United States of America — Making Queer History

2023 has been an incredibly difficult year, but as we've written before, there are bright spots that are worth recognizing. As we push for safety, recognition, and support for our community in 2024, we can use this year's victories to guide us. We'd love to hear your highlights for the year too!

Aug 2
Aug 2 Alla Nazimova

At one point billed as “The World’s Greatest Actress”, Alla Nazimova, who was also for a time the highest paid actress in the film industry, is somehow a name that is still relatively unknown to most. Despite the pioneering work she did in both movies and onstage, including being the first woman to start her own film production company in the 1910s, the majority of Nazimova’s career has been lost to history, as almost all of her films were never preserved. Additionally, having bedded some of the most famous queer women in the entertainment industry and coining the term “Sewing Circle” to refer to the community of lesbian and bisexual actresses and artists who concealed their true sexuality from the public, Nazimova was also an extremely pivotal but oft forgotten LGBTQ pioneer who has been dubbed the “Founding Mother of Sapphic Hollywood.”

Mar 31
Mar 31 Victor Hugo (Rojas)

In the 2019 documentary film Halston, filmmaker Frédéric Tcheng questions Halston’s former illustrator and confidant Joe Eula about the nature of the fashion designer’s relationship with his lover, Victor Hugo. Tcheng asks, “Why did Halston put up with Victor?” to which Eula replies, “Because he was in love with him.” Tcheng then presses further, asking: “When did it fall apart?” and Eula, without skipping a beat, retorts, “The day they met.” Victor Hugo was born Victor Rojas in Caracas, Venezuela during a coup d'état that took place on November 24th, 1948, when Carlos Delgado Chalbaud, Marcos Pérez Jiménez and Luis Felipe Llovera Páez overthrew the elected president, Rómulo Gallegos. Not much else is documented surrounding Rojas’ early life in Venezuela, but sometime in the early 1970s, he and his mother emigrated to the United States, landing in New York City.

Sep 30
Sep 30 Francisco Moncion

One way or another, in 1938 Monción was offered a scholarship to the recently established School of American Ballet, founded by the renowned Russo-Georgian-born choreographer George Balanchine, alongside Edward Warburg, and of course, Lincoln Kirstein. The school, which had only opened in 1934, had just begun recruiting male students at a time when few males in America were making their way into classical ballet. The School of American Ballet was looking to fill their roster, and so they accepted Monción as a scholarship student despite his dearth of experience. As a result, Monción only began professional dance training at twenty years old, an incredibly late age for any dancer to be starting out. Nevertheless, he immediately found himself in technique classes taught by the likes of accomplished dancers such as Pierre Vladimiroff, Anatole Oboukhoff, and Balanchine himself. Much like someone thrown into the deep end of a pool without knowing how to swim, Francisco was forced to adapt quickly.

Jun 26
Jun 26 Gilbert Baker & the Rainbow Flag

It’s unfortunately common in our community for people to be forgotten, so much so that projects like ours work just to remember. Sometimes that erasure is purposeful and sometimes it is only a matter of time. And other times still, we remember the important work that people have done without remembering them and the lives they led, such as in the case of Gilbert Baker. Baker, an openly gay man and a drag queen, was a creative and an activist for many causes, but he is most known for having designed the rainbow pride flag.

Nov 27
Nov 27 "Panama" Al Brown

At 5’11” with a 76-inch reach, “Panama” Al Brown was one of the tallest and rangiest boxers in bantamweight history who died with a career of accomplishments that spoke for themselves but took a lifetime to achieve true recognition. Throughout his life, Brown pushed through adversity as a result of being Afro-Caribbean and the lifestyle choices that he made. Still, his skills and talent in the ring made it impossible for Brown to be ignored or erased, and via victory after victory he managed to win numerous championship titles and achieve numerous firsts in his sport of choice. With a life marked by constant tragedy and struggle, Brown persisted and pursued his dream job by day and the pleasures of life by night, ultimately living an unabashed and flamboyant life.

Nov 25
Nov 25 Freddie Mercury

Being queer in the public eye is a whole different domain from being queer as a regular person. We are not usually representatives for our community—though queer people of color and particularly black queer women are especially punished through hypervisibility. Choosing to be open or not is a personal choice, and it’s especially hard when most of your life is up for public consumption. Are queer people in the spotlight required to be open about their identity and experiences? Absolutely not. More importantly, are queer celebrities who don’t publicly “come out” living any less openly than your average queer person?

Dec 31
Dec 31 20 Happy Stories, 20 Ways to Help

Happy Endings

Believe it or not, there were some happy queer news stories in 2020. There were also plenty of struggles and injustice. In addition to our yearly recap, we’ve included 20 ways to help combat issues queer folks are facing around the globe.

Oct 31
Oct 31 Walt Whitman

He is one of the most influential American poets, even called the poet of democracy. Poet Ezra Pound called Whitman "America's poet ... He is America." Whitman’s racism and his sexuality cannot be untangled, just as his work cannot be untangled from America itself, nor the racism they share.

May 29
May 29 Winnaretta Singer

In the creation of art, many different elements are necessary. There are plenty of arguments and books written as to what these elements are. One that is inarguable is also the most quickly ignored. There needs to be an artist who can create. For an artist to be able to create they generally require food, water, and shelter. Such needs are usually met with money, and that is the part of the artistic process where we find Winnaretta Singer.

Feb 25
Feb 25 Jackie Shane

When looking at history through a queer lens, it can be easy to generalize. It's a defense mechanism; with so many queer lives defined by pain, it's easier to narrow down our history to “it sucked then got sort of better.” When we do this, the stories that don't fit the mold can be passed over. When the story begins with a black transgender woman born in the American South during the 1940s, we can assume a lot about the ending, but Jackie Shane’s life is one that does not fit those expectations.

Dec 16
Dec 16 Holly Woodlawn

When talking about iconic transgender women in contemporary history, one of the most well known in America is Holly Woodlawn. Her name was in popular songs. She starred in queer cult classics. For a time she was even paid to go to parties. She was an openly transgender woman and the first many Americans knew of. With such an important place in so many people’s memories, the Puerto Rican actress was well-loved by famous and ordinary alike.

Oct 26
Oct 26 Claudio Bravo

Happy Endings

Artists are often deeply rooted in one country. For Amrita Sher-Gil it was India. David Paynter had Sri Lanka. Claudio Bravo had not one country, but many. Moving from his native Chile, he travelled through America, Morocco, Spain, and the Philippines without seeming too attached to any one country. A relatively successful painter, he was allowed more freedom to explore the world than many of his contemporaries and gave much more attention to his love of painting than any nationalistic inclination.

Sep 28
Sep 28 Leslie Hutchinson