So, a post of mine has recently blown up, and I just want to say: it is 100% possible to both write a marauders era fic that is historically accurate and still be as gay and trans and nonbinary as anything that could possibly be written today. All of these things existed back then, people might have struggled to express it verbally without the terminology we have now, and they might have used to terms that were perfectly acceptable in times past but are now discouraged (example, transsexual vs transgender), but people of all kinds still existed. In fact, many of those people wrote books in the past, expressing a wide variety genders and sexualities.
You want some gay guys who get a happy ending (no "bury your gays" trope here!), try Maurice by E. M. Forster. Yeah, that E. M. Forster, of A Passage to India and A Room with a View fame. Originally written in 1913, it wasn't actually published until 1971 after Forster's death. It's about a rich aristocrat getting dicked down by his rugged gamekeeper.
You want some lesbians? Try Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown, published in 1973. Yeah, that Rita Mae Brown, who writes that series of cozy old lady cat mysteries like The Purrfect Murder and Murder, She Meowed. Wrote a semi-autobiographical coming of age novel about the 70s lesbian scene where her main character is just eating up that delicious rubyfruit.
You want some trans men? Try Metamorphoses by Ovid. Published 8 AD. Yep, some Roman guy was writing about trans men in year. fucking. 8. The particular poem in question is "Iphis and Ianthe" and Iphis is a man with a vagina, which is kind of problem because he's supposed to marry the beautiful Ianthe in the morning and Ianthe does not know about this vagina situation. So, Iphis prays to Isis, and the goddess Isis is like, "yeah, I can fix that" and gives him a dick.
If you want trans women... well, there's Myra Beckinridge and the sequel Myron by Gore Vidal, published in 1968 and 1974 respectively. But honestly it's kind of a fucked up and weird book, but then again Gore Vidal was a kind of fucked up bisexual himself with some terrible opinions. Look, not every one of these is going to age well. Myra Beckinridge was an important work that did a lot to subvert gender and sex norms. I would recommend reading a synopsis first to prepare for anything that might be triggering thought.
Fanfiction for a lot of people is a way to relax and enjoy a happier, brighter world, and if that's you then all the power to you. I sincerely hope you find the best fics out there to suit your needs. Not everyone likes historical realism, and not everyone wants to read about the uncomfortable realities of the past, and that is fine. I do. I like reading it, and I will close any fic that doesn't even try to attempt to remember the marauders era is set in the 70s. That's just my particular taste.
There's a paragraph in the novel The Female Man by Joanna Russ (1975 lesbian novel) where the author says farewell to her book and states:
"Live merrily, little daughter-book, even if I can't and we can't; recite yourself to all who will listen; stay hopeful and wise. Wash your face and take your place without a fuss in the Library of Congress, for all books end up there eventually, both little and big. Do not complain when at last you become quaint and old-fashioned, when you grow as outworn as the crinolines of a generation ago and are classed with Spicy Western Stories, Elsie Dinsmore, and The Son of the Sheik; do not mutter angrily to yourself when young persons read you to hrooch and hrch and guffaw, wondering what the dickens you were all about. Do not get glum when you are no longer understood, little book. Do not curse your fate. Do not reach up from readers' laps and punch the readers' noses.
For on that day, we will be free."
And Russ is stating that it is a good thing when books and movies become outdated and are seen as politically incorrect, like Myra Beckinridge, because this means that society has evolved. We know better now, or at least we know more than we did when it was written. And we are continuously striving to do better and be better and more accepting. Anyway, I don't know where I'm going with this except that I want more gay historically accurate 1970s snape fics, and I'm not going to apologize for that.
