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Public Scandals Part 1 is
the first installment in a three-part series. Use these links to view
Part 2 or
Part 3. |
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Whittaker Chambers |
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 John Atherton
(1598-1640), Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, was hanged for sodomy in
Ireland under a law he helped institute. In Stuart England, Atherton's case
became the subject of sermons and moral tracts that warned listeners and
readers about the dangers of buggery. |
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 William Beckford
(1760-1844), one of England's wealthiest men, was ostracized by
English society after his uncle published allegations of homosexual
improprieties in morning newspapers in 1784. |
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Anthony Blunt
(1907-1983) enjoyed close connections with England's royal family and a
prestigious career as an art historian until his participation in
a communist spy ring during the 1950s was revealed by Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher. |
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 George Gordon
Lord Byron (1728-1824) was such a popular English poet and personality
that his contemporaries coined "Byronomania" to describe the public's
fascination with him. Byron's celebrity, however, was not enough to
protect him when rumors of his homosexual inclinations became
widespread. The scandal compelled him to leave England and
never return. |
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 Roger Casement
(1864-1916) was an Irish patriot who earned a knighthood before he
joined the rebel movement fighting for the independence of Ireland. He
was stripped of his knighthood and executed for treason by the British
in 1916. The British used evidence of his homosexuality discovered in
his diaries to further discredit him. |
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Whittaker Chambers
(1901-1961), a one-time communist, accused former U.S. State Department
official Alger Hiss of being a communist before the House Un-American
Activities Committee in 1948. The aura of homosexuality that surrounded
this case helped perpetuate the public perception that homosexuality
and treason were linked, an idea that was a hallmark of
McCarthyism. |
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 Benvenuto Cellini
(1500-1571), one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance, was
convicted of homosexual sodomy in Florence in 1557. He escaped a prison
sentence, but spent four years under house arrest. |
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Margaret Clap
(fl. 1720s), also known as "Mother Clap," operated one of the more
popular molly houses
in London. After it was raided in 1726, she was pilloried and
imprisoned. |
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 The Cleveland
Street Scandal of 1889, involving members of the English nobility
and allegations of a government cover-up, fueled the perception of
homosexuality as an aristocratic vice that corrupted working-class
youths. |
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Photo
Credits: Photograph of Whittaker Chambers by Fred Palumbo courtesy
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. |
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