Gay men in 1890s in Europe

Which country in Eastern Europe?

For the UK you could start with a book on Oscar Wilde.

I'm sure someone will be along soon with a better answer than I've managed so far.

Where in Europe is going to matter since attitudes differed considerably. I'd second researching Oscar Wilde.

Definitely need to know where the story is set.

I understand that but where is he during the story? It's the laws and attitudes of the country he is in that you need to research.

Pretty much anywhere he came from he would have had to be extremely secretive and discreet.

Coming from that region he'd have to be someone from the upper classes.

One key term you might want to look into is "Uranian love" or "Uranians". Thats how many gay people identified themselves and homosexuality back then. I believe the term was coined by an early gay rights advocate in Germany, I forget his name.

waylander said:

Pretty much anywhere he came from he would have had to be extremely secretive and discreet.

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In theatrical circles in the UK, not so much. And even in 'regular' society the most important thing was not to flaunt it. There were lots of euphemisms for gay men and women. It was when it got dragged out into the light, as in the Oscar Wilde libel case, that public opinion was outraged and the penalties were harsh.

And before the Victorians it was even more open. People knew it went on, it just wasn't discussed.

Your question: "what type of job he would have" makes me think you may need to step back from this and your ideas about gay men. Gay men in that time period, or any time period, work many different jobs. It doesn't correlate with their sexual orientation.

About the second part of your question: in France they were very secretive. There were some places for meeting, like parks, but if a policeman came, they could be put in detention. Having a wife and family to hide was quite common.
As for the first part, I'd say that you question is offensive. Gays can have any kind of job. It's just a sexual orientation difference, nothing more.

Have you decided what country he's from?

In a general sense, there were definitely some social groups in which a gay man could be more open about his lifestyle than in others. He'd almost have to be upper-class to have any freedom at all, and either landed gentry (or whatever the local equivalent is) or in that same social set. That doesn't mean he couldn't be a broke woodcarver, but if he were, he'd have to be much more discreet and would have less recourse if someone decided to turn him in.

I also worded my answer poorly. I should have said "could be offensive"...
As for wendymarlowe's answer, I partly disagree with it, but it might depend on the country they lived in. In the gentry and upper-class the first born wouldn't have been able to show that he was gay. Too much expectations and obligations. Ironically, they could have freed themselves more easily from the morale, but not from their family. In lower class, the contrary would have applied...

lrose20 said:

I didn't mean to offend with my first part of the question, I'm gay myself so that absolutely wasn't the intention. I meant it more for the time period, I should have worded it better. I suppose it should have been a separate thread, but I thought that would be silly. Apologies again if I came off as offensive.

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Yeah, for England, read about the Yellow Nineties, the Yellow Book, Oscar Wilde, etc. Most of the participants in this cultural period were not homosexual, but there was a connection of sorts, anyway. As I understand it, possibly not well, Wilde's trial marked the beginning of a strong anti-homosexual cultural mood in the UK that lasted well past World War II.

No help for the rest of Europe, but I'd suppose the general mood was strongly repressive in most of the continent with the usual exceptions for the rich and powerful.

You're going to have to be specific. Napoleonic France was very different from Victorian England which was very different from Prussia and Berlin which was very different from Madrid, and so on.

France, for instance, decriminnalised homosexuality after the revolution in 1791. It was later recriminalised under the Vichy regime, and that went on until the 1970s.

Yeah, then you're going to have a rich aristocrat from one of the most stratified feudal structures with a deeply Eastern Orthodox outlook, and then you'll have him in one place. If the story takes place in post-revolutionary Paris it might be really interesting because of the intense melting pot of rising and falling viewpoints.

It is not a mystery why most of the ideologies and our political perspectives were born there during that time. From the way we see 'left and right' in politics to everything from conservatism, to classical Liberalism to socialism.