Bisexual sorcerer Aleister Crowley is celebrated by magicians today but was widely disliked during his lifetime for being an open queer occultist. Born in England in 1875, Crowley was the son of two devout Christians, a belief system he started questioning at a young age. Historians have described him as “a self-indulgent and flamboyant young man.”
By 21, he had abandoned Christianity completely and purportedly had his first gay sexual experience with a Scottish salesman. After that, he was sold — pun intended — and even developed a romantic relationship with a different man the following year.
Several years later, Crowley developed a romantic relationship with yet another man, this time a student of his named Victor Neuburg. The two spent years traveling and experimenting with sex magick, a practice fusing sex with acts of occultism.