us les gay final
ONE magazine
(1953) homosexual owned, operated and written themed magazine that was originally not part of the Mattachine but took over their militancy and became a focus of the homophile movement. The magazine was used to expose harassment, publish scientific findings on homosexuality and attempt to reach gays in more isolated areas of the country.
Grecian Guild Pictorial
(1955) embodied Ancient Greek attitudes and cultivated masculinity
DOB
(1955, San Francisco) Daughters of Bilitis, first lesbian-only civil/political rights organization founded by Gittings, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon (also first couple to get legally married in San Francisco). They worked collaboratively with Mattachine and ONE Women were especially frustrated with the police harassment at bars and were anti-bar-culture. The group focused less on socializing and more on self-help/education; they wanted to teach about their history, rights and how to come out. Advocated that lesbians should dress/act like heterosexual women in order to minimize harassment and portray a respectable image of lesbians.
Holly Woodlawn
(1960s) Puerto Rican man who identified as a woman and was discovered by Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground. She decided not to undergo surgery, but took hormones to enlarge her breasts
Beebo Brinker by
(1962) Ann Bannon ,About an immigrant butch lesbian navigating the bar scene, providing a glimpse into the lesbian bar scene of New York City.
Advise and Consent
(1962) first gay bar scene in a hollywood film since the 1930s. Showed a secretive bar called Club 602 with all gay, white, mostly masculine men. It was a very sexualized scene making it clear that the men were on the hunt.
SIR
(1964) Society for Individual Rights; affirmed the acceptance of all expressions of the homosexual community; emphasis on social functions, community building and supporting gay bars
Griswold v. Connecticut
(1965) Gave married couples the right to use contraceptives
Moynihan Report on the Black Family
(1965) based communities poverty on Black family and matriarchy; insisted that families should be headed by men. blamed black poverty on the evasion of responsibilities and called on women to accept male leadership by advocating manhood.
The Summer of Love
(1967) Symbolic of the Sexual Revolution, free love and rejection of the moral codes of parents generation. Heterosexual and Homosexual sexual cultures were becoming more alike.
Eldridge Cleaver
(1968) Black Panther leader who denounced Bladwin and claimed his homosexuality disqualified his leadership and power as a black spokesperson
Gay Dignity
(1969) Catholic gay rights group with over 50 national chapters today, but in 1986 the Vatican ruled that these groups could not meet on church grounds
Houses
(1970s and 80s) relatively safe groups of gay people of color with house mothers who trained and supported the "kids." Famous house mothers include Pepper LaBeija, Paris Dupree, House of Xtravaganza and Willy Ninja. Houses were highly competitive and competed against each other in ballroom competitions. Their performances included
East Lansing, MI
(1970s) College town - MSU; first town to add sexual orientation to anti-discrimination laws
Political Lesbians
(1970s) women who were sexually attracted to men, but became lesbian in otder to further the feminist movement
GAA
(1971) Gay Activists Alliance; political and social gay group that threw the huge Firehouse Dance. Were highly disciplined in wanting to focus on gay issues specifically; help zaps where they would confront politicians and insisted that they be heard
Nancy Wechsler
(1972) first openly gay person ever elected to office - elected on Human Rights Party Slate to Ann Arbor Council
Eisenstadt v. Baird
(1972)extended the right to use contraceptives to unmarried couples
APA
(1973) American Psychiatric Association; convinced APA that homosexuality is not a mental disorder
PFLAG
(1973) Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays; many people in this group initially rejected their kids but then changed their minds and needed more support from other parents. It was a safe space for parents to deal with the difficulty of having gay children.
Focus on the Family
(1973) founded and led by child psychologist, James Dobson, He wrote "How to raise Christian Children" and was firmly against abortion, sex education, gay rights, etc. Is the largest and most powerful Christian Right group that still exists today
American Family Foundation
(1977) is the smallest Christian Right group, but was very successful in keeping gay characters off TV
Pope John Paul II
(1978) Issued "On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons" reaffirming the Catholic church's position that homosexuality is immoral and gay rights should be discouraged. He wanted catholics to oppose laws that protected gay people from discrimination
Harvey Milk
(1978) gay man elected to the San Francisco board of supervisors. He developed strong ties to the labor movement and minority groups that also supported the gay movement. One of his initiatives was getting gay bars to stop buying and selling coors beer because the labor movement was boycotting coors beer and they wanted to show support
Third World Gay and Lesbian Liberation Conference
(1979) encouraged queer people of color to organize across the country in order to fight racism in white gay groups
Moral majority Evangelical Revival
(1979) powerful grassroots organization led by Jerry Falwell, they mobilized political activism amongst evangelicals and only allied with catholics around anti-abortion issues. They fiercely rejected feminism, abortion and gay liberation
"We are Family"
(1979) song by Sister Sledge about tribal queer family; queer anthem; showed optimism in the gay community
GMHC (Gay Men's Health Crisis)
(1980s) social service agency for the AIDS crisis. Created a buddy system (determined to make gay people feel accepted and supported), hotlines, leaflets and posters because the government wasn't providing enough resources
PWA
(1980s) term for people with AIDS
GRID
(1981) AIDS was initially called the Gay-Related Immune Deficiency
Lotus
(1982) first company to offer domestic partnership to employees
Sharon Kowalski and Karen Thompson
(1983) got into an accident and partner (Thompson) did not receive the authority to visit her in the hospital, she fought for legal guardianship but the family disregarded their relationship; Karen did not see Sharon for two years because Sharon was moved far away for treatment. This forced gay couples to think about the unthinkable. In 1991 Karen won a legal battle to see Sharon again and take care of her
GLAAD
(1985) Modelled after the Anti Defamation League (ADL); Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation formed in response to NY Post campaign demonizing gay bars as "AIDS dens"
Bowers v. Hardwick
(1986) supreme court decision upholding sodomy laws; upholding criminalization of homosexuals. This was a turning point for the gay movement because there was more support from heterosexual lawyers and homosexuals began pouring money into national gay rights organizations; mobilized gay people
ACT UP
(1987) AIDS coalition to Unleash Power encouraged the government to end the AIDS crisis. Their demonstrations included shutting down Wall st., carrying corpses/ashes to the white house, invaded St. Patrick's cathedral during a mass and held a die-in, posters denounced public officials, slogan "silence = death", refused to be called victims or patients
Helms Amendment
(1987) anything pro-gay (including AIDS work) was denied federal funding because they didn't want to "further the gay agenda."
Miguel Braschi
(1989) lived with partner in a rent-controlled apartment for 10 years but the landlord tried to evict him and raise the rent once his partner died. Court case ruled that Braschi should be considered a family member because the definition of family included two adult family members in a long-term relationship. This was the first court ruling to recognize a gay couple as family.
Thirty Something
(1990) TV show that had one 15 second scene with a gay character and was immediately attacked by Christian Rights groups who threatened to boycott any company that advertised during the show; consequently they lost $1 million in advertisements
Queer Nation
(1990) staged events to disrupt presumptions of heteronormativity - kiss-ins, etc. practicing politics of visibility
Second Parent Adoption
(1990s) gave non-birth mother the right to adopt the child and establishing a legal relationship without the birth mother losing her rights
Per se rule
(1990s) rule articulated by courts saying that homosexuality is incompatible with being a parent so custody goes to "straight" parent if parents divorced
Mary Bonauto
(1990s-2000s) lawyer who wrote the first case for gay marriage that passed in Massachusetts. She became widely known as the Thurgood Marshall of the gay rights movement.
The Living End
(1992) film by Greg Araki that represented the anger towards AIDS
Sharon Bottoms
(1993) two-year old son was taken from her because she was outwardly lesbian, at urging of son's grandmother; court gave custody to grandmother using sodomy laws
Baehr v. Miike
(1993-1996) Court case in Hawaii attempting to gain same-sex marriage rights by arguing it violated the state constitution. They came within a hair of passing gay marriage and influence the christian right to start acting.
Go Fish
(1994) film by Rose Troche, the it film for coming out lesbians of the time
DOMA
(1996) Defense of Marriage Act (passed in senate and house) indicating that marriage is exclusively between one man and one woman and indicated that states do not have to recognize same-sex marriages from other states and that the federal government will not recognize these marriages. This act also had the support of around 70% of the US population.
The Watermelon Woman
(1996) Film by Cheryl Dunye, part of the new black queer cinema and was the first black lesbian film.
Romer v. Evans
(1996) stated that a colorado voter initiative that did not extend protection to gay people violated the Equal Protection Clause which overturned many anti-gay laws
Baker v Vermont
(1997) attacking constitutionality of vermont's exclusion of gay marriage → 1999 sc rules in favor and allegates VT legislation to fix problem: they create "seperate but equal doctrine" -- civil unions
Murder of Matthew Shepherd
(1998) Laramie, Wyoming; President Clinton condemned the murder and led to the first high school gay straight alliance
Gene Robinson
(2003) first openly gay episcopalian to be consecrated a bishop, but was threatened by the global Anglican and Catholic communities.
Goodridge v. Massachusetts
(2003) gay marriage rights granted in the first state, Massachusetts. This was a huge cultural shift because people never believed same-sex couples would ever get married and gay couples started to realize that they were being complicit for not having requested marriage before. This decision also electrified the opposition; governor Mitt Romney fiercely fought to overturn the amendment and get a constitutional amendment passed before other states started following. Bon argued that marriage is important bc civil unions perpetuate system of exclusion
Lawrence v. Texas
(2003) invalidated sodomy laws and reverses Bowers v. Hardwick. Granted gay people the right to sexual intimacy and privacy.
Hollingdworth v. Perry
(2013) invalidated Prop 8
Windsor v. OPM
(2013) overturned DOMA setting the precedent for may other cases to rule in favor of marriage equality
Obergefell v. Hodges
(2015) supreme court overturned marriage rights allowing same-sex couples to get married
Mattachine Sip-In at Julius' Bar
(April 21, 1966) dick leistch They sat at a regular bar as respectable, professionally dressed citizens and demanded drinks. This event drew press attention but did not directly change any liquor laws.
The Stonewall Riot
(June 27th, 1969) Gay bar that did not have a liquor license, and supported an unruly crowd of young street kids, blacks, latinos, drag queens. On the date, the police raided the bar and arrested everyone there. One young Puerto Rican kid shoved back and they started throwing pennies at the cops to represent the bribing they commonly practiced with bars. Riots broke out for 3-4 nights after this. The Mattachine responded with ambivalence which led to the creation of liberation groups
Richard Penniman aka Little Richard
(born in 1932, popular in the 50s) Drag queen/female impersonator who was discovered at the Dew Drop Inn in New Orleans. His signature song was
Rock Hudson
(died in 1985) Famous, heterosexual actor who was infected with HIV/AIDS and went public with it. This was a huge realization that AIDS was not just a gay problem.
Adolf Brand
(early 1900s) German gay activist who opposed Hirschfeld and held masculinist accounts of sexual desires (Greek love), arguing against third-sex theories, commented on the homoeroticism of the nazi movement
"Tutti Fruity"
... (1955) which was very homoerotic but black audiences didn't mind. However, once his music crossed over to white audiences his lyrics were changed and the homoeroticism was suppressed. He eventually found religion and left showbiz., little richard
Lesbian Pulp Novels
1950s, Traced Lesbians journeys of self-discovery popularized by the paperback revolution by the publishing company, "pocketbooks." They were sold everywhere, were cheap to make, sell and buy and were not under the same censorship as films. Stressed a difference between "real" and "situational" lesbians, the fragility of heterosexuality and the strange world of lesbians. Main characters were usually young, fem, confused girls and the genre was also a soft-porn for heterosexual men.
Ella Baker
1950s-60s black woman who worked closely with MLK; worked with Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Southern Nonviolent Coordinating Commitee; advocated grassroots democracy and kept sexuality a secret (probably gay)
The Children's Hour
1961 film with Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine and James Garner. About two close female friends who run a small boarding school from their rural home. A lying child spreads rumors about strange things between Karen and Martha and the parents hear of these rumors and pull their children out of the school. At the end Martha is conflicted and expresses her love for Karen, and Martha commits suicide. Martha felt "guilty" for an "unnatural" love; probably a result of church and media perception of homosexual love. The words sex, gay, lesbian, homosexual, etc are never said in the film. Demonstrated that people who didn't live in big cities didn't have an underground gay community (urban vs. rural), that anti-gay hostility can lead to shame and despair, that informal policing by friends and family can be just as harmful as police raids
FACT vs. WAP
1970s Feminist anti-censorship taskforce vs. women against pornography engaged in an intellectual debate about pornography, also known as the sex wars, which was never fully resolved
Walk on the Wild Side
1972 song by Lou Reed about the trans identity. The song spoke about plucking eyebrows, shaving legs and taking hormones but deciding against surgery
"queer kids of queer parents say: resist the gay marriage agenda! "
2009, queers are different, fam values bad, martha jame kaufman and katie miles
donald vining
40s 60s
1987 March on Washington
500,000 people marched, outraged over the Bowers decision and the AIDS crisis. This was the angriest march by far with civil disobedience also incorporated at the supreme court. Famous speakers at this march included Jesse Jackson and Cesar Chavez who both embraced gay rights as part of the overarching civil rights movement. AIDS memorial quilt had its first display
Azalea
A magazine published by third world Lesbians
Spring Fire by Vin Packer (1952)
About women who fall in love in a college sorority but then ended in renunciation. It was a bestseller, selling 9.5 million copies
Harold "Hal" Call
Anti-communist and opposed the Mattachine's communist movement. He wanted to institute loyalty oaths and change the mission so that there were no longer communist affiliations or affiliations with other political movements; he wanted their work to be strictly based on legitimate research
DADT
Don't ask, don't tell policy implemented in the military in 1993; gays would only be discharged if they openly came out
Yale in the 1950s
Elitist, all protestant and white. Experience of gay students was typical to other people at the time. Before the 1950s, students were allowed to choose their colleges and JE had a gay reputation. But, in most colleges young gay men kept very hidden because everyone was on a fast track to success and worked very hard to pass as heterosexuals
1979 March on Washington
For general gay and lesbian rights, around 125,000 marched because activists felt under assault
Barbara Gittings
Founded the NY chapter of the DOB (Daughters of Bilitis) and was the editor of the Ladder (the first national lesbian publication); she was influenced by Kameny and Wicker and made her organizations more militant. She wanted to encourage more lesbians to come out but the militancy led to major internal conflicts. She also organized a series of pickets at Independence Hall and the White House against federal job discrimination. The gay demonstrators were dressed normally and demanded their right to a pursuit of happiness.
Frank Kameny
Founded the Washington Mattachine Society with Jack Nichols and took the organization in a very militant direction, launched some of its earliest protests. Worked against government discrimination with the help of the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) who supported the gay movement by recognizing homosexuality as a sexual preference rather than a pathology.
Larry Kramer -
Founder of the Gay Men's HEalth Crisis and ACT UP (1987) Published article "1,112 and counting" in New York Native, encouraging people, esp gays, to wake up, get angry and do something.
GLAD at Yale
Gay and Lesbian Awareness days launched in 1982 with sustained student activism; became BGLAD in 1988 due to a new recognition of bisexuality and later included trans people too. Held a GLAD dance which attracted over 1000 people and was one of the hippest parties on campus. These dances became less popular once gay students were welcome at all parties since people did not have to go to all queer spaces to feel safe.
Lucky's Rendezvous
Harlem, 1942-1954 Gay Bar with famous bartender Sam Lawes aka Diva All Black (DAB) who exemplified how gay bars hired gay staff in order to help them survive and gain crowds.
Little Purple Pill
Hormonal treatment for trans people that became popular in the 50s and 60s
Securing visitation rights
If gay parents separate, started gaining rights to see child even if they technically adopted the child
Frankie Knuckles
King of house music, opened an underground dance club called "the Warehouse" in Chicago in 1977.
LCE
League for Civil education; democratic alternative to the Mattachine, founded by Strait. Led the first sustained attempt to bring movement into the world of the gay bar by distributing free articles in bars about police abuse
s/m stuff
Margaret Hunt, "Report on a Conference on Feminism, Sexuality, and Power: The Elect Clash with the Perverse," in Samois, Coming to Power, 1986
Henry Hay
Most responsible for the founding of the Mattachine Society (1950). He joined the Communist party in 1933 and was involved for 15 years. The original Mattachine was mostly males, modeled after communism with a mission to develop gay consciousness and recognize homosexuals as an oppressed cultural minority. His hope was to raise awareness within the minority of their status as a group, raised group identity through discussion groups.
"Ki-Ki'
Name for someone who didn't abide by butch-fem roles for women or top-bottom roles for men
Dick Leitsch
President of NY Mattachine and had a deep connection to the gay bar scene and joined the movement because many of his friends were arrested in the bars. He organized the sip-in to protest policing of gay bars.
Tongues Untied
Prominent gay film from 1989, directed by Marlon Riggs and was about the gay community, voguing and house music. part of the new black queer cinema
Newton Arvin
Smith Professor who was fired and arrested in 1960 for possessing these magazines
President Schmidt
Yale president who sent a letter to alumni/donors saying it was untrue that Yale was the "gay ivy"; in response students organized a 1 in 4 gay dance
Donald Webster Cory
active member of the NY Mattachine Society and in 1951 wrote "The Homosexual in America: A Subjective Approach" which discussed the idea that gay people should have rights because we live in a democratic country and to deny them rights would be totalitarian.
Randy Wicker
active member of the civil rights movement, the NY Mattachine and ONE. He wanted a gay rights movement comparable to the Southern civil rights struggle so he created the Homosexual League of New York on his own in reaction to the cautionary politics of the New York Mattachine Society. He pushed for media publicity, aka "media breakthrough" and was a major part of increasing the visibility of homosexuals in the early 60s.
Domestic Partnerships
allowed gay couples to receive some benefits that might otherwise be limited to married couples, but still wasn't the same as marriage
a conservative case for gay marriage
andrew sullivan, 1989
Proposition 8 in California
attempt to ban gay marriage in California for the sake of the children. Used an ad in 2008, "protect our children" hitting on the fear that if children start learning about same-sex marriage in school they will become gay; this argument won over a lot of shifting parents.
Gay Teachers Association
attempted to keep gay teachers from getting fired from jobs.
zami
audre lorde, 1930s -1950s, the village
Father Mychal Judge
beloved franciscan priest who died on 9/11/01 after administering last rites to 9/11 victims. He was gay and proved to the church that not all gay people were bad. Bush also signed legislation in his name that allowed death benefits to be paid to domestic partners of people who died in the line of duty on 9/11
Athletic Model Guild
big male physique magazine; mimicking WWII pin-ups
Gladys Bentley
black panther who "married" a female partner in the 20s and was outwardly lesbian but then came back to the church and "found domesticity" in the 1950s
lesbianism as political statement
charlotte bunch, lesbians in revolt, 1972
statement of purpose, four goals
dob statement of purpose 1955
UN Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
first global expression of rights all human beings are entitled to. Claimed that human rights are inherent and asserted that the law and human rights are intertwined and cannot be disposed.
Eugene Shadow
first international body builder who started the male version of the WWII pinup culture
Roe v. Wade (1973)
gave women the right to terminate a pregnancy (or have an abortion)
gay filipino work
gil mangaoang perspective of a gay filipino american ctivist, 1970s to 1990s
Gay Liberation Front
group founded after Stonewall as people started breaking off from Mattachine. Gay liberationists started to replace homophiles with ideas of gay power; they did not only want rights but they wanted to liberate everyone's sexuality and stress their differences as gay people
Sexual Revolution
growth of sexual commercial culture, change in ethics/sexual norms for heterosexuals but also impacted queers who had been following sexual norms of the sexual revolution for decades, they started to feel bolder and more assertive because their culture was more like straight culture.
SRS (Sex Reassignment Surgery)
it's emergence made many people re-evaluate their identity. Highly effeminate street fairies had to question if they were trans
women being rejected from movement quotes
joan nestle, a fem feminists history, 1958
1112 and counting
larry kramer get mad 1983
Hugh Hefner
launched Playboy magazine in 1953 which epitomized heterosexuality and inspired gay entrepreneurs to work off these cultures
Mayor John Lindsay
liberal NYC mayor during the time of the sip-on and ordered police brutality to stop because he began to see gays as a minority group with rights.
Black Cat Bar
meeting point for gay men, bohemian nonconformists, and police harassment. Instead of making usual bribes/payoffs to police for running a gay bar.
butch femme roles in gay bars
oral history and the study of sexuality buffalo, 30s o 60s, gay
Justice Anthony Kennedy
overturned Romer v. Evans with the argument that you cannot single out one group and restrict/deny them rights. He also wrote several other Pro-Gay decisions such as Lawrence v. Texas
Gay Codes in the 50s
phenomenal producers of code found intricate ways of communicating with one another, gay readings of the world: "wise," Gay codes: Gay, 69, jam, seafood, trade. Gay people relished their expertise because such skills were appreciated in the 50s. You had to learn how to read code to get around censorship, and gay people found enormous reward and satisfaction in their capacity to develop these codes.
Entrapment
police officers would pretend to be gay, flirt with men at gay bars and then arrest them once they agreed to have sex. Dick Leistch, Mayor John Lindsay, 1960s
woman identified woman
radicalesbians 1970
radical case for gay marraige
richard goldstein, 2003
Lush Life
song composed by Bily Strayhorn (1933-1948) about gay places; "I used to visit all the very gay places."
"Queer"
used to be used by straight people to shame homosexuals, but gay people started embracing it and insisted on the right to be different; rejection of gay and lesbian as too confining and heteronormative and of accommodationist gay groups
Lesbian Separatists
wanted to explore sexuality/identity away from male pressure; broke away from male-run organizations
we are lesbians but not child molesters piece
what about dob? ladder 1959
Christian Right Groups
"traditional family values" advocacy groups founded.
Magnus Hirschfeld
(1869-1935) Jewish-German gay activist who helped link research with homosexual activism around the world. He fought against German sodomy laws (paragraph 175: criminalized male fantasy and sexual acts) and was a proponent of the idea that homosexuality is rooted in biology; advanced third-sex theories, Shut down by nazis, they burned all his stuff.
Phil Black
(1902-1975) most famous gay black community entrepreneur in NY as well as a seamstress and professional female impersonator and was the co-president of the Fun-Makers Club
Pauli Murray
(1910-1985) Civil and women's rights activist. She was the first black woman to receive a law doctorate at Yale Law School. Her work included States laws on race and color in 1951, constitution and government of Ghana in 1961, Human Rights USA in 1967, coined the idea of "Jane Crow," was the first black woman as an episcopal priest. She never hid that she was a Lesbian and was gender non-conforming by asking for male hormones in her 20s when they were recently released, but was rejected because they didn't want her to be the face of the movement.
Bayard Rustin
(1912-1987) brilliant organizer and speaker who was a prominent labor activist and civil rights activist alongside MLK and A Philip Randolph. He was found out to be gay when he was arrested in (1953) because he was caught having sex with a man in a car. He continued to work in the civil rights movement quietly. In 1956 Randolph asked Rustin to advise MLK. He persuaded King to adopt non-violence, and was his key advisor on the 1963 March on Washington
James Baldwin
(1924-87) black gay author who wrote about being gay (Giovanni's Room), was very out but also the stepson of a minister. He was part of the gay publishing boom in the 1950s
Mona's 440 Club
(1940s) male impersonator club in San Francisco; Gladys Bentley performed there and was a huge tourist attraction
Veterans Benevolent Association
(1946) Fought discrimination against gay veterans. Held large dances and small discussion groups where they debated the ethics of queer existence.
The Big Sleep
(1946) film with Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall with coded talk about homosexual relations; showed that everyone in Hollywood could read codes and that films could get around censorship laws; key code word: horse
Women's Barracks by Tereska Torres - Heterosexual
(1950) About free, french female soldiers living in a London Barrack during WWII and sold 4 million copies. It led to a congressional investigation of homosexuality in the military.
Mattachine Society
(1950, LA) first organization of the Homophile movement directly modelled after communism (secretive and hierarchical), asserted human rights as an oppressed minority; wanted a highly "ethical homosexual culture." They started off militant but then experienced a change in leadership and strategy because they didn't have as much power as they were hoping for. They referred people to gay-friendly doctors/lawyers/etc and had close connections with other scientists and professionals. Started publishing the Mattachine Review in 1955.
Camp
(1950s) cultural style for gay men of an exaggerated/hyper gender performativity. They cultivated while also mocking normal gender roles. Camp idols included Judy Garland, Josephine Baker, and La Lupe. It was a complex gender performance that indulged in stereotypes that indicated feminizing someone = gay man.
Mary Archer
(1950s) organized summer boat rides up the Hudson river because police had no authority there and held hoedowns where women wore overalls and dressed like cowboys.
Phil Black's Ball
(1952) Drag ball (3000+) people organized by a female impersonators club called the funmakers club. Participants would impersonate black female celebrities and embraced black culture and society. The ball was deliberately fashioned as a dignified and respectful society ball.
Christine Jorgensen
(1952) First out trans woman who was an American GI. He went to Copenhagen and came back a women. She represented the story of a trans identity. People marvelled at how feminine she seemed and the public was transfixed on her insistence of being a woman, not a homosexual or a transvestite.
Patricia Highsmith
(1952) wrote lesbian novels under the pen name Claire Morgan
