I've been wondering for quite a long time now, what even was John's sexuality? I do think he was straight but somewhere inside me thinks he may have had small same sex attractions but I haven't personally found much information/proof to support that. + It was never confirmed by John himself which makes it harder for more proof. (Paul does make it seem like he was gay on many occasions but I don't know how much I trust it.) What do you think? It just really interests me. :-)
Personally, I think that John was bisexual with a preference for men, as is Paul. There are so many reasons why I think this so I’ll just make a list:
*When John was a teen, he had dreams of becoming a sailor, and it’s well-known that the navy has a very strong gay subculture attached to it. Many men would choose to go to sea for unlimited sex with other men, and Philip Norman referred to the navy as “a homosexual mafia.” (x)
*As a teen, he would invent wanking games with other boys (x)
*As a teen, he admired the gay poet Oscar Wilde. “I was torn between being Marlon Brando and being the sensitive poet - the Oscar Wilde part of me with the velvet, feminine side. I was always torn between the two, mainly opting for the macho side, because if you showed the other side, you were dead.” (x)
*(This quote is referring to when the Beatles went to Hamburg) “Though raised amid the same homophobia as his companions, John seemed totally unshocked by St. Pauli’s abundant drag scene; indeed, he often seemed actively to seek it out. “There was one particular club he used to like,” Tony Sheridan remembers, “full of these big guys with hairy hands, deep voices- and breasts. But they used to make an effort to talk English. There was something about the place that seemed to make John feel at home.”” (x) And here’s another story about him going to a transvestite bar called Monica’s (x)
*He has admitted to having a threesome with a man and a woman (x)
*The source is questionable, but Pauline Sutcliffe claims that John used to go to gay parties with Brian Epstein and other men, and that there was a lot of gossip around Liverpool about John not being straight (x)
*Pete Townshend says that among mutual friends, John openly talked about experimenting with men (x)
*He went to at least one gay bar with Paul in 1968 (x)
*He contributed a poem to the Gay Liberation Book in the early 70s, saying “Why make it sad to be gay/ Doing your thing is O.K./ Our bodies our own/ So leave us alone/ Go play with yourself—today.” (x)
*“When they got onto the theme of love, Andrews suggested that Lennon was troubled by his homosexuality. “‘Why do you dress Yoko as a boy?’ he challenged. John was enraged at the suggestion, rejecting it violently” (x)
*He said he was attracted to Yoko because she “looks like a bloke in drag” (x)
*Once when he was drunk, he grabbed one of the studio musicians and kissed him, then pushed him off and called him a “faggot” (x)
*He went around to gay clubs during his separation from Yoko (x)
*Many of his writings from his book Skywriting by Word of Mouth are blatantly homoerotic (x) (x)
“Whatever happened to the life that we once knew? Can we really live without each other?”
The Beatles arrive back in London from Paris, 5th February 1964 - part two (part one)
Sorry John, but George's looks and smiles are for his favorite Paulie.
John Lennon photographed by George Harrison, presumably on a flight during The Beatles’ World Tour, 1964; screen capped from Living in the Material World
“I know with John Lennon, John Lennon’s an amazing person who is brilliant, is brilliant. There is no question about it. John Lennon is a saint and he is heavy duty and he is great and I love him. But, at the same time, he is such a bastard. But that’s the great thing about him.” - George Harrison, 1975
“I think probably so much has been said about [John] already. But occasionally, you know, you miss him, because it would be fun to hang out with him. But at the same time, what I’ve got to be believe in over the years is the spiritual thing, that death is only like changing your suit. So now you’re in your physical body, and you’re in your astral body…” - George Harrison on John Lennon, 1987
“[John] was great, he was brilliant, and he was a great soul. Still is.” - George Harrison, Guitar World, April 1988
can we make the connection between
“the time has come, the walrus said, for you and i to stay in bed again “ (from a take of john’s starting over )
and
“- if john lennon could come back for a day, how would you spend it with him?
- in bed “ (from one of paul’s interviews )
okay thanks
Reporter: How do you like not having any privacy?
Paul: We do have some, you know.
John: We just had some. We just had some before, didn't we, Paul? You tell them.
George: Yes, we just had some drinks over there.
Paul: Help yourself a drink, folks.
John and Paul during the Beatles press conference in Atlantic City (September 9, 1964)
I wanted to know what Paul's looking so lovingly at on the back of their cover so I recreated his hand placement and this is approximately where his left hand is pointing at.
Here is a clean copy for my John girlies:
I think Paul really spoke for all of us 😭
(The cropped versions are wallpaper friendly! 🥰)