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[–]dilsencySame-sex community 13 insightful - 1 fun13 insightful - 0 fun14 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

you would think that a community built off the backs of trans people and people of color

Source please. From what I can gather, modern gay activism started in Germany and Austria in the 1860s, and it was centered around homosexual men.

[–]Horror-SwordfishI don't get how flairs work 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

This is what kills me - this kid (not digging into his profile but he clearly is a teen if he's talking about mid-20s being old) was taught that trans women of color gave us gay rights and never looked at that critically, so he just spouts it off as if it were true. That's really fucking sad that you're ostensibly gay and have no desire whatsoever to even look into the history of gay people, even just in the US.

[–]Virginia_Plain 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

It's one of the newer historical myths, like George Washington cutting down the cherry tree and owning up to it, or people thinking Christopher Columbus was insane for saying the world was round. It's even less specific in this case. The Marsha Johnson story has been very quietly retired, and is now more about generalized "black queer trans women smashing cops' heads in."

That being said, there were some unsung heroes who were black and GNC. My favorite is Lexington, KY's Sweet Evening Breeze. What was so interesting about him is that he was able to make himself a respected member of the community. In Kentucky. in the mid-20th century. I have family from there, my sister still lives there. My mother did meet him in the 60s when she went to college at UK, though she disapproves of crossdressing. She said sometimes he would dress as a man, others as a woman, and just walk down the street saying hello to people and smiling at them. Other family members have more fond memories of "Sweets."

https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/2391

[–]DimDroog 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Thank you for "introducing" us to Sweet Evening Breeze.