Kate Aaron's Blog, page 10
October 19, 2015
The History of Homosexuality: The Mattachine Society
The Mattachine Society was founded in LA in 1950 by Harry Hay and a number of his friends. Hay conceived ofan “international…fraternal order” to serve as “a service and welfare organization devoted to the protection and improvement of Society’s Androgynous Minority”. He had tried to form a similar political activist group in 1948 in support […]
October 18, 2015
People in History: The Stonewall Rioters
Hundreds of people were involved in the riots which changed the queer emancipation movement from passive assimalism to angry activism. The actions of those hundreds were garnered by incitement from a brave few who first struck back. Marsha P. Johnson One of New York’s best known street queens, Marsha P. Johnsonwas inside the Stonewall Inn […]
October 17, 2015
The History of Homosexuality: Stonewall
Queer bars have existed for centuries, and have been raided by the police for just as long. The Stonewall Inn was no different. After the Second World War and well into the Cold War, American law enforcement, led by the FBI, deliberately targeted homosexuals for prosecution. In a three-year period from 1947-50, 17000 federal job […]
October 16, 2015
The History of Homosexuality: Being Gay
With the shift in understanding of human sexuality from acts to identities, the concept of behaving in a certain way outside the bedroom because of what happens inside began to take hold. Sexologists, busy looking for a “cause” of variant sexualities, began to study every aspect of their patients’ lives looking for common ground, although […]
October 15, 2015
People in History: Noël Coward
Born on the outskirts of London in 1899, Coward was the second son of Arthur, a piano salesman, and Violet, daughter of a naval captain. His older brother died the year before he was born. Despite the fact the family often struggled for money, Coward’s interest in performing was indulged from an early age: by […]
October 14, 2015
The History of Homosexuality: Becoming Gay
Most people know that “gay” originally meant “happy/carefree” and came to refer to (usually, male) homosexuals, but not how or when the change occurred. When we study the etymology of the word, which is twelfth century in origin, it’s clear it had developed sexually suspect connotations as early as the 1500s. By the seventeenth century, […]
October 13, 2015
Temporary Hiatus
Sorry guys, no post today. At this very moment I’m flying on a jet plane! Woohoo! Normal service will be resumed tomorrow
October 12, 2015
People in History: Boulton and Park
Thomas Ernest Boulton and Frederick William Park were two middle-class Victorian men who were involved ina national scandal after being arrested and tried for cross-dressing in public. Boulton was the son of a stockbroker; Park of a Master of a superior court. The two met at a young age and became friends, forminga theatrical double-act […]
October 11, 2015
The History of Homosexuality: Drag
Dragis the practice of cross-dressing and pastiching themannerisms and behaviours of the opposite sex for comic effect. Drag queensrun the gamut from over-the-top professional comedians such as Lily Savage, all the way through to serious (and seriously impressive) female impersonators such as RuPaul. Generally speaking, drag is a costume donned for a performance and doesn’t […]
October 10, 2015
People in History: Kenneth Williams
Born in London in 1926, Kenneth Williams was the son of Louisa (“Louie”) Morgan and Charles Williams, a barber and strict Methodist. He had an older half-sister, an illegitimate child of his mother’s born before she met his father.Although interested in acting from an early age, his father absolutely forbade it and refused to encourage […]
