the nazis succeeded so well in erasing trans history that the iconic image of book burnings is specifically the burning of the institut für sexualwissenschaft
library and it goes generally uncaptioned to this day
“On May 6, 1933, students at the Berlin School of Physical Education [Hochschule für Leibesübungen] raided the Institute for Sexual Research [Institut für Sexualwissenschaft] in Berlin and plundered its library. The institute had been founded in 1919 by the gay Jewish physician Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935), who had devoted the better part of his career to enlightening the public about homosexuality and fighting for greater rights for homosexuals. The Institute for Sexual Research was dedicated to the exploration of a variety of sexual topics, including sexually transmitted diseases, marital problems, abortion, and homosexuality. Thus, it is hardly surprising that the National Socialists were quick to target it. The photograph below shows the Institute after the May 6th raid. On May 10, 1933, the Institute’s books were burned on Berlin’s Opera Square [Opernplatz]. The National Socialist students who participated in this book burning also threw a bust of Hirschfeld into the flames.”
Sylvester – American singer and songwriter, known for the hits “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real),” “Dance (Disco Heat),” and “Do Ya Wanna Funk”
Patrick Cowley – American composer and musician, a pioneer of electronic dance music known for his collaborations with Sylvester and solo works like “Menergy” and “Megatron Man”
Rock Hudson – American actor who rose to fame in the 1950s with films such as Magnificent Obsession (1954) and Giant (1956), known for his work with Doris Day in romantic comedies such as Pillow Talk (1959) and Lover Come Back (1961)
Anthony Perkins – American actor, best known for his role as Norman Bates in the Hitchcock classic Psycho (1960)
Rudolf Nureyev – Russian dancer and choreographer who was the director of the Paris Opera Ballet for six years, widely regarded as the greatest male ballet dancer of his generation
Freddie Mercury – Parsi-British singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer of the rock group Queen and writer of songs such as “Killer Queen,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and “We Are The Champions”
Vito Russo – American film historian, writer, and activist known for co-founding the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and writing The Celluloid Closet
Keith Haring – American artist, known for his pop art and street art which focused on themes such as LGBT and AIDS activism
Howard Ashman – American playwright and lyricist known for his work with Alan Menken on shows like Little Shop of Horrors, and for being one of the most important figures of the Disney Renaissance, having worked on The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin
There has been a disturbing trend I have noticed in discussions of queer history and I think it is important to address.
There are a lot of people saying things like “people who talk about queer history and don’t know about (fill in the blank) are ridiculous”. And that in itself is not a problem but the blank is ALWAYS filled with something from American/British history.
I have discussed this before but I want to say it again, prioritizing American/British history is a horrible trend that is aggressively prevalent within the queer community. And posts and discussions that place those narratives as Need to Know yet never place importance on stories from other countries are incredibly damaging and something people need to keep an eye on in the projects and work they follow and in themselves.
We can do better than this, we have to do better than this.
WWII gay love letters are honestly the most beautiful, heartbreaking, and anxiety inducing things I’ve ever read, hands down.
This poor guy is about to have a nervous breakdown and almost outed himself to his fellow pilots. Sweetheart…. no….
“All the lads are guessing where we are going, darling. I only know I am going away from the man I love, the one and only you old darling. But I know I will come back darling to you, and it will only be a dream darling.”
Oh my god they’re so in love….
“You don’t know how much I miss you Monty. I love you darling so think good of me my sweetheart. All my love and a merry Xmas.”
So this gent right here is the Monty that received the letters posted above.
And here’s Ralph, the man who had been sending them:
@my-darling-boy I don’t think it’s a picture of Monty at all, can you correct this post darling please?
Whoops, if it’s not a correct picture I apologize! I was referencing a book when I made this post months ago, and could easily have been mistaken!
No problem my friend! Those two are actually very little documented and Alastair owns the most complete but out of stock book about them. I’m sure he’ll add the correct picture soon but don’t worry about it, errare humanum est!
Ah yes, I agree, there is unfortunately very little documentation of these two!
This is actually Monty, and to my knowledge, there are only 3 pictures of him that have been released to the public in the book A Class Apart by James Gardiner.
1) Monty during WWI, photographed 1917
2) Monty is in the center, most likely taken post WWI
3) Monty in a car, visible on the right, most likely taken post WWI
The book, like my boyfriend says, is no longer able to be purchased unless you’re willing to pay a couple hundred for one of the limited copies sold through Amazon :’) I was lucky enough to find a copy on the web for only $15 from a small bookstore in Oregon that was clearing out their inventory and getting rid of the last copy!
And, in the book, next to the photo you have posted of Ralph, this photograph is also to be found! 😛
Since I see no one online anywhere mentioning the details of the book and more on their life together, feel free to message me for any further info on these two and I’ll see if I have an answer!
If you can find the book at a decent price, it is definitely worth the buy; there is much more info about their domestic life as they lived together, plenty more photos of Ralph, Monty’s photography, letters between Monty and Ralph (and unfortunately, letters between Monty and a couple of other boys while Ralph was away during WW2), as well as age progression photos of Ralph that I do find endearing!
So for my AP United States History class we have to write a research paper; my topic is the gay rights movement in America. Today I began reading one of the books that I chose as a source
And I opened it up to the dedication page and found this
And if you don’t think that’s one of the sweetest and most romantic things ever then get out of my face
Ok, for the record, the author of this book, Jonathan Rauch, is a friend of my family, I’ve known him since I was a little kid, and I am here to tell you all that he and Michael have been together for 20-odd years now, got married in 2010, and remain to this day obviously, excessively, and adorably in love.
Anyway, they’re cute. Thought y’all would want to know.
The national conversation about trans identity and community tends to focus on the newest crop of trans youth. But why don’t we hear about older trans and gender-nonconforming individuals who manage to overcome the at times seemingly impossible odds and survive — and thrive — in America?
Photographer Jess Dugan’s latest project To Survive on This Shore aims to bring attention to those voices. For over five years, Dugan and social worker Vanessa Fabbre have traveled across the United States photographing and interviewing older trans and gender-nonconforming individuals to ensure their stories, largely untold, are finally shared. See more here (x)
Dr James Barry, the first doctor to perform a successful C section wherein both mother and child survived, was a huge champion of handwashing at a time when most doctors didn’t wash their hands. For this reason, many of the chilldbirths he delivered resulted in healthier babies and mothers. He was also a gay trans man, who specifically wrote that upon his death he wished for his body to be taken in its nightshirt, wrapped in his sheets as a shroud, and placed into the coffin so that nobody would see his body. His wishes were not respected, and as a result he was outed at his death.
i’ve also been informed he had a poodle. He named his poodle Psyche. I’d just like to congratulate him on being an excellent human being, who not only pioneered modern medicine but also had good taste in dogs. that is all.
types of responses to this post
i thought this was fake but it’s not
here’s the sawbones episode about him
cis people
He was also reportedly quite the ladies’ man, and he’d apparently carried a child to term and gave birth.
he’s one of my favorite historical figures and ive read a lot on him including the biography Scanty Particulars by Rachel Holmes. a lot of the details of his life are difficult to figure out, partly cause he was very private and partly cause he had so many rumors surrounding him. here are some of my fave facts about him:
-he was very concerned with protecting poor people, women and people of color, aka all the people most of upper class british society at the time cared the least about. he worked to reform prisons and hospitals in south africa at risk to his own career, and also improved the conditions under which poor enlisted british soldiers and their families lived
-he was kind of a known hothead. he was rumored to have fought at least one duel (probably not true though). florence nightingale hated him even though they had similar ideas about medicine because they had such a clash of personalities in the brief time they worked together
-he was a vegetarian and took a goat with him on sea voyages so he could always have fresh milk
-even though he had an abrasive personality and made a lot of enemies, his patients, especially the women, really loved him because they felt like he knew what he was doing and actually cared about their health
-he died poor because the british army ripped him off >:/
edit i almost forgot the best thing. he didn’t just have one poodle named psyche. he had a bunch. when one died he would get a new poodle and name that one psyche too
These heartbreaking and incredibly moving images show the affection and love shown during the height of the Aids crisis. Photographer Gideon Mendel’s project The Ward began in 1993 when he spent a number of weeks on the Charles Bell wards in London’s Middlesex Hospital. All the patients on the ward were dying with the knowledge that there was no cure for the disease. During this time antiretroviral medications were not available and patients on the ward faced the prospect of an early death.
and if you can, go and see The Death and Life of Marsha P Johnson, which includes this footage as part of a fuller segment on Sylvia Rivera’s life right up until her death. what an amazing person who the world was not ready for.
(Transcription follows🙂 Sylvia Rivera: I may be—
Crowd: [booing]
Sylvia Rivera: Y’all better quiet down. I’ve been trying to get up here all day for your gay brothers and your gay sisters in jail that write me every motherfucking week and ask for your help and you all don’t do a goddamn thing for them.
Have you ever been beaten up and raped and jailed? Now think about it. They’ve been beaten up and raped after they’ve had to spend much of their money in jail to get their [inaudible], and try to get their sex changes. The women have tried to fight for their sex changes or to become women. On the women’s liberation and they write ‘STAR,’ not to the women’s groups, they do not write women, they do not write men, they write ‘STAR’ because we’re trying to do something for them.
I have been to jail. I have been raped. And beaten. Many times! By men, heterosexual men that do not belong in the homosexual shelter. But, do you do anything for me? No. You tell me to go and hide my tail between my legs. I will not put up with this shit. I have been beaten. I have had my nose broken. I have been thrown in jail. I have lost my job. I have lost my apartment for gay liberation and you all treat me this way? What the fuck’s wrong with you all? Think about that!
I do not believe in a revolution, but you all do. I believe in the gay power. I believe in us getting our rights, or else I would not be out there fighting for our rights. That’s all I wanted to say to you people. If you all want to know about the people in jail and do not forget Bambi L’amour, and Dora Mark, Kenny Metzner, and other gay people in jail, come and see the people at Star House on Twelfth Street on 640 East Twelfth Street between B and C apartment 14.
The people are trying to do something for all of us, and not men and women that belong to a white middle class white club. And that’s what you all belong to!
REVOLUTION NOW! Gimme a ‘G’! Gimme an ‘A’! Gimme a ‘Y’! Gimme a ‘P’! Gimme an ‘O’! Gimme a ‘W’! Gimme an ‘E! Gimme an ‘R’! [crying] Gay power! Louder! GAY POWER!
There’s some really important commentary on this event by several trans women on the previous upload of the video. I’m going to quote it here so it’s not lost; unfortunately the original commenters have deleted their blogs or gone private so I can’t provide full attribution.
lilacbootlaces said:
[[Trigger warning: suicide]]
Sylvia went home that night and attempted suicide.
Marsha Johnson came home and found her in time to save her life.
Sylvia left the movement after that day and didn’t come back for twenty years.
this is incredible, she is incredible, I highly recommend watching it
but I think the addendum re: the effect of this day on sylvia is really important
so often we valorise decontextualised moments of tough, articulate resistance and rage
and
the suffering of the people who embodied them is not acknowledged, it’s
uncomfortable, it’s not inspiring, we want them to stay tough and cool
and stylish forever
which is particularly terrible when I think about how sylvia felt like that because of women like me — women who are now watching this video and feeling inspired and impressed
and maybe a bit pleased with ourselves for finally having watched a
speech by the famous and really cool to name-drop sylvia rivera
girl-assassin said:
rebloggin for the true as fuck commentary (bolding mine)
n
like, on one hand this moment is decontextualized as fuck, but on the
other hand a lot of ppl try to hyper-contextualize it to make it
“history” and a very specific historical moment, so we (cis women) can
be like “oh so sad that’s how it was in the 1970s, radfems were so
awful, but it was only the whole second-wave scene that was the problem,
glad that’s over.”
Like have we forgotten the fact that Sylvia
only died in 2002? And she died young, if she were still alive she
wouldn’t even be 65 yet. I know hella older ppl in NYC who knew her
personally, and hella “leaders” of the NYC queer scene pulled horrific
shit on her constantly in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, like literally
until the day she died (ppl from Empire State Pride agenda literally
went to St. Vincents to beef with her on her death bed) Where are the
video tapes/memorializing of that shit?
N now the Manhattan LGBT
center on 13th st has a room dedicated to her memory, despite the fact
that very center permanently banned her in 1995 for daring to suggest
they should let homeless QTPOC sleep there in sub-zero weather.
N
now there’s a whole homeless trans youth shelter on 36th st named after
her, Sylvia’s Place, that kicked my TWOC friend out on the streets for
testing positive for marijuana; failing to recognize how fucked up that
is in a shelter named after a woman who struggled with addiction all her
life, and was very vocal about the relationship between drug use and
the stress of living under constant threats of violence.
N from
the late 90s onward rich gays and lesbians openly fought against Sylvia
to try to shut down 24/7 access to the piers that she n hella other
QTPOC cruised and lived on bc they were bringing down the property
values of their multi-million west village apartments.
N like 90%
of the individual people who perpetuated fucked up violence against
Sylvia are still alive and high-profile leaders in the NYC LGBT
“community” today.
So like yes, good, remember the oppressive
weight of our history of transmisogyny…but also remember that this shit
specifically ain’t even history, it’s the current reality of the NYC
queer/trans hierarchy today—like not even figuratively, literally the same people
who pulled shit like this on Sylvia are still alive n well n all over
NYC cutting the ribbons to the newest Sylvia Rivera memorial n
eulogizing her like they never tried to fucking kill her themselves.
Sorry for constantly reblogging this but here’s some more info?
willowfoot 
