As boys, we fought to keep this flame from being extinguished by the world around us.

"Be the best. Quit crying. Don't overthink it. Take it like a man. You need to stand up for yourself. Leave the weak behind. Try harder next time. Don't apologize; he'll get over it."

For some of us, the flame was snuffed out by abuse, by relentless bullying, or by physical pressure. For others, it gradually dimmed through societal expectations.

For the gay men among us, we fought back all the harder and built a wall of defiance around the flame. And in creating a unique sense of self, the flame survived into adulthood where it still fuels our inner and outer lives.

 
Suggested Reading: "Out of the Shadows: Reimagining Gay Men's Lives" by Walt Odets

Igor Mattio, Intertwined

There are more pictures from this series on the photographer's website here.

Luisl4nd, 'Breakfast 👅💦'

Naruki Kukita, Łukasz Leja posing with his painting 'gym bros: dickptych'

Kees Scherer (Dutch 1920 - 1993) Buck Buck, 1954

Andreas Andersen, 'Interior with Hendrik Andersen and John Briggs Potter in Florence' (1894)

Norwegian-born American artist Andreas Andersen's 1894 painting 'Interior with Hendrik Andersen and John Briggs Potter in Florence' depicts his brother, sculptor Hendrik Andersen (left), aged 22, with American painter John Briggs Potter (right), aged 29. The three travelled and studied in Europe. Andreas Andersen, 25, at the time of the painting, portrayed his brother and Potter as they woke up in the bohemian interior of the Florentine house in Via San Zanobi near Piazza Indipendenza where the three companions had taken up residence. The work has been described as possibly the first publicly displayed painting of an unambiguously homosexual couple. Andreas Andersen, who was by all accounts, heterosexual, portrayed his brother and Potter in a (for the time) rather sensitive manner. Hendrik Andersen would meet author Henry James in 1899, and the two would have a long relationship. John Briggs Potter would later marry Ellen Sturgis Hooper and work as the Keeper of Paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

[Artlust]

[H/T: barefoot boys]

Ryan James Caruthers, 'Beautiful Boys'

George Platt Lynes, 1953

[H/T: Gay Cultes]

Matthew Brookes, Model Chad White and his son

And they are absolutely gorgeous together!

 
That time when you come home from work... and find these two sitting on your sofa, cuddling and giggling mischievously - and definitely looking forward to later on!

Boy Scout Troop (1950s)