It is inevitable that some modern gays have claimed Tim as a gay novel, sadly so as it is quite unjustified. True, it is dedicated to a love passing that of women, a reference to David and Jonathan, but few Victorians would have agreed that was remotely sexual, and there are no faint hints of eroticism. Tim's love is pure, by which I do not mean there is anything impure about erotic desire, but simply that his love is not mixed with anything else.