by Sarah Prager
George met Brad in a running group in the eighties, and both men understood the need to stay in the closet. They participated in marches during the AIDS epidemic but said they were just straight allies of the cause. George even went so far as to jokingly ask Howard Stern if he was “homo” when the host said he found George’s deep voice attractive on a 1990 episode of Stern’s radio show. When Howard asked him the same question back, George replied “Oh, no, no, no, no, no.”
Fifteen years later, California was poised to become the second state in the United States to experience marriage equality when Schwarzenegger dashed that dream. It was the tipping point for George and Brad. For the next three years, following George’s coming-out interview with Frontiers magazine, the two of them appeared on talk show after talk show, debating with homophobes and defending their relationship. The battle was punctuated with a moment of joy when the couple married during the brief window in 2008 when doing so was possible in California, before a public vote narrowly took away that right . . . until a 2013 state supreme court ruling secured marriage equality for good.
On the day Brad Altman became Brad Takei, he said in his vows: “Over the more than twenty-one years we have been together, I have called you many things . . . : my life partner, my significant other, my longtime companion, my lover. . . . Beginning today, a dream comes true for me. I can add ‘my husband’ to the list of things I call you.” The two men in matching white tuxedos beamed with joy as Star Trek costars stood beside them as best man and best lady. George was whole—a gay man, a Japanese American, a social justice activist for those communities and others—not holding back any piece of himself. Today, George remains a fearlessly outspoken public figure, using his platform both to make people laugh and to challenge injustice everywhere.
LOOKING BACK, MOVING FORWARD
What is remarkable, and at once unsurprising, is that all twenty-three of these queer people lived with such vivid, incandescent variety. Diversity is one of the only constants that queerness has always had, and our unique individuals are connected precisely because they diverged from what society expected.
Queer people are as much a real, interconnected part of the story of our world as everyone else we learn about in school. It matters that we say and demonstrate how queerness itself is as old as time, because people still find it counterintuitive to their conceptions of history. Think about everyone we covered in this book: some were total opposites who wouldn’t have considered themselves part of the same community, while others we can picture being best friends if time-and-space travel were possible. Can you imagine a conversation between Kristina and Juana, both known as highly educated women though neither of them felt entirely like a woman? Or Elagabalus and Abraham disagreeing about how to balance governing a nation with having a personal life? Meanwhile, Jeanne, Bayard, and Sylvia would have had a serious debate about how to lead a revolution. Josef didn’t know that Alan was working on the other side of the English Channel to shorten his stay in Flossenbürg, and we’ll never know if Harvey would have won his City Hall seat if José hadn’t run for it years before. They all owe a debt to one another, and we owe a debt to all of them.
But even with so much trailblazing up until this point in history, there’s no doubt that the queer community still has a lot of fighting to do. Fear of rejection, physical violence, execution, conversion therapy, and more still haunt millions of queer people’s daily lives. In countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, transgender people and other groups marginalized within the queer community are still fighting for basic rights and safety. And coming out remains a scary process even when you’re in a safe environment. Thinking about the amount of progress yet to be accomplished can be overwhelming, but when we put it in the context of all of time, we see that we’ve been going in the right direction for hundreds of years and that queer people have always accomplished the unimaginable. We know achieving queer rights is possible because history shows us how it’s been done before. And we know that we will adapt to survive and thrive, no matter what happens around us.
Ultimately, the lesson from our twenty-three incredible individuals is that there is no wrong way to be queer. You can be low-key; you can be fabulous; you can exclusively wear shirts with unnecessarily convoluted Judith Butler quotes in very small fonts. You can crusade publicly for equality or pursue your passions while keeping your business your own. All these stories are about people who brought originality, courage, and love to their work—whatever that work was, whatever way they set themselves to it. And as we see in all these transformative lives, and from the effect reading about them has on us today, however you want to live is valid and important—because the mere fact of you, living, makes the world more radiant.
Live bravely.
GLOSSARY
Asexual
* * *
Not experiencing sexual attraction, or experiencing sexual attraction very rarely. “Ace” for short. Note that this is not the same as “aromantic,” which refers to a person who does not experience (or rarely experiences) romantic attraction. Like many of the orientations defined below, both exist on a spectrum. Kristina Vasa and Eleanor Roosevelt might have identified as asexual today.
Bisexual
* * *
Attracted to members of the same gender and also to people of other genders. The attraction is not necessarily split evenly between men and women and does not have to be restricted to only men and women. “Bi” for short. The term in its modern use first showed up in 1892 in the German text Psychopathia Sexualis. Many people from this book would find it the closest term for them today, possibly including Kristina Vasa, Ma Rainey, Frida Kahlo, and Sylvia Rivera.
Cisgender
* * *
A person whose gender identity matches up with the biological sex they were assigned at birth. Example: when the doctor says “It’s a boy!” and then the child grows up to feel like a man inside. The opposite of transgender. Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, Josef Kohout, and Harvey Milk are likely some examples of cisgender people.
Conversion Therapy
* * *
Any type of therapy that tries to “cure” or change a queer person into a straight and or cisgender person. There is no therapy that achieves this, and its legality is in limbo. Measures in past decades were more extreme, such as electroconvulsive (“shock”) therapy, but today in the United States it usually consists of psychological counseling.
Cross-Dressing; Cross-Dresser
* * *
Wearing clothes of the gender or sex different from the one you were assigned at birth, like Jeanne d’Arc. Before the word “transgender” existed, this word was often the substitute. Today they are different: a transgender woman dressing as a woman is not cross-dressing because she is dressing as her gender.
Gay
* * *
Attracted exclusively to members of the same sex or gender, such as Glenn Burke and George Takei. Traditionally refers to men attracted to men but can also refer to women attracted to women. Sometimes still used as an umbrella term for all nonstraight sexual identities.
Gender; Gender Identity
* * *
How someone identifies internally (examples: man, woman, genderqueer, etc.). Different from “sex,” which is biologically assigned (examples: male, female, intersex, etc.) and refers to physical and genetic characteristics like genitalia and chromosomes.
Gender Dysphoria
* * *
Medical diagnosis for a person whose gender at birth isn’t the same as the one they identify with. In 2013 this term replaced “gender identity disorder” in the United States’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in an effort to destigmatize being trans as “disordered” or “mentally ill.” However, “gender dysphoria” is culturally used to refer to the distress resulting from one’s gender identity not matching their perceived gender or assigned sex.
Genderqueer
* * *
A
gender identity of people who do not identify as either male or female. The term showed up in the 1990s. It can also be used as an umbrella term for all kinds of nonbinary gender identities. Kristina Vasa and Mercedes de Acosta might identify under this category if they were alive today.
Heterosexual; Heterosexuality
* * *
Exclusively attracted to members of a different sex or gender. Simply: straight, not gay. The term “heterosexuality” didn’t appear in the dictionary until 1923; it was invented as the opposite to “homosexuality,” which was coined in the 1860s.
Homosexual; Homosexuality
* * *
Exclusively attracted to members of the same sex or gender, like Josef Kohout or Harvey Milk. Once the primary word to describe gay people, today it can have a stigmatizing connotation. The term first publicly appeared in a German pamphlet in 1869.
Intersex
* * *
Someone whose combination of physical characteristics (chromosomes, hormones, internal and external reproductive organs, etc.) isn’t exclusively male or female. Before “intersex,” the term was “hermaphrodite,” which is now often considered a slur. Lili Elbe was born with both testes and ovaries, so she was intersex.
Intimate Friendship
* * *
A type of relationship in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries that involved intimacy between two members of the same sex or gender at a greater level than a regular friendship—for example, living as life partners and professing love for each other. This is the type of relationship that Abraham Lincoln had with Joshua Speed and that Eleanor Roosevelt had with Lorena Hickok.
Lesbian
* * *
A woman who is exclusively attracted to other women. Del Martin identified and Phyllis Lyon identifies as lesbian.
LGBTQ
* * *
Abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning. Questioning refers to people who are currently figuring out their sexual and gender identities. LGBT and GLBT are also common abbreviations. You may see other additions after LGBT: “I” (intersex), “2S” (Two-Spirit), “A” (asexual or ally), and more. As the acronym has grown in length (“LGBTTIQQ2SAA,” for example, which still leaves out many identities), the popularity of “queer” as a catch-all for all nonheterosexual noncisgender identities has grown as well.
Nonbinary
* * *
Similar to “genderqueer,” an umbrella term for gender identities that aren’t exclusively male or female.
Queen; Drag Queen
* * *
“Drag queen” and “queen” were commonly used along with “cross-dresser” before the word “transgender” existed to refer to transgender women. Today this is not a term that would be used for a transgender woman. “Drag queen” still exists as a term for someone like José Sarria, a man who dresses as a woman for performance—but not to express a consistent female gender identity.
Queer
* * *
Often used today as an umbrella term for everyone who isn’t heterosexual or cisgender (also often only refers to nonheterosexuals, so you might say “queer and trans” to be inclusive). Reclaimed in the 1990s from being an antigay slur. Still a controversial term that can be seen as derogatory. In this book we use it to mean any identity not completely fitting the modern concepts of heterosexual or cisgender, even if the person did not self-identify as “queer” or if sexual identity labels did not exist at all during that person’s time.
Sex Reassignment Surgery
* * *
Medical term for the surgeries that physically change someone’s anatomy from male to female or female to male, such as creating or removing breasts, a penis, or a vagina. “Gender affirmation surgery” is often a better choice of term today. Not all transgender people want to undergo surgical procedures to change their sex—no matter what bodies they have, their gender identity is who they are.
Sodomy; Sodomite
* * *
Anal or oral sex. In the Middle Ages, before the word “homosexuality” existed, this was the predominant term for talking about homosexual behavior. It is still a crime in many countries today. A “sodomite” is a person who commits sodomy.
They/Them/Their
* * *
One of many sets of gender-neutral singular pronouns used as an alternative to she/her/her or he/him/his.
Transgender
* * *
A person whose gender identity does not match up with the biological sex they were assigned at birth. Example: when the doctor says “It’s a boy!” and then the child grows up to feel like a woman inside. An umbrella term encompassing many identities. “Trans” for short. “Transgender” came into use in the 1970s.
Transsexual
* * *
A term under the transgender umbrella referring specifically to those who wish to make, are going through, or have already undergone a physical transition from one sex to another with hormones and/or gender affirmation surgery (sex reassignment surgery). This term was used more broadly before “transgender” was popularized. Renée Richards is an example of a transsexual person.
Transvestite
* * *
Essentially a synonym for cross-dresser.
Two-Spirit
* * *
A Native (or American Indian) term chosen in 1990 to cover all the dozens of First Nations’ identities involving both male and female appearing in one person.
Online resources are best equipped to reflect the ever-changing language of queerness. Let Google be your friend!
LEARN MORE
For additional information on the featured historymakers and more, visit:
www.sarahprager.com/queerthere
For a comprehensive listing of websites, apps, social media projects, and other online resources for learning queer history, visit:
www.quistapp.com/online-resources
BIBLIOGRAPHY & NOTES
Introduction
* * *
Boswell, John. Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980.
Brabant, Malcolm. “Lesbos Islanders Dispute Gay Name.” BBC News. May 1, 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7376919.stm.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “HIV and AIDS—United States, 1981–2000.” https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5021a2.htm.
Crompton, Louis. Homosexuality & Civilization. Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 2003.
Gay & Lesbian Kingdom. “History.” Accessed June 15, 2016. http://gaykingdom.info/history.htm.
———. “Stamps.” Accessed June 15, 2016. http://gaykingdom.info/stamps.htm.
Hayward, Claire. “Queer Terminology: LGBTQ Histories and the Semantics of Sexuality.” Notches (blog). June 9, 2016. http://notchesblog.com/2016/06/09/queer-terminology-lgbtq-histories-and-the-semantics-of-sexuality/.
Murray, Stephen O., and Will Roscoe. Islamic Homosexualities: Culture, History, and Literature. New York: New York University Press, 1997.
———, eds. Boy-Wives and Female Husbands: Studies in African Homosexualities. New York: Palgrave, 1998.
Norton, Rictor. “Some Thoughts on . . . The History of the Word ‘Gay’ and Other Queerwords.” Essays by Rictor Norton. Accessed June 15, 2016. http://rictornorton.co.uk/though23.htm.
Roscoe, Will. Changing Ones: Third and Fourth Genders in Native North America. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998.
Stern, Keith. Queers in History: The Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Historical Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Transgenders. Dallas, TX: BenBella Books, 2009.
Stryker, Susan. Transgender History. Berkeley, CA: Seal Press, 2008.
Tomilson, Maurice. “Caleb Orozco Sets a Valuable Caribbean Precedent.” Erasing 76 Crimes (blog). Accessed August 18, 2016. https://76crimes.com/2016/08/16/caleb-orozco-sets-a-valuable-caribbean-precedent.<
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To say this overview is the short, simplified version of queer history is an understatement. While striving to profile a diverse selection of identities, the author found that there was not enough source material available to tell the stories of many from other parts of the world in the required detail, due to a lack of records. For various non-Western profiles we considered, the records were either never written, were destroyed, or never allowed to be written at all (as was the case for slaves of pan-African descent in the Americas). Another factor is the author’s lack of access to existing oral or written histories abroad or in other languages. There is so much more to learn out there! A list of more people who could have had their own chapters can be found at www.sarahprager.com/queerthere.
Elagabalus
* * *
Herodian. Herodian 5.5. 2007. www.livius.org/sources/content/herodian-s-roman-history/herodian-5.5/?.
———. Herodian 5.8. 2007. www.livius.org/sources/content/herodian-s-roman-history/herodian-5.8/?.
Hersch, Karen K. The Roman Wedding: Ritual and Meaning in Antiquity. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
