Lord Robert Baden-Powell, world founder of
scouting and author of
Scouting for Boys, is widely believed to have been a repressed
homosexual. (Yes, I know he was married, but it wasn't until he was 55, and he remained
celibate until then.) Powell reportedly had a minor obsession with watching his scouts swim in the
nude, and, like many of contemporaries, was obsessed with the idea of
self-abuse, or
masturbation. Lest anyone
get the wrong idea, I'll add the
caveat that I don't think this diminishes in any way what Baden-Powell accomplished, or even suggests that his motives were
impure; however, it's pretty interesting in light of the Scouts' recent ban of homosexual scoutmasters in the US.
The most useful references for someone looking for further information are this 1999 slate article:
http://slate.msn.com/Features/baden/baden.asp
or this page
http://www.duende.demon.co.uk/baden.html
... both contain quite a bit of documentary evidence.