history

INTO THE PAST: A LOOK AT GLBT HISTORY TO STONEWALL

The undeniable truth is simply that throughout history, in every society of every civilization from every corner of the world, homosexuality has existed. Yet these stories of the human experience has been ignored in our classrooms and textbooks. Today, we are going to take a journey through time to celebrate GLBT contributions to history and remember, for better or worse, the lives and experiences of gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people that have come before us.

I've tried to accumulate a broad scope of information to share with you tonight. It needs to be noted that at different times throught history there havve been different levels of awareness and acceptance, which eliminates many of the distinctions we make today within the GLBT community. For example, gay women have had a different set of concerns and subculture traditions than male homosexuals. Lesbian historians have shown a history that is distinct from male homosexual history: its sources are more literary, and often viewed as being inseparable from the history of feminism. I strongly believe, however, that our own diversity should not prevent us from having pride in a unified history.

Our journey will begin in Ancient Egypt, one of the oldest human cultures complex enough to be called "civilization." Research into homosexuality during this time is very new, however, Archaeologists have discovered the tomb of what is perhaps the earliest homosexual couple known to history. While working on the restoration of the causeway in Egypt, it was discovered that some of the stone blocks used to build the causeway had been appropriated in ancient times from a dismantled mastaba that had originally served as the entrance to the tomb. Reconstruction the mastaba revealed that this tomb had been build for two men to cohabit and that both shared identical titles in the palace of King Niuserre of the Fifth Dynasty: "Overseer of the Manicurists in the Palace of the King."

Because I'm taking you all the way up to StoneWall, I'm not going to spend a great deal of time on each period. Hopefully, I will leave you tonight with a more complete sense of GLBT identification throughout human history.

On now to Fifth century BC Greece. It is widely known that homosexuality was both accepted and practiced in Ancient Greece as well as their Roman neighbors. Regardless of how history has treated this era in retrospect, there was a time when a highly civilized nation functioned and embraced the diversity of homosexuality. One of the most respected minds of modern thought lived in this time. Socrates was known to have led a homosexual lifestyle. Gay women can also identify with a great teacher from Ancient Greece. Sappho was born and lived most of her life on the Greek island of lesbos. This is where we get both the term Lesbian, and Sapphist. A poet herself, she started several casual societies dedicated to composing and reciting poetry.

Before we leave Ancient Greece lets look at the origin of one of our symbols. The Lambda dates back to this time. Ancient Greek Spartans believed the lambda meant unity, while the Romans considered it, the light of knowledge shed into the darkness of ignorance.

We are going to jump ahead now quite a bit to a significant event that we can easily relate to. Just as homosexuality has existed throughout time, so have the laws against us. Modern day sodomy laws can be traced back to FLETA in 1290. This is the first mention of criminal punishment for homosexual behavior in the English common law tradition. An anonymous jurist at the court of Edward I composed this legislation prescribing that sodomites are to be buried alive, but may not have been adopted. Edward I did however have his son’s tutor Piers Gaston banished from England because of the homosexual relationship between the two men. In 1300, Britton, spelled
B R I T T O N, was a treatise prescribing that sodomites be burned alive. There is little indication that this was carried out in England at this time, however, such executions were known to have taken place on the continent. A term that was know all to well today can be dated back to this time. A bundle of sticks, twigs or branches bound together and used as fuel or a torch, was known as a Fagot. King Edward II of England ascended to the throne in 1307 and carried on two homosexual relationships at separate times and was murdered in 1327 by having a red-hot poker inserted into his anus. Historians theorize that this brutal form of execution was chosen both in retaliation for King Edward II homosexuality, and also as a way to kill him without leaving marks on his body.

Lets take a moment to look at a separate culture of very early America. Many Native American societies socially validated gender-divergent roles. Some groups essentially allowed children to choose their gender. A male child who chose female clothes, for example, would be raised as a female, and would marry a man. Berdache is a eurocentric term for this primarily referencing a physical act, unlike many Native American terms, which generally refer to a combination of spiritual qualities. Berdache can be best understood as a transgender or third gender being, often emphasizing community contributions over sexual behavior, and in many tribal cultures was believed to have a special link with the spirit world. The Zuni tribe practiced this, and held the berdache in a unique place in the community, with their social status at certain festivals ranking closely to that of the medicine man.

I want to quickly jump to modern history. Although there was still a great deal of hostility towards homosexuals in the 1800’s, the lifestyle itself began to take shape. Early activists like Karl Heinrich Ulrichs aided in the idea that homosexuality was not simply an act but a wonderful part of a dynamic person. The first time that a self-proclaimed homosexual spoke out publicly for homosexual rights was on August 28th, 1867 when Ulrich pleaded at the meeting of the Congress of German Jurists for a resolution urging the repeal of all anti-homosexual laws. Three years later, he would make the worlds first attempt at publishing a gay periodically, titled Urnings. There was only one issue.

Now, as with every other part of history, things get complicated in the 20th century. It almost seems as though the dynamic of the individual changed at the turn of the century. We are now a book, a name, a war, a perception and a letter home away from StoneWall.

In 1928, Radclyffe Hall wrote THE WELL OF LONLINESS, the first undisguised lesbian novel.

Alan Turing, a gay man, a mathematician, provided the theorem of “Universal Computation.” The Computability Theory is the cornerstone of what is today known as computer science. In the 1950’s the British Government Convicted him of the “crime” of homosexuality and sentenced him to undergo estrogen therapy to “cure” his “disease”. The hormones caused his mind to snap and he took his own life.

The idea of a “CURE” to homosexuality had been practiced, supported, and sanctioned by the government and science throughout the late 19th and early 20th century. Before we move back to Europe to discuss the atrocities of WWII, lets look at our own nations acts towards homosexuals during this time. These are known as the 13 Theories to “Cure” Homosexuality.

Prostitution Therapy (late 19th century) Through sex with prostitutes, “inverted men” would experience co-gender sexual desire.

Marriage Therapy (Late 19th century) When presented with the option of courting and marriage, the “deviant” would naturally go “straight.”

Cauterization (late 19th century): Dr. William Hammond, a New York Medical researcher suggested that homosexual patients be cauterized at the nape of the neck and the lower dorsal and lumbar regions every ten days. In case you are unfamiliar with the term, Webster’s defines cauterizing to burn with a hot iron, electric current, fire, or caustic substance such as potassium hydroxide for corrective purposes.

Castration/Ovary Removal (Late 19th century): In a Pre-Hitler world, the medical community did not consider castration to be particularly horrific.

Chastity (late 19th century): If homosexuality could not be cured, then homosexuals had no moral choice but to remain chaste.

Hypnosis (late 19th/early 20th century): New Hampshire doctor John D. Quakenbos claimed that “unnatural passions for persons of the same sex” could be cured through hypnosis.

Aversion Therapy (early to mid 20th century): Reward heterosexual arousal and punish homosexual attraction, often through electric shock.

Psychoanalysis (early to mid 20th century): With Freud came a whole new discussion of possible cures. The idea behind this is simply, find the cause, such as a resentment towards a domineering mother, and you find the cure.

Radiation Treatment (early to mid 20th century): X-ray treatments were believed to reduce levels of promiscuous homosexual urges brought on by glandular hyper activity.