The editors at Ms. magazine don’t care about 17 ways to add bounce to your curls or other women’s magazine fodder. Tackling California’s new FAIR Act, which mandates that the accomplishments of LGBT figures be taught in public schools, they came up with a list of ten queers that should be added to textbooks. Included are lesbian scribe Gertrude Stein, child-health advocate Dr. Sara Josephine Baker, activist/politician Harvey Milk and lifelong-bachelor President James Buchanan. What, no Abraham Lincoln or Janet Reno?
Is there someone else who should be on the list? School us in the comments!
Photo via Son of Groucho
Jeremy
There’s Willa Cather, lesbian novelist who wrote mostly about changing life in the Midwest and the death of the frontier. She lived with a woman “friend” for over a decade (as I remember it) and burned all her personal letters.
TomChicago
Rudolf Nureyev. I liked the addition of Stein.
Daez
Ernst Julius Röhm
If you are going to teach a balanced view of gay history you might as well include the villains as well as the heroes.
EdWoody
@Daez: I understood the idea was to illustrate the contributions LGBT people have made to society. I wouldn’t call that a contribution.
Observer
@EdWoody: Oddly enough, Daez thinks it’s a contribution. It’s possible that he’s an anti-Semite.
Daez
@EdWoody: @Observer: Never said it was a contribution. I said, if you are going to teach one side you need to teach the other. Besides, this was a man that in his later years actually stood up to Hitler and was a major threat to Hitler’s power. Which is why he was murdered. However, its more to prove a point that demanding that teachers teach gay history without framing what exactly they teach is a great way to have figures like this introduced in conservative school districts.
gay greece
Is this supposed to be a list of the homo contribution to history? Or a list of american lesbians plucked from the depths of obscurity?
If this list is to be pluralistic, historical and have any meaning at all, surely you need to look at Sapfo’s poetry, Plato’s Symposium, Achilles and Patroclus from the Iliad, Alexander the Great and Hephaistion, Shakespeare’s sonnets, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Chaikovsky, Chopin, Proust, Virginia Woolf, Alan Turing, Nureyev and Freddie Mercury.
If you absolutely must have some americans in there, Whitman, Stein, Milk and Baldwin are good choices.
umbrella
@gay greece: I don’t think there’s any evidence Leonardo or Michelangelo were gay. Anyway, sure, add Turing and Mercury to the list.
Mike in Asheville
@umbrella: Perhaps you should read Irving Stone’s “Lust for Life” (Leonardo) and “The Agony and the Ecstasy” (Michelangelo) — the Italian government seemed to believe that Stone had captured the lives of both with their several awards to Stone for study of them, also including, the translation of Michelangelo letters in, “I, Michelangelo, sculptor.”
Mike in Asheville
@ DAN AVERY: There are many many positive contributors who are/were actually gay, including great non-gays as possible gays insults the good efforts of the actual gays. Abraham Lincoln was a man of great resolve with great attributes and flaws. There is no American more closely studied and written about. And as great as his contribution of the sense and being of America, he was not gay.
The letters attributed to Lincoln, discovered in the 1980-90s, by Larry Kramer (yes that Larry Kramer) have never been authenticated by any independent historian and have been labeled as fakes by the Smithsonian.
So, far the record, yes indeed, witnessed and written about by Lincoln himself, yes, he slept in bed with other men! BUT, BUT, BUT, Lincoln rode the Illinois county law circuit traveling half his time from county courthouse to county courthouse. At the boarding houses, Lincoln, and typically 12-15 other traveling lawyers, clerks, the judge boarded together in the same rooms, typically, 3-4 men per bed. To claim that that was in any way related to sexual relations is simply false.
Falsely claiming Lincoln as one of our glbt own diminishes the contributions of other who were fighting the fight, even then as Lincoln was fighting the Civil War. “Leaves of Grass” including “We Two Boys Together Fighting” was published before the war (1855).
Pete n SFO
I think there’s a lot for kids to learn from Phyllis Lyon & Dell Martin, the two gals that were first to be married by Gavin Newsom in SFO… twice.
They also were founders of one of the first gay rights orgs in CA and helped fund and keep alive, a gay & lesbian health-center.
Sadly, I’m not certain of details, but I think they were together nearly 50 yrs before being able to legally marry, only to have one of them pass shortly thereafter.
It’s quite a story of holding strong to your beliefs, despite adversity, & societal pressure. Remember when they were first together & publishing newsletters, it was quite literally against the law.
Brian
Frank Kameny.
Elion
Much as I love LGBT novelists and politicians, if Alan Turing isn’t on the list I will burn the textbooks myself. This was a man who a)Is one of the major reasons we won WW2, b)was a brilliant cryptographer for breaking the Enigma machine, and c)died in one of the most f**ked up ways I’ve ever heard. I’m a writer and I’m interested in politics, but if you don’t think Turing deserves a place in our history books, you just failed my Turing test. You’re not human.
Shannon
Bayard Rustin.
Drake
James Baldwin – Writer, Civil Rights Advocate, Playwright, Part of Harlem Reniassance
Allen Ginsberg – Poet, Writer, Part of the Beat Generation
Ronal Regan – Single most influencial person to combat AIDs/HIV who did nothing causing the situation to become a pandemic. His response (or lack thereof) decimated our population and his actions must be remembered in hopes to prevent a similar response in the future
Kieran
Are we really supposed to believe that just because James Buchanan was the only bachelor President that all the other US Presidents were automatically NOT gay or bisexual simply because they got married? That’s a bit of a stretch.
Codswallop
Here’s a biggee. Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben- He is credited with being one of the fathers of the Continental Army in teaching them the essentials of military drills, tactics, and disciplines.[2] He wrote the Revolutionary War Drill Manual, the book that served as the standard United States drill manual until the War of 1812. Steuben’s introduction of effective bayonet charges became crucial. In the Battle of Stony Point, American soldiers attacked with unloaded muskets and won the battle solely on Steuben’s bayonet training. He served as General George Washington’s chief of staff in the final years of the war.
In 1776, in Prussia, he was alleged to be homosexual. Whether or not Steuben was actually intimate with other men is not entirely known (In other words he didn’t leave papers that specifically said “I kissed a boy and I liked it”), but the rumors compelled him to seek employment elsewhere, which is how he eventually came to George Washington’s attention.
He left his estate to General Benjamin Walker and Captain William North, who had served as his aides-de-camp during the war, and with whom he had had an “extraordinarily intense emotional relationship … treating them as surrogate sons”.
There are statues of von Steuben in DC and other places (so he’s already legitimately a historical figure) but he’s rarely mentioned in school history books, perhaps due to his sexuality.
While I do think figures such as Harvey Milk, Barbara Gittings, and other gay rights activists are important their achievements are gay centric. Figures such as von Steuben, Alan Turing, DaVinci (whose sexuality was discussed in near-contemporary biographies), and others who are important for reasons not directly related to their sexuality are better suited to classroom discussion.
Mark
George Washington Carver and (as much as I disdain the man) J Edgar Hoover, Francis Bacon
HM
He may be a man, who contributed to warfare…two facts that aren’t high on any femino-centric agenda….but any list that doesn’t include Alan Turing is incomplete at best. The man cracked Enigma, helping to save England from capitulation to Hitler, and thus win the war against the Nazis.
Dallas David
Native American Beardaches.
Wikipedia has an entry on these folks, and while I don’t know much about them, it seems like something to consider.
Mike in Asheville
@Daez: I fully agree; the greatnesses created by great gays does not diminish the role of horribleness created by kapo gays.
There are many lessons about how kapo gays made life a harsher hell for many lgbts: Roy Cohn and J. Edgar Hoover are prime examples. Larry Craig and Mark Foley are also examples, though they were pissants compared with Cohn/Hoover.
missanthrope
Including James Buchanon is pretty dodgey, the evidence of him being gay is sketchy at best, as it is with Lincoln. And concluding how someone idenitfied or who was attracted to a 150 years after they died is a really problematic thing to do.
TommyOC
I was just about to recommend Turing when I saw your post, @HM.
Alan Turing is the man who basically invented modern computing.
He’s also the man who many credit as having the biggest single influence in the intelligence gathering that helped break the back of the German military in WWII. Without his contributions, it’s easy to suggest the war would have continued for much longer than it did – if not turn out a completely different way.
When his sexuality was “officially” discovered in the early 50’s – he came out to an unsurprised fiance during the war – he was criminally prosecuted for being a homosexual. He was forced to be chemically castrated with the threat of imprisonment if he didn’t comply. His career and reputation ruined, he committed suicide (by ingesting cyanide) a couple of years later. He was in his mid-40s.
Turing is the perfect example of what the FAIR Act is mandating. Here’s an important figure in history – who gets a few biographical shoutouts in textbooks – whose homosexuality played a role in his later career (or, more accurately, helps define why he didn’t have a “later career.)
TommyOC
The FAIR Act, to my understanding, wasn’t created with the sole intent of creating a “Gay Chapter” in California’s textbooks or advocating a “gay history month.” Thinking otherwise validates the fears that the bill’s advocates went out of their way to assure opponents were not going to happen.
This bill was designed to include a person’s sexuality in proper context; to stop “gay-washing” historical figures, as it were. If a person presently included in curricula was gay, that person’s sexuality gets noted if it’s deemed relevant to the subject. A subject like Alan Turing fits the bill perfectly.
Rarely will this bill justify the inclusion of gay figures who weren’t previously noted. The major exception would be figures like Harvey Milk, who one could see getting a shout-out in chapters relating to minority rights and representation. In California, we have Caesar Chavez – migrant rights activist – Susan B. Anthony – suffragette – and MLK Jr. – duh – get mentioned in the same chapter. I’m sure you’ll see an early gay pioneer make a first appearance in future editions, thanks to this bill.
But with that in mind, the great majority of people mentioned on the linked list are STUPID, NEARSIGHTED IDEAS. 1) Buchanan? Really? Are we going to include every person ever SUSPECTED of being gay? 2) A list heavy in writers and poets is counterproductive; it’s akin to having the black history section filled with notable athletes. 3) Rights activists of groups most gay people haven’t heard of? These aren’t college-level niche courses exploring the complicated evolution of gay rights. In other words, to borrow from African-American rights lessons, there were plenty of people before Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., but you don’t hear about them in your 7th grade history class.
JSF
1952: Spring Fire, the first lesbian paperback novel, by Vin Packer and The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith.
Matty and Martha – my counselors at girl scout camp.
Daughters of Bilitis magazine by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, who saved many of us.
Meg Christain – the first really out lesbian songwriter-singer – and the musicians of Olivia Records
Troy
Phyllis Lyon & Dell Martin, Bayard Rustin is DEFINITELY ONE that should be taught about. Also Calpernia Adams, Alan Turing, Leonard Matlovich, Rachael Maddow to name a few
Riker
Oscar Wilde and Alan Turing are musts, I’m pretty sure one of the Prussian emperors (Frederick II?) was gay, and there was a British King, I can’t remember his name but he was featured in Braveheart.
As for transfolk, the only one I can think of is Elagabalus, Roman Emperor/Empress. Though, he was a pretty bad ruler and ended up being assassinated by his own guards after a short reign.
GayGOP
Edward the Confessor, Bayard Rustin, Alexander the Great, Alan Turing, and Noel Coward should all be on the list. Further, we should present warts and all. That means pointing out that we did have evil folk among our number, such as J. Edgar Hoover, and Ernst Rohm, but also, that we have our warts, such as Allen Ginsburg’s pedophilia.
Mark
Armistead Maupin for his happy and positive portayals of gay men and women, revolving around the first true transgender star of mainstream fiction. For many of us, Michael Mouse, Mona and Mrs. Madrigal were the only role models we had, and thus helped us to grow up as happier people.
Michael
Give me a break. If you’re going to come up with a list of ten why not make it the most important ten?
George Washington
Abraham Lincoln
Shakespeare
Alexander the Great
Michelangleo
Leonardo DiVinci
Socrates
Ceasar
David & Jonathan
Jesus H. Christ
Gandhi
etc, etc
Teaching kids that, for example, the leader of the modern gay rights movement was gay is just f’n bullshite. Why not teach them that the greatest inventor, the greatest writer, the greatest military leader, the greatest politician, the greatest artist spiritual leader, etc, etc, etc were NOT heterosexual. You might as well start teaching kids you put chicken in chicken salad if we’re going to teach them such other obvious crap IMHO.
Guillermo3
@umbrella: Fold it,umbrella!!No evidence?!? Have you ever looked at Mike’s work? I was taught in college that Leonardo was thrown out of Florence for his homosexuality….What next? Oscar Wilde was straight?!!
xander
Michelangelo wrote some very steamy poetry for Tommaso dei Cavilieri (1509-1587) who was 34 years younger than M., and stayed with him until the maestro’s death in 1564. Those poems are worth a read. It’s difficult to assign our concepts of sexual orientation across time and culture, but the evidence seems solid.
Agree re: Turing, Wilde and Rustin being on the list even if they’re not top of mind!
gay greece
About Leonardo
http://www.gayheroes.com/leon.htm
?bout Michelangelo
http://www.gayheroes.com/mich.htm
Josh
What I think people are missing is that the point of the law isn’t to teach the history of gay activism, the point is to teach regular History and make note of when there were prominent figures who were queer.
At least…I think that’s the point. That’s the point to me.
Mike in Asheville
@Michael: I nix Washington, Lincoln, Shakespeare, and Jesus from your list. All the greatest of the great, but straight.
The “sleeping in bed” with other men notions about Washington and Lincoln take the concept out-of-context. In both Washington and Lincoln’s days, respectively, with the lack of private public accommodations, all traveling men shared beds with fellow travelers. This was also true until after WWII that naval personal shared berths while on board. Washington’s bed was shared by fellow officers as sleeping requirements needed to be made. For Lincoln, he traveled the county legal circuit away from home half his time. The boarding housing in the circuit towns would put 3 to 4 men per bed when court was in session. (BTW, the so-called Lincoln letters discovered by Larry Kramer in the 1980s, have never received independent authentication; those who have examined the letters report they are fakes.)
*******************
I believe it does a great disservice to and harmfully insults the memory of actual gays and lesbians to include fabricated gays/lesbians to our ranks.
For example, if you want to include someone from the time of Lincoln, you need go no further than Walt Whitman, who wrote and published “Leaves of Grass” (including poems “We Two Boys”) before Mr. Lincoln ever arrived in Washington. Now that is a great story of heroic measures: before Mr. Lincoln took up abolition of slavery, Walt Whitman was publishing about same-sex attraction and love.
There has been much written about Shakespeare’s life, but the prolithic author himself leaves nothing that truly indicates a relationship or even personal interest of men as sexual objects for him. And of all on your list, Shakespeare knew much of the love’s loss for men seeking men.
For Jesus, there is no historical record of any such indicating that Jesus was actually sexual with others, men or women. The claims go from Jesus marrying Mary Magdalene and having a child to being gay. But unsubstantiated claims are not evidence.
Mike in Asheville
@Mark: Thank you for remembering Armistead!
When the San Francisco Chronicle began running “Tales of the City” I was entering high school. My dad would read the column aloud every morning at the breakfast table. While my brothers were bored/uninterested, my parents and I laughed out loud by the funny turns and twists. While there were no role models for gay teens on TV/movies, listening to my dad reading “Tales of the City” opened my eyes, it was a “Mame” moment, what worlds we are going to see!