Natural homosexual desire transformed into perverted sadism

I have had a laugh at the deniers of john claggart's motivation for persecuting Billy Budd being his repressed homosexual lust! LOL

Of course it was repressed homosexual lust! For goodness sake! This man John Claggart is a twisted and distorted individual turned into a perverted sadist by his desire for the boy Billy.

All the versions of the story pile on the fact of the boy's physical beauty: the crew love the boy, the captain loves the boy. That and the boy's almost saintlike goodness- both aspects would drive anyone wild with lust.

Think where you are, on a ship at war, in a totally all male environment - all that testosterone and all the pheromones flying about. We know from accounts of similar environments that a pretty youth can become the object of desire for men whose tastes back home are for females.

Claggart desires the boy but is riddled with self hate which he transforms into hatred for the boy. Or maybe he just cannot cope with the emotions for the boy that he feels. Just as the captain, passively, allows Budd to be hanged and regrets it because he also wants the boy.

The story is steamy with repressed desire.

If it's not Claggart's lust for the boy and a desire to destroy what he cannot have then what on earth is the story all about? It makes no sense without understanding the repressed homosexual element.