GLBT History

[gdude30]

How much of you know your GLBT History?

I've recently been doing..well I suppose you could call it Fag 101. I've done reports and projects about various events in gay history or places. So far I've done reports about the S.S. Army which somewhat started the leather community, Butchman's, and Harvey Milk.

I am now doing a report on stonewall. I at least had a bit of prior knowledge before I was assigned this project. So I am wondering how many people on this forum actually went through some of this shit. Who was alive during Harvey Milk's time, who was at the bars that got raided, and just various occurences that have happened through-out GLBT history. It's really interesting and I am sure there are more events and occurrences then what I've been doing so far. But I know Stonewall is a famous one.

Anyways just wondering if people here know of some of the events in GLBT history or even lived through it.

 

[bokan800]

I only know a little bit about gay history here in the US.

From where I came from we had "Comfort Gays". They're pretty much sex slaves for the Japanese soldiers during WWII. My grand-uncle was one and he told me stories about it.

 

[RationalLunacy]

I was 13 years old when they had the Stonewall riots.

The absolute best book on the subject is called Stonewall by David Carter. You can buy it on Amazon. You will thank me for this recommendation. It tells a lot about how the riots started, why they started, how the Mafia was involved, and how the drag queens got into the act.

 

[gdude30]

I only know a little bit about gay history here in the US.

From where I came from we had "Comfort Gays". They're pretty much sex slaves for the Japanese soldiers during WWII. My grand-uncle was one and he told me stories about it.

Wow.. That's really interesting. I've never heard of something like that before. At least not sex slaves for war. Actually. I did find a fan fic on something like that once. Although I took that with a grain of salt.

I was 13 years old when they had the Stonewall riots.

The absolute best book on the subject is called Stonewall by David Carter. You can buy it on Amazon. You will thank me for this recommendation. It tells a lot about how the riots started, why they started, how the Mafia was involved, and how the drag queens got into the act.

Did you know about your sexuality when that happened?

Alot of the wikipedia article is taken from the book. It did inform me how Stonewall was originally owned by the mafia and how they payed off the police. And how the drag queens got involved in the fight as well.

I will check out that book though. There is also a film called Stonewall which is a comedy thing. It seems to have good reviews but isn't exactly accurate. I am wondering if I should rent it..

 

[RationalLunacy]

Did you know about your sexuality when that happened?

Yes.

Alot of the wikipedia article is taken from the book. It did inform me how Stonewall was originally owned by the mafia and how they payed off the police. And how the drag queens got involved in the fight as well.

Get the book.

I will check out that book though. There is also a film called Stonewall which is a comedy thing. It seems to have good reviews but isn't exactly accurate. I am wondering if I should rent it..

If you want entertainment, see the movie. Don't expect any facts, though.

 

[Centexfarmer]

I was all alone, thinking that I was the only one who felt the way that I did, when one night back in the very early 80's the top of the news was a "Homosexual Bar Raid."

I had to go and find those bars for myself, and have been a part of the GLBT struggle for equality ever since.

For both better and worse.

Check out Randy Shilts, The Mayor of Castro Street, The Band Played On.

 

[frankfrank]

Wow.. That's really interesting. I've never heard of something like that before. At least not sex slaves for war.

Actually, as I understand it, sex slavery is very common during war...

 

[gdude30]

I was all alone, thinking that I was the only one who felt the way that I did, when one night back in the very early 80's the top of the news was a "Homosexual Bar Raid."

I had to go and find those bars for myself, and have been a part of the GLBT struggle for equality ever since.

For both better and worse.

Check out Randy Shilts, The Mayor of Castro Street, The Band Played On.
__________________

Wow Centex. That must have been really interesting to look up on the news and see a report about bar raids or know some of the bars that got raided. I'm glad that you are involved in the GLBT Struggle.

Just currious but have you ever heard of The Mattache. I think that's what it was called. Although in 1980 it might have been disbanded. I think two other gay groups formed while they were still around but they used the term gay in their name. Also one of them was more a social thing and the other one was formed so there could be order and they could talk about the issues and gay rights.

I think it was the GLA and the GAA

Actually, as I understand it, sex slavery is very common during war...

That I did not know.

 

[TygreBryte]

I only know a little bit about gay history here in the US.

From where I came from we had "Comfort Gays". They're pretty much sex slaves for the Japanese soldiers during WWII. My grand-uncle was one and he told me stories about it.

(wow.... forgive me if that's really inappropriate....)

 

[kevbo]

How far in history do you want to look back?

http://www.egyptology.com/niankhkhnum_khnumhotep/

This link shows the tomb of Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep, believed to be the first recorded same sex couple. And let me tell you, it is adorable.

 

[josher]

Just currious but have you ever heard of The Mattache.

It was called the Mattachine Society, a gay rights group founded in New York in the mid-1950s. They sponsored research, fostered dialogue and staged public rallies supporting gay rights.

I remember seeing some of the members on talk shows in the early 60s and being profiled in a few magazines at the time.

There was also an earlier lesbian group, founded, I believe, in California in the late 40s. it was called something like The Daughters of Bellitas.

 

[treanir]

Well, my dissertation will involve something in this area.... mostly literary, but I'm hoping to add a socio-historical perspective.
(and no, I don't have a definitive topic yet)

Stonewall, while overdone, is one of my top choices, so I thank you now, RationalLunacy.

 

[gdude30]

Haha. Not that far back kev. But I did see that. Hell even homosexuality in Peru..

That for some reason doesn't surprise me though. Thin twinks running around everywhere..

It was called the Mattachine Society, a gay rights group founded in New York in the mid-1950s. They sponsored research, fostered dialogue and staged public rallies supporting gay rights.

I remember seeing some of the members on talk shows in the early 60s and being profiled in a few magazines at the time.

There was also an earlier lesbian group, founded, I believe, in California in the late 40s. it was called something like The Daughters of Bellitas.

Thank you Josher. I found them very interesting because they would be appalled to what we do today at gay prides. They felt that holding hands, drag queens, wearing leather, and showing individuality and affection as a whole was wrong. And that the only way to protest was to wear those damn uniforms and to do things in an orderly way. It was the younger generation of gays that changed that. Which I think is good at least.

Although we can overdo it at times.

An Early lesbian group. Now that I did not know of. I did not think that lesbians got aknowledgement..well drifted away from gays until the 70's because they found gay men to be similar to straight men and felt that gay rights weren't the same as what they needed and felt. Although stonewall wasn't the first riot either. Just because of certain things that happened, the time it took place, and the impact of it for that reason it is most famous. I think at least..

 

[luminum]

You should also do some research on gay men during the Holocaust. That's where the entire pink triangle comes from.

Previous tot he Third Reich, gay rights were actually progressing, with some famous written works about homosexuality as well as centers dedicated to gay civil liberties. During the Nazi reign, Hitler listed homosexual men as part of those who could contribute nothing to society. Many of those previously mentioned works were burned and banned and homosexuality was made illegal under "Paragraph 175."

The many gay men throughout Europe who existed under the Nazi government were sent to concentration camps and given a pink triangle on their uniforms to identify them as gay (akin to the other symbols for Nazi prisoners, such as the yellow Star of David).

Often, gay men were severely brutalized by both the Nazi soldiers and other prisoners, who could see the pink triangle on their uniforms. In one account of some men who were rounded up, a man had to watch his lover be stripped naked with a bucket forced onto his head while the Nazi's dogs were unleashed on him and killed him by ripping him apart. Another account had gay men forcibly sodomized by broken bottles and bayonets until they bled to death. I think the estimates are that numbers of gay individuals who were persecuted and died in Nazi concentration camps were in the several thousands.

In fact, after the Nazis were defeated, anti-homosexuality laws still existed, so the gay survivors of the Holocaust found themselves unable to talk about the horrors they experienced for fear of being persecuted by the law. It's a disgusting travesty that Hitler's reign set the progressive same-sex movement back by years upon years and that the stories of men such as ourselves who suffered such brutalities have been lost. Luckily a few still remain.

A great documentary to watch about gay persecution during the Holocaust is called "Paragraph 175." There are also a few books about it. Here's one:

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Pink-Triangle-Nazi-Against-Homosexuals/dp/0805006001/ref=pd_sim_b_1"]The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War Against Homosexuals[/ame]

There are also some memorials for the gay victims of the Holocaust. One is in Berlin. The inscription reads "Struck Dead - Hushed Up."

I've encountered on this board at least a few gay men who have no idea that gay men were persecuted during the Holocaust or where the pink triangle comes from. I think the poster even went so far as to criticize me for "comparing" gay persecution to the horrors of the Holocaust. That's why I think it's so admiral and important that you're learning as much as you are. Nothing is more depressing than people being uneducated about movements and civil rights and abuses that involve them. Way to go.