged proclivity for consorting with men whom his parents regarded as unsavory.” One of these men was von Steuben. Charles had become infatuated with and adored Von Steuben. It is clear from the family letters that the Adamses were concerned about a relationship between Charles and the baron. Von Steuben’s sexuality was an open secret, one that he himself never challenged, other than to ask Washington to defend his moral character. But John Mulligan another one of Baron von Steuben’s “boys” was extremely close with Charles. 

It was von Steuben, a gay man, who played a giant role in not only the creation of American military, but the idea of military academies, a standing Army and even veterans organizations. As said by many: if George Washington was the father of the nation, then von Steuben, a gay man, was the father of the United States military.

VINCENT VAN GOGH 

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i don’t really give a shit about this tumblr being removed from the app store thing but above all i am really glad this is happening now and not in 2011 so i don’t have to scroll past some “PSA: TUMBLR HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM THE APP STORE!” “oh HELL NO!!! Dr who fandom grab your tardises!!!” “*50 gif reaction images of the supernatural guy looking pissed off” type of shit

Oh so feminine details. Such a dream! Here’s a snap of my favorite corner in our hotel here in Florence!! Sad to be leaving but excited to head to Rome! 💗 #Italy #pink #firenze4ever by rachparcell

All the gays right now

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c: lionelgascoyne