“Will someone please find out what the hell is going in Florida? We’ve had enough!” Stacy Braukman and I share a laugh. The question she’s just posed feels all too pertinent. My longtime partner lives part of the year in Florida, and through him, I’ve been getting a front-row seat to the state’s noxious anti-LGBTQ, anti-Black, anti-immigrant, and anti-protest politics.…
Fifty years ago this week, a horrifying tragedy struck the New Orleans queer community. On June 24, 1973, an arsonist attacked the Up Stairs Lounge, a French Quarter gay bar, killing 32 people. Until the Pulse massacre in Orlando in 2016, it was the most lethal attack on the LGBTQ community ever perpetrated in the United States. Yet even today, few people have heard of it. Robert Fieseler has done more to change that than nearly anyone.…
We know you don’t have time to read every book and listen to every podcast out there. But chances are, you’re curious to know more about our history (and herstory, and theystory). That’s why we’re launching Historians of the Queer South, Spectrum South’s new series of articles profiling the writers and researchers who are helping to tell our stories. Each month, we’ll share a new article highlighting a scholar who we think has made a particularly important contribution to our…
This February, Black History Month offers us an opportunity to remember and to learn about the civil rights movement, as well as focus on the courageous Black, queer, and trans individuals who paved the way. More and more histories are acknowledging the critical role that queer Black activists played in the movement to end segregation and pursue racial justice, from Mississippi politician Aaron Henry, to author James Baldwin, to the brilliant gender non-conforming lawyer, activist, and priest Pauli Murray. Yet lesser…
The Holy Roman Empire can often be difficult to talk about in sweeping terms because of its decentralized nature. But in 1530, the Constitutio Criminalis Carolina (also known as the Lex Carolina), would mark the first body of German criminal law and attempt to unite the various principalities and kingdoms in the Empire. It also set the foundation for the prosecution of queer identity and life.…
“...they think the gay community is an easy target. LET’S SHOW THEM WE’RE NOT!” These exclamatory words jump off the page of a 1995 advertisement in the Houston Voice, a Houston LGBTQ publication. The call to action? To join Q-Patrol.…
It’s time to give credit where credit is due. The modern-day LGBTQ-rights movement would be nowhere without the tireless efforts of the powerful and resilient queer Latinx activists who fought—and continue to fight—for LGBTQ people’s freedom to exist. Throughout history, these movers and shakers have made extraordinary strides to improve the state of trans rights, criminal justice, HIV advocacy, gender equality, and more.…
Have you seen the Disney movie Moana? Of course you have, it’s amazing. In it, the protagonist, Moana, senses that her heritage is far more complex than what she’s been told. She knows, based on this gut instinct and nagging intuition, that her people are so much more courageous and fearless than her parents and neighbors have led her to believe. She goes on to discover that her ancestors were, in fact, voyagers who braved endless raging seas and created pathways…
