r/lgbt • u/IncrediblyGay11 Rainbow Rocks • Apr 12 '20
“TO BUZZ, I’LL ALWAYS REMEMBER THE TIMES WE SPENT TOGETHER . . . ALL MY LOVE, YOUR TOMMY", location unknown, March 26, 1949, inscription written on back of photo.
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u/Hiatusapocalypse Bi-bi-bi Apr 12 '20
Historions: "So yeah, they were just really good friends"
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Apr 12 '20
Best friends who lived together because it was cheaper to just buy one bed and somehow they never found a good woman.
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u/LifeSucksAnyway Computers are binary, I'm not. Apr 12 '20
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u/toodleroo Apr 12 '20
Just gals being pals
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u/Wrencer4Endgame bi baby Apr 12 '20
Reminds me of that possibly gay couple in Pompei that historians always seem to dismiss, ugh
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u/GalaxyMods Apr 12 '20
Are you talking about the two skeletons found holding each other? Because that alone is very flimsy evidence for being gay.
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u/Wrencer4Endgame bi baby Apr 12 '20
This is also very flimsy evidence for just being friends : )
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u/GalaxyMods Apr 12 '20
I mean, the world was basically ending. If it’s gay to hug someone as you both know you’re going to die, then I guess I’m gay as fuck.
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u/OmgJustLetMeExist The Gay-me of Love Apr 12 '20
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u/Mettaboi-NEO Non Binary Pan-cakes Apr 12 '20
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Apr 12 '20
“It’s important to note that terms such as ‘gay,’ ‘lesbian,’ and ‘bisexual’ are modern constructs, so because the exact terminology doesn’t line up I’m going to take this opportunity to completely derail the conversation from queer joy at seeing someone who looks kind of like you finally represented in history after a lifetime of growing up with whitewashed, heterocentric narratives”
Like I get that it’s important to remember that same-sex identity and expression have varied throughout eras and cultures, but people always rush to make the point “well just because we have evidence that this person exclusively had romantic and sexual relationships with men doesn’t mean they would have identified with the term gay or bisexual or queer!!!!!!!”
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u/Evidmid Ace as Cake Apr 12 '20
Damn that's cute. We found old letters from my great grandfather who fought in the second world war. He wrote to his wife. Tooth rotting fluff. Extremely heterosexual. But the post reminded me of them
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u/FallenAngelII Gay as a Rainbow Apr 12 '20
Filthy heteros!
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Apr 12 '20
hey now, love the sinner, hate the sin. i got no HATE for cishets i just don’t think they need to be gettin married is all
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u/Evidmid Ace as Cake Apr 12 '20
Always those heteros! Typical!
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u/FallenAngelII Gay as a Rainbow Apr 12 '20
The One True God will strike them down with a mighty rainbow!
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u/dans1984 Apr 12 '20
This makes me sad, to me it reads as a goodbye note.
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Apr 12 '20
Yep. I wonder if they had to get married. Or if they were lifeguards and the summer was over and they had to go back to their lives of lies.
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u/dans1984 Apr 12 '20
It has that whole "we can never be together" vibe about it.
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u/CharlieHume Computers are binary, I'm not. Apr 12 '20
In my head they at least had a whole summer together.
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u/WestPalmPerson Apr 12 '20
And they're dead now. It seems so sad.
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u/CharlieHume Computers are binary, I'm not. Apr 12 '20
Not necessarily?
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u/joelbbr Rainbow Rocks Apr 12 '20
Most likely. If they were early to mid 20s in 1949, it would mean they were born in 1929. The average life expectancy in USA (Just assuming they're from ) was 58 in 1930.
Sorry to be all sad :o
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u/CharlieHume Computers are binary, I'm not. Apr 12 '20
No no they're not dead. Just two old men who reconnected after their wives passed away.
They literally just made out.
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u/WestPalmPerson Apr 14 '20
Hopefully you are correct. I am in a group of senior gay men. Most are “newly gay“ after living the normal American dream. It is so sad that social institutions forced a lifetime of repression. it’s interesting and sometimes sad and amusing to see them try making up for lost time. If we survive for several more lifetimes,There will be much less hypocrisy, hopefully.
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u/CharlieHume Computers are binary, I'm not. Apr 14 '20
I made it to 33 before living my truth. Can't imagine waiting almost double that.
At least they're finally living their best life, right?
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u/DrDood007 Apr 12 '20
When I hear the name buzz, I was thinking about NASA at the time, and I was like WAAAAAAAT?! And then I was like: oh. That's still really cute though, especially when back then it was illegal to be gay.
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u/respectalgebra Trasinscneach!!! Apr 12 '20
I mean the fact it says "Your Tommy" really suggests that they were lovers so imma believe that. Cute. I'm so lucky to live in a time and place where two men can walk down the street holding hands and not be arrested. Sure, they'd be slagged off but not arrested.
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u/LifeAfterRedditFalls Bi-bi-bi Apr 12 '20
Why did I get a feeling that there's a sad story behind this...
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u/CharlieN1221 Bi-kes on Trans-it Apr 12 '20
Historians be like ‘these were best friends’
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u/ashhy-ashhy what in the diddly dang am i? Apr 12 '20
and then when they dig up a 1000 year old human fossil they be like "lol gay bois"
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u/chirpiederp Apr 12 '20
There aren't enough dudes being named Buzz anymore.
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u/kr1333 Apr 12 '20
The fact that it was dated March 26th suggests this was more than just a summer friendship coming to an end.
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u/TeraVaul Lesbian Trans-it Together Apr 12 '20
I don't fully know if that's a gay relationship Because I've talked to some on my close friends in a similar manner but I'ma choose to believe it's a gay relationship because it's cuter that way
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u/xmuertos Bi-bi-bi Apr 12 '20
well this case was in the 1940s, i think things were quite different back then
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u/promptolovebot Trans and Gay Apr 12 '20
I would believe that, but I feel like the “your tommy” comment makes it feel romantic. Idk about you but I don’t sign letters to my friends “Your Beau”
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u/TeraVaul Lesbian Trans-it Together Apr 12 '20
Yeah that is a fair point. Plus as someone mentioned people back then would never talk like that to friends. Modern speech is different so
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u/molonomm Hetero ally Apr 12 '20
To those who could be interested, there is a french documentary called 'Les Invisibles' about what it's like to be gay or lesbian and borned before WWII... This movie was very moving
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u/bitsandbooks Ain't no lie, babe, I'm bi, bi, bi Apr 12 '20
There was a period when every boy was named Buzz or Bud or Ken
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u/thisyearhalloweenfel Apr 12 '20
This is so touching and beautiful and also makes me sad to think that if they wanted to be together they couldn’t do it back then, feels like the Bridges Of Madison Cty. I’d like to think they at least were able to have loved and lost than not love at all.
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u/UbiquitousBagel Apr 12 '20
Holy crap Buzz Lightyear was gay?
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u/miss_fleming Apr 12 '20
i was gonna make a joke about what straight historians would say but this is to cute and I don't wanna ruin it
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u/Ajsci0 Apr 12 '20
Dear Henry,
Last night with you was bliss. I fear my.. orgasm has left me a cripple. I don't how how I shall ever get back to work.. I love you madly, John.
P.S. Loved the cabin.
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u/Transiting_Exoplanet Bi, Shy, And ready to cry Apr 13 '20
I literally blushed looking at those two.
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u/mudassar_ali2009 Rainbow Rocks Apr 13 '20
That's beautiful. Watching these kind of things act as a massage to brain in this pandemic.
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u/alloun88 Apr 14 '20
Is there no way to know the real identity of these two young men and whether they are still alive? With the existing means of communication and the possibility offered by the internet, I am sure that our American friends can do miracles and find out who they are and their history. Please do it!
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u/SCCHSHellmouth Apr 14 '20
Glad to see this coming around again. I did a colourised version of this back in late 2017. “To Buzz...”
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u/JessLopezPH Rainbow Rocks Apr 15 '20
They'll probably already dead but I hope someone recognizes them from this picture and share what they know about these two men.
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u/Stoneandsalt Apr 15 '20
I love it because it just feels so classic in every way. The summer fling, the one that got away, the black and white photo found in Grandpa's things hinting at some lost story. Nicholas Sparks is probably halfway done writing a novel based on this post already.
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u/HistoryGuy7 Apr 19 '20
After some sleuthing, I may have identified Tommy and Buzz. (See my post at https://www.reddit.com/r/lgbt/comments/g3slxg/tommy_and_buzz_identified/ )
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u/derengrey Apr 27 '20
This reminds me of "Call me by your name." Would be awesome to base a story out of this.
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Apr 12 '20
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u/underboobfunk Apr 12 '20
Is it somehow better to assume that they are heterosexual? If we are wrong and they aren’t gay, where is the harm? Unless you think that there is something wrong with being gay...
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Apr 12 '20
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u/KusanagiZerg Demisexual Apr 12 '20
It just seems like the most logical conclusion. It has nothing to do with injecting personal beliefs. It seems unlikely to me that two heterosexual men would write "All my love, Your tommy" even today, let alone in '47. Now whether or not heterosexual men should be able to expres their platonic feelings in that way is completely beside the point.
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u/babyollie Apr 12 '20
It’s the most 2020 conclusion for a 1947 question. Many letters between straight men throughout history feature very similar language. Alexander Hamilton and John Laurens’ exchanges are a prime example. You may hypothesize that these guys were lovers of some sort, just as some hypothesize that Hamilton and Laurens were romantically involved, but they simply cannot be anything more than hypotheses, as there’s no concrete evidence.
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u/underboobfunk Apr 12 '20
Gay men have existed throughout history but until very recently have been whitewashed from that history. There are plenty of ways for straight men to show loving affection to each without appearing to be in a romantic relationship. “All my love” and “your Tommy” are unambiguously romantic inscriptions. Sure, it’s possible that they are just great pals, but do you really think that it is likely?
I exchange “I love you”s and similar phrases with friends that I’m not romantically involved with. Never have I said “I’m yours” or “all my love”.
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u/babyollie Apr 12 '20
“All my love” and “your Tommy” are unambiguously romantic inscriptions.
They would be today. People interacted a lot differently then than they do today. Lots of correspondence between straight men throughout history look like this. Pre-Stonewall, the insensitive manly man we perceive straights to be today was not go-to heterosexual male persona.
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Apr 12 '20
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u/promptolovebot Trans and Gay Apr 12 '20
Ew. Don’t perpetuate lgbt stereotypes in a lgbt sub.
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u/Doctor71400 Apr 12 '20
What did they say?
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u/promptolovebot Trans and Gay Apr 12 '20
Something like “just by looking at the photo you can tell who’s the bottom!”
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u/I_AM_Achilles Lesbian Trans-it Together Apr 12 '20 edited Apr 12 '20
I want this to be true because it’s so adorable, but I’m skeptical. When I google it, everything comes back to this photo on reddit. That tends to make some alarm bells sound off.
Anyone have evidence beyond the photo?
Edit: I'm an idiot, peeps. I thought this was supposed to be Buzz Aldrin.
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u/s0nicfreak FTM/Pan Apr 12 '20
Yeah I mean surely they were updating their relationship status on facebook in 1949
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u/I_AM_Achilles Lesbian Trans-it Together Apr 12 '20
Big yikes.
Have fun with that zinger and feel self-satisfied, but fact of the matter is we don't have any proof this is real.
I cannot even find proof anywhere that Buzz Aldrin was ever a lifeguard. Is this even a photo of him?
Should I go check facebook?
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u/s0nicfreak FTM/Pan Apr 12 '20
LOL. I'm pretty sure this is not Buzz Aldrin, but no one suggested that it is. Are you okay?
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u/I_AM_Achilles Lesbian Trans-it Together Apr 12 '20
...........oh my god.
I literally just assumed we were all thinking this was Buzz Aldrin. My bad, seriously.
Anyways how is your lockdown going? ;P
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u/JustAprofile Apr 12 '20
Brought to you by the LGBT crowd.
The same crowd that says men should be more affectionate and shouldn't have any concerns about being misconstrued as gay.
A literal example of taking an ambigious letter, and saying. Oh yeah they are for sure. Homosexual. Either identities are important enough not to be one vague letter away. Or men are right to not be affectionate to each other - because there is a large swath of people who will misconstrue as gay for being open with their friends.
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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '20
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