#a queer history of the united states

[pythiaswine]

so i didn't know this was a general thought. i thought it was just a sometimes meme on amrev tumblr. guess it makes sense. too pretty for life or whatever. this implies people at the time of his life and death thought he was a lover of men? very interesting. i always write him bisexual for the plot anyway hahaha

[dragonbadgerbooks]

September Fun Day Book Photo Challenge September 2, 2024: Coconut Day

"You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live, and what came before you."

[enbycrip]

A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronnski:

I'm…conflicted on my feelings about this book.

On one hand, it had some excellent stuff in it; some that I had heard before and some that I hadn't. It was excellent on context about purity politics in the US, their active and ongoing impact on US culture, and how the gay rights movement interacted with that; that was very clearly the main thrust of the narrative the writer wanted to tell.

On the other hand, for something calling itself a *queer* history, it was almost entirely focused on gay and lesbian culture and politics, and how this affected "mainstream" culture.

Not only did it have minimal focus on actual *people*and their lives, particularly working class ones who did not have the money and status to affect the larger culture, but trans, gnc and intersex people were basically erased from the narrative, plus, frankly, the author calling everyone queer “homosexuals" even while talking about the complex and difficult history of medicalisation, and dismissing even openly bi celebrities such as David Bowie as "claiming they slept with both men and women" was a bizarre and concerning choice.

Primarily a missed opportunity here, I feel. While noting how gay culture affected menswear trends in the mid-twentieth century is interesting, it doesn’t replace a huge swath of missing information about trans, gnc and intersex folk, and, honestly, the fact that Marsha P Johnson and Sylvia Riviera were mentioned *once* and Marsha’s transness was not mentioned at *all* while there was swathes of information on the cis respectability politics clubs of the period cannot but feel like erasure.

[crackletack]

"Throughout history, sexual and gender deviance have always been used as reasons for almost all cultures, no matter how progressive, to deny certain people full rights as citizens.

In this view, the founding of modern society was predicated on the creation of minority groups whose only purpose was to be vilified as unclean and persecuted for the illusion of a comprehensive sense of societal safety.

This idea, based on anthropologist Mary Douglas's widely accepted theory of purity and danger, is helpful in explaining broad trends in European and American culture. The idea of purifying religious and secular thought and society was at the heart of Puritan identity. These ideas were continuous with the long European tradition of a persecuting society and emerged at a time of grave political and religious disruption that neatly dovetailed with the impulse to stabilize society through persecution."

A Queer History of the United States - Michael Bronski

[short-wooloo]

Gotta say, I really do get pissed off when people's response to being reminded of the very real threat trump/republicans pose to Queer rights is to say "the first pride was a riot"

Yes it was

Because it had to be

The first pride didn't have the option of being a peaceful fun celebration of being queer, things were so much worse for us back then, we had no choice but to riot, to risk everything in order to express who we are

The fact that pride doesn't have to be like that anymore is a hard earned privilege and victory, things got better, safer, free-er, we worked hard to get where we are now

So why are you okay with losing all that? Why are you okay with setting all our progress back? Why do you want us to be less safe?

I don't want pride to have to be a riot, I don't want us to be in danger

And under trump and the republicans, that is exactly what will happen

Why go back? Why not continue to move forward

[beggars-opera]

I feel like a lot of internet folk would have a stroke if they saw colleges with queer studies courses and professors. Because that’s the accepted academic term. But those people also don’t trust academia even when it’s full of queer people, so they probably don’t know nor care that colleges even have those programs.

[oddwomen]

Rolling Stone (November 11, 1982)

[gabe-pilgrim-vs-the-world]

ALL of us need to educate ourselves...fast

Trump won. As much as I would like to say we will all get through this, not all of us will. As a matter of fact, the Trever Project has reported a 700% increase in suicides since the election. I'm scared, yes, but right now we have an opportunity to set up protections(VPNs, grassroots organizations, learning what we need to do to keep ourselves and others safe) that will be harder to access under Trump. I'm going to leave some videos/websites/books that I can think of off the top of my head. I don't agree with everything said(far from it), so put your critical thinking cap on ;). If ya'll have anything like this send it to me, please. I'm deleting this on December 31. Good luck to everyone.

!!GET A FRICKING VPN THAT IS NOT INSIDE THE 14 EYES & DOES NOT LOG!!

Websites:

ACLU // Amnesty International // CODEPINK // EFF // The Trever Project // justicemap.org

Video Essays:

What Did We Learn? by Signified B Sides // Solidarity is Supposed to be Hard. by Elliot Sang // The Alt-Right Playbook by Innuendo Studios(series) // Andrewism // First Thought // Second Thought // What is Project 2025 What is Project 2025? | what you should probably know about it by Dasia Sade // Mutual Aid is Radical! by COLORMIND. // Media Literacy Can't Save Us by Dummy // How Mutual Aid Works (and Why You Should Care) by Lucretia McEvil // Donald Trump is Not A Fascist Pt. 2 by The Morbid Zoo // Shanspeare // Hamilton and the Death of the Obama Era by Alexander Avila

Read:

The Transgender Issue: An Argument for Justice Hardcover by Shon Faye // Searching for Savanna: The Murder of One Native American Woman and the Violence Against the Many Hardcover by Mona Gable // The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government by David Talbot // To Banish Forever: A Secret Society, the Ho-Chunk, and Ethnic Cleansing in Minnesota by Cathy Coats // The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins // Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho // Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer //

Socialism & Communism:

I beg you to learn what both are because we are going to hear a lot about them in the next 4 years. Learn from sites like socialism101, NPR, or hell even Reddit. Just learn a bit more so the term "Marxist" doesn't catch you off guard when arguing with your MAGA grandpop.

This is all I have on hand right now. Stay safe loves <3

[schlock-luster-video]

On October 29, 1970, Funeral Parade of Roses debuted in the United States.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"SHE POSED AS MAN EVEN TO DRAFT CARD," Toronto Star. January 5, 1943. Page 2. ---- Mildred Allen, 29. is shown as she was arrested in Chicago. Police said she admitted having posed as a man for 15 years. Detectives said she was carrying a draft card bearing the name of Thomas Vernon. She was held without a formal charge.

[rubberbandballqueen]

also today in queer history class discussion i pitched the question "how has your race impacted your experiences as a queer person" and so one of my classmates talked abt how she was usually the only black person in queer spaces (or if not, then the only dark skinned black person) and talked a lot abt the isolation of it all

which was cool to hear, but not quite what i was looking for, so at the end i was like, "follow-up question: how has your blackness influenced your queerness?"

and after class she told me no one had ever asked her that before and so she'd never had to consider it, but now she was excited to just throw that at every other queer person of color in her life because it's like, "huh. what kind of homoeroticisms DO i experience as a result of my culture? how CAN i express my queerness in a way that also feels at home with my culture, instead of just picking an expression that is one or the other?" and i think that's beautiful. i hope she figures out how she wants to be queer in her own uniquely black way

[angelfacemjj]

Y'all. Just watch.

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

SOME QUEER L.A. HISTORY FOR YA -- BUT YOU'D NEVER GUESS IT WITH THIS LEGGY BEAUTY.

PIC INFO: Spotlight on cover art to a program for The Flamingo Club, c. 1947, formerly located at 1027 N La Brea Ave, West Hollywood, CA 90038, a gay bar that operated so openly that it advertised in the Los Angeles Times.

MINI-OVERVIEW: "The Flamingo Club opened in 1941, featuring drag shows for mixed straight and gay and lesbian audiences. It also hosted "tea dances" for its LGBT crowd on Sunday afternoons (Ben, Lisa, 1988). Beverly Shaw (who later owned her own nightclub Club Laurel in Studio City) performed here. One of the performers at the Flamingo was Carroll Wallace who was billed as “The Most Beautiful Boy in the World.”

It was closed when its license was denied in 1951, claiming "the club is a gathering place for undesirables." (LA Times, 18 April 1951)."

-- QUEER MAPS, "The Flamingo Club"

Source: www.westhollywoodhistory.org/club-flamingo-long-running-drag-palace.

[schlock-luster-video]

On August 13, 2002, Ed Wood was released on DVD in the United States.

[notasocialismjoke]

"Boys will be boys" certainly is one way to describe the genocide and enslavement of the indigenous peoples of california and their replacement with a white supremacist christian population that has and continues to commodify the natural resources of the land and expand the wealth of the bourgeosie, but go on.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"DRAFT ENDS EIGHT-YEAR MASQUERADE AS WOMAN," Toronto Star. April 9, 1943. Page 2. ---- Because his companions called him "Sissy," Reb Lucian Dookrey, 26, of Blossom, Texas, eight years ago donned women's clothing. He was held for physical examination in the garb, LEFT, and charged with failing to register for the draft. RIGHT, Dookrey is seen after a haircut and change of clothing