lesbian history
On this day: Renée Vivien – haunted by the desire for death
Despite her French name and exclusively French poetry, Renée Vivien was English. Wealthy heiress Pauline Tarn moved to Paris at the age of 21 and adopted her pen name soon after. She was born June 11, 1877. The strikingly melancholic poet wrote sonnets of Sapphic love. She also translated the poems of Sappho, the ancient …
Stephen Fry narrates doco on queer WWII heroes
Stephen Fry narrates the new British documentary Willem and Frieda: A Story of Resistance about two queer heroes of the Dutch resistance during World War II. Willem Arondeus and Frieda Belinfante belonged to a resistance group that bombed the Amsterdam public records office to undermine the Nazi occupation. The defiant last words uttered by William …
On this day: Lesbian Visibility Week: THE ROSA BONHEUR CASE
A brilliant new web documentary series explores issues of visibility and representation through the story of French painter Rosa Bonheur. The Rosa Bonheur Case by Carole Cassier and Anna Polonyi shines a light on a fascinating woman while highlighting the relentless and ongoing march of historical queer erasure. Scroll down for The Rosa Bonheur Case: Episode …
On this day April 25: Soni Wolf, Dykes on Bikes
Soni Wolf, co-founder of Dykes on Bikes, died on April 25, 2018. A driving force of the iconic group, she fought all the way to the US Supreme Court for the Dykes on Bikes’ right to trademark their name and logo. Soni Wolf served as a medic in the United States Air Force during the …
On this day April 1: the Netherlands, first gay weddings
On April 1, 2001, the first legal gay weddings of the modern era took place in the Netherlands. The Netherlands had become the first country to legalise same-sex marriage the previous December. Scroll down to watch the vid of the first gay weddings in the Netherlands. The Netherlands long led the way on LGBTIQ+ rights …
On this day March 27: Willem Arondeus
Gay artist and writer Willem Arondeus was a ringleader in the bombing of the Amsterdam registry office by the anti-Nazi Dutch Resistance on March 27, 1943. The Nazis consequently executed Willem and eleven other men on July 1, 1943. Willem Arondeus grew up in an artistic home. His parents designed theatre costumes. Nevertheless, they did …
On this day March 22: Dr Walter C Alvarez
In his March 22, 1966 Newsday column, Dr Walter C Alvarez wrote about watching his father’s ducks as a kid. He learned from those fowl that sexual and gender diversity occurred naturally. “Long years ago, when I was a boy, my father had several Mandarin ducks in our yard. I can remember my wonderment when …
On this day March 19: Jackie ‘Moms’ Mabley
In 1925, the Minneapolis Journal described Jackie Mabley, born March 19, 1894, as ranking ‘with the best of the world’s entertainers’. Jackie ‘Moms’ Mabley, reputedly America’s first stand-up comic, stayed at the top for the next half-century. Jackie Mabley ran away and joined the black vaudeville circuit as a 15-year-old following a reportedly horrific childhood. …
On this day March 16: I. A. R. Wylie
Ida Alexa Ross Wylie was born in Melbourne on March 16, 1885. As I. A. R. Wylie, the novelist, short story writer and screenwriter achieved worldwide renown, though in most readers’ minds, as a male author. Before her birth, the writer’s father fled his English debtors for Australia after his first wife divorced him. He …
On this day March 8: Una Vincenzo, Lady Troubridge
Una Vincenzo, Lady Troubridge was born on March 8, 1887. The life partner of author Radclyffe-Hall, she worked as a sculptor and translator. (Not liking her first name, Radclyffe-Hall generally used just her surname in public.) In 1908, Una Vincenzo Taylor married Commodore Ernest Troubridge. But in 1915, on a visit to her wealthy older …