There was an interesting article in the L.A. Times this morning about a dustup in Illinois over whether Abraham Lincoln may have been homosexual. Apparently in his day it was common for men to sleep together because boarding rooms and mattresses were expensive, and it is known that he roomed and slept with a man for about four years before he got married. It is also known that Lincoln was not completely comfortable around women and that he and his roommate exchanged letters giving each other encouragement to get over their trepidations about marriage.
Now a gay activist claims to have found diaries of Lincoln's old roommate which describe a homosexual relationship. This has caused a great fuss in Lincoln's home town and among scholars, most of whom are skeptical about whether this diary really exists.
I would expect that a considerable number of extropians and protoextropians would be homosexual. Gay men and lesbian women already have to have the mental flexibility to escape the mindset of the majority culture, and this might make them more open to the novelty of extropian ideas.
It would be interesting to know whether any of the various writers who have influenced our beliefs are thought to have been homosexual. Homosexuals have played a disproportionate part in creating modern culture, both popular and "serious", over the course of this century. I wonder whether they have also influenced extropian ideas, or whether on the other hand there is something about the particular flavor of our beliefs which makes them less attractive to homosexuals?
Hal