I mean it is a complicated question based upon how you define gay in the first place with sex segregated family isolating education policies of the British scho

I mean it is a complicated question based upon how you define gay in the first place with sex segregated family isolating education policies of the British schools. The whole reasons for that were the old chestnut of fighting decadence to justify brutality and worry that a mother's love would leave Britan with men too soft. Then there is the ever present situational sexuality evident in prisons and single sex schooling. It not only held there but was acknowledged. There is a homophobic by modern standards quote from his friend and contemporary C.S.Lewis about sodomy being a weed filled, stagnant oasis in the constant social struggle but an oasis nonetheless appears to be him "Saying what everyone knows but doesn't acknowledge out loud." To sum it up in a snarky pithy phrase: the culture was so misogynistic that it became gay, because romance requires another person. It is reflected a bit in sheer rarity of female characters in LOTR. Romantic friendships were a norm in the past largely forgotten in more open times where we are used to noticing obvious repression and "closet cases". In a way the real past manages to be even more alien than fantasy worlds with elves and dwarves.