History's first gay was boy-lover

The first gay man in history was a boy-lover, according to a GLC Voice series on gay history. "The first gay man of record was Akhenaton, a pharaoh and god-king of Ancient Egypt... back in the 14th Century before Christ," according to Terry Boughner, author of the articles in the Minneapolis news weekly. [...]

And he fell in love with a teen-aged prince, Smenkhkare (probably the brother of Tutankhamon - King Tut). Akhenaton banished Nefertiti [his wife], giving Smenkhkare's her titles and power as co-regent. Artwork recovered from the new capital the pharaoh ordered built 200 miles from Thebes records the intimate relationship between the pharaoh and the prince. "Even today we can see the two lovers," Boughner writes. "A relief in Berlin shows the two naked with Akhenaton, his arm lovingly about Smenkhkare's shoulder, chucking him lovingly under the chin. [...]

Another carving shows the two of them kissing on the lips, and in yet another, Smenkhkare pours Akhenaton's wine." Though their public loving relationship didn't bother the Egyptians, the new religion and the pharaoh's refusal to launch attacks against the country's neighbors created an alliance of priests and generals hostile to the throne. In 1334 B.C. Haremheb, an army leader, staged a coup.

source: Article 'History's First Gay Was Boy-Lover'; NAMBLA Bulletin, vol. 9 n. 3; April 1988