Gay Icons and History: April 2011
The Gay Seventies: A Survivor's Story
Filed by Jesse Monteagudo | April 30, 2011 2:00 PM |In Joseph F. Lovett's 2005 documentary, Gay Sex in the 70s, survivors of the 1970's reminisce about gay life in New York City during the hectic decade between the Stonewall Uprising and the AIDS epidemic. Listening to the likes of...Read More
Zorita's Half and Half Act: Vintage Photo
Filed by Gloria Brame, Ph.D. | April 29, 2011 10:30 AM |One of the most popular and creative Burlesque queens of the 1950s, Zorita was famous for her "half and half" act. Below, the openly bisexual beauty performs as bride and groom:...Read More
Simple Title, Powerful Statement: Lesbian Pulp Fiction
Filed by Gloria Brame, Ph.D. | April 28, 2011 11:30 AM |The title was so obvious at first I smiled, but then I stopped and thought about what a strong political act it is to state simply and without apology, "I Am A Lesbian." No "twilight hunger" or "perverse passions," just...Read More
Lady Gaga Is Not an Ally to Our Community
Filed by Guest Blogger | April 22, 2011 9:30 AM |Editors' Note: Featured from CNN to PBS to Cosmo for her expertise in bisexual community and LGBT rights, guest blogger Amy Andre is the co-author of Bisexual Health, published by the NGLTF. With a master's degree in sexuality studies, Amy...Read More
America's Gay Confederate and Union Soldiers
Filed by Rev Irene Monroe | April 21, 2011 12:00 PM |Queer Civil War buffs have been arguing for some time that the deafening silence around LGBTQ Confederate and Union soldiers indicates proof of their very presence. With this month commemorating the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil...Read More
Boy Meets Girl but Wants Boy: Classic Gay Pulp
Filed by Gloria Brame, Ph.D. | April 21, 2011 11:30 AM |Classic novel from 1964, discussed in depth in Susan Stryker's Queer Pulp: Perverted Passions from the Golden Age of the Paperback. Copies are rare and can go for upwards of $200 when they come up for sale....Read More
Ladies in White: 1940s Erotic Photo (NSFW)
Filed by Gloria Brame, Ph.D. | April 20, 2011 8:30 AM |From a private collection of 1940s photos found on eBay, this tender and enigmatic menage a trois . From the graininess and splotches, I'm assuming the photos were shot and developed by amateurs. NSFW and after the jump....Read More
A Couple of Sailors Hanging Around: Vintage Photo
Filed by Gloria Brame, Ph.D. | April 19, 2011 4:30 PM |Ca. 1940s, a rare vintage gay cheesecake photo of a couple of incredibly handsome and dreamy-eyed sailors tied to riggings....Read More
In the Navy: Vintage Gay Cheesecake
Filed by Gloria Brame, Ph.D. | April 18, 2011 9:30 AM |A classic homoerotic theme, this beautiful image is ca. 1940s. The guy in the foreground has a gorgeous Roman profile too!...Read More
46 Years Ago Today: First Lesbian & Gay Protest at the White House
Filed by Guest Blogger | April 17, 2011 4:00 PM |Editors' Note: Guest blogger Will Kohler is a freelance writer and activist from Cincinnati, Ohio. Will blogs at Back2Stonewall.com. How far we have not come. In 1957, Dr. Frank Kameny, along with gay rights pioneer Jack Nichols, co-founded the Mattachine...Read More
Beautiful Amigo: Vintage Gay Magazine
Filed by Gloria Brame, Ph.D. | April 17, 2011 2:30 PM |From 1963, this beautiful and vibrant cover from a 1963 publication which recently sold on eBay. Please contribute any info you may have on this one, folks!...Read More
OUT Lists 'Power 50': Forgets People of Color & Trans Folk
Filed by Bil Browning | April 17, 2011 1:00 PM |Out Magazine has released this year's "Power 50" with rankings of various gay and lesbian people dubiously ranked by their "power to influence cultural and social attitudes, political clout, individual wealth, and a person's media profile." While the publication's listings...Read More
Sweet Affections: Vintage Hunks in Trunks
Filed by Gloria Brame, Ph.D. | April 12, 2011 4:30 PM |Those old-style 2-piece bathing suits for men were pretty hot. On the other hand, the men wearing them in this adorable image also add a whole lot to the sizzle. I'm not sure of the date on this, but guessing...Read More
Bound to be Built: Vintage Bodybuilder
Filed by Gloria Brame, Ph.D. | April 11, 2011 9:30 AM |I found this as a standalone, but guessing it's from a 1950s-era bodybuilder magazine. It is so simple and so beautiful. Does anyone recognize the gorgeous model?...Read More
Before Craigslist in Indiana
Filed by Bil Browning | April 10, 2011 1:00 PM |A lesson for the younguns: before the internet came along, people would put advertisements in gay newspapers and magazines. They were just as bad (although not as graphic usually) as the current crop you find on Craigslist now. But it...Read More
Provincetown Icon Ellie Castillo Passes Away
Filed by Drew Cordes | April 10, 2011 11:30 AM |Anyone who has ever been to Provincetown has seen and heard Ellie Castillo on the streets and in the clubs. Sadly, Ellie passed away from cancer April 7. The Provincetown Magazine obituary is here. A site called Lady Bunny Blog...Read More
Harlem Renaissance Heat: 1946 Van Vechten Nudes
Filed by Gloria Brame, Ph.D. | April 08, 2011 10:30 AM |Photo by Harlem Renaissance promoter, writer and (often homoerotic) photographer, Carl Van Vechten, 1946....Read More
Malcolm X Was Gay for Pay
Filed by Rev Irene Monroe | April 07, 2011 12:00 PM |Before any of us in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities laud Malcolm X as our new gay icon or castigate him for being a black heterosexist nationalist on the "down low," we might need to closely examine the...Read More
Yul Never Be the Same: Photo by George Platt Lynes
Filed by Gloria Brame, Ph.D. | April 07, 2011 11:30 AM |A magnificently fit, extremely young Yul Brynner, photographed by legendary gay art photographer, George Platt Lynes...Read More
Love Is a Thorn: Vintage Lesbian Erotica
Filed by Gloria Brame, Ph.D. | April 06, 2011 2:30 PM |Ca. 1920s, two sensual woman enjoying all that is beautiful in Nature - and particularly themselves!...Read More
San Francisco Gay Bookstore Closing
Filed by Alex Blaze | April 05, 2011 1:30 PM |Another gay bookstore is closing: The Castro's A Different Light Bookstore, one of the few remaining LGBT bookstores in the United States, is apparently closing. This comes on the heels of the closure of the Mission's Modern Times, another independent...Read More
Vote for The Old Guys in the Muppet Balcony
Filed by Jessica Max Stein | April 04, 2011 12:00 PM |One of gay Muppeteer Richard Hunt's most popular characters is struggling to secure victory in the final hours of a Muppet fan contest that's a little too close for comfort. Statler and Waldorf, everyone's favorite balcony hecklers, are up against...Read More
Well-Suited Couple: Vintage Cabinet Card
Filed by Gloria Brame, Ph.D. | April 03, 2011 2:30 PM |I'd love to know if this was a vintage theatrical card, much like other cards I've posted, showing male impersonators from the late 1890s to 1910s. This one's from the same era, but since this only lists the photography studio,...Read More
