In Celebration of Gay History Month

This week, as the last week in our tribute to Gay History month, is dedicated to all of the anonymous lives of gay, lesbian, and transgender soldiers throughout history who have lived and continue to live in fear and repression yet give life and limb in service to their country.

From anonymous gay soldier’s diaries circa 1909:

“It is my greatest wish to get into the field as soon as possible and to meet an honorable death for otherwise I will be compelled later on to make an end of my rotten life due to my homosexual tendencies for which I am not at all responsible. It is better that my mother should be able to say, “My Fritz died a heroic death for his fatherland,” than that people should say, “So! A suicide, eh?””

“I am certain that if everyone would do his share in the interests of the whole class of homosexuals and help us dispel the legendary lies concerning us, great progress would be made.”

“I will not permit myself to be robbed of the idea that this love is at least as holy and pure, good and noble as any heterosexual inclination.”

From an officer of the corps, 1945:

“On the battlefield homosexuals could be contagious and infect men of normal constitution. I fear that urnings [sic] could transmit their perverse inclination by having relations with heterosexual men.”

“One night when this soldier had finished his watch at the telephone, one of his comrades came over to him and requested that he have sexual intercourse with him. This soldier, a perfectly heterosexual man, had no suspicion that the other was a homosexual. He would have made the same request to any other comrade who was known or friendly to him. Such homosexual acts of heterosexual men were carried out simply faute de mieux.”

From the Toronto Globe, February 4, 1915:

“Among the wounded who had returned to Moscow from the front, there was a nineteen-year-old girl by the name of Olga Krasilnikoff. After she had participated in nineteen battles in Poland she sustained a leg wound. This girl had enlisted under a masculine name and the deception had escaped notice until this time. She was awarded the St. George Cross of the fourth class.”

In one hundred years we have seen women’s suffrage, the first automobile, legalized marriage, the first manned spaceflight, the first computer, the Internet, microscopic robots that fit on the head of a pin; and yet, we still have progressed no further on the rights of gays and lesbians to serve their country openly and honestly.

These same soldiers who face down death and horrors beyond our civilian imagination are required to hide in fear of discharge from the armed forces that they volunteered to serve. These same soldiers are taking bullets, interpreting foreign correspondence, fighting and dying for the basic dignity of humanity so that others may experience freedom.

Why has so much progress been made in the world in all areas while our military policies remain immutably mired in antiquity?

For those soldiers who are gay, lesbian or transgender we stand and salute you. You sacrifice for each of us in ways which we cannot comprehend and for that all gay, lesbian, and transgender soldiers living and dead, are our heroes and pioneers this week.

The School Board needs to hear from you!

Open letter to all activists and concerned citizens,

The school board needs to hear from you!

In the October 19th Spokesman Review was an article about the addition of the Executive Director of the Odyssey Youth Center to the districts human growth and development committee. As most of you know, Odyssey is the only all inclusive LGBT youth center in the Inland Northwest. The addition of the E.D. to this committee is a significant step in addressing the needs of LGBT youth in Spokane public schools.

Odyssey director joins advisory committee

The Spokane school board voted last week to add a representative from the Odyssey Youth Center to a committee that examines and makes recommendations about the district's human growth and development curriculum.

Ramon Alvarez, the executive director of the Odyssey Youth Center, a center for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth, will fill a spot left vacant on the Citizens Advisory Committee for Human Growth and Development by a representative from the Spokane County Domestic Violence Consortium.

This is a significant sign of progress from just two years ago when the headlines read:

School board decides against materials on homosexuality; Panel splits
From the Spokesman Review July 15th 2004

A dozen people spoke out at Spokane Public Schools' board meeting Wednesday, saying they were concerned and offended by classroom materials on homosexuality and homophobia under consideration by the board of directors.

Though the materials were recommended by one committee of teachers and administrators, a 14-person citizens advisory committee and a group of principals, board members did not vote to adopt the materials. The four school board members present at the meeting uncharacteristically split their vote, after listening to almost two hours of testimony.…

Scott Stowell, coordinator of science, health and human growth and development for the district, said he had long been searching for appropriate resource materials regarding sexual orientation.

"Students need medically accurate information," he said. When he came across the video and the accompanying handout, he thought they were balanced and accurate.

"I thought it was a resource that could help," he said. "It defines different types of homosexuality, and provides fairly good working definitions. There are gay youth in the district, and there are problems with sexual harassment. We're trying to provide information that will help the whole student body understand."

The religious conservatives are beginning a letter writing campaign to the School Board and letters to the editor in complaint of the “homosexual agenda”. They are seeking to create a “ground swell” of supporters for their cause.

Why should the School Board be bombarded with complaints and no letters of support?

It is time for our community to pro-actively address these new positive developments by sending letters of support to the School Board and letters to the editor.

Why do we always sit back after a success and wait for the back lash before we are inspired to action again?

If we truly want to seek positive change in our region we have to lead the debate, not react to it with anger as our accomplishments are taken away or assaulted by those who view us with contempt and hatred.

You can take a stand with 2 minutes of your time! Keep the momentum of this positive movement going! Send a quick note to the School Board in support of this positive move towards a more inclusive and tolerant Advisory Committee, they should be overwhelmed with commendations for this action not criticisms. The addition of the executive director of Odyssey is a move towards a more inclusive, safe and supportive environment for our kids.

Email the school board: SchoolBoard@spokaneschools.org
For specific individuals view this website: http://www.spokaneschools.org/HGD/

crossposted at Blogging Spokane

In Celebration of Gay History Month

This week we are honoring two distinct pioneers in LGBT history whose paths crossed at a critical junction in early Nazi Germany, Magnus Hirschfeld and Lili Elbe, the Dr. who performed the first documented sex reassignment surgery and the recipient of that surgery.

Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935) was a German homosexual, sex researcher, and pioneer for normalizing homosexuality. In the 1890’s Germany was just entering into Europe as a country. This late identity as a nation resulted in an overwhelming desire of Germans to be viewed as modern. As a result, the study of sexuality as an aspect of progressive sociology gave slow rise to the acceptance of homosexuality as just another aspect of the human condition. Much progress had been made in the decriminalization of homosexuality, however, it was not to last.

Legislation prohibiting homosexual sex was enacted by the Reichstag in 1871 as paragraph 175 of the Reich Criminal Code, the punishment was imprisonment. As a result of paragraph 175, Hirschfeld founded the “Scientific Humanitarian Committee” in 1897. The committee had mostly homosexual members and its mission was to establish recognition of homosexuals and transgender men and women. In 1897 Hirschfeld wrote “Petition to the Reichstag” on behalf of The Scientific Humanitarian Committee. In the petition under paragraphs 3 and 4, Hirschfeld wrote:

3. Another important reason for the abolition [of paragraph 175] is the following: scientific research undertaken during the last twenty years in Germany, England and France, which studied in depth the question of homosexuality, has confirmed what the first scientist who considered this subject asserted without exception, that this way of love is constitutional. One of the reasons given was that homosexuality has occurred at all times, all over the world.

4. The experts pointed out that it is practically proved that the real cause of homosexuality, which at first glance looks like an enigma of nature, is due to development of the bisexual nature of man. The human foetus, during its first three months, is a bisexual organism. Therefore no moral guilt can possibly be attributed to homosexual sentiments (Blasius & Phelan, 1997, 135 – 137).

The entire text of Hirschfeld's "Petition to the Reichstag" can be found in "We are Everywhere: A Historical Sourcebook of Gay and Lesbian Politics" edited by Mark Blasius and Shane Phelan. In addition, further reading on the treatment of gay men in Nazi Germany can be found in "The Racial State: Germany 1933-1945" by Michael Burleigh and Wolfgang Wipperman.

Hirschfeld is also credited with creation of the theory of a third, intermediate sex between what is considered fully male and fully female. Hirschfeld was an author and playwright as well, with such works as “Sappho and Socrates” and the 1919 film “Different From the Others”.

It was Hirschfeld who consulted and participated in the first documented male to female sex reassignment surgery. It is theorized that Lili Elb, born Einer Wegener (1886 – 1931) was born an intersexual. In the 20s and 30s Wegener began living life as a female and legally changed his name to Lili Elbe.

Einar Wegener / Lili Elbe photo courtesy andrejkoymasky.com

In 1930 Lili underwent the first of several surgical procedures to complete the male to female transformation. The first surgery, removal of the male genitalia was performed by Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld in Berlin, subsequently followed by several surgeries performed by Dr. Warnekros. It remains a mystery what ultimately came of Lili after this series of surgeries, the last being to remove surgically implanted ovaries that resulted in medical complications.

Lili legally changed her sex in Denmark in the mid 1930’s after having the King of Denmark invalidate her marriage to wife Gerda. Lili was a true pioneer and ground breaker in the understanding of gender identity and this week takes her place in our tribute to historical gay pioneers.

Hirschfield’s research, writings, and scientific study combined with his ground breaking sex reassignment surgeries set the precedent for the future of the homosexual and transgender community. As the Third Reich and Adolf Hitler rose to power the prosecution of homosexual men became a priority as the cleansing of impurities in the German race began. Homosexuality did not fit into the Reich’s definition of what it meant to be a German and in 1933 the Nazis looted and burned the facilities of Hirschfeld's Scientific Humanitarian Committee. As the Hitler and the Nazis gained power, in 1936 Heinrich Himmler created the “Reich Central Office for the Combating of Homosexuality and Abortion”. Thus began the systematic elimination and execution of all men perceived to be homosexual in Germany. Some news films of Nazi book and library burnings are of the library of Magnus Hirschfeld. The burning of the facility occurred when Hirschfeld was on a world speaking tour, he never returned to Germany and died in exile in Nice on the French Riviera.

Magnus Hirschfeld stood up for what he believed, authored many books on sexual identity and homosexuality. He never referred to homosexuality as anything other than a normal dimension of the human condition. Some of his books such as “Sexual History of the World War” were considered to be acts of treason against Germany and were subsequently burned. Magnus Hirschfeld took on the Nazis, performed the first sex reassignment surgery, and pioneered a socially progressive community in Germany just as Washington was becoming the 42nd state in the union. For his innovation, perseverance, and courage, Magnus Hirschfeld is our gay pioneer this week.

In Celebration of Gay History Month

In honor of Gay History Month I will be posting on leaders in gay history, I will include an interesting tidbit, essay portion, or biography of a historical LGBT figure. Tune in each Friday for the remainder of the month to take a brief glimpse into gay history and the gay and lesbian pioneers who have lead the fight for LGBTQ rights and equality.

Photo courtesy of gayheroes.com

This week we feature perhaps the most famous lesbian couple in history, Gertrude Stein (1874-1946), an American author and poet who shared her life with Alice Toklas (1877 – 1967). Stein was born in Pennsylvania and moved to Vienna at the age of three. She moved back to the states with her family in 1878 followed by a move to Montparnasse France in 1902. From 1903 to 1912 Stein lived with her brother in Paris and met her life-long partner Alice Toklas. Alice Toklas was born in San Francisco and attended school in Seattle. She studied music at the University of Washington and met Stein in Paris in 1907. Toklas moved in with Stein and her brother in 1909.

Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas lived their lives forthright and honestly. During World War I Stein and Toklas drove an ambulance and much needed supplies to French Hospitals and were honored by the French government for this volunteer work. They lived their lives for their community in openness and honesty, never hiding who they were. Gertrude and Alice are perhaps the most famous lesbian couple in history.

During WWII Gertrude and Alice were forced to flee to the countryside and live off the land. After the war, Gertrude was diagnosed with stomach cancer and died in surgery at the age of 72. When being wheeled into the operating room it has been recorded that Gertrude asked Alice “What is the answer?” When Alice did not respond, Gertrude said, “In that case, what is the question?”

Gertrude Stein wrote many novels, plays, and poems. She is perhaps most famous for penning “Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose”. Some of Steins works include “Three Lives”, “The Making of Americans”, and “Four Saints in Three Acts”. Stein penned her autobiography in 1933 and titled it “The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas”. The autobiography became her bestselling book. Below is a poem by Gertrude Stein titled "Love Song of Alice B." from 1921.

I caught sight of a splendid Misses. She had handkerchiefs and kisses. She had eyes and yellow shoes she had everything to choose and she chose me.

In passing through France she wore a Chinese hat and so did I.
In looking at the sun she read a map. And so did I.
In eating fish and pork she just grew fat. And so did I.
In loving a blue sea she had a pain. And so did I.
In loving me she of necessity thought first. And so did I.

How prettily we swim. Not in water. Not on land. But in love.

How often do we need trees and hills. Not often.
And how often do we need birds. Not often.
And how often do we need wishes. Not often.
And how often do we need glasses not often.

We drink wine and we make well we have not made it yet.

How often do we need a kiss. Very often and we add when tenderness overwhelms us we speedily eat veal.

And what else, ham and a little pork and raw artichokes and ripe olives and chester cheese and cakes and caramels and all the melon. We still have a great deal of it left. I wonder where it is. Conserved melon. Let me offer it to you.

Alice Toklas authored a book as well, titled “The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook” which mixed stories of her history with life-long partner Gertrude Stein with recipes. The most famous of which was titled “Hashisch Fudge”, a mixture of nuts, spices, and cannabis. Toklas’ second book, “What is Remembered” is her own autobiography which ends abruptly with her lovers death in 1946.

Toklas died at the age of 89 and both Toklas and Stein are interred together in the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

Both Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas lived their lives as they chose. It takes courage and tenacity to live life out of the closet, in plain view as a loving, committed couple. Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas never hid until they had to flee World War II. They served their country and their community and were honored for it. Two bold lives lived in freedom and honesty make Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas our gay pioneers this week.

In celebration of Gay History Month

In honor of Gay History Month I will be posting on leaders in gay history, I will include an interesting tidbit, essay portion, or biography of a historical LGBT figure. Tune in each Friday for the remainder of the month to take a brief glimpse into gay history and the gay and lesbian pioneers who have lead the fight for LGBTQ rights and equality.

Today I am posting the first two paragraphs of an essay by Henry Gerber (1892-1972). The essay was in response to “The Riddle of Homosexuality” by W. Beran Wolfe, which appeared in the April 1932 issue of “The Modern Thinker”.

The interesting thing about the Gerber essay is that it pre-dates World War II and if you did not know it was from 1932 it could be from any magazine of this day and age.

Henry Gerber was a pioneer in gay civil rights (back in the early 1900’s gays referred to themselves as “inverts”). On December 24, 1924 the state of Illinois issued a charter to the non-profit organization called the Society for Human Rights, founded by Gerber and was the first organized gay rights group. The organization was described as “an advocacy group for people with ‘mental abnormalities’".

The Society or Human rights published the first magazine for gays, “Friendship and Freedom”. Unfortunately neither the magazine nor the organization lasted long, within a few months of the society's incorporation, Chicago police shut them down.

In Defense of Homosexuality (1932) By Henry Gerber

After reading the article by W. Beran Wolfe, M.D., in the April issue of The Modern thinker, one cannot but deeply sympathize with the inverts [gays] for being the world’s eternal scapegoats. In the early Middle Ages he Papacy stipulated that “sodomers, heretics and sorcerers be burned.” When the legal control of the population slipped from the hands of Mother Church into that of the legislatures and politicians, better times came for the homosexuals in that their sexual “crimes” were considered less heinous. After Napolean had written his liberal code, homosexuals were no longer molested by the law in Latin countries, but the Anglo-Saxon world, in England and the United States, persecution of them is still in vogue, and as recently as the year 1915 the legislature of the State of California passed a new law, extending the scope of the term of sodomy. Today a more lenient attitude is being shown to homosexuals by the law. On October 16, 1929, the German committee of the Reichstag, discussing the new German legal code, proposed to abolish punishment for homosexual acts per se, between men, and in Russia, of course, the medieval persecution of homosexuals was repudiated with religious superstitions.

Now, that the inverts [gays] have almost escaped the stake and the prison, the psychoanalysts threaten them with the new danger of the psychiatric torture chamber. It is not to be wondered that a priest, a legislator and a psychoanalyst should be interested only in their dogmas. The priest is as much convinced of his sin theory as the legislator is sure that prison is the cure of crime, and the psychoanalyst, not a bit less, is certain that his therapy will bring back the erring homosexual to the normal fold. But he is strangely silent on the method.

You can read the rest of Henry Gerber’s essay in “We Are Everywhere; A historical sourcebook of gay and lesbian politics” compiled by Mark Blasius and Shane Phelan (in my opinion a ‘must have’ for every library!).

As you can see it appears we have come full circle in the fight for our rights. In 1932, while very week, the Pope was still claiming homosexuality as a sin beyond redemption, today is no different except that he no longer requests that gays should be burned, (although if he thought he could get away with it he probably would).

We have come a long way in the LGBT civil rights movement, we have gained ground in equality in the work place, tolerance and acceptance in schools, and it is certainly easier to be out of the closet today than 100 years ago. All thanks to our gay pioneers like Henry Gerber.

For his efforts to start the first Gay civil rights group in America nearly 90 years ago, Henry Gerber is our Gay Pioneer of the week.

Is anyone else seeing a pattern in the "conservative" leadership?

That would be the question of the day!

First point - We in Spokane are all too familiar with the wicked hypocrisy of those claiming to be “conservative”. Take Jim West for example, a so called conservative who was virulently against any kind of gay rights or equality who, as we all know, ended his political career in disgrace over a sex scandal with teenagers. Now Mark Foley has ended his career in the same manner.

Second point – The so called “conservatives” have been in complete control over all branches of our government for the last 6 years. This president and GOP “conservative” lead congress has spent this nation into debt the likes of which have never been known before on the planet! In addition, the size of our government has grown exponentially in the last 5 years!

Third point – The conservative “moral” values of the GOP leadership who all ran on family values ”,“ conservative values", and “moral values” are all so corrupt that this congress is being touted as the “most corrupt congress in American history”. Case in point – Tom Delay, who was ousted for campaign finance fraud; Bob Ney, resigned for embezzlement; Ralph Reed, caught up in lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s web of campaign finance fraud, embezzlement and misappropriation of funds. The list goes on and is summarized at the Wayne Madsen Report.

True conservatives do not concern themselves with what is going on behind their neighbors’ door, nor do they think the government should have oversight of anyone’s personal life. Some conservatives believe in gay rights and gay marriage. I personally have many true conservative friends and all are pretty much disgusted with the Republican Party. But who do they turn to? What candidate out there, what political party out there truly reflects conservative values?

When are the true conservatives going to be outraged enough to throw the GOP under the bus? The above extremes are certainly NOT conservative values at all! Conservatives value small government, low taxes, low government spending, and most conservatives even believe in protecting our environment.

So how did it come to this? How did the true conservatives get so mislead by the GOP? When will the conservatives fight back and vote in true conservative candidates instead of falling for the tired lies of the current leadership? When did gay marriage and tax breaks for the wealthiest become the single issues of the so called conservative party?

Some conservative candidates are seeing the light and not advertising “GOP” on their campaign signs and TV ads. These GOP candidates are running on the same sounding board as the Democrats! They believe in affordable health care, alternative fuel sources, and environmental protections. HOWEVER, campaigning on these issues and towing the party line are direct contradictions. Any GOP candidate will not be successful in this administration regardless of their true conservative beliefs. Once elected it’s “tow the line or else”. We see this over and over again with the hardball tactics of the GOP leadership.

So what is a true conservative to do? Should they stick with the GOP in the hopes that they will come back to conservative values? Should they not go to the polls at all? Should they *gasp* vote Democrat?

That is the million dollar question. Conservatives need to look at the facts, during the Clinton administration there was a balance of power between the Democratic controlled White House and the Republican controlled congress:

Fact: The Democratic Party has been mixed up in scandals as well, Monica Lewinsky, McGreevy, etc. Most recent Democratic scandals have involved extramarital affairs between adults.

Fact: The first time that the government had a surplus in this century was under the Clinton administration.

Fact: Congress achieved more goals when there was a balance of power IE: Democratic controlled White House, Republican controlled congress. Both parties were forced to work together.

Fact: The Bush administration has quadrupled the size of government in the last 5 years.

Fact: The size of Government was reduced under the Clinton administration.

When there is a balance of power, the moderates on both sides of the aisle are the winners. Moderate conservative and moderate liberal have to work together to achieve the goals of the constituents that elected them to office. When there is a balance of power both parties can reach a consensus. When there is balance of power collaboration and communication occurs.

In order for our government to function effectively for all the people of this nation power must be balanced.

It is time for the true conservative out there to give long and hard thought to their values. Do a true and honest investigation into the candidates on both sides and make the choice: clench their butt cheeks and vote more of the same or cross their fingers and vote for a balance of power.

xposted in anticipation at Blogging Spokane

Jon Stewart on the Foley scandal

Not that pedophilia is in any way a laughing matter, as always, mixed in with the humor, Jon Stewart ties it all together with one statement:

In response to Newt Gingrich’s statement on Foley – “had they [GOP leadership] overly aggressively reacted to the initial round they would have been accused of gay bashing”.

Jon Stewart’s response:

“…equating a 52 year old congressman who preys on 16 year olds with being gay may be one reason the GOP is accused of gay bashing.”

See the entire video at AmericaBlog.

Take a peek at the video – it’s about 5 minutes but will give you a good chuckle.