Author: RW

Lavender Magazine is a publication started in 1995 in Minnesota. It is a regional LGBT magazine that covers a variety of topics. The website for the magazine features news articles, film and theatre reviews, and columns like “Big Gay Food” (where I found a recipe for red velvet waffles, among other things).  This is definitely more of a “lifestyle” magazine than an activist zine, and while the site covers a wider range of stories than the magazine itself, the latest issue’s coverage of LGBT weddings and a local fashion designer was still noteworthy. While Lavender Magazine seems to cater to a more upscale crowd, there is still something to be said for a publication that puts LGBT+ Minnesotans in the spotlight.

#LGBTQexperiencesUSA #magazines #LGBTQnews #minnesota

In recent years, numerous commentators have claimed that being transgender is a “fad” or a “trend.” Others say that it is a recent phenomenon, despite centuries of evidence to the contrary. And still others conflate documented cases of women cross-dressing in order to access opportunities the patriarchy denied them with trans men just trying to be themselves.

Dr. Alan L. Hart was a pioneer in the field of tuberculosis research and treatment, an author, and a transgender man. He was born in 1890, and medically transitioned in the late 1910’s, before the advent of any cohesive transgender rights movement or culture like anything we see today. Transgender people have always existed, whether they’ve received their dues in the annals of history or not.

#LGBTQexperiencesUSA #transhistory #medicalhistory

I thought Major! was a wonderful documentary about an important activist and community advocate. While I knew Miss Major was a long-time advocate for the trans community, I had no idea about the number of women whose lives she had personally touched. Miss Major supported so many people not just with marches or protests, but with simple human interaction. She has cared for people who had no one else, and shown so much genuine human kindness throughout decades of adversity.  When we talk about activism today, we often focus on organized efforts and the legal process. And those things are important, but so is Miss Major’s dedication to taking care of people on a personal and community level.

Something that the film left me thinking about was what limited control we have over our legacies. We are so fortunate that Miss Major is still here to help tell her own story; historically, trans people often aren’t.  Everyone has their own boundaries regarding what language they’re comfortable being referred to as, and every time I read about historic(al) trans and gender non-conforming people I wonder what language they used to describe themselves, and what language they would have used today. I think it’s important that we are continuously conscious of discussing people respectfully, even we might use different language to refer to ourselves.

The general behavior of the “Christian” Right during the worst years of AIDS crisis was simply deplorable. Hiding behind a twisted interpretation of the Bible and God’s Word, the so-called  “Moral Majority” worked to against many effective and humane treatments for AIDS and measures to prevent the spread of HIV.  These right-wing evangelicals pushed an abstinence-only prevention agenda, and attempted to shame many of those living with HIV/AIDS, especially LGBT people and intravenous drug users. This poster says, yes, abstinence may lower your risk of contracting the virus, but you should not be shamed into it. Just because a bunch of bigots say marriage outside of “monogamous heterosexual marriage” is sinful doesn’t give them the right to dictate your choices. I like this poster because it acknowledges one of the possible ways to lessen the risk of contracting AIDS while also pushing against an unfortunately prevalent and misguided religious/political philosophy.

I was born and raised in Erie County, and went to high school in Buffalo. My parents worked in the city practically my whole life, and I spent more time downtown than nearly any of my peers during my early childhood. And yet I never heard a whisper about Buffalo’s lesbian history. My high school always claimed to focus on the importance of emphasizing women’s perspectives, but we never explicitly talked about a single LGBTQ woman, at least not that I can remember. It is so fortunate that this history is being collected, but now it must be told. #LGBTQexperiencesUSA #LesbianHistory #BuffaloNY #WNY

1. I know I’ve already spoken and written about it, but Stephen Lein’s letter to the editor in the campus times really did strike me as being significant for our school community. From my perspective, while there has been considerable progress regarding the inclusion, protection, and even celebration, of LGBT+ students on campus, the University of Rochester still has a way to go. This letter pushes the school to take responsibility for its inadequacies and to actively disavow homophobic actions on the part of its own faculty. People who hold power over others usually don’t relinquish it unless compelled to, and Lein definitely did some compelling. Showcasing this letter would be a reminder to both students and faculty that their actions, whether they are interpreted as positive or negative, impact the school as a whole in many cases.

2. The other day, a friend of mine wrote a Facebook post tangentially related to the experience of having a vagina, and used the phrase “women and/or uterus havers.” While her post didn’t explicitly exclude trans women or nonbinary people who were assigned male at birth (that “and/or” certainly complicates things linguistically), it still didn’t sit quite right with me. I try not to get too hung up on language when I can tell people’s intentions are good, and this really wasn’t a big deal, but it shows that progress is a process, I think. Hopefully, if we all keep at it, we’ll find a way to make the language of identity even more respectful and meaningful.

1. One new fact that I learned about the Stonewall Riots was the importance of the location. I had known it was in New York City, of course, but I hadn’t consciously realized that it was on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. I also hadn’t known how important Greenwich’s position as a “gayborhood” was in drawing crowds of activists and driving the interest of nearby residents (and reporters) to the protests. I’d heard of the Christopher Street Riots, but had never connected them to Stonewall (in my defense, I’ve lived in this state my whole life but I’ve never been to New York City). This, to me, emphasizes the importance of physical community presence for today’s LGBT activists and really just for gay people in general. These social and political bonds are crucial for the continued health and progress of the LGBT+ rights movement.

2. Prior to class, I knew Sylvia Rivera was a trans activist active from the 1960s on. I had known about some of her work in vague terms, and usually in connection to Marsha P. Johnson. Through the readings I was reminded of her involvement with not only STAR but the Gay Liberation Front and Young Lords as well. I also didn’t know that Sylvia Rivera co-founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, which was mentioned in the interview with Marsha P. Johnson we were assigned for this week.

Sylvia Rivera left home as a child after her mother’s suicide, when faced with the choice of her grandmother’s intolerance or life on the street. She worked as a prostitute, and was involved in the Stonewall Riots. The next year, she helped get STAR going to help street people and “anybody that needed help at that time” (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries. Survival, Revolt, and Queer Antagonist Struggle 13). Her activism intersected with several other empowerment and activist groups and movements over the years.

What struck me most about the portion of “Shoulders to Stand On” that we watched in class was profundity of the loneliness that so many of the interviewees discussed.  To suppress one’s self in most (if not all) interactions is a heavy burden to carry alone. Not knowing if you’re safe around even the people close to you, and relying on hints and a loose collection of coded phrases to connect with people like yourself is an incredibly stressful way to live. There are many reasons to form LGBTQ groups, from education to activism. But perhaps the most important reason, especially before the widespread use of the internet, is simply for community, for knowing that at the very least there is someone else who understands. While the Rochester Gay Liberation Front was of course an activist group, its function as a space for LGBTQ people to meet in relative safety led to social connections that were (are) crucial not only for organizational purposes, but for the general well-being of its members. In an environment or society where one’s anonymity or closetedness can mean the difference between life and death, knowing that there are others in your community, or on the airwaves of your local radio station, that feel the same things you do, and aren’t ashamed of who they are, can mean everything. Inspiration and necessity go hand-in-hand in rights movements. It is these human connections, this solidarity, that makes change possible.

The article “‘Perversity to Diversity’ exhibit causes controversy at University of Rochester” was published in the April 1991 edition of The Empty Closet. I found this information by visiting rochester.edu and searching for the title of the article, which directed me to a PDF with the month and year of the publication in its title.