Shakespeare: "Hey, does this Elizabethan portraiture make me look gay?"

There's a piece up over at the NY Times about an unearthed portrait that could possibly be the only one ever painted of William Shakespeare (Shakespeare In Love) during his lifetime, and it's got all sorts of bonnets and knickers and fluffy collars in various twists.

Apparently the fact that Shakespeare (as some believe it to be) is depicted as looking a bit fancy is more fuel for the fire regarding the rumors that the Bard was bi (or, if you're Gawker, gaygaygaygayGAYgaygay!).

In fact, even the group exhibiting the portrait, The Shakespeare Birthday Trust, is going out of its way to emphasize the portrait's sexiness and indicate that it might call the author's sexuality into question. It's like TMZ with rhymed couplets!

Personally, I think pretty much all Elizabethan portraits are a bit prissy, so I don't think they've exactly discovered the Gay Sea Scrolls or anything here. But the fact that the man in the picture up top is pointing at the portrait with his pinkie is pretty damning evidence that something queer is afoot. 

Note: The judges also would have accepted the headline "Shakespeare: Sister?"