Editing Andy Warhol (section)

===Sexuality===
Warhol lived as a gay man before the [[gay liberation]] movement, but he often veiled his personal life in the press. In 1980, Warhol proclaimed that he was still a virgin. Former ''Interview'' editor Bob Colacello felt it was probably true and that what little sex he had was probably "a mixture of [[voyeurism]] and [[masturbation]]—to use [Andy's] word ''abstract.''"<ref name="Dillinger-2001">{{Cite book |last=Dillinger |first=Jane Daggett |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KemglT-1jSIC&q=%22Andy%20Warhol%22%2BVincent%2BFerrer&pg=PA16-IA7 |title=The Religious Art of Andy Warhol |date=2001 |publisher=[[Continuum International Publishing Group]] |isbn=978-0-8264-1334-5 |location=New York City |pages=16–17, 36–37 |access-date=April 7, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116052236/https://books.google.com/books?id=KemglT-1jSIC&q=%22Andy+Warhol%22%2BVincent%2BFerrer&pg=PA16-IA7 |archive-date=January 16, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> However, Warhol's assertion of virginity is contradicted by his hospital treatment in 1960 for [[Genital wart|condylomata]], a [[sexually transmitted disease]].<ref>{{cite book|first1=Tony|last1=Scherma|first2=David|last2=Dalton|title=POP: The Genius of Andy Warhol|publisher=HarperCollins|location=New York City|date=2010|page=49}}</ref> His friend [[Charles Lisanby]], whom Warhol had [[Unrequited love|unrequited romantic]] feelings for, said Warhol told him sex was "messy and distasteful."<ref name=":3" /> "He told me he'd had sex a few times, he had tried it and didn't really like it," said Lisanby.{{Sfn|Gopnik|2020|p=173}} Furthermore, some of Warhol's friends from his early career claimed to have either witnessed Warhol having sex or heard him boasting about his sexual relations.{{Sfn|Gopnik|2020|p=173}}

Due to Warhol's own admission that he was asexual, it has been assumed that all his relationships were platonic.<ref name=":7" /> Warhol superstar [[Jay Johnson (model)|Jay Johnson]], whose twin brother was Warhol's longtime partner, stated, "He enjoyed the idea that he was considered a voyeur and that he was considered asexual. That was his mystique."<ref name=":7" /> The Factory photographer [[Billy Name]] was briefly Warhol's lover.<ref name=":35">{{Cite news|title = I shot Andy Warhol: photographer Billy Name on drugs and shootings at the Factory|url = https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/sep/27/billy-name-andy-warhol-factory-photographer-pop-art|newspaper = The Guardian|date = September 27, 2015|access-date =January 19, 2016|issn = 0261-3077|language = en-GB|first = Sean|last = O'Hagan}}</ref> He said Warhol was "the essence of sexuality. It permeated everything. Andy exuded it, along with his great artistic creativity. Sexuality was part of the glamour—we expressed it like teenagers."<ref>{{Cite web|title = Billy Name {{!}} The man who silvered The Factory|url = http://civilianglobal.com/arts/the-man-who-silvered-the-andy-warhol-factory-billy-name-lou-reed-ondine-1960s-new-york/|website = CIVILIAN|date = October 28, 2013|access-date = January 19, 2016|language = en-US|archive-date = January 26, 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160126014443/http://civilianglobal.com/arts/the-man-who-silvered-the-andy-warhol-factory-billy-name-lou-reed-ondine-1960s-new-york/|url-status = live}}</ref> "But his personality was so vulnerable that it became a defense to put up the blank front," said Name.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Factory Workers Warholites Remember: Billy Name|url = http://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/factory-workers-warholites-remember-billy-name/|website = Interview|date = November 30, 2008|access-date = January 19, 2016|archive-date = January 12, 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160112140631/http://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/factory-workers-warholites-remember-billy-name|url-status = live}}</ref> Warhol's other lovers included aspiring filmmaker [[A Walk into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory|Danny Williams]] and artist [[John Giorno]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Iain |date=March 31, 2007 |title=The films of Warhol's lost lover rediscovered: A documentary on Danny Williams |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2007/04/01/the-films-of-warhols-lost-lover-rediscovered-a-documentary-on-danny-williams |access-date=April 29, 2024 |website=The Art Newspaper}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Giorno |first=John |date=July 22, 2020 |title=Sleeping With Andy Warhol |url=https://www.vulture.com/article/great-demon-kings-john-giorno-andy-warhol.html |access-date=October 26, 2024 |website=Vulture |language=en}}</ref> His most enduring romantic relationship was with [[Jed Johnson (designer)|Jed Johnson]], who nursed him back to health after he was shot.<ref name=":7" /> Johnson collaborated with Warhol on films and went on to achieve fame as an interior designer.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Macias |first=Ernesto |date=March 21, 2022 |title=Meet Jed Johnson, the Man Who Stole Andy Warhol's Heart |url=https://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/meet-jed-johnson-the-man-who-stole-andy-warhol-heart |access-date=March 21, 2024 |website=Interview |language=en-US}}</ref> They "functioned as husband and husband, sharing a bed and a domestic life" for 12 years.{{Sfn|Gopnik|2020|p=648}} Warhol's close friend [[Stuart Pivar]] said he "had no sex life after Jed."{{Sfn|Koestenbaum|2001|p=189}} [[Paramount Pictures]] executive [[Jon Gould]], ''Interview'' advertising director [[Paige Powell]], and Factory assistant Sam Bolton were Warhol's last companions.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |last=Patton |first=Elaina |date=March 10, 2022 |title='The Andy Warhol Diaries' explores how the iconic artist was shaped by his great loves |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-pop-culture/-andy-warhol-diaries-explores-iconic-artist-was-shaped-great-loves-rcna19386 |access-date=April 29, 2024 |publisher=NBC News |language=en}}</ref>{{Sfn|Colacello|1990|p=476-477}}

The impact of Warhol's homosexuality on his work and connection with the art industry has been extensively studied. Throughout his career, Warhol produced erotic photography and drawings of male nudes. Many of his most famous works—portraits of Liza Minnelli, [[Judy Garland]], and Elizabeth Taylor and films such as ''Blow Job'', ''My Hustler'' and ''[[Lonesome Cowboys]]''—draw from gay [[underground culture]] or openly explore the complexity of sexuality and desire. Many of his films premiered in [[gay porn]] theaters, including the New Andy Warhol Garrick Theatre and 55th Street Playhouse, in the 1960s.<ref>{{cite book|first=Thomas|last=Waugh|title=Hard to Imagine: Gay Male eroticism in Photography and Film from the Beginnings to Stonewall|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York City|date=1996}}</ref>

Early works that Warhol submitted to a fine art gallery the 1950s, homoerotic drawings of male nudes, were rejected for being too openly gay.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Alberge |first=Dalya |date=2020-02-16 |title=Andy Warhol's 1950s erotic drawings of men to be seen for first time |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/feb/16/andy-warhol-1950s-erotic-drawings-men-shown-for-first-time-london-tate-modern |access-date=2025-04-10 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> In his book ''Popism'', the artist recalls a conversation with the filmmaker [[Emile de Antonio]] about the difficulty he had being accepted socially by the then-more-famous (but [[closeted]]) gay artists [[Jasper Johns]] and [[Robert Rauschenberg]]. De Antonio explained that Warhol was "too swish and that upsets them. ... major painters try to look straight; you play up the swish—it's like an armour with you."{{Sfn|Warhol|Hackett|1980|p=14}} In response, Warhol said: "I'd always had a lot of fun with that—just watching the expressions on people's faces. You'd have to have seen the way all the Abstract Expressionist painters carried themselves and the kinds of images they cultivated, to understand how shocked people were to see a painter coming on swish. I certainly wasn't a butch kind of guy by nature, but I must admit, I went out of my way to play up the other extreme."{{Sfn|Warhol|Hackett|1980|p=15}}