History
I'm reading Joan Nestle's A Fragile Union and realize again how our history was rewritten. She writes,
"When I read the following sentence in Freedman's book, "By 1919, we are told, about 75% of the prisoners were prostitutes, 70% had venereal disease, a majority were of low mental ability and ten percent psychopaths," I was forced to see the lesbians encoded in this list. Mabel Hampton was among those counted women. As gays and lesbians, we have a special insight, a special charge in doing history work. We, too, have had our humanity hidden in such lists of undesirables." (p. 35)
Where do we learn this history? How do we learn to read through the text and see our community? It's such an easy history to dismiss because who wants to remember? And, while my family passes down our religious traditions (my mother's side is Catholic and my father's is Jewish) and our values & ethics, I'm not sure who's there to pass on the stories about the women before this generation, the ones arrested for not wearing three articles of women's clothing.
Yes-- this history is out there. There are archives, library collections, online information, etc, but we have to work too hard to find it. So, I charge all of you, loyal readers, go home and read a book about LGBT history, even (especially) if you're not gay. Then, tell someone else what you read. Have book discussions.