People with a History: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans* History Sourcebook
Special Themes
Editor: Paul Halsall
Contents:
Section VII: Special Themes
Go to the following pages for other parts of People with a History
Special Themes 1: Same Sex Marriage
Discussions:
Texts:
- Suetonius (b.c.70 d. after 121 CE): Nero 27-29. [At this Site]
Includes an account of Nero's two homosexual "marriages".
- Two Versions of Rite of Adelphopoiia [At this Site]
- The Life of St. Theodore of Sykeon (7th Cent.), Chapters 134-135 [At this Site]
An adelphopoiia relationship is established between St. Theodore and Patriarch Thomas of Constantinople.
- Chin Bratotvoreniyu [At QRD] [Internet Archive version here]
Old Church Slavonic text of the Rite of Brotherhood, abbreviated,
with standard liturgical prayers (most of Litany, Antiphons, etc.)
omitted. Cf. Jacobus Goar, Euchologion (1st ed., Paris 1647; 2nd
ed., Venice 1730), pp. 706-709, s.v. "Akolouthia eis Adelphopoiian
Pneumatiken." From: Velikii Potrebnik, printed by Edinovertsii
in Moscow (Now called Belokrinitsky Hierarchy of Old Rite), in
the year 1904. Transcribed by Nikita Syrnikov. Translated by Fr.
Basil Isaacks April 1, 1995.
- Church of Greece on Adelphopoiia [At QRD] [Internet Archive version here]
- Montaigne: A Homosexual Marriage in Rome 1581 [Was at LGB Catholic Handbook, now Internet Archive]
Account of a gay marriage in 16th-century Rome by Montaigne.
- Gary Ferguson: A same-sex marriage ceremony in… Renaissance Rome? (2017) [At the Conversation] [Internet Archive version here]
- Rictor Norton: Paradigms of Same-Sex Marriage in the Long Eighteenth Century (2011) PDF [At Rictor Norton's website][Internet Archive version here]
- Wikipedia: Catharina Margaretha Linck (died 1721)
A Prussian who presented as a man in adult life. Linck married a woman and, based on their sexual activity together, was convicted of sodomy and executed by order of King Frederick William I in 1721. The article contains excerpts of the trial record.
- Robert Aitken: Gay marriage from a Zen-Buddhist perspective [At QRD] [Internet Archive version here]
Aitken is an important figure in American Zen. His discussion
here is mainly directed at modern concerns, but he discusses the
history.
- ONE Magazine: Homosexual Marriage August 1953 [At Queen Musical Heritage] [Internet Archive version here]
-
Metropolitan Community Church: Holy Union Liturgy [Was At UFMCC, now Internet Archive]
Websites:
Back to Contents
Special Themes 2: Bisexuality
In a sense, much of the history claimed by "lesbians and
gays" is a history of people who were functionally and actually bisexual.
In particular many of the famous names on lists of "famous
homosexuals" of "queers in history" were sexually active with both men and women.
However, it also seems to be true that a clearly, or even hazily,
formulated "bisexual" social identity is even more recent
than "homosexual" and "heterosexual" identities.
I will correct this statement if it is shown to be wrong, but
specifically "bisexual" organizations seem only to have
existed since the 1970s.
This relatively new formulation does not mean that there is no
"history" of bisexuality. There have been voices in
the past which have proclaimed a need for sexual freedom - whether
these be the "libertines" of the 16th century, the English
"rakes" of the 17th century, or the sexual radicals
of the 1960s. It has proved quite possible to be explicitly homo(mono)sexual
and fundamentally conservative in sexual expectations. I would
take as the most significant aspect of the history of bisexuality
not those people who were bisexually active, but those who sought
to explore the complexities of human sexual choices.
Discussions:
Texts:
- WEB Bisexual Lives (1988) [At BiStuff] [Internet Archive version here]
Web publication of a bookl of personal journeys issued in 1988.
- WEB BiStuff [Internet Archive version here]
A variety of Bisexual history and culture primary sources.
Websites:
- WEB Bi.org
A dedicated Bisexual site, with a guide to academic resources. With a Famous Bi List [Internet Archive version here]
- WEB Bisexual Resource Center
A collection of resources, including historical accounts,
advice, and current issues. .
Back to Contents
Special Themes 3: Trans* History
"Trans*" is a complex category to analyze and document
historically. In some respects, however, it is easier conceptually
than "gay": although homosexual "activity" is documentable
in many past and present societies, it is much harder to document social and psychological
ideas about "identity" and "orientation".
On the other hand, the existence of "neither male nor female" gendered
people ("transgressive" .or not) is very widely documented
throughout many societies and cultures. This includes cross-dressers,
women who lived as men, eunuchs, "third sex" people,
"two-spirited" people, modern transvestites, modern
transsexuals, and so on.
Some modern gays and lesbians seek to distance themselves from
this trans* history: some gay men in particular have sought to
portray their homosexuality as fully "masculine". In
fact, modern homosexuals do transgress one of the basic markers
of gender identity in modern society, the marker than says masculinity
is marked out by having sex with women.
Discussions:
[see also under "Native American Societies" for "berdache"and "two-spirit"
discussions]
Texts:
- All the Eunuchs of the Bible [Was As LGB Catholic Handbook, now Internet Archive]
- The Questioning of Eleanor Rykener (also known as John), a Cross-Dressing Prostitute, 1395 [At this Site]
This is the one a a minute number of texts from legal processes on same-sex and/or transgender issues in late medieval England. The document contains a facsimile of the Roll membrane, a Latin transcription, and a translation.
- A Legend of the Austrian Tyrol: St. Kümmernis [At this Site]
A female saint who grows a beard (a variant of the St Liberata, St. Uncumber, St Wilgefortis legends.)
- Jeff
Jones: The Extraordinary Life of Sweet Evening The Life of 1950s Transgendered Male in Kentucky Profiled [Was At QRD, now At this Site]
- YouTube: Sylvia Rivera, “Y’all Better Quiet Down” Original Authorized Video, 1973 Gay Pride Rally NYC
- Alice Purnell: Our History, The Beaumont Trust [At Beauont Trust] [Internet Archive version here] and PDF version [At Beauont Trust] [Internet Archive version here]
A history of the Beaumont Trust, Britain's first trans organisation in 1966. As the account makes very clear, for many years the organisation rejected any applicants who were homosexual and allowed only heterosexual crossdressers and transexuals as members.
- Gendys Conference Archive [At Gender.org.uk] [Internet Archive version here]
The Gendys Conferences were held every two years for over a decade from 1990 until 2004. With the kind permission of the contributors, this website preserves many of the presentations as an historical record. It is of interest to those who want to examine developments in language and theoru over that period.
Websites:
- WEB Female to Male Trans* History Page [Was at FTM, now At Internet Archive]
- WEB Digital Transgender Archive [Internet Archive version here]
A major
resource with many primary sources online.
- WEB OutHistory: Timeline Transgender History [At OutHistory] [Internet Archive backup here]
This is a major resource for American LGBT histories.
- WEB Timeline Transgender History [At T-Vox] [Internet Archive backup here]
"This is the timeline of transgender, intersex and genderqueer history. Each entry provides a brief description of the event in question, with links to a page providing a more detailed account where an account is currently available."
- WEB Intersex Society of North America
Includes full text of a sometimes historically informed newsletter
called Hermaphrodites with Attitude.
- WEB The Gallae HomePage [Was at Atriazad, now Internet Archive]
An extraordinary web site devoted to ancient and modern gallae [gender variant devotees of the Mother Goddess]. It contains
valuable information, but often without citation of sources. It
can thus not be relied on as to accuracy, but will give some valuable
hints for further research.
- WEB TransGenderGuide's Reference Library
- WEB Transvestite, Transsexual, Transgendered Home Page
[Internet Archive version here]
Has articles and a significant coverage of other T* sites.
- Drag Queen Matchbook Covers 1950s [At Queen Musical Heritage] [Internet Archive version here]
- WEB Wigstock History as of 1999 [Internet Archive]
- WEB Wigstock History as of 1999 [Internet Archive]
- Photos of Wigstock 1993 [At Columbia] [Internet Archive version here]
- Wikipedia: Wigstock
- Wikipedia: Imperial Court System
On the "imperial court" drag fundraising phenomenon.
- WEB Don't Call Me Madam: The Life and Work of Ray Bourbon [At Raebourbon] [Internet Archive version here]
The
life and work of a unique American nightclub and vaudeville performer, Ray Bourbon. Almost forgotten today, Ray was probably the most prominent and influential gay female impersonator of his day.
Back to Contents
Special Themes 4: Anti-Gay: Gay Criticism of Gay Culture
There has been a persistant willingness by gay writers to criticise aspects of gay
culture, and of lesbian writers to criticise lesbian culture.
Some of the criticism is probably justified, but elements of sheer intellectual and
class-based snobbery towards the lumpen-schwulen play an important part.
In general these writers live in comparatively safe urban gay environments (London, New
York, San Francisco. West Hollywood), have come to terms with their homosexuality long
ago, and feel free to offer critiques. Their targets usually (repeatedly in fact), include
gay activists, gay commercial culture, gay entertainment, Pride events and so forth.
Despite protestations to the contrary, they tend to obliterate the very real struggles
still going on for most gays and lesbians (violence, discrimination, religious
intolerance), and ignore the benefits of a commercial culture. Above all they create
tendentious constructions of gay culture in order to attack.
Back to Contents
NOTES
People with a History: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans* History Sourcebook is part of the Internet History Sourcebooks Project. Date of inception was 1997. People with a History is a www site presenting
history relevant to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered people, through primary
sources, secondary discussions, and images. Links to files at other site are indicated by [At some indication of the site name or location]. WEB indicates a link to one of small number of high quality web sites which provide either more texts or an especially valuable overview.
The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is located at the History Department of Fordham University, New York. The Internet
Medieval Sourcebook, and other medieval components of the project, are located at
the Fordham University Center
for Medieval Studies.The IHSP recognizes the contribution of Fordham University, the
Fordham University History Department, and the Fordham Center for Medieval Studies in
providing web space and server support for the project. The IHSP is a project independent of Fordham University. Although the IHSP seeks to follow all applicable copyright law, Fordham University is not
the institutional owner, and is not liable as the result of any legal action.
© Site Concept and Design: Paul Halsall created 26 Jan 1996: latest revision 4 October 2024 [CV]
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