queer-trans-history

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“Female Perversions–Sex and the Lesbian” by Dr. Albert Reissner, MD.  1965

- Some chapter highlights include:

Will marriage cure the lesbian?

“Why wasn’t I born a boy?”

Lesbians as frigid females (via, and you could buy it used on Amazon!)

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reading progressive sex ed caricatures with accurate and detailed and realistic diagrams of sexual organs + shows their variation, but all i can think about is how there is no discussion of what srs is besides the fact that it exists

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Stefa Marin Alarcon

Gender: Non binary (they/them)

Sexuality: Queer

DOB: N/A

Ethnicity: Colombian

Nationality: American

Occupation: Artist, singer, songwriter, musician

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thank you trans women. everyone say thank you trans women. or else

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Stormé DeLarverie

Also known as the “Rosa Parks” of the gay rights movement, whose reported tussle with the police was one of the decisive moments of the Stonewall riots. The popular Drag king spent much of her life as an entertainer, MC, singer, bouncer, and bodyguard. Most significantly as a volunteer street patrol worker, the “guardian of lesbians in the Village”

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San Pancake on respecting your gay elders.

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Rather than paraphrase the story of Broadnax, a trans gospel singer active from the late 30s to the 80s(!) I want to signal boost and direct you all to the amazing Ubuntu Biography Project, which I only discovered as I was searching around for images to use in my header.

In the words of the Project’s creator, Stephen A Maglott- who sadly passed away in 2016:

Ubuntu Biography Project was born out of a desire to tell the largely untold stories of LGBTQ men and women of African descent, and to celebrate their remarkable contributions to our world. These are created in the hope that they will serve to educate and empower the whole community, while they give same-gender loving / Trans men and women of African descent ample reason to find pride in who they are, and to find strength in the dynamic and loving community they are connected with.

It is an absolute repository of knowledge and information, and while Mr Maglott has passed away, I will note that the site itself was last updated in 2018 as the work of compiling biographies was continued posthumously. There are contact details on the site itself, so while it looks quiet at present there may still be people working on it.

(Please note: there is some outdated language in the biography itself, though ymmv, and a non-detailed mention of domestic violence at the end).

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Vintage lesbian, adult books (source)

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Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Lesbian

DOB: 26 August 1954

Ethnicity: Native American (Seminole, Muskogee, Navajo)

Occupation: Photographer, painter, museum director, curator, professor.

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Vintage gay, adult books from the 1960s (source)

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Gender Liberation March Rallies for Queer Joy in DC (2024)

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Not entirely a history book, as such, but a modern memoir of being a sangoma: a traditional Zulu healer in South Africa*. While the subtitle of the text reflects Nkabinde’s sexuality at the time of writing, it’s important to acknowledge that, before passing away in 2018, Nkabinde had come out as a trans man. The book itself, written before that time, deals extensively with Nkabinde’s relationship to gender and sexuality, and how this relates to his role as a healer in Zulu society and the wider South African context.

Ruth Morgan’s eulogy in the Mail & Guardian unpacks this, and the wider context of Nkabinde’s calling, work and activism, at length.

The BBC also has an article on sangoma more generally, written by the journalist Pumza Fahlani.

Note: From what I could find, and though the term is apparently used colloquially, sangoma are specifically Zulu healers, while the Xhosa and Sotho cultures have their own terms and practices. If I’ve phrased that inaccurately, however, please let me know and I’ll update accordingly.

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On this day, 20 February 1988, 20,000 people in Manchester marched against Margaret Thatcher’s homophobic section 28 law, which made it illegal for public bodies to “promote” homosexuality, which included banning schools teaching the “acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship”. The law was abolished in 2003, although later Conservative Prime Ministers David Cameron and Theresa May both voted against the complete scrapping of the ban. For more info about the lives of LGBT+ in the UK at the time, check out our podcast about Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, especially as it’s LGBT history month: https://workingclasshistory.com/2019/06/10/e23-25-lesbians-gays-support-the-miners/ https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1354501448068335/?type=3

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Note: The following post uses the term ‘queer’ in its reclamatory sense, and explains the history behind the drive to reclaim the word.

The following quotes appear in Queer Nation pamphlets from 1990, explaining the purpose of reclaiming the term. Queer Nation originated in New York, as an offshoot of the group ACT UP- AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power- and as a response both to the virulent homophobia issuing in the wake of the AIDS crisis, the Bowers vs Hardwick decision in 1986 that stripped gay people of Constitutional protection for private, consensual sodomy, and issues within the broader gay community around respectability politics, assimilation gentrification and the increasing commodification of gay life and the co-option of Pride by corporations and capitalism.

Queer!

Ah, do we really have to use that word? It’s trouble. Every gay person has his or her own take on it. For some it means strange and eccentric and kind of mysterious. That’s okay, we like that. But some gay girls and boy’s don’t. They think they’re more normal than strange. And for others ‘queer’ conjures up those awful memories of adolescent suffering. Queer. It’s forcibly bittersweet and quaint at best- weakening and painful at worst. Couldn’t we just use ‘gay’ instead? It’s a much brighter word and isn’t it synonymous with ‘happy’? When will you militants grow up and get over the novelty of being different?

Why Queer… Well, yes, ‘gay’ is great. It has its place. But when a lot of lesbians and gay men wake up in the morning we feel angry and disgusted, not gay. So we’ve chosen to call ourselves queer. Using ‘queer’ is a way of reminding us how we are perceived  by the rest of the world. It’s a way of telling ourselves we don’t have to be witty and charming people who keep out lives discreet and marginalised in the straight world…

Being queer means leading a different sort of life. It’s not about the mainstream, profit-margins, patriotism, patriarchy, or being assimilated. It’s not about executive director, privilege and elitism. It’s about being on the margins, defining ourselves; it’s about gender-fuck and secrets, what’s beneath the belt and deep inside the heart; it’s about the night.”

  -Queer Nation, Anonymous Queers, 1990 A timeline of Queer Nation is available on their website here, and their original manifesto here. Quote sourced from Feeling Backward: Loss and the Politics of Queer History by Heather Love.

If reblogging, please respect the pamphlet authors’ self-identification and do not tag this post ‘q-slur’.

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Every time I don't drive in this city I fall in love a little bit more.

edit: this looks like it's about to break absolute containment and that's on me and i'm muting this but i wanna say if you put any terf shit on this post i'll eat you motherfuckers alive

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Dr Chris Mowat writes about the proto/ace-adjacent representation of Hippolytus in Euripides’ play of the same name. The son of the hero and founder of Athens, Theseus, and the Amazon Hippolyta, Hippolytus dedicates himself to Artemis, the virgin goddess of the hunt and insists himself- within the text- as having no interest in pursuing relationships, sexual or emotional, with anyone.

While the article itself focuses on myth-busting, via exploring what I suppose you might call early stereotype formation in Euripides’ narrative, there’s also a lot in the article about the interplay of gender and sexuality, as well as the overlap of certain stereotypes that exist today. For followers on Twitter who are interested in historians who are also members of our community, Dr Mowat’s account is here and it’s a genuinely great read.

Note: I use the term proto-/-adjacent when referring to characters, historical figures or groups that predate modern terminology and understandings, where their identity categories may not map exactly to our own.

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In the lead-up to the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade on the 29th, I’m putting together some Australian lgbt+ history posts. I’d like to begin by highlighting some of the histories and experiences of Aboriginal community members in particular.

Peter Waples-Crowe is an emerging elder in the Aboriginal community, and- as a survivor of the AIDS crisis in the 80s/90s- a queer elder more generally. He speaks here both about modern lgbt+ history in Australia and more broadly about the loss of Aboriginal lgbt+ history as a result of invasion and colonisation.

For anyone interested in reading more Aboriginal, lgbt+ voices from Australia:

Aboriginal Families: Beyond Flesh and Blood by Nayuka Gorrie

Kunghah: Sistergirls and brotherboys unite to strengthen spirits (trans and gender diverse *mentions of transphobia/csa in article*)

Queerness and Indigenous cultures: One world, many lives by Alison Whittaker

Please note: The article covers racism and colonisation, experiences of homophobia and mental illness.