Interesting analysis. I’d like to focus on the earliest part of your description in discussing the usage of the word “gay” and how both Yeats and Winterson use it. I feel as if, specifically in the lines you’ve cited, “gay” is meant to shock the reader in the beginning by making the statement, essentially, that ‘gay people are strong.’ But after lingering on the text, I am curious about flipping the meaning to “strong people are gay”, thus assuming that gay means a sense of joy, and those who rebuild are both gay in the sense that they are part of the LGBTQ+ community but also gay in the sense that they are happy and proud of the accomplishments of said community. I may be wrong, I just felt as if the terms holds two meanings.