Browsing Tag

history

Historians of the Queer South: Announcing a New Spectrum South Series

A photo of books by historians of the queer South.

We know you don’t have time to read every book and listen to every podcast out there. But chances are, you’re curious to know more about our history (and herstory, and theystory). That’s why we’re launching Historians of the Queer South, Spectrum South’s new series of articles profiling the writers and researchers who are helping to tell our stories. Each month, we’ll share a new article highlighting a scholar who we think has made a particularly important contribution to our…

Continue Reading

Continuing the Conversation: Black Queer History Doesn’t End in February

A photo of Black queer history.

Well, Black History Month is officially over. As someone in the Black community, the fact that our history is confined to the shortest month of the year is troublesome to say the least. The month is also shared with other holidays, like Valentine’s Day, that tend to dominate the conversation, putting Black History Month on the back burner. And when Black History is acknowledged, it's often focused on slavery, oppression, and campaigns featuring quotes from the most well-known Black historical…

Continue Reading

To Be a Redneck is to Fight Oppression

A photo of redneck coal miners.

In 2018, I authored a piece on my queer redneck roots—a powerful reckoning with my past. For the first time on paper, I told the world about my seemingly dichotomous identities as both an Appalachian and a queer person. I spoke openly and honestly in ways I haven’t before, at least not on such a large platform. I paid the price, too. Family members whom I mentioned in that piece severed ties. It hurt, but it was also a long…

Continue Reading

Pioneers + Sustainers of a Movement: Trans BIWOC on the Front Lines

A photo of trans woman Miss Major Griffin-Gracey.

By Kelly M. Marshall Transgender women of color have often been left out of the narratives of the collective LGBTQIA+ experience, especially when it comes to our history of liberation. It’s only recently that Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Miss Major Griffin-Gracey, Stormé DeLaverie, and others have been featured in the spotlight and honored for the sacrifice of their blood, sweat, tears, and even lives during the Stonewall Riots and the ensuing decades of our uprising for queer rights. This…

Continue Reading

5 Queer Latinx Icons to Celebrate This Hispanic Heritage Month

A photo of Latinx activist Sylvia Rivera.

It’s time to give credit where credit is due. The modern-day LGBTQ-rights movement would be nowhere without the tireless efforts of the powerful and resilient queer Latinx activists who fought—and continue to fight—for LGBTQ people’s freedom to exist. Throughout history, these movers and shakers have made extraordinary strides to improve the state of trans rights, criminal justice, HIV advocacy, gender equality, and more.…

Continue Reading

Transgender Lives in Ancient Rome: The Case of Empress Elagabalus

A photo of Empress Elagabalus.

While history often seems bereft of queer lives, nothing could be further from the truth. Transgender people have always been around in one form or another, though the terminology that we’ve used to describe ourselves has changed over time. Much of our history has either been purposefully destroyed, as in the case of Nazis burning queer books, or is reinterpreted through a modern cishet lens. Because of this, it is important to reclaim queer figures in history, such as the…

Continue Reading

Stories Untold: Five Black Queer Trailblazers Who Thrived in the South

A photo of Black queer hero Lucy Hicks Anderson.

Black History Month has always been about telling the stories that have gone untold—the triumphant stories of the societal impact and progress made by those who were not always accepted as members of society themselves. In school, we often learn of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., George Washington Carver, Malcolm X, and Madame CJ Walker. As the years go on, we hear these same stories over, and over, and over again. And while these stories are important to celebrate and…

Continue Reading

Let’s Get Kinky, Houston: Halloween Magic’s Queer Political Satire Returns

A photo of Halloween Magic 2018.

It was 1988 and the AIDS crisis had not yet peaked. The future was uncertain and frankly, terrifying. While some might freeze when faced with such unimaginable adversity, others organize. Houston owes it to the minds of those like Tori Williams, who, in 1988, helped conceptualize Halloween Magic. What began as a dinner party in the late 1980s would grow into a large theatrical production in the early 1990s—an endeavor that has since raised over $1 million toward fighting HIV/AIDS…

Continue Reading

Activist and Pioneer Ray Hill Recounts Houston’s Dynamic LGBTQ History

A photo of LGBTQ activist Ray Hill.

When large activist movements take the national stage, we tend to think of places like Washington, D.C., Berkeley, California, or, in terms of the LGBTQ equality movement, Stonewall in New York. More than likely, Houston, Texas isn’t the first city you think of as being on the front lines of activism. While a healthy 22,000 protesters took to the streets of Space City during the 2017 Women’s March following Donald Trump’s election, this number paled in comparison to New York…

Continue Reading

It’s Not in Your Head: The History and Science of Gender Fluidity

A photo of the transgender flag representing gender fluidity.

At some point in your early childhood, a well-meaning parent or teacher probably sat you down and shared what they believed to be the simple facts of life—that the world was made of boys and girls. Boys have penises and girls have vaginas, they said, and they made you think it was really that simple. We see the same sentiment reiterated in political debates over “bathroom bills” and job protection acts being contested in state and local governments all across…

Continue Reading