#holmeswatson

first of all - acd's stories were written in the late 19th to early 20th century. homosexuality was illegal and punishable by imprisonment in england until 1967, at which point arthur conan doyle had been dead for almost four decades. holmes and watson would also have been long dead. acd wouldn't have been able to write them as explicitly gay without risking dire punishment and i heavily doubt that the stories would have made their way to the eyes of the public. even if they had done so, they would not have been as well-received as they were.

anyone with some level of reading comprehension doesn't have to look far to see the queer subtext in the stories. many people refuse to see it as more than a close friendship simply because they're two men instead of a man and a woman. homosexual representation in fiction - and history - has to prove itself tenfold to be believed compared to heterosexual representation, which in most cases will be swallowed whole by the general public, no matter how bad or unbelievable.

the most obvious example of this subtext is holmes's disinterest in women. he is never shown to take any interest in any woman except for irene adler, whom he admires for her intelligence, and even though she changes his mind on women in general, holmes continues to not take any romantic notice in them.

another example is that holmes and watson left london for a period of time in 1895. this is believed to be in reference to homosexual people fleeing the city during the oscar wilde trials. ("it was in the year '95 that a combination of events, into which i need not enter, caused mr. sherlock holmes and i to spend some weeks in one of our great university towns" - john watson in the three students)

the last line of the original canon is "some day the true story may be told", which some people, including myself, believe refers to the nature of holmes and watson's relationship.

there are many more examples and quotes that showcase romantic implications between the pair, which may be more or less hard to see for the average person, but to someone who keeps an open mind isn't too difficult to find.

my second point is about the people complaining about the explicitly gay adaptations that have been made in recent years. people have been shipping holmes and watson together since the beginning. the difference between now and then is that the lgbtq+ community is accepted as a part of society, instead of illegalized and punishable. this opens up opportunities to tell a story that has been begging to be told for well over a century, and naturally people will take that opportunity. the number of adaptations where holmes and watson aren't a canon couple by far outnumbers the ones where they are, but i hope and believe that the future will give us more. this is also a reason to not complain about the adaptations where they are explicitly queer, since there are so many other retellings to pick and choose from that don't have them featured as a couple.

fans have always and will always pair holmes and watson up together. it's a simple fact and arguing about it won't change anything. media like fawx & stallion, the beekeeper's picnic, and sherlock holmes and the adventure of the furtive festivity will keep being made out of love for the characters and a wish to tell their story as what it could have been, and i think that's beautiful.

holmeswatson moment upon ye