Icon

Gay rights icon and museum founder Charles Leslie seated in his Manhattan apartment that is filled with homoerotic paintings, sculptures and other objet d'art.  The collection in his apartment gave it the nickname "The Phallus Palace".  As for the naked man standing next to Charles in this photo, he looks familiar to me -- which means I've probably seen him in gay porno.  But for this post, I'm going to assume that hunk is Mr. Leslie's manservant.  

Some interesting tidbits on Charles Leslie: 

Charles and his lifetime partner, Fritz Lohman, who died in 2009, were the founders of the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art which still exists today and is located in Manhattan on Wooster Street. 

In an interview a few years ago, Charles spoke about the Stonewall Riots in June, 1969.  On the first night of that event, Charles received a phone call from a friend at 2:00 in the morning.  His friend told him what had happened at the bar and he wanted Charles to get there as soon as possible.  I quote from memory, but the friend told Charles they weren't planning anything violent... "We just need to show our presence and let the cops know we are united together to end this type of discrimination and disrespect."  It was the start of Charles' lifelong commitment to the LGBTQ+ community.