Editing André Gide (section)

==Sexuality==
In his journal, Gide distinguishes between adult-attracted "sodomites" and boy-loving "pederasts", categorizing himself as the latter.
{{quote|I call a pederast the man who, as the word indicates, falls in love with young boys. I call a sodomite ("The word is sodomite, sir," said Verlaine to the judge who asked him if it were true that he was a sodomist) the man whose desire is addressed to mature men...The pederasts, of whom I am one (why cannot I say this quite simply, without your immediately claiming to see a brag in my confession?), are much rarer, and the sodomites much more numerous, than I first thought...That such loves can spring up, that such relationships can be formed, it is not enough for me to say that this is natural; I maintain that it is good; each of the two finds exaltation, protection, a challenge in them; and I wonder whether it is for the youth or the elder man that they are more profitable.<ref name="The Journals Of André Gide, Vol II 1914-1927.">{{cite book|last1=Gide|first1=Andre|title=The Journals Of André Gide, Vol II 1914–1927|date=1948|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|isbn=978-0-252-06930-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/journalsofandreg031199mbp/page/n255 246]–247|url=https://archive.org/details/journalsofandreg031199mbp|access-date=27 April 2016}}</ref>}}
{{box quote|width=30em|bgcolor=cornsilk|fontsize=100%|salign=center|quote= From an interview with film documentarian [[Nicole Védrès]] with Andre Gide:<br>
'''Védrès''' "May I ask you an indiscreet question?<br>
'''Gide''' "There are no indiscreet questions, only indiscreet answers."<br>
'''Védrès''' "Is it true, ''cher Maître'', that you are a homosexual?"<br>
'''Gide''' "No monsieur, I am ''not'' a homosexual, I am a pederast!"<br>—from Vedres' documentary [[La Vie Commence Demain|''Life Starts Tomorrow'']] (1950)<ref>Weinberg, Herman G., 1967. ''Josef von Sternberg. A Critical Study.'' New York: Dutton p. 121. Weinberg notes "Gide replied testily, with that refined distinction so characteristic of him…"</ref>
}}
Gide's journal documents his behavior in the company of [[Oscar Wilde]]. {{quote|Wilde took a key out of his pocket and showed me into a tiny apartment of two rooms...The youths followed him, each of them wrapped in a burnous that hid his face. Then the guide left us and Wilde sent me into the further room with little Mohammed and shut himself up in the other with the [other boy]. Every time since then that I have sought after pleasure, it is the memory of that night I have pursued...My joy was unbounded, and I cannot imagine it greater, even if love had been added. How should there have been any question of love? How should I have allowed desire to dispose of my heart? No scruple clouded my pleasure and no remorse followed it. But what name then am I to give the rapture I felt as I clasped in my naked arms that perfect little body, so wild, so ardent, so sombrely lascivious? For a long time after Mohammed had left me, I remained in a state of passionate jubilation, and though I had already achieved pleasure five times with him, I renewed my ecstasy again and again, and when I got back to my room in the hotel, I prolonged its echoes until morning.<ref name="If It Die: An Autobiography">{{cite book|last1=Gide|first1=Andre|title=If It Die: An Autobiography|date=1935|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-0-375-72606-4|pages=288|edition=New|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e0-TBQAAQBAJ&q=Gide+A.+%281935%29.+If+It+Die%3A+An+Autobiography.+New+York%3A+Random+House.&pg=PT3|access-date=27 April 2016}}. Viewable here: {{cite web |last1=Gide |first1=André |title=If it die : an autobiography [archived] |url=https://archive.org/details/ifitdie0000unse_h7e6/page/288/mode/2up?q=%22had+believed+all+compromise+impossible%22 |website=Internet Archive |date=22 January 1963 |access-date=14 May 2023}} '''Note:''' [https://archive.org/details/bwb_KS-470-205/page/284/mode/2up?q=%22had+believed+all+compromise+impossible%22 some editions of this same work] omit this section. 
 </ref>}}

Gide's novel ''[[Corydon (book)|Corydon]]'', which he considered his most important work, includes a defense of [[pederasty]]. At that time (before 1945), the age of consent for any type of sexual activity was set at 13.