Gay for Humanity

what if we kissed… in front of the French socialist statue? 😙

Feeling pretty gay for humanity, just like Jules Dalou—sculptor and creator of this elaborate altar piece entitled, “La Fraternité des peuples,” or, “the Brotherhood of the People.”

Yes, it’s pretty gay, though that’s not entirely uncommon for art in this category. (The category is “gay for humanity.”) Apparently Dalou and other artists had such strong feelings for humanity that they felt the best way to describe those feelings was through a big, fat kiss on the lips.

Dalou loved humanity, and specifically the working class. Dalou was a socialist himself, and his affiliation with the Paris Commune (a group of working-class rebels), got him exiled from France during the French Revolution. He spent eight years in England, honing his craft and caring for his mentally handicapped daughter (alongside his wife, who he had married years before in France).

He eventually returned to France and continued sculpting until his death in 1902. This piece, Fraternité, is one of my favorites. It actually sits behind the altar of a church, and it’s quite large and detailed.

I also think it’s worth mentioning that socialism and kissing on the lips is a bit of a theme. Apparently the “socialist fraternal kiss” is a way for socialist leaders to express their closeness—in ideology and purpose. There’s also the “socialist fraternal embrace,” which was a series of three deep hugs, alternating on either side each time.

My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love, a graffiti painting on the Berlin Wall depicting Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev kissing East German leader Erich Honecker

There’s more than one way to greet a comrade, it seems.