Lgbt History - Tumblr Posts
I NEED HELP
who were the ancient gay lovers that oscar wilde referenced in (i think) the picture of dorian gray that was a subtle nod to dorians sexuality but no one really knew of because no one knew the story???
also if you wanna combat the "women in the past only crossdressed because of misogyny!" you have GOTTA read chapter 11 in Transgender Warriors where leslie feinberg does such a good job constructing an argument against this kind of radfem reductionism
A good thread on whether “queer” is a slur and if it should be used or not.
all queer history on here is just US-American or maybe sometimes some UK history as well and it makes me sad that there’s so little information about other countries’ queer history on here :(
I’m watching that documentary “Before Stonewall” about gay history pre-1969, and uncovered something which I think is interesting.
The documentary includes a brief clip of a 1954 televised newscast about the rise of homosexuality. The host of the program interviewed psychologists, a police officer, and one “known homosexual”. The “known homosexual” is 22 years old. He identifies himself as Curtis White, which is a pseudonym; his name is actually Dale Olson.
So I tracked down the newscast. According to what I can find, Dale Olson may have been the first gay man to appear openly on television and defend his sexual orientation. He explains that there’s nothing wrong with him mentally and he’s never been arrested. When asked whether he’d take a cure if it existed, he says no. When asked whether his family knows he’s gay, he says that they didn’t up until tonight, but he guesses they’re going to find out, and he’ll probably be fired from his job as well. So of course the host is like …why are you doing this interview then? and Dale Olson, cool as cucumber pie, says “I think that this way I can be a little useful to someone besides myself.”
1954. 22 years old. Balls of pure titanium.
Despite the pseudonym, Dale’s boss did indeed recognize him from the TV program, and he was promptly fired the next day. He wrote into ONE magazine six months later to reassure readers that he had gotten a new job at a higher salary.
Curious about what became of him, I looked into his life a little further. It turns out that he ultimately became a very successful publicity agent. He promoted the Rocky movies and Superman. Not only that, but get this: Dale represented Rock Hudson, and he was the person who convinced him to disclose that he had AIDS! He wrote the statement Rock read. And as we know, Rock Hudson’s disclosure had a very significant effect on the national conversation about AIDS in the U.S.
It appears that no one has made the connection between Dale Olson the publicity agent instrumental in the AIDS debate and Dale Olson the 22-year-old first openly gay man on TV. So I thought I’d make it. For Pride month, an unsung gay hero.
So I’ve been enjoying the Disney vs. DeSantis memes as much as anyone, but like. I do feel like a lot of people who had normal childhoods are missing some context to all this.
I was raised in the Bible Belt in a fairly fundie environment. My parents were reasonably cool about some things, compared to the rest of my family, but they certainly had their issues. But they did let me watch Disney movies, which turned out to be a point of major contention between them and my other relatives.
See, I think some people think this weird fight between Disney and fundies is new. It is very not new. I know that Disney’s attempts at inclusion in their media have been the source of a lot of mockery, but what a lot of people don’t understand is that as far as actual company policy goes, Disney has actually been an industry leader for queer rights. They’ve had policies assuring equal healthcare and partner benefits for queer employees since the early 90s.
I’m not sure how many people reading this right now remember the early 90s, but that was very much not industry standard. It was a big deal when Disney announced that non-married queer partners would be getting the same benefits as the married heterosexual ones.
Like — it went further than just saying that any unmarried partners would be eligible for spousal benefits. It straight-up said that non-same-sex partners would still need to be married to receive spousal benefits, but because same-sex partners couldn’t do that, proof that they lived together as an established couple would be enough.
In other words, it put long-term same-sex partners on a higher level than opposite-sex partners who just weren’t married yet. It put them on the exact same level as heterosexual married partners.
They weren’t the first company ever to do this, but they were super early. And they were certainly the first mainstream “family-friendly” company to do it.
Conservatives lost their damn minds.
Protests, boycotts, sermons, the whole nine yards. I can’t tell you how many books about the evils of Disney my grandmother tried to get my parents to read when I was a kid.
When we later moved to Florida, I realized just how many queer people work at Disney — because historically speaking, it’s been a company that has guaranteed them safety, non-discrimination, and equal rights. That’s when I became aware of their unofficial “Gay Days” and how Christians would show up from all over the country to protest them every year. Apparently my grandmother had been upset about these days for years, but my parents had just kind of ignored her.
Out of curiosity, I ended up reading one of the books my grandmother kept leaving at our house. And friends — it’s amazing how similar that (terrible, poorly written) rhetoric was to what people are saying these days. Disney hires gay pedophiles who want to abuse your children. Disney is trying to normalize Satanism in our beautiful, Christian America.
Just tons of conspiracy theories in there that ranged from “a few bad things happened that weren’t actually Disney’s fault, but they did happen” to “Pocahontas is an evil movie, not because it distorts history and misrepresents indigenous life, but because it might teach children respect for nature. Which, as we all know, would cause them all to become Wiccans who believe in climate change.”
Like — please, take it from someone who knows. This weird fight between fundies and Disney is not new. This is not Disney’s first (gay) rodeo. These people have always believed that Disney is full of evil gays who are trying to groom and sexually abuse children.
The main difference now is that these beliefs are becoming mainstream. It’s not just conservative pastors who are talking about this. It’s not just church groups showing up to boycott Gay Day. Disney is starting to (reluctantly) say the quiet part out loud, and so are the Republicans. Disney is publicly supporting queer rights and announcing company-supported queer events and the Republican Party is publicly calling them pedophiles and enacting politically driven revenge.
This is important, because while this fight has always been important in the history of queer rights, it is now being magnified. The precedent that a fight like this could set is staggering. For better or for worse, we live in a corporation-driven country. I don’t like it any more than you do, and I’m not about to defend most of Disney’s business practices. But we do live in a nation where rights are largely tied to corporate approval, and the fact that we might be entering an age where even the most powerful corporations in the country are being banned from speaking out in favor of rights for marginalized people… that’s genuinely scary.
Like… I’ll just ask you this. Where do you think we’d be now, in 2023, if Disney had been prevented from promising its employees equal benefits in 1994? That was almost thirty years ago, and look how far things have come. When I looked up news articles for this post from that era, even then journalists, activists, and fundie church leaders were all talking about how a company of Disney’s prominence throwing their weight behind this movement could lead to the normalization of equal protections in this country.
The idea of it scared and thrilled people in equal parts even then. It still scares and thrills them now.
I keep seeing people say “I need them both to lose!” and I get it, I do. Disney has for sure done a lot of shit over the years. But I am begging you as a queer exvangelical to understand that no. You need Disney to win. You need Disney to wipe the fucking floor with these people.
Right now, this isn’t just a fight between a giant corporation and Ron DeSantis. This is a fight about the right of corporations to support marginalized groups. It’s a fight that ensures that companies like Disney still can offer benefits that a discriminatory government does not provide. It ensures that businesses much smaller than Disney can support activism.
Hell, it ensures that you can support activism.
The fight between weird Christian conspiracy theorists and Disney is not new, because the fight to prevent any tiny victory for marginalized groups is not new. The fight against the normalization of othered groups is not new.
That’s what they’re most afraid of. That each incremental victory will start to make marginalized groups feel safer, that each incremental victory will start to turn the tide of public opinion, that each incremental victory will eventually lead to sweeping law reform.
They’re afraid that they won’t be able to legally discriminate against us anymore.
So guys! Please. This fight, while hilarious, is also so fucking important. I am begging you to understand how old this fight is. These people always play the long game. They did it with Roe and they’re doing it with Disney.
We have! To keep! Pushing back!
Warning: Scary pictures. Hello our comeades, I hope y'all have had a great day. These are your queer siblings in Kenya once again looking for your support. The voiceless lgbtiqa refugees in Kenya going through torture and lives lost. We condemn these acts, laws and bills against lgbtiqa
Our houses were being set on a blaze and now looking for where to sleep. Are voices are not heard because Kenya does not allow gay marriage but instead the communities in Kenya keep fighting us and now they burnt down our homesteads. Our people were caught in the fire and are nursing wounds as y'all can see in the pictures below. For those that may want to donate, please donate below as we are looking forward to getting money so that we can enclose our community with a fence and limit such attacks. We are sure with one love plus solidarity we shall have peace for all queers everywhere.
Let's collect $3000 and we put up a terrific ironsheet fence. Very sure it will help us a lot.
We also struggle to get food as we are not allowed to work in any company or organisation due to our gender but instead the support we get from y'all keeps us satisfied with food and medicine. Please continue with that heart.
You can reach out to us on :
Hey the world am reaching to you calling for support and some donations for the Queer community in kakuma camp. The queers are going through relentless attacks, rapes, verbal assaults,shortage of food, medication, safe water & all sorts of discrimination. Whoever with any kind of help in form of donations, don't hesitate to reach out to us through our fundraiser below:
Your support do mean a world to us. Thank you so much for your support in advance.
From Hidden to Heard: My Coming Out Story and What Followed
Growing up in a conservative Catholic family in Uganda, my childhood was steeped in religious teachings and traditional values. From a young age, I was taught to adhere to the doctrines of the Church, which included a strict stance against homosexuality. The sermons I heard every Sunday were filled with fire and brimstone, painting a picture of LGBTQI+ individuals as sinners destined for eternal damnation. These messages were reinforced at home, where any deviation from the norm was met with harsh criticism and condemnation.
As a child, I didn't fully understand my feelings. I just knew that I was different. I felt an attraction to other boys, but I quickly learned to suppress these feelings. The fear of rejection and the desire to fit in were powerful motivators. I became adept at hiding my true self, putting on a mask of conformity to avoid the scorn and ridicule that I knew would come if my secret were discovered.
My teenage years were a tumultuous time. The pressure to conform to societal expectations was immense, and I struggled with feelings of guilt and shame. I prayed fervently for God to change me, to make me "normal." But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't change who I was. The internal conflict was exhausting, and I often felt like I was living a double life.
In an attempt to find solace and acceptance, I joined the Brothers of St. Charles Lwanga, a religious congregation known for its strict adherence to Catholic teachings. I hoped that by immersing myself in this community, I could find a sense of belonging and perhaps even change my orientation. But the reality was far different from what I had imagined.
The environment within the congregation was stifling. The same messages of hate and intolerance that I had heard growing up were even more pronounced here. The scriptures were weaponized to justify discrimination and bigotry, and any deviation from the norm was harshly punished. I felt like I was suffocating, trapped in a place that was supposed to be a sanctuary but was instead a prison.
The turning point came during a particularly vitriolic sermon. The priest described LGBTQI+ individuals as "tools of the devil," "mentally unstable," and "agents of darkness." As I sat in the pew, listening to these hateful words, something inside me snapped. I realized that I couldn't continue living a lie. I couldn't keep pretending to be someone I wasn't. I had to break free from the chains of misinformation and hate that had bound me for so long.
Leaving the formation house was one of the hardest decisions I ever made. I knew that by doing so, I was stepping into the unknown. I had no idea what the future held, but I knew that I couldn't continue living a lie. I had to be true to myself, no matter the cost.
Coming out to my family was a daunting task. I knew that their reaction would be harsh, but I also knew that I couldn't continue living in the shadows. When I finally mustered the courage to tell them, their reaction was even worse than I had anticipated. They accused me of submitting to "underground powers" and selling my soul for quick wealth, fame, and influence. They believed that I had given in to "dark powers" and was now a pawn in their game of manipulation.
The accusations didn't stop there. They started spreading rumors that I had joined the Illuminati and was now recruiting others into this secret society. This caused fear and suspicion among my siblings, who began to distance themselves from me. The most painful accusation was that I had traded my fertility for success. "Gays can't have children," they said, "because you've given your sperm to the underground powers."
Lately am now a spokesperson for the queer people living in block 6 of kakuma refugee camp in kenya. I do call for support through our fundraiser below:
Queer as Fact episodes by location
Here’s a list of all our episodes by continent, and then by country. Hopefully this will help people find specific topics they’re interested in, and also help us try and increase the diversity of what we talk about. I will link this on our main page and try and keep it updated as we go along. Enjoy!
This list doesn’t include our Queer as Fiction episodes on queer media, which can be found here.
You can also find our episodes organised by time period.
Africa
Queer Women in Medieval Arab Literature
Angola (formerly Ndongo, Matamba, Kongo, and other nations)
Njinga of Ndongo (1582-1663, monarch)
Tanzania (formerly Zanzibar and Tanganyika)
Freddie Mercury (1946-1991, the frontman of rock band, Queen. Freddie was born in Zanizbar to Indian parents and lived there as a young child and again briefly as a teenager)
South Africa
Simon Nkoli (1959-1998, activist)
Asia
Queer Women in Medieval Arab Literature
China
Queer Love in Early Chinese History
Han Zigao (538-567 general)
Wú Zǎo (c.1799-1862, poet and playwright)
Golden Orchid Societies (19th-20th century communities of women rejecting traditional marriage)
Yoshiko Kawashima (1907-1948 Chinese-Japanese public figure and spy)
India
Michael Dillon (1915-1962, first trans man to undergo a phalloplasty. Michael was born in the UK and spent the last years of his life studying Buddhist traditions in India)
Freddie Mercury (1946-1991, the frontman of rock band, Queen. Freddie was born in Zanzibar to Indian parents, and then spent much of his childhood in India.)
Iran
Maryam Khatoon Molkara (1950-2012, trans activist)
Israel
Yona Wallach (1944-1985, poet)
Japan
Yoshiya Nobuko (1896-1973, author)
Yoshiko Kawashima (1907-1948 Chinese-Japanese public figure and spy)
Pakistan
Shah Hussayn (1538-1599, poet)
Philippines
Beki (queer language originating in the 1960s or 70s)
Australia and Oceania
Australia
Queer as Fact meets History is Gay (a conversation about queer slang in Australia and the USA)
Captain Moonlite parts one and two (1845-1880, bushranger)
Harry Crawford (1875-1938, trans man tried for murder)
William Dobell (1889-1970, artist)
Lesbia Harford (1891-1927, poet and activist)
Alice Anderson (1897-1926, owner of Australia’s first all-female garage)
The Birth of Queer Film in Australia
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (begun 1978)
HIV/AIDS in Australia
Hawai’i
Kapaemahu (monument to four māhū healers)
Europe
Albania
Albanian sworn virgins (a traditional custom that allowed someone assigned female at birth to assume a male gender role by taking a vow of chastity)
Finland
Tove Jansson (1914-2001, author and artist)
France
Julie D’Aubigny (c.1670-1707, opera singer and duellist)
Chevalière d’Éon (1728-1810, spy and diplomat)
Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899, artist)
Sylvia Beach (1887-1962, publisher and bookseller)
Josephine Baker (1906-1975, singer, actress, civil rights activist and spy)
Germany (including Prussia)
Hildegard of Bingen (c.1098-1179, nun and polymath)
Frederick the Great (1712-1786, monarch and general)
Baron von Steuben (1730-1794, Inspector General of the US Army)
Gad Beck (1923-2012, activist, WWII resistance member, and Holocaust survivor)
Greece
Achilles and Patroclus (figures from Greek myth)
The Sacred Band of Thebes (military unit made up of male-male couples, 300s BCE)
Ireland
Dr. James Barry (1789-1865, surgeon)
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900, poet and playwright)
Italy (including Ancient Rome)
The Warren Cup (ancient Roman cup depicting male-male sex)
Male Sexuality in Ancient Rome
Julius Caesar (c.100BCE-44BCE)
Nero (37CE-68CE, Roman emperor)
Sexuality in Pompeii (79CE)
Hadrian and Antinous (Roman emperor 76CE-138CE and his lover c.111CE-130CE)
Harry Crawford (1875-1938, Italian-born trans man tried for murder in Australia)
Netherlands
Willem Arondeus (1894-1943, artist and WWII resistance member)
Poland
Vaslav Nijinsky (1889-1950, ballet dancer and choreographer)
Russia
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky part 1 and part 2 (1840-1893, composer)
Sofya Parnok (1885-1933, poet)
Vaslav Nijinsky (1889-1950, ballet dancer and choreographer)
Spain
Federico García Lorca (1898-1936, playwright and poet)
Sweden
Christina of Sweden (1626-1689, monarch)
Did Swedish people call in gay to work?
UK
Edward II (1284-1327, king of England)
Horace Walpole (1717-1797, antiquarian and man of letters)
Anne Lister and follow-up Christmas special (1791-1840, landowner and diarist)
Mary Shelley (1797-1851, author)
Fanny Park and Stella Boulton (1846-1881, 1847-1904, English transfeminine people tried for homosexuality)
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900, poet and playwright)
The Warren Cup (ancient Roman cup depicting male-male sex, brought to Britain by collector Ned Warren in the early 20th century)
The Secret Sex Spreadsheets of John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946, economist)
Did Queen Victoria believe in lesbians?
Ewan Forbes (1912-1991, doctor and farmer)
Michael Dillon (1915-1962, first trans man to undergo a phalloplasty)
Roberta Cowell (1918-2011, WWII fighter pilot, race-car driver and trans pioneer)
Freddie Mercury (1946-1991, the frontman of rock band, Queen)
Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (1984-85, activist group)
The Vatican
Pope Joan (c.9th century CE)
Christina of Sweden (1626-1689, monarch)
North America
Crow (Apsáalooke)
Bíawacheeitchish aka Woman Chief (c.1806-1854, warrior and leader)
Osh-Tisch (1854-1929, warrior, craftsperson, and two-spirit batée)
Zuni (A:shiwi)
We’wha (c.1849-1896, craftsperson, ambassador, and two-spirit lhamana)
USA
Queer as Fact meets History is Gay (a conversation about queer slang in Australia and the USA)
Kapaemahu (Hawai’ian monument to four māhū healers)
Baron von Steuben (1730-1794, Inspector General of the US Army)
Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake (1777-1851, 1784-1868, lived as a married couple)
Bíawacheeitchish aka Woman Chief (c.1806-1854, Crow warrior and leader)
Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888, author of Little Women and other works)
Osh-Tisch (1854-1929, Crow warrior, craftsperson, and two-spirit batée)
We’wha (c.1849-1896, Zuni craftsperson, ambassador, and two-spirit lhamana)
Harry Allen (1882-1922, trans man)
Ma Rainey (1886-1939, blues singer)
Lucy Hicks Anderson (1886-1954, cook, socialite and brothel-owner)
Sylvia Beach (1887-1962, publisher and bookseller)
Ruth Ellis (1899-2000, lesbian centenarian)
Henrietta Bingham (1901-1968, jazz-age socialite)
Josephine Baker (1906-1975, singer, actress, civil rights activist and spy)
Gladys Bentley (1907-1960, blues performer)
Samuel Steward (1909-1993, professor of English, tattoo artist and sex researcher)
Pauli Murray parts one and two (1910-1985, lawyer, civil rights activist, priest and poet)
Billy Tipton (1914-1989, jazz musician)
Rosetta Tharpe (1915-1973, gospel singer)
Stormé DeLarverie (1920-2014, drag performer and bouncer)
Harvey Milk (1930-1978, San Francisco politician)
Audre Lorde (1934-1992, activist and writer)
Marsha P. Johnson (1945-1992, drag queen and activist)
Sally Ride (1951-2012, astronaut)
Stonewall (1969 New York riots)
Shelly’s Leg (1970s Seattle gay club)
The Asexual Manifesto (1972 political document)
Gilbert Baker and the Rainbow Flag (first flown 1975)
Friends of Dorothy (gay men in the 1980s US Navy)
Central and South America
Costa Rica
Chavela Vargas (1919-2012, Costa Rican-born Mexican singer)
Mexico
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (c.1648-1695, nun, writer and polymath)
Frida Kahlo (1907-1954, artist)
Chavela Vargas (1919-2012, Costa Rican-born Mexican singer)
Peru
Moche sex pots (erotic ceramics from the 2nd to 8th centuries CE)
You made fiz happy with this ❤️ here is a cookie for you 🍪
Two couples of women kissing (1900s)
(Spoilers for the Song of Achilles)
Someone’s probably already said this but in The Song Of Achilles, Achilles dies because of an arrow to the heart. And that one moment hit me like a truck because I’d always been taught that Achilles dies because of the wound in his heel, his one weakness on an otherwise invulnerable body.
But it made so much more sense when you think backwards. Achilles’ destiny is tied to the war. If he chooses to fight, he’ll have glory and honor but a short life and painful death. If he chooses to stand aside, he watches his people die but lives a long, peaceful life. And everything about the Iliad suggests that Achilles is perfectly fine with a slow, quiet life with Patroclus. Until Patroclus takes it into his own hands and chooses to fight in Achilles’ place, and dies. Then, and only then, does Achilles seize his destiny. And in that his fate is sealed.
Achilles is killed by his greatest weakness: his heart. He may have had a heartbeat for quite a long time after Patroclus died, but Achilles’ heart was broken the moment they brought his body home.
So it makes sense that his greatest weakness, perhaps his only weakness, was his love. And that ties back to what I said in my other post about Orpheus and Eurydice. Like so many others, maybe Achilles doesn’t want to be remembered for his glory in battle.
Let me be remembered for my love. (My lover, my art, my home, my life)
Still brewing on whether or not Odysseus falls into this category. We shall see.
