Gay icon a prototypical portrait of a tortured closet case." Due to Saint Sebastian's status as a gay icon, Tennessee Williams chose to use the saint's name for the martyred character Sebastian in his play, "Suddenly, Last Summer". The name was also used by Oscar Wilde—as Sebastian Melmoth—when in exile after his release from prison. Wilde, an Irish writer and poet, was about as "out of the closet" as was possible for the late 19th century, and is himself considered to be a gay icon. Marie Antoinette was an early lesbian icon. Rumors about her relationships with women circulated in pornographic detail
Garrison Melmoth tricycle landing gear and a single engine in tractor configuration. Garrison spent over 10,000 hours building the aircraft. Garrison explains how the aircraft's name was chosen, "I christened it Melmoth, after the Byronic protagonist of the nineteenth-century novel "Melmoth the Wanderer", who sells his soul to the devil for, among other valuable considerations, the ability to travel about at will in space and time." "Melmoth the Wanderer" was written by Charles Maturin and published in 1820. The aircraft was built from aluminium and incorporated exceptional fuel capacity for an amateur-built of its era, including two wingtip tanks and a main