AS THE YEAR gracefully folds and we look back at the year in
politics, well may we say “who would have thought it?”
Who would have thought some banter, with supposed gay
overtones, between Slipper and Ashby would have such a dramatic impact? Who
could foresee that one side of politics would pursue the former Speaker with
such monomaniacal vitriol?
The homoerotic impulse and a countering homophobic reaction
are not unprecedented in politics. They’re
not even unusual.
In fact, together they have played a strange part in the evolution
of the system of our government.
Who would have thought it – a homoerotic crush helped
initiate the emergence of democracy in Ancient Athens.
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| A vase depicting the death of Hipparchus. Phallic imagery abounds. |
Hipparchus, Hippias and Thessalus were the three sons of the
early Athenian tyrant Pisistratus. All
three had murky reputations for carrying on the aristocratic family trade of
political intrigue and launching coups.
In 514BCE Thessalus had a crush on a young male aristocrat. Thessalus was rejected, and in a fit of
pique, he refused to allow the aristocrat’s sister to take her place in the
Panathenaic festival parade.
The shame of it was too much for the object of Thessalus’
affections, and he organised a gang of assassins to strike at Hippias, the
brother of Thessalus.
Trouble is, they got the wrong brother. They couldn’t get at Hippias, so they actually
settled for Hipparchus.
It was the furious retribution of Thessalus and Hippias to
their brother’s death that had political consequences through the ages.
They organised the brutal murders of two of the assassins, Harmodius
and Aristogeiton. Finally, appalled at
the cycle of violence, Athenians eventually overthrew the rule of the tyrants.
Guided by the first real democrat, Cleithsenes, Athenians in
507 BCE brought in a constitution, and rule by an assembly that represented all
citizens.
All because Thessalus couldn’t get his way with a good
looking young man.
Still, look at the reaction when a ruler did get his way
with a young man.
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| Edward II, with his jewels, crown and a nice shade of lippy. |
The relationship of Edward II with his “close male
companions” so vexed the ruling English upper classes, they created a system of
checks on the power of the monarchy that still exist today.
Edward II (who reigned from 1307 to 1327) not only flaunted
his relationship with Piers Gaveston and Hugh Despenser, he made them powerful.
Edward had it bad for Gaveston, his childhood friend, who in
turn had a knack for outraging and mocking the English nobility.
After Edward’s wedding, where Gaveston apparently out-dressed
the bride, the King presented him with the best of his new wife’s wedding gifts
and jewels.
Edward ostentatiously showered Gaveston with power and gifts
from the public purse.
The response of the
English nobility was to force “The Ordinances” upon Edward, which like the Magna
Carta, imposed limitations upon the power of the monarch to dispense public
wealth.
Faced with another ultimatum to let him go, Edward finally chose
to flee north with Gaveston, abandoning his capital and pregnant wife.
Gaveston was captured, and on Blacklow Hill, the nobles
finally halted his all-too-visible career by simply chopping off his head.
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| The gruesome end of Hugh Despenser. Of course, times have changed ... |
Edward’s true gift as a monarch was to keep repeating his
mistakes. Gaveston’s replacement was the
young Hugh Despenser, an even more hated figure.
Once again, the favourite was gifted enormous power and
money, and once again, the English reacted by executing the King’s close
companion.
To get rid of Edward, the English aristocracy created the
Articles of Accusation. Under these Articles,
Edward was accused of breaching his Coronation Oath to look after the country,
and was formally deposed by his spurned wife Queen Isabella.
So there it is. The furore over Edward’s overt relationship
with Gaveston and Despenser led to the creation of mechanisms where a king can
be fiscally restrained and be legally deposed.
The furore over the spurned advance by Thessalus led to the
creation of Athenian democracy.
And the furore over Slipper’s supposed request for a more
communal form of showering drowned his career, and will continue to dampen the
careers of others.
Who would have thought this would be a lesson from politics
in 2012? That homoeroticism holds a strange place in our system of government.
Or rather, the crushing reaction against it can have
political consequences that far outweigh the original transgression.
It is the death of Edward II that symbolises the retributive
barrage that can be unleashed in response to the homoerotic.
Legend is that Edward II, imprisoned in the Guard Room at
Berkeley Castle, was killed by the insertion of a red-hot poker into his fundament.
Homophobia has no place in the private or public
realms. And we need to remember that historically,
it has had an effect on politics and government in a way that would be almost
comical if it weren’t so bloody tragic.
*Read "The Life and Death of Democracy" by John Keane and "Crown and Country: The Kings and Queens of England" by David Starkey.
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