In 1904 publisher Bernard Madfadden denounced “the shoals of painted, perfumed, Kohl-eyed, lisping, mincing youths that at night swarm on Broadway in the Tenderloin section, or haunt the parks and 5th Avenue, ogling every man that passes…” In the following decade another New Yorker declared that “our streets and beaches are overrun by… fairies.” GayContinue reading “Early C20 Fairies”
Category Archives: HerStory-History
The Meaning of QUEER
“Queer is a continuing moment, movement, motive – recurrent, eddying, troublant. The word ‘queer’ itself means across – it comes from the Indo-European root – twerkw, which also yields the German quer (traverse), Latin torquere (to twist), English athwart. . . . Keenly, it is relational and strange.” Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (1950-2009) “The soft-spoken queenContinue reading “The Meaning of QUEER”
Gay Nature Mystics of the 19th Century
As ‘the love that dare not speak its name’ began to be find new labels attached to it in the late 19th century, such as Uranian, Invert, Intermediate Type – and the one that stuck, Homosexual – there were gay men in Europe and America who could see the limitations of the terms that theContinue reading “Gay Nature Mystics of the 19th Century”
FROM SHAME TO SHAMANISM
The Spiritual Nature and Call of QUEER PEOPLE. “There must be radical healing of the gatekeepers if our globe is to truly be healed.” Malidoma Some Andrew Harvey, Gay Mystics (1997): “Delving into the truth of homosexual history, one begins to understand that homophobia is a purely human and relatively recent cultural construct, and itContinue reading “FROM SHAME TO SHAMANISM”
The Gay Orient in the early C20
Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935) was one of the world’s first gay activists. Both a writer and a doctor, he sought not only to define sexual variation – homosexuality in both men and women, as well as what we would now refer to as trans identity – but also to repeal laws that policed their expression inContinue reading “The Gay Orient in the early C20”
Gay African History: Zanzibar
During the 19th century European ‘scramble’ for Africa, the Zanzibar archipelago, off the African east coast, was a British Protectorate from 1890 until it became part of Tanzania through it’s union with Tanganyika. In the 16-17th centuries the region had been under Portuguese control, before coming under the influence of Arabic cultures under the SultanContinue reading “Gay African History: Zanzibar”
Uganda’s Gay Issue
April 26th, 2023: President Museveni of Uganda sends the Anti-Gay Bill back to the Parliament, requesting various amendments: “According to the legislative processes, legislators could pass or reject the President’s proposals. Technicality if President Museveni fails to assent to the Bill on second enactment, it will regardless gain the force of law. In the eventContinue reading “Uganda’s Gay Issue”
Homophobia: History Repeating
In 18th century England a growing “hatred of sodomites, generated by disgust and fear, was justified, even encouraged, as a defence of society, love and of women. This virulent hatred, and the spontaneous acts of violence it inspired, were enough to stop those people who objected, such as philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1738-1832), from making theirContinue reading “Homophobia: History Repeating”
Gay Priests of the Goddess
“Our beautiful lovely sexuality is the gateway to spirit. Under all organised religions of the past, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, there has been a separation of carnality, or shall we say of flesh or earth or sex, and spirituality. As far as I am concerned they are all the same thing, and what we need toContinue reading “Gay Priests of the Goddess”
Harry Hay’s Queer Spiritual Vision
Harry Hay (1912-2002) was founder of the first national organisation campaigning for gay rights in the 1950s, the Mattachine Society, and one of the founding father-mothers of the, now global, tribe of Radical Faeries. His life-long passion to liberate gay people from religious, legal and conformist pressures was motivated, he said, by a “vision I’veContinue reading “Harry Hay’s Queer Spiritual Vision”
Pluto is in Aquarius
Pluto was in Aquarius from March 23, 2023, to June 11, 2023, again from January 20, 2024 until September 1, 2024, and enters for the long Aquarian haul from November 19, 2024, to March 8, 2043, at which point it will weave in and out of Aquarius and Pisces. “Pluto in Aquarius is the beginningContinue reading “Pluto is in Aquarius”
Bloch on Sex and Religion
Ivan Bloch (1872-1922) worked with Magnus Hirschfeld in Germany’s Scientific Humanitarian Committee, the first institution advocating for homosexual and transgender rights. In his book The sexual life of our time : a complete encyclopaedia of the sexual sciences in their relation to modern civilisation, published in 1907 Bloch declared: “Homosexuality – love between man andContinue reading “Bloch on Sex and Religion”
Galli: ‘sacred as they are’
In the 2nd century CE Lucian of Samosata wrote a description of a Goddess temple in Syria and the activities of the sacred, gender-bending priests that worked there. ‘De Dea Syria’ (of the Syrian Goddess) describes the temple as dedicated to Atargatis, a local name for Ishar/Astarte, whom Lucien synchronises with the Greek goddess Hera:Continue reading “Galli: ‘sacred as they are’”
Third Sex in Hinduism
“What does Hinduism teach about homosexuality? Ancient Hindu teachings describe homosexuality as a “third sex” (tritiya-prakriti), an inborn nature combining both male and female properties. Homosexuals and transgenders were recognized for their unique nature and incorporated into Vedic society accordingly. They were not punished or persecuted under ancient Hindu law and elaborate descriptions of homosexualityContinue reading “Third Sex in Hinduism”
Queer History of Africa
the rich queer history of Africa emerges…. “African history is replete with examples of both erotic and nonerotic same-sex relationships. For example, the ancient cave paintings of the San people near Guruve in Zimbabwe depict two men engaged in some form of ritual sex. During precolonial times, the “mudoko dako,” or effeminate males among theContinue reading “Queer History of Africa”
Same Sex Marriage
The Church of England has been divided on the issue of SAME SEX MARRIAGE for a long time, with the issue threatening to split the global Anglican community. This week the Church’s General Synod has voted to allow blessings of same sex relationships but retains its ban on marriage services. There is a glaring, unacknowledgedContinue reading “Same Sex Marriage”
Amma’s Urgent Message
BOTTOMS, JEWELS & TWO SPIRITS
At the third annual intertribal Native American/First Nations gay and lesbian conference in Winnipeg in 1990 the identity ‘Two-spirit’ became popular as a term chosen to replace the imposed, non-native words ‘berdache’ and ‘gay’, as a way to express the Native/First Nations’ distinct approach to gender identity, sexual identity and and gender-variance. “Two-spirited” or “two-spirit”Continue reading “BOTTOMS, JEWELS & TWO SPIRITS”
The Affectionate Shepherd
English poet Richard Barnfield (1574-1620), a contemporary of William Shakespeare and possibly the ‘rival poet’ Shakespeare referred to in sonnets addressed to a young man. Barnfield wrote such sonnets too and, in 1594, aged 21, published ‘The Affectionate Shepherd’ – telling the story of Daphnis’ love for Ganymede, which sold well but drew censure becauseContinue reading “The Affectionate Shepherd”
William Drummond Mystic Poet
“Whom grace made children, sin hath now made slaves” William Drummond (13 December 1585 – 4 December 1649) was a Scottish poet, son of the first laird of Hawthornden in Midlothian, John Drummond and Susannah Fowler, sister of a poet and courtier to James VI of Scotland (who became James I of England), William Fowler. William Drummond studied lawContinue reading “William Drummond Mystic Poet”
The Anal Chakra
Anal sex became the great taboo, the worst sin, the unmentionable sin in the Western world under the influence of Christianity, but in the more mystical lands of the East, where the spiritual potential of bodily pleasure retained the high, sacred status it had once held in pagan times in the Middle East and Europe,Continue reading “The Anal Chakra”
Gloria Anzaldua: Half and Half
GLORIA ANZALDUA: From Borderlands (1987) Half and Half There was a muchacha who lived near my house, La gente del pueblo talked about her being una de las otras, “of the Others”. They said that for six months she was a woman who had a vagina that bled once a month, and that for theContinue reading “Gloria Anzaldua: Half and Half”
THE GODDESS ENERGY IS TRYING TO SAVE US
MARION WOODMAN (1928-2018), Canadian mythopoetic author, poet, analytical psychologist and women’s movement figure, from her work Conscious Femininity, published 1993: “… the goddess energy is trying to save us. If we go on with our power tactics, we’re going to destroy the earth. That’s why we haven’t got a long time to evolve. We’re eitherContinue reading “THE GODDESS ENERGY IS TRYING TO SAVE US”
A 1906 Book about Gay Sexuality
Edward Westermarck’s 1906 book The Origin and Development of Moral Ideas included a chapter presenting the world with an overview of the occurrence of homosexuality and gender fluidity around the world, showing their frequent association with the spiritual aspects of communal life, and their widespread acceptance in pre-Christian cultures as natural parts of God’s creation.Continue reading “A 1906 Book about Gay Sexuality”
The Third Gender
The division of gender and sexuality into neatly defined and labelled boxes by the new scientific kids on the block, psychology and sociology, from the late 19th century onwards has never sat well with some gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. There have always been queer voices in the west who objected to the limitationsContinue reading “The Third Gender”
Holy Groves and Cruising Grounds
“One of the sacred functions of the tribe of men who love men is that we are Guardians of the Trees. There is something in our nature that is like the nature of the trees themselves, for the pattern of our love creates a ladder of energy, vertical, heaven and earth connecting, just as theContinue reading “Holy Groves and Cruising Grounds”
“The Priests in some Societies, the Pariahs in Others”
The homosexual in America; a subjective approach by Donald Webster Cory (the pen name of Edward Sagarin) published 1957, recorded the development of queer culture during the early to mid twentieth century. To set the scene he offered this historical overview of homosexuality around the world, which shows that some gays in that time ofContinue reading ““The Priests in some Societies, the Pariahs in Others””
Carpenter’s Wisdom: Gays and God
In his 1914 book, INTERMEDIATE TYPES among PRIMITIVE FOLK: A Study in Social Evolution, English gay philosopher-poet EDWARD CARPENTER studied the connection of homosexuality with divination and religion, commenting in that “it certainly is remarkable to find – even from this slight study – how widespread the connection has been among the primitive peoples andContinue reading “Carpenter’s Wisdom: Gays and God”
THE FIRST FRENCH CANNABIS CAFE
When Napoleon Bonaparte’s French troops were occupying Egypt at the end of the 18th century they discovered cannabis, liked it and brought it back to France with them, where it’s use and effects excited both psychiatrists and artists. The war to conquer Algeria from 1830-47 brought more hashish into France. Psychiatrist Jacques-Joseph Moreau studied useContinue reading “THE FIRST FRENCH CANNABIS CAFE”
The Queer Spiritual Inheritance
When I write and speak about the commonalities between the spiritual roles often taken by same-sex loving and gender-fluid people in traditional cultures around the world and also in pre-Christian Europe I tend to feel like I am delivering ‘news’, releasing a perspective little known in the world. However it is no new discovery IContinue reading “The Queer Spiritual Inheritance”
Shokti on Shakti, the Holy Spirit
“The influence of the Holy Spirit, exquisitely called the Comforter, is a matter of actual experience, as solid a reality as that of electro-magnetism” W. C. Brownell, American art and literary critic (1851-1928) “We All Come From the Goddess” Pagan Chant The Divine Feminine – known as shakti – shekinah – holy spirit– is theContinue reading “Shokti on Shakti, the Holy Spirit”
THE TRANS GOD
“…the mother of the gods … commanding him to restrain his infinity, converted him to herself.” Emperor Julian on Attis in the Discourse on the Mother of the Gods C4 The ancient Great ‘Mother of the Gods’, Cybele, was worshipped in Phrygia in the Anatolian region of modern Turkey since way back in pre-history –Continue reading “THE TRANS GOD”
1600 Years of Christian Persecution of Queers
Scotland’s government marked International Women’s Day 2022 by issuing a formal apology to the 2000 women and 500 men who were executed between the 16th and 18th centuries in a mania against witchcraft. “Addressing Scottish lawmakers, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it was “injustice on a colossal scale” that was “driven at least in partContinue reading “1600 Years of Christian Persecution of Queers”
When Bacchus Came to Jerusalem
Antiochus IV (Epiphanes) was a Greek king of the Seleucid Empire (Syria), who reigned 175-164 BCE. He captured Jerusalem in 167 BC and desecrated the Temple by offering the sacrifice of a pig on an altar to Zeus (an act known as the Abomination of Desolation). At that time of history there were two factionsContinue reading “When Bacchus Came to Jerusalem”
Carpenter’s Wisdom: Sex
In his 1902 book Love’s Coming of Age, Edward Carpenter described his vision of how a shift in attitudes towards sex, sexuality and love would push forward human evolution. Carpenter described his belief in a letter to Richard Bucke, author of 1905 book Cosmic Consciousness: “…that there is in man a divine consciousness as wellContinue reading “Carpenter’s Wisdom: Sex”
rainbow messenger 