not that my input really matters, but i don’t know much of lgbt history other than bits and pieces of stonewall, a little bit of the aids crisis, and the legalization of gay marriage; i’m an actual child and nobody here (kentucky) educates anyone/gets educated on it
how about instead of shaming people—especially young people—for not knowing our history, we provide them with credible resources?
here’s a long list of LGBT+ historical events worth googling and learning about. i’m not sure if all the dates and details are spot on, but, again, this is really just a guide for what to research on your own. to warn you, a lot of this history is ugly, including things like the conflation of pedophilia and LGBT+ people, genital mutilation, homophobia, transphobia, nazis, and wide scale persecution.
Free Resources:
an interactive timeline of LGBT+ world history
The 1950s and the Roots of LGBT Politics (American-centric)
Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community (warning: this documentary was made in the 80s and is dated in a lot of respects as a result; it also features quotes from Allen Ginsberg, who we now know was a pedophile, but it’s still very informative in terms of history)
a brief history of the bisexual movement from the 1960s-early 2000s (American-centric)
Bisexual.org has a TON of resources on bi (and often pan) history, historical figures, research, and media
“Here’s A History Of Bisexuality, From Ancient Egypt To Stonewall”
a brief timeline of trans history, beginning in the 1890s (European and American-centric)
“Gender Variance Around the World Over Time”
Some Purchasable Resources:
(most of these can be bought used online for pretty cheap and some can be found in libraries)
Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Context by Vern L Bullough (it’s a bit dated, but still informative)
A Little Gay History: Desire and Diversity Across the World by R. Parkinson
Sapphistries: A Global History of Love between Women (Intersections) by Leila J. Rupp
Gay Voices of the Harlem Renaissance (Blacks in the Diaspora) by A.B. Christa Schwarz
The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government by David K. Johnson
Queer Brown Voices: Personal Narratives of Latina/o LGBT Activism edited by Uriel Quesada, Letitia Gomez, and Salvador Vidal Ortiz
Transgender History: The Roots of Today’s Revolution by Susan Stryker
Asegi Stories: Cherokee Queer and Two-Spirit Memory by Qwo-Li Driskill
hey, thank you for the addittion, i really do appreciate it.
however i do wanna clarify that my intent wasn’t to shame anybody: posting this was more to counteract a popular post with the same graphic posted by a transphobe.
i thought this commentary was important as the perpetuation of an oversimplified view of LGBT history & the unwillingness (rather than the inability) to share resources like the ones you’ve linked above (often for political reasons) was harming people’s perceptions of LGBT history.
but I am sorry to anyone who felt shamed by this post, as i said it truly wasn’t my intent and i hadn’t thought about it at the time i posted it.
Honestly y’all really need to work on not feeling defensive about legitimate criticism. Someone calmly pointing out that a lot of people here don’t know a thing about LGBT history which has led way to a lot of bad takes and terrible discourse, isn’t time for you to whine about how it’s their fault that you’re ignorant and how they’re obligated to teach you something that you should be learning yourself
shut up.
i clearly didn’t know the context of the original post and did not feel personally defensive because it wasn’t even directed at me.
like how could i be defensive about not knowing our history when i literally just shared tons of sources indicating that i… know our history?
i saw what i thought was a post mocking lgbt+ people who wanted to know our history but didn’t know where to start or were new to the community and felt protective of them, so i shared information. i never fucking “whined” about being “ignorant”. make sure you’re reading a post propery before attacking someone.
