Homosexuality in Proust, and one of the strangest moments in Swann's Way

Part of the strangeness and beauty of Proust's Remembrance/Recherche is way in which homosexual and homoerotic themes hover at the edges of the novel and sometimes step into the foreground - sometimes the homoeroticism is overt, sometimes covert, which of course had much to do with the standards and conventions of the day - conventions that kept Forster from writing about homosexuality in his lifetime, essentially, kept Baldwin's writing on the theme to a minimum, and I would guess compelled Proust to make Marcel's various passionate love interests always women and girls - but as we read we can easily substitute, read it as though reflected in a convex mirror, and imagine his passion for men. In "Swann's Way" (Davis tr.) Legrandin emerges as the first significant covert homoerotic encounter - this odd mournful man who wanders alone, stares into the distance, quotes obscure poetry to the young Marcel, takes care to be in the company of a married woman to provide just the hint that they may be having an affair, invites the young (early teen? younger?) Marcel over for private dinners to discuss literature and art - not sure how this would have been interpreted (or tolerated) in the early 20th century, but today we would see the young Marcel as a potential or likely victim of abuse. Proust's very odd description of Legrandin in front of the church, bowing and then standing oddly straight, with the description focused on his "bottom," is one of the most peculiar moments in the novel. Proust's boldness in taking on homoerotic themes is commendable and it's too bad it he was born so far ahead of his time that he - who explored every nuance and feeling and perception and memory - could not explore his own sexuality in a more open fashion.