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
William Melmoth William Melmoth William Melmoth (sometimes "William Melmoth the Elder") (1665/66–1743) was an English devotional writer and lawyer, whose major work, "The Great Importance of a Religious Life Consider'd" (1711), proved to be one of the most popular pieces of religious writing of the 18th century. He was the father of William Melmoth (1710–1799) a Commissioner of Bankrupts. Melmoth was admitted to the Inns of Court to begin his training as a barrister at Clifford's Inn on 15 April 1686, and then transferred to Inner Temple on 30 May 1689 and from there he was called to the Bar on 29