There is a quote that is often used which says much, but the story behind the telegram and how the quote came about is also quite telling.
“You may marry him, murder him, or do anything you like to him”*
While this line is often quoted as showing how Sir Arthur did not care about how Sherlock Holmes was portrayed, it should be noted that this quote only came after William Gillette pressed Sir. Arthur on the matter. Initially Arthur Conan Doyle stipulated that Sherlock Holmes should not be portrayed as being romantically interested in a woman. He did not give Sherlock Holmes a female love interest and preferred that it remained so (reminder that Irene Adler was in love with and married someone else. She was not romantically interested in Holmes).
“Gillette read Conan Doyle’s script and asked permission to revise it. The author agreed, stipulating only that there be no love interest.”
Keep in mind that at the time that the telegram was written it was inconceivable that Holmes would even have the opportunity to ever marry a man.
The possibility of Holmes having a male love interest is not something that would have -ever- been written about, spoken of, or suggested because of the anti-lgbt culture engrained throughout society at the time. The co-dependant partnership of Holmes and Watson was the closest that could be achieved when it came to M/M ‘Love’ interest.
A male male relationship would NOT be referred to as a ‘love interest’. Dr. Watson could only ever be referred to as Holmes’ ‘partner’ and ‘friend’. Any reference to ‘love interests’ dealt with women by default. Sir Arthur was stating his disapproval of Holmes having a relationship with a woman.
This point is significant as it is further evidence regarding how it is adaptations that try to show Holmes as being straight and interested in a woman that have to bend the stories to do so, not the ones that show Holmes as having other inclinations. It is the -straight- adaptations that are deviating more from the canon stories and have to break canon when they try to push heteronormativity.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had written about having a preference that Holmes remained single and alone or living with Dr. John Watson then being romantically interested in a women.
This is so important. That’s why I laugh every time someone claims that making Holmes and Watson openly romantic partners / husbands is something that is entirely impossible, because there is no clue about this kind of relationships in canon and further adaptations. Ha! It is not Doyle’s fault that he lived in times where being homosexual was a crime. It is not Doyle’s fault that the majority of his stories’ readers don’t see what’s hiding behind the surface, in a subtext. It is not Doyle’s fault that almost every director of film adaptations for some bizarre reason turned Irene Adler into his romantic interest (even though it is the absolute rejection of canon), for example.
(And, if someone doesn’t see that the whole plot and subtext, and the majority of symbols and metaphors in BBC Sherlock are built around the idea of Sherlock and John who are in love with each other, but have no success in communication, hence all these years of misunderstandings and pining.. it is sad. No matter what we think about the show right now – that it’s queerbaiting / the game is still on – to deny that there IS a ton of text and subtext about Sherlock and John’s love for each other is to watch this show with eyes closed).
Death By Catchphrase 