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.