"Pope Joan" －－ The legend of a 9th century female pope might be a bit of papal satire, or it might have actually happened. Either way, it begs the question: why do all popes need to be men?
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Saints and Sinners
"Pope Joan" －－ The legend of a 9th century female pope might be a bit of papal satire, or it might have actually happened. Either way, it begs the question: why do all popes need to be men?
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Oscar Wilde
The British writer Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) has become an international icon of homosexuality as an aesthetic sensibility, a taboo form of desire, and a tragically heroic part of an individual's nature that was never acceptable in the cruel, hypocritical and class-obsessed world of Victorian-era England.
Oscar Wilde
Lord Alfred Douglas
The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Oscar Wilde
Lord Alfred Douglas
The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Civil Rights And Gay Rights
Bayard Rustin
Not many people know that one of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s most tireless, intelligent, and effective advisors and organizers was a gay man. Bayard Rustin was always by Dr. King's side, and his knowledge of Gandhi's protest techniques helped shape Dr. King's strategies of nonviolence.
Civil Rights, Equal Rights, Human Rights: Resonant Social Movements
The United States of America has a proud history as a breading ground of grassroots organizing that has changed the character of American politics and society again and again. To understand the history of the fight for equal rights for GLBT Americans, it is crucial to understand deeply resonant movements among African-American and immigrant communities, and the tremendous impact of organizing among American women, as well.
Refugees from authoritarian regimes like Cuba often include GLBT individuals whose sexual orientation or gender non-conformity makes them targets of violence in their home countries. In 1980, the GLBT communities of the Twin Cities helped to welcome and support GLBT refugees from Cuba. can
Not many people know that one of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s most tireless, intelligent, and effective advisors and organizers was a gay man. Bayard Rustin was always by Dr. King's side, and his knowledge of Gandhi's protest techniques helped shape Dr. King's strategies of nonviolence.
Civil Rights, Equal Rights, Human Rights: Resonant Social Movements
The United States of America has a proud history as a breading ground of grassroots organizing that has changed the character of American politics and society again and again. To understand the history of the fight for equal rights for GLBT Americans, it is crucial to understand deeply resonant movements among African-American and immigrant communities, and the tremendous impact of organizing among American women, as well.
Refugees from authoritarian regimes like Cuba often include GLBT individuals whose sexual orientation or gender non-conformity makes them targets of violence in their home countries. In 1980, the GLBT communities of the Twin Cities helped to welcome and support GLBT refugees from Cuba. can
International Pride
After the 1969 Stonewall Riots, the first "Christopher Street Gay Liberation Day March" was held June 28, 1970 in New York City. From there it spread to other American cities; Minneapolis celebrated its first Pride Festival in 1972 in Loring Park. Now, "Gay Pride" has become a major holiday linking together GLBT communities across the United States and many other countries of the world.
At the second Pride in Minneapolis, the hand-made "pride guide" was made in the shape of a frisbee so people could throw it away quickly if they felt they needed to.
Stockholm Pride (Sweden)
At the second Pride in Minneapolis, the hand-made "pride guide" was made in the shape of a frisbee so people could throw it away quickly if they felt they needed to.
Stockholm Pride (Sweden)
The Nolte Collection
This panel will come courtesy of fellow UMN graduate student Eric Colleary. Cribbing from his new Nolte Collection Blog:
Nolte's donation shows how the Tretter Collection can preserve life stories of important GLBT leaders, artistic, political and otherwise. Students and scholars will be able to use Nolte's amazing personal records to reconstruct a whole world of American professionals in drama, from the late 1940s to contemporary times.
Nolte as Billy Budd (1958)
A treasure-trove of journals and notes from a remarkable career in the theatre.
Charles Nolte is a distinguished theater artist with an international reputation – an actor, playwright, director, and educator who taught at the University of Minnesota for three decades. As an actor, Nolte appeared in nine Broadway productions, including the title role in Louis Coxe and Robert Chapman’s Billy Budd and Herman Wouk’s The Caine Mutiny Courtmartial.
In 2009, Dr. Charles M. Nolte donated his papers to the Tretter Collection for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies at the University of Minnesota. This donation formed the basis of an open collection for LGBT-related performance and film materials, with Nolte’s papers at its core.
Nolte's donation shows how the Tretter Collection can preserve life stories of important GLBT leaders, artistic, political and otherwise. Students and scholars will be able to use Nolte's amazing personal records to reconstruct a whole world of American professionals in drama, from the late 1940s to contemporary times.
Nolte as Billy Budd (1958)
A treasure-trove of journals and notes from a remarkable career in the theatre.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
International Connections
Forty years after the 1969 Stonewall Riots, Gay Pride Festivals now take place all over the developed world, connecting GLBT communities for advocacy, celebration, and finding love. Meanwhile, in other countries, same-sex love and gender nonconformity remain targets of discrimination, punishment and other forms of violence.
And yet, in progressive and oppressive nations alike, GLBT communities exist. Journals and newsletters are the basic tools for building these communities. For many years, Jean Tretter has collected these journals and newsletters. Now the Tretter Collection is one of the best resources for these materials in the world.
Body Politic (Canada)
Die Andere Welt (Germany)
KOM UT (Sweden)
FORUM lambda (Belarus)
Voila (French North Africa -- not a GLBT specific magazine, but a liberationist one that often covered GLBT topics)
Outlines (New Zealand, courtesy Laganz)
And yet, in progressive and oppressive nations alike, GLBT communities exist. Journals and newsletters are the basic tools for building these communities. For many years, Jean Tretter has collected these journals and newsletters. Now the Tretter Collection is one of the best resources for these materials in the world.
Body Politic (Canada)
Die Andere Welt (Germany)
KOM UT (Sweden)
FORUM lambda (Belarus)
Voila (French North Africa -- not a GLBT specific magazine, but a liberationist one that often covered GLBT topics)
Outlines (New Zealand, courtesy Laganz)
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Gay Royale
It's good to be the king. Or queen.
With political power comes extraordinary privileges, including the freedom to indulge your deepest sexual desires. So it makes sense then that as long as there were monarchs, there were monarchs who pursued flings, affairs and even life-long romances with lovers of the same gender.
Queen Anne (1665-1714)
This last of the Scottish Stuarts became notorious for the patronage she offered to her childhood friend and long-term lover, Sarah Jennings, later Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough. The British public did not mind the Queen's preference much at the time, but Sarah's influence over the Royal Person was the object of much jealousy at court, which eventually led to a bitter break-up.
Anne in her 20s, by Michael Dahl (Curtis, The Life and Times of Queen Anne)
Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, playing cards with a Lady (by Godfrey Kneller, Life and Times of Queen Anne)
Popular illustration of Anne and Sarah's break-up. "Upon her Knees famed Somerset receives an Office which another Duchess [Sarah] leaves." Life and Times of Queen Anne
Queen Christina of Sweden (1626-1689)
Christina was thought to have been a boy at birth; this confusion, combined with her later preference for masculine dress and demeanor, have led some to hypothesize that she was Intersex. Never inclined towards marriage, Christina is thought to have had both male and female lovers, including Ebba Sparre, her lady-in-waiting and 'bed-fellow.' At age 26, Christina abdicated the throne, converted to Catholicism, and moved to Rome where she became a great patron of the arts.
Dashing Christina (by Sébastien Bourdon, from Buckley, Christina, Queen of Sweden)
Chistina laughing as Ebba and another woman read from a bawdy book
The beautiful Countess Ebba Sparre, whom Christina called "Belle."
Gustav V, King of Sweden (1858-1950)
Well-loved as the King who built modern Sweden, but with a legacy of sexual scandal that erupted after the King's death in the intensely anti-Communist and homophobic 1950s. A man named Kurt Haijby announced in the mainstream press that he was Gustav's lover from 1912 until 1932; Swedes were perhaps more upset that the Crown at first tried to buy Haijby's silence.
Gustav with tennis buddies: image here from Hadenius, Gustav V
James VI and I, Scotland and England (1566-1625)
A biography in the collection
James, icon of Scottish-style Protestantism
George Villiers, Earl of Buckingham, aka "Your faithful slave and dog, Steenie." Image from Rowse's Illustrated History of Britain.
James greatest legacy: The King James Bible (From an old (date?) edition held at UMN)
Christian VII, King of Norway and Denmark (1749-1808)
The so-called "homosexual half-wit" was never really in control of his court; powerful advisers like his doctor, Johann Friedrich Struensee, allowed him to pursue boys and stay out of the way while they took the reigns of power.
Edward II, England (1284-1327)
Edward I subdued Scotland in a series of masterful military campaigns; Edward II, more interested in boys and parties, is blamed for Scottish rebellions during his reign. Edward's love for the selfish, impudent, but by all accounts extremely cute Piers Gaveston helped anger the court against the both of them. Edward's final tragic end (he is thought to have had a red-hot poker inserted into his anus) is dramatized in the play Edward II by Christopher Marlowe. British director Derek Jarman made a film version in 1991.
Ludwig II of Bavaria (1845-1886)
The reclusive builder of Neuschwanstein realized he was gay as a teenager when he discovered the music of Richard Wagner and the charms of young Bavarian men like Prince Paul von Thurn und Taxis and Richard Hornig. As his life became increasingly extravagant, government ministers moved to depose him, and Ludwig died in a mysterious drowning incident together with a close male friend.
With political power comes extraordinary privileges, including the freedom to indulge your deepest sexual desires. So it makes sense then that as long as there were monarchs, there were monarchs who pursued flings, affairs and even life-long romances with lovers of the same gender.
Queen Anne (1665-1714)
This last of the Scottish Stuarts became notorious for the patronage she offered to her childhood friend and long-term lover, Sarah Jennings, later Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough. The British public did not mind the Queen's preference much at the time, but Sarah's influence over the Royal Person was the object of much jealousy at court, which eventually led to a bitter break-up.
Anne in her 20s, by Michael Dahl (Curtis, The Life and Times of Queen Anne)
Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, playing cards with a Lady (by Godfrey Kneller, Life and Times of Queen Anne)
Popular illustration of Anne and Sarah's break-up. "Upon her Knees famed Somerset receives an Office which another Duchess [Sarah] leaves." Life and Times of Queen Anne
Queen Christina of Sweden (1626-1689)
Christina was thought to have been a boy at birth; this confusion, combined with her later preference for masculine dress and demeanor, have led some to hypothesize that she was Intersex. Never inclined towards marriage, Christina is thought to have had both male and female lovers, including Ebba Sparre, her lady-in-waiting and 'bed-fellow.' At age 26, Christina abdicated the throne, converted to Catholicism, and moved to Rome where she became a great patron of the arts.
Dashing Christina (by Sébastien Bourdon, from Buckley, Christina, Queen of Sweden)
Chistina laughing as Ebba and another woman read from a bawdy book
The beautiful Countess Ebba Sparre, whom Christina called "Belle."
Gustav V, King of Sweden (1858-1950)
Well-loved as the King who built modern Sweden, but with a legacy of sexual scandal that erupted after the King's death in the intensely anti-Communist and homophobic 1950s. A man named Kurt Haijby announced in the mainstream press that he was Gustav's lover from 1912 until 1932; Swedes were perhaps more upset that the Crown at first tried to buy Haijby's silence.
Gustav with tennis buddies: image here from Hadenius, Gustav V
James VI and I, Scotland and England (1566-1625)
A biography in the collection
James, icon of Scottish-style Protestantism
James greatest legacy: The King James Bible (From an old (date?) edition held at UMN)
Christian VII, King of Norway and Denmark (1749-1808)
The so-called "homosexual half-wit" was never really in control of his court; powerful advisers like his doctor, Johann Friedrich Struensee, allowed him to pursue boys and stay out of the way while they took the reigns of power.
Edward II, England (1284-1327)
Edward I subdued Scotland in a series of masterful military campaigns; Edward II, more interested in boys and parties, is blamed for Scottish rebellions during his reign. Edward's love for the selfish, impudent, but by all accounts extremely cute Piers Gaveston helped anger the court against the both of them. Edward's final tragic end (he is thought to have had a red-hot poker inserted into his anus) is dramatized in the play Edward II by Christopher Marlowe. British director Derek Jarman made a film version in 1991.
Ludwig II of Bavaria (1845-1886)
The reclusive builder of Neuschwanstein realized he was gay as a teenager when he discovered the music of Richard Wagner and the charms of young Bavarian men like Prince Paul von Thurn und Taxis and Richard Hornig. As his life became increasingly extravagant, government ministers moved to depose him, and Ludwig died in a mysterious drowning incident together with a close male friend.
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