The official cause of Tchaikovsky's death—cholera from unboiled water—is often rejected in favor of suicide conspiracies. This reflects a cultural discomfort with a celebrated artist dying from a mundane disease, preferring a narrative that aligns with the romanticized image of a tortured genius.

While dressing rooms may be more supportive today, no active Premier League player is openly gay. This is likely due to fear of the immense distraction and public pressure of being the 'first,' which could detract from their primary focus on football performance.

Despite harsh laws, homosexuality in 19th-century Russia was often viewed as a personal taste rather than a defining identity. For wealthy, connected individuals like Tchaikovsky, this perception meant the risk of prosecution or public scandal was minimal, allowing for a relatively open secret life.

For middle-class Russians like Tchaikovsky, music was not a respectable profession. The primary path to social standing was a prestigious and hard-to-attain role as a civil servant, a career he pursued for years before his father encouraged him to switch to music.

Tsar Alexander III, promoting an ideology of Russian exceptionalism, used Tchaikovsky's work for political ends. By celebrating him as a distinctly 'Russian' composer and bestowing state honors, the regime transformed his art into a tool for advancing a nationalist agenda of cultural separation from Western Europe.

Author Shannon Hale posits that a core driver of why boys are discouraged from reading about girls is a deep, often unacknowledged homophobia. The fear is that if a boy empathizes too strongly with a female character, it might somehow alter his sexual orientation.

Influential mothers of civil rights leaders like MLK Jr. were actively erased from historical accounts by scholars, despite their sons crediting them. This isn't an accidental omission but a strategic act to maintain a male-centric view of power and prevent new models of leadership from emerging.

The "rich gay uncle" hypothesis suggests homosexuality persists by shifting reproductive effort. Instead of having their own children, gay men may invest heavily in their siblings' offspring, promoting the survival of shared genes through kin selection. This is supported in some, but not all, cultures.

While Tchaikovsky was a fervent Russian patriot, his focus on folk traditions and national identity was part of a wider 19th-century European Romantic movement. His 'Russianness,' far from being unique, was an expression of a continental trend celebrating national character in art.