This year, the Pride celebration in my town is moving from June (when it's normally held) to October. Personally, I find this highly inappropriate. Everyone knows Pride goes before the Fall.
pride
In 1945, a woman named Lucy Hicks Anderson was arrested for the crime of marrying her husband, Reuben Anderson, a soldier in the US Army.
Lucy Lawson seemingly always knew exactly who she was. In 1886, a beautiful black baby was born to Bill and Nancy Lawson of Waddy, KY. While this child was identified as male, she insisted that she was a girl. She chose the name Lucy and informed her parents that she would be wearing dresses to school.
At this point in history, the term 'transgender' had not yet been coined, and public knowledge about trans people was sadly lacking. Confounded, her mother and father took her to see the local doctor who advised them to raise her as they would any other little girl. Bill and Nancy did just that. And by all accounts, Lucy's childhood and school years were uneventful and happy.
At age 15, Lucy left home, taking domestic work to support herself, then moved west, first to Texas then to New Mexico where she married her first husband, a man named Clarence Hicks, in Silver City, NM. The couple settled in Oxnard, CA, a wealthy community about an hour up the coast from Los Angeles. There, Lucy's culinary skills opened doors for her, and she began to cater elaborate parties for Oxnard's rich and elite. Her rolls and fruitcakes reportedly won many local contests and awards. Lucy worked diligently and tirelessly, and saved nearly every penny she earned from her employment as a domestic worker, a nanny, and a cook. And in 1920, at the age of 34, Lucy managed to save enough to purchase business property — a local brothel.
Lucy's brothel operated between 1920 and 1933, a period in American history known as Prohibition. During this time, selling alcohol was illegal. But as a brothel madam, Lucy had already skipped merrily over the lines of propriety, so she served her customers alcohol anyway.
In 1929, Lucy divorced Clarence Hicks. Not much is known about her marriage or divorce to Clarence, so we can infer that the separation was mutual and uncontested by either party. Lucy kept her business, and kept bootlegging alcohol.
She was busted a few times, but her numerous social connections with wealthy socialites allowed her to avoid any aggressive prosecution. Rumor has it that one wealthy banker even posted her bail so that she could cater his party that evening.
In 1944, Lucy fell in love a second time. At 58 years old, she met and married the love of her life, Reuben Anderson. Reuben was a soldier stationed in Long Island, NY. But their happiness was not to last.
Just one year after their marriage, a sailor claimed he had caught a venereal disease from one of the women at Lucy's brothel. At that time, the law required all sex workers to undergo a medical examination, and the Ventura County examiner insisted on including Lucy. It was at this time that her trans identity was revealed, and subsequently made public. He chose to put her on trial for perjury, arguing that she lied on her marriage licence, impersonated a woman, and stole VA benefits to which military spouses were entitled. After the story ran in a small Pacific coast newspaper, Time Magazine ran an article on Lucy, exposing her as a trans woman to the entire nation.
During her trial, Lucy stated in her defense, "I defy any doctor in the world to prove that I am not a woman. I have lived, dressed, acted just what I am, a woman". However, the court convicted both her and Reuben of perjury, and they were both sentenced to incarceration in a male prison. Lucy in particular was court ordered not to wear women's clothes.
Reuben and Lucy's relationship survived these indignities, somehow. After serving ten long years in a male penitentiary, Lucy and her beloved Reuben retired to Los Angeles, where they quietly lived out the remainder of their lives together. At age 68, Lucy Hicks Anderson died and was mourned by all who knew her.
Lucy Hicks Anderson was not an activist. She was not even known as a trans woman for the vast majority of her life. She simply wanted to live her life, love her loves, and pursue the projects and interests that made her happy. Lucy wanted only one thing out of life, and that was to be the woman she knew herself to be. And it turns out she was willing to fight for that.
Tell our stories.
#PRIDE #TransHistory
Target is scaling back LGBTQ+ merchandise this year after "right-wing backlash" last year. It can couch this decision in all the research-supported logic it wants, but it's still a capitulation to bigots. #Target is betting those of us who support equity will be more accepting of this decision than bigots will of the retailer carrying #Pride products. Those who care need to raise their voices and make their wishes heard by curtailing their spending at Target.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/10/business/target-pride-merchandise-june-2024/index.html
Wishing our agender siblings a happy Agender Pride Day!
A #pride chronology in three parts:
2022 - looked on from a distance, only just had come out to myself and my partner a month before. Had no local friends and too timid to do anything.
2023 - Went to the #TransMarch with a couple online friends I met IRL for the first time and met some more locals there. Walked with the crowd and felt the shared experience but still unsure. Went to the Pride Parade as well. Fun experience.
2024 - Looking at prices of torches and pitchforks. Fuck the patriarchy!
In 2011, the American Samoa Men's National Football Team was rated the worst in the world. This is the story of how a woman, playing on that team, helped them score their first win ever.
Jaiyah Tauasuesimeamativa Saelua was born in the city of Leone, in American Samoa on the 19th of July, 1988. The tiny Pacific territory is a collection of islands and coral atolls, and is small even by the standards of Oceania, comfortably FIFA’s smallest confederation. The entire nation's population numbers just 60,000 – a mid-sized town in most western nations. However, due to its location in the middle of the South Pacific Sea, the Samoan culture has largely withstood interaction with Europeans. The Samoan language is still in use in daily exchange. Traditional Samoan music can be heard in the streets. And popular Samoan sports include sumo, fishing tournaments, netball, and sailing. But 11-year old Jaiyah wasn't interested in all that. She wanted to play Association Football (Soccer).
Now, soccer is hardly a common part of daily life in the sleepy capital of Pago Pago. At the time, the Samoan national soccer team was one of the newest in the world, having played their first organized game only 16 years ago, but they had already earned a reputation as one of the worst in the world. Their first match, against neighbors Western Samoa (themselves also a poorly ranked soccer team) ended in a 3-1 defeat. But perhaps their most infamous moment came in April 2001. While trying to qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, American Samoa lost 31-0 to Australia - a still undefeated world record for the largest margin of defeat in international football. It's hard to live something like that down.
But that didn't deter Jaiyah. Growing up in Samoan culture as a fa'afafine (the Samoan third gender that roughly translates to "way of the woman"), she saw many others just like her playing soccer and other sports with the men. As she would put it in an interview with The Guardian later, "We are all given an equal opportunity to play sport".
In 2004, at just age 15, Saelua made her debut for the American Samoa national soccer team. American Samoa was once again attempting to qualify for the FIFA World Cup. During the first half, Jaiyah was substituted in. Taking to the field in full make-up, she quickly became known for her devastating, crunching tackles as a defender who "takes no prisoners".
From 2005 to 2010, Jaelua mostly sat on the bench, being given the occasional opportunity to show what she could do as a mid-game replacement. Her long apprenticeship would come to an end though in 2011 when the team would hire a new coach.
With the arrival of coach Thomas Rongen in 2011, Saelua was given extended game time. Rongen took note and later that year, Jaelua made her first start for the team.
Rongen had his eyes set on bringing American Samoa to the FIFA World Cup for the first time in its history. With only 11 teams petitioning to qualify for the Oceania conference of the FIFA World Cup, the four lowest ranked entrants would play a single round-robin tournament over a period of 4 days in November of 2011. The winner of the round-robin would then advance to the 2012 OFC Nations Cup in June.
Jaiyah walked into the National Soccer Stadium in Apia, Western Samoa, a little awestruck. She had never played in a proper stadium before. Although her team technically owned one, it was rarely used due to the fact that the village laws prevented proper lighting to be built, and so it was functionally unusable after sundown. Sure, they might lose the game. But here she was! She had made it! She was a real, actual professional football player on a real, professional football club playing in a real, professional stadium! Jaiyah doesn't know it yet, but she was already making history just by being there. The first openly non-binary and transgender person to ever compete in a FIFA qualifier.
And then, the unthinkable happened. Their first match, with rival Oceania island-nation Tonga, started to go...well. Ott and Luani played like their feet were on fire. The goalkeeper slapped away attempt after attempt by the Tonga athletes to score. And then, out of nowhere, Luani put one into the net.
The crowd of only 150 people or so, mostly Tonga supporters, were dumbstruck. American Samoa wasn't supposed to be putting up this kind of fight. They weren't supposed to be GOOD. They were supposed to to roll over and lose again, like always.
Tonga rallied, and slipped one past the goalkeeper. Jaiyah and her teammates roared in defiance as Tonga took a small victory lap, confident things were back in known territory.
The clock was running out. Rongen could see his team flagging. He called a timeout to talk to his team. The speech was short. "Next goal wins." He said. "Next goal wins."
Win. That's a word the team wasn't used to hearing. Jaiyah stared down her opponents. Many of whom were 6' tall, and built like American football linebackers. Some of them would actually go on to play in the NFL. They wouldn't get past her. Jaiyah threw her entire body into every tackle like a demon. She heard bones crunch. She didn't care. Ott and Luani took the hint. Luani passed to Ott. Ott tried to pass back to Luani but there was no opening. He passed to Jaiyah. Jaiyah tore off down the field like a woman possessed. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Luani rocket clear for an instant. She passed to Luani. He took the shot.
On the 22nd of November, 2011, the American Samoa National Football Team won their first internationally recognized match ever. Yes, ever. Coach Rongen declared Jaiyah Saelua "Woman of the Match".
The team followed up the win against Tonga with a 1–1 tie with the Cook Islands. The FIFA qualification was in sight. Then, needing only a single win in their last game against bitter rivals Western Samoa to progress, Jaiyah's little team that could fell agonizingly short, when an attempted goal by Luani in the final dying minutes instead hit the post, just before a last-gasp Samoa goal eliminated them from the tournament.
The team's efforts to redeem themselves are chronicled in the 2014 British Documentary Film "Next Goal Wins", in which Saelua plays an integral part, and also in a 2023 sports comedy-drama of the same name directed by Taika Waititi. Waititi reportedly considered Jaiyah for the role, but ultimately cast fellow Samoan fa'afafine Kaimana to play her part. The movie was released on November 17, 2023 to mostly positive reviews.
These days, Jaiyah continues to play, and in her spare time, coaches the American Samoan boys football team, the Leone Lions. During the 2018–2019 season, she led the team to the ASHSAA Boys J-V title, for which she received the "Coach of the Year Award" from the Football Federation of American Samoa.
Tell our stories.
#PRIDE #TransHistory
companies in june
On the 20th of May, 1810, a member of the French nobility died. And nobody, including the attending physician who examined the body, knew what to write on their death certificate.
The Chevalier d'Eon had always had a naturally androgenous appearance, a fact which they capitalized on frequently throughout their life. The child of a minor French nobleman, d'Eon enjoyed the benefits of an education, excelling in school, and earning a law degree. After school, they took work as a political writer for a time, and then became secretary to a series of Parisian administrators, working in areas of finance as well as in history and literature.
But in 1756, they joined a secret network of spies known only to King Louis XV, and working without the official knowledge or sanction of the French government. d'Eon's mission was to infiltrate the court of Empress Elizabeth of Russia, and there, conspire with members of a pro-French faction of the Russian government against the Habsburg monarchy of Austria. At the time, Russian border crossings were restricted only to women and children. So, according to d'Eon's memoirs, they were forced to pass convincingly as a woman or risk execution. Thus disguised as "the Lady Beaumont", they served as maid of honor to the Empress.
Years later, d'Eon returned to France, awarded an enormous sum of money for their service to the King, and became Captain of Dragoons - a military title involving mounted cavalry. Later, they served in the Seven Years' War against England. When the war ended, d'Eon themself drafted the peace treaty, and was awarded another handsome sum of money for their efforts, receiving the title "Chevalier" - a French title of nobility roughly translating to "Knight".
In 1763, a series of political machinations saw d'Eon embroiled in a scandal. Having lived in London now for years, d'Eon published a series of letters detailing some (though not all) of their secret dealings as a spy. This breach of diplomatic discretion was scandalous in the extreme, but secured them the sympathy of the English public. In these letters, d'Eon claimed that the new ambassador to England, a man named Guerchy, had tried to poison them at a dinner. Guerchy sued for libel, and d'Eon strangely offered no defense at the trial. They were thus declared an outlaw and went into hiding. Eventually, Louis XV granted d'Éon a pension (possibly a pay-off for d'Éon's silence) and a 12,000-livre annuity, but refused a request to pay off the rest of their debts. d'Eon continued to work as a spy for Louis XV, but lived in political exile in London.
And here is where our story truly begins to get strange.
It was around this time that rumors began circulating in London that d'Eon was actually a woman, despite the fact that they routinely wore their military dragoons uniform, and claimed to be, and have always been a man. A betting pool over their true gender was started on the London Stock Exchange. d'Eon was invited to participate but declined, stating that an examination would be dishonoring whatever the result. After a year without any further updates, the wager was abandoned and the monies returned.
Then, in 1774, King Louis XV died, and d'Eon, sensing an opportunity to return to their homeland, attempted to negotiate an end to their exile. The resulting twenty page treaty permitted d'Eon to return to France, but demanded that they turn over any documents and correspondence from their time as a spy under Louis XV. Additionally, a clause in the treaty demanded that they present themselves as female during the voyage.
So the Chevalier d'Eon, now stylizing themself as the Chevalière d'Eon (a feminized form of the title given to them by Louis XV at the end of the war), and wearing their dragoon uniform, began making plans to return to France. However, now claiming to have always been a woman, they demanded recognition by the French government as such. They claimed that their father had to raise them as a boy, because his father could only inherit from his in-laws if he had a son. King Louis XVI complied with this demand, but required in turn that d'Eon no longer wear the military uniform and instead dress as a woman. Included with the offer was a substantial sum of money for a complete women's wardrobe. Whether it was because d'Eon really was assigned female at birth, as they claimed, or whether it was merely the money and station offered by the new King, d'Eon agreed. So, d'Eon returned to France a woman, and as punishment, was summarily banished to Tonnerre.
For the rest of their life, d'Eon would maintain this presentation, even offering to join with the Americans in the War of Independence, leading a battalion of female fighters against England, though their banishment ultimately prevented it. During this time there are accounts of the Chevalière d'Eon fencing, fighting, and participating in duels with other French nobility, always presenting as the woman they claimed to always have been. After the French Revolution, the king's pension vanished, and d'Eon was forced to sell much of their possessions to survive - though they did not give up their female attire. In 1809 at the age of 80, d'Eon suffered a fall and became paralyzed and bedridden. They died in poverty in 1810 at the age of 81.
But their story doesn't quite end there.
The surgeon who examined d'Éon's body after their death attested in their post-mortem certificate that d'Eon had "male organs in every respect perfectly formed", while at the same time displaying feminine characteristics such as "unusual roundness in the formation of limbs", as well as "breasts remarkably full". Though buried in an unmarked pauper's grave, there exists to this day a memorial in London listing the Chevalier d'Eon as one of the important graves lost to time.
Even by modern standards, the Chevalier/Chevalière d'Eon's gender identity is a bit of an enigma. Some have suggested they may have been intersex. Some choose to interpret their story as transgender or gender fluidity. Some have even coined a term - "eonism" - to describe similar cases of gender nonconformity.
Tell our stories.
#PRIDE #TransHistory
Happy #Pride Month to everyone! Celebrate yourself and your love in all its forms!
Alright you verminous gay freaks, you've got one month and then it's back to your festering slime holes.
Have fun or whatever but if you disgusting perverts act too weird we're gonna take it all away.
Cops, put the "Love is Love" stickers on the squad cars and go make sure none of those horrid freaks actually feel too safe.
"An Army major is celebrating one year of having earned approval to wear his hair and tribe-specific regalia items in a way that honors his Native American heritage during appropriate service ceremonies."
#NativeAmerican #FirstNation #USA #USArmy #Heritage #Pride #History #News
Remember our siblings who, for whatever reason, are not able to be their true selves this Pride Month.
Heya folks!
IT FIRST DAY OF PRIDE MONTH!! 🦄🦓🌈🌌
Beware of those companies & organizations that put out wishy washy messages about 'Love' this month!
It sounds cute, right?
What's actually happening:
Companies are more concerned about their image, your money, and not offending queerphobes. They're not interested in queer folks at all! 😃
Pride is about queer voices. Full stop.
This BS happens EVERY YEAR. Support queer orgs and creators instead! <3
I still think corporations have Pride Month backwards: this isn't a month to make money off me, this is a month to give me discounts for doing the public service of being this gay!
I should be able to walk into any Target and get 30% off by kissing another girl or showing the cute bandaid from where I did my HRT shot! I should get free coffee at starbucks for walking in with carabiners and a fanny pack! I should be able to demand any random driver pull over and become a free uber by waving a rainbow flag so I can go spread my gayness across the city! Strangers should just hand me a twenty because I'm slouching bisexually in public!?!
Parents can be better advocates and avoid common missteps when a child identifies as trans or nonbinary by first recognizing the child’s bravery and explicitly reminding them they’re loved
#PRIDE 🏳️🌈 #PrideMonth #Parenting
Happy #Pride! Federal judge knocks down Florida’s Medicaid ban on gender-affirming treatment.
“‘Gender identity is real. The record makes this clear,’ U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle said.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/21/florida-gender-affirming-ban-00103067
On April 8, 1629, in a small Christian town, a Christian court with a Christian judge, issued a verdict declaring one of their town's residents to be legally both male and female at the same time.
Thomas/ine Hall was born at All Saint's Church in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, sometime in the early 1600s. Their parents, assigning them the female gender role, named them Thomasine, raised them as a girl, and trained them to perform traditional women's crafts such as needlework. Though assigned female, Thomas/ine sometimes dressed in male clothing in private at home.
But at the age of 12, they were sent off to live with their aunt in London. There, Hall was made to wear women's dresses, grow their hair long, and behave like a lady in so-called "cultured society". They lived there for 10 years in total, and during this time observed the popularity among the aristocracy of crossover fashion choices between the sexes.
In the early 1620s, now a young adult and able to make their own choices, Hall decided to adopt a masculine hairstyle, and changed "into the fashion of a man" in order to follow their brother into military service. After serving in both England and France for a time, Hall returned home to Plymouth where they reverted to a feminine presentation and earned a living making bone lace and needlework.
Around 1627, Thomas/ine began to grow unsatisfied with their life in England. Like many other working-class people of their day, Thomas/ine was interested in the opportunity for a new life in the English colonies of North America. They decided to take their chances in the colonies as an indentured servant. Donning men's clothing once again, they signed a contract as an indentured servant with a ship leaving for Jamestown, using the name Thomas. From there, they relocated to a nearby settlement called Warrosquyoacke. This tiny village of less than 200 people was the home of two tobacco plantations, located where present-day Smithfield, Virginia is.
Thomas/ine went to work for a man named John Tyos on the smaller of the two tobacco plantations. However, they were not particularly strict about presenting consistently as male in this new environment. At first, Hall continued to dress as and perform the work of a man. But at some point, they started to dress as a woman and take on traditional women’s labor again. For his part, John appears to have had no problem with this switch, as he later swore to the community at large that he believed Thomas/ine was a woman. But other members of the community were less accepting of the change.
When asked one day about why they sometimes wore female clothes, Thomas/ine replied cryptically "I goe in womans apparel to get a bitt for my Catt". It's unclear what they meant by this. Various historians have suggested that Hall may have dressed as a woman in order to seduce women, or alternatively in order to have sex with men. Rumors began circulating about their sexual exploits about town.
One such rumor claimed that Thomas/ine had had sex with a maid from a different household, an enslaved woman who went by the name "Great Besse". This particular rumor was, in the minds of these Christian settlers, extremely problematic due to the ambiguity of Hall's gender. If Thomas/ine was a man, this act was the crime of fornication, and they would have to stand trial for it. But if Thomas/ine was a woman, there was no crime.
Three "respectable" Christian women of the community, Alice Long, Dorothy Rodes, and Barbara Hall, took it upon themselves to find out which. The women snuck into Thomas/ine's room in the dead of night, watching them while they were sleeping. This first attempt at spying on Thomas/ine unclothed yielded no clear result. So they did it again and again. They eventually decided amongst themselves that Thomas/ine lacked a "readable set of female genitalia" and was therefore definitely male.
The matter was brought to John Tyos, the plantation owner, and owner of Thomas/ine's contract. The women convinced him to interview Thomas/ine partly because of the rumors, and also because another member of the community, a man named John Atkins, had proposed buying out Thomas/ine's contract, and their gender would determine both the kind of work they could perform and the price of their contract. During this interview, Hall confessed that they had “a piece of flesh growing at the belly as big as the top of my little finger,” but that they “had not the use of the man’s parts". Male incompetence was considered sufficient to determine female sex during the early modern colonial period. Therefore, Tyos thought Thomas/ine’s report was reasonable. He found that they were a woman, and ordered them to wear women’s clothing. This finding meant they could not be prosecuted for debauching Besse.
John Atkins purchased Thomas/ine's labor contract, and they took up a position in his home as a woman laborer. However, the three women who spied on Thomas/ine were not happy with this decision. They conducted a physical examination of Thomas/ine while they slept, and when this too yielded uncertain results, demanded that Atkins conduct a more thorough physical exam. During this examination, Thomas/ine told Atkins they had “a piece of a hole". John Atkins and the three women searched Thomas/ine for evidence of a vagina. When they could not find it, they went back to Tyos, who reversed his decision and declared Thomas/ine was a man and must therefore wear men’s clothing.
At this point, the entire community was aware of Thomas/ine’s situation. Two more men stopped Hall on a public road. The men stripped Thomas/ine of their clothing, pulled out their genitalia, and decided that Hall was “a perfect man.” As far as the community was concerned, Thomas/ine’s gender was finally settled. They decided to punish Thomas/ine for pretending to be a woman.
Thomas/ine appeared before the Quarter Court of Virginia in 1629. They shared their life story, explaining to the court that they had lived as both a man and as a woman. There was no understanding of gender fluidity or intersex bodies in the colonial era, but something about Thomas/ine’s testimony convinced the court that they were being genuine. The governor decided on an extraordinary verdict. Thomas/ine was declared to be both a man and a woman. They would be required to wear the clothing of both genders: the breeches and shirt of a man, with the cap and apron of a woman. This was so “all the Inhabitants there may take notice” of Thomas/ine’s unusual status.
However, this did not clear up any questions about whether Thomas/ine had committed a crime, nor about what kind of work they might be permitted to do. This verdict merely meant that Thomas/ine would be forever marked as different in their chosen community.
And it's here that Thomas/ine's story comes to a rather dissatisfying end. They completely disappear from the official records, and we have no information about what they did after the verdict, where they went, how they lived their life, or how they died. It is most likely that they moved to another community in the colonies, where they took on a new name and lived a quiet, uneventful life as either a man or a woman. I like to think Thomas/ine would enjoy that ambiguity.
Tell our stories.
#PRIDE #TransHistory
Women ages 18 to 29 are increasingly rejecting exclusive heterosexuality and describing their sexual orientation in other ways.
https://theconversation.com/feminisms-legacy-sees-college-women-embracing-more-diverse-sexuality-159023
#pride #pridemonth #LGBTQ
"#Colorado #Republican Party issues call to burn all #Pride flags"
Is there anyone out there who thinks the #GOP means anything anymore except "I'm a bigoted sadistic asshole and it's my entire identity"?
NEW ESSAY (many months in the making): A "Gender Critical" and "TERF" Primer (for readers trying to make sense of "feminists versus transgender activists" debates). no paywall, please give it lots of "claps" & share widely!
https://juliaserano.medium.com/a-gender-critical-and-terf-primer-92ba8a1d6a1e?sk=8fc05611444c071d3c65b5b8855afe70
#trans #transgender #LGBTQ #feminism #Pride