BONUS 0.20. Dialing in to Gender: Tracing Trans Internet History with Avery Dame-Griff

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In this interview episode, Leigh sits down with scholar and creator of the Queer Digital History Project Avery Dame-Griff to discuss his book The Two Revolutions: A History of the Transgender Internet and all it contains about the magic of the evolution of trans folks on the internet. From BBSes (bulletin board system) to Twitter, we discuss how trans people have always existed on and created their own unique spaces on the World Wide Web, tapping into Avery’s extensive research, interviews, and media archaeology.

The Two Revolutions explores how the rise of the internet shaped transgender identity and activism from the 1980s to the present. Through extensive archival research and media archeology, Avery Dame-Griff reconstructs the manifold digital networks of transgender activists, cross-dressing computer hobbyists, and others interested in gender nonconformity who incited the second revolution of the title: the ascendance of "transgender" as an umbrella identity in the mid-1990s.

Dame-Griff argues that digital communications sparked significant momentum within what would become the transgender movement, but also further cemented existing power structures. Covering both a historical period that is largely neglected within the history of computing, and the poorly understood role of technology in queer and trans social movements, The Two Revolutions offers a new understanding of both revolutions-the internet's early development and the structures of communication that would take us to today's tipping point of trans visibility politics. Through a history of how trans people online exploited different digital infrastructures in the early days of the internet to build a community, The Two Revolutions tells a crucial part of trans history itself.

 

Dr. Avery Dame-Griff teaches courses on gender, race and sexuality in the US, LGBT studies, gender and technology, digital humanities, and feminist media studies at Gonzaga University. He founded and serves as primary curator of the Queer Digital History Project, an independent community history project cataloging and archiving pre-2010 LGBTQ spaces online. In 2022, he was selected to be a Public Humanities Fellow for Humanities Washington, developing a series of interactive online exhibits, teaching guides, and workshops about the history of LBGTQ+ communities in online spaces.

Where To Find Dr. Avery Dame-Griff Online:

More Exciting News in the World of Early Trans Internet!

As listeners may know, Leigh works at the GLBT Historical Society for their day job. And recently, a volunteer archivist, Cara Esten Hurtle, discovered an amazing CD-ROM containing the entirety of Transgender Forum, (TGForum.com) from 1995 to 1998, one of the largest trans communities online at that time, that Avery Dame-Griff also covers in his book! Hurtle uploaded the CD-rom online for anyone to peruse, and it’s absolutely amazing to see the 90s trans community right there before your very eyes!

The discovery has been covered by them online in a fantastic article which you can read here: This Archive Offers an Incredible Window Into the Early Trans Internet.

And you can peruse the CD-Rom of TGForum.com here, where Cara uploaded the archive! Just click the “START.HTM” file in the tgfcd window, and browse to your heart’s content! Want Leigh to do an interview with Cara about her discovery? Let us know!


Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

46. A Husband is Unnecessary: Yoshiya Nobuko & Japanese Girls' Culture

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This episode has EVERYTHING: gay haircuts, yearning, rage against the patriarchy, they were *roommates*....let’s talk about the magical world of Yoshiya Nobuko, girls’ culture, and lesbian fiction in Taishō era Japan!

Leigh is joined by guest host Erica Friedman, speaker, editor, researcher and an expert on all things Yuri. Yoshiya Nobuko was an extremely popular writer in 20th century Japan who lived with her beloved female partner for 50 years and her legacy continues today as “the Grandmother of Yuri.”. The tropes and storylines established in her writing can still be seen today in queer girls stories in and outside of Japan– get ready to learn all about modern Japan’s very own Sappho. After all, it’s all in the yearning.

Erica Friedman (she/her) holds a Masters Degree in Library Science and a B.A. in Comparative Literature, and is a full-time researcher for a Fortune 100 company.

She has lectured at events around the world and presented at film festivals, notably the San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Film Festival and the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. She has participated in an academic lecture series at MIT, University of Illinois, Harvard University, Kanagawa University, and others.

Erica has written about Yuri for Japanese literary journal Eureka, Animerica magazine, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Dark Horse, Del Rey and contributed to Forbes, Slate, Huffington Post, Hooded Utilitarian, Anime News Network and The Mary Sue online. She has written news and event reports, interviews Yuri creators and reviews Yuri anime, manga and related media on her blog Okazu since 2002.

She is the author of a cyberpunk novella and is the author of By Your Side: The First 100 years of Yuri Anime and Manga, published by Journey Press.

Locate Erica upon the internet:

A Closer Look at Yoshiya Nobuko

We’ve gathered some photos of Yoshiya (and friends) throughout her life for you to check out here!

Young Yoshiya

Yoshiya and Monma Chiyo: Wife for Life!

Yoshiya and Monma fell in deep love the moment they met, and their letters to each other reveal so much about their dynamic, we had to share them here!

Yoshiya to Monma, 1923:

Beloved Chiyo
I will love you no matter what
I do not wish to make you lonely
Nor do I want to be lonely
I want you to be the source of my strength
And, if you will let me, I would like to be the source of your strength

May 23, 8:30 pm
Arriving home soaking wet from the rain
Nobuko


Monma to Yoshiya, 1923 (she addresses Yoshiya as onesama, or "older sister," a popular euphemism then and now for one half of a lesbian couple)

Beloved elder sister. I am unspeakably lonely when you leave. My heart becomes hollow, and all I am able to do is to sit in a chair and stare blankly at the wall. It’s now nighttime, isn’t it? As I wrap my unlined black kimono around my bare skin and adjust the hem, my body is aroused by feelings of longing [for you]; instead, what stretches confusingly before my eyes is dusty reality. Ah, this evening. My heart finds no consolation in this evening dream of mine or in reality. My heart sinks from a heavy sadness. If only on this night we were together in our own little house, lying quietly under the light of a lantern, then my heart would gradually warm and neither would you be so sad. I am so sad that I won’t be able to see you either tomorrow or the day after. Let us please meet again on Tuesday. Farewell for now; I am forever yours. Why have I written such things, I wonder? Please don’t worry too much about me. Goodbye, and please take care of yourself.

May 11, midnight
Thinking of my elder sister.
Chiyoko

Monma to Yoshiya, February 1925:

I can only think of how soon we can arrange to live together. There’s nothing I need more than your warm embrace. It is unfortunate that we are not a male and female couple, for if you were a male, our union would be quickly arranged. But a female couple is not allowed. Why is it that [in our society] love is acknowledged only by its outward form and not by its depth of quality — especially since there are so many foul and undesirable aspects to heterosexual relationships?

And Yoshya’s response:

Chiyo-chan. After reading your letter I resolved to build a small house for the two of us…Once it is constructed, I will declare it to be a branch household (bunke), initiate a household register [listing, by law, all family members], and become a totally independent household. I will then adopt you so that you can become a legal member of my household (adoption being a formality since the law will not recognize you as a wife. In the meantime, I aim to get the law reformed). We will have our own house and our own household register. That’s what I’ve decided…We’ll celebrate your adoption with a party just like the typical marriage reception — it will be our wedding ceremony. I want it to be really grand. We will ask Miyake Yasuko-san and Shigeri-san [the couple who had introduced them] to be our go-betweens. I wonder what kind of wedding kimono would look best on you?

Yoshiya in WWII, part of the Pen Butai propaganda corps

Yoshiya Nobuko’s work is not without criticism, and we must mention that during the second world war, she was part of a journalistic propaganda unit of the Japanese government called the pen butai, a group of writers who traveled through areas occupied under Japan’s imperial campaign and control, including China, Manchuria, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and others, writing dispatches published in Japanese newspapers. There are very few photos, but we were able to find a few.

Yoshiya with Kan Kikuchi, Eiji Yoshikawa, and others being welcomed at tokyo station

Yoshiya with Kan kikuchi and others outside of a plane in manchuria, during her time in the pen butai

Older, Delightfully Butch Distinguished Yoshiya

Shojo Bunka and the covers of Yoshiya’s works

Yoshiya was writing at a time when girls’ magazines were hugely popular and instrumental in turning shojo bunka into an entire subculture. Here’s some covers of some popular shojo magazines and Yoshiya’s works!

On the left, a 1908 issue of Shōjo sekai (少女世界, "Girls′ World"), one of the first girls’ magazines in japan. On the right, a cover of sarah frederick’s translated version of “Yellow Rose”, one of the stories in Yoshiya’s hana monogatari (花物語 "Flower Tales")

cover of hana monogatari (花物語 "Flower Tales")

Cover of “Two Virgins/Two Maidens in the attic”, yaneura no nishojo, 1919

Yoshiya Nobuko Memorial Museum

Yoshiya and Monma’s house in Kamakura was turned into a museum after Yoshiya’s death, containing memorabilia from her life and preserving her study and living spaces. It’s open twice a year.

And lastly, check out Erica’s conversation with Sarah Frederick all about Yoshiya for Yuricon!

 

If you want to learn more, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Online Articles & Resources:

Books and Print Articles:

Videos

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

BONUS 0.19. Classical Myths, Monsters, and Ancient Gays: A Conversation with Liz Gloyn

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In this interview episode, Leigh talks with Dr. Elizabeth Gloyn, Reader in Latin Language and Literature at Royal Holloway, the University of London, and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her research focuses on the intersection between Latin literature, ancient philosophy, and gender studies; as well as topics of classical reception (particularly monsters) and the history of women in Classics. She is also the author of Tracking Classical Monsters in Popular Culture.

Thanks to listener Cheryl Morgan for connecting us for this wonderful conversation on queerness in the ancient world (including adorable poly couples), what Seneca really said about the Amazons, and how fanfiction has created a unique space for queering classical monsters.

What is it about ancient monsters that popular culture still finds so enthralling? Why do the monsters of antiquity continue to stride across the modern world? In this book, the first in-depth study of how post-classical societies use the creatures from ancient myth, Liz Gloyn reveals the trends behind how we have used monsters since the 1950s to the present day, and considers why they have remained such a powerful presence in our shared cultural imagination. She presents a new model for interpreting the extraordinary vitality that classical monsters have shown, and their enormous adaptability in finding places to dwell in popular culture without sacrificing their connection to the ancient world.

Her argument takes her readers through a comprehensive tour of monsters on film and television, from the much-loved creations of Ray Harryhausen in Clash of the Titans to the monster of the week in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, before looking in detail at the afterlives of the Medusa and the Minotaur. She develops a broad theory of the ancient monster and its life after antiquity, investigating its relation to gender, genre and space to offer a bold and novel exploration of what keeps drawing us back to these mythical beasts. From the siren to the centaur, all monster lovers will find something to enjoy in this stimulating and accessible book.

 

Dr. Liz Gloyn is Reader in Classics at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK. Her many research interests include the reception of classics in popular culture, with a particular focus on film and children's literature. She has recently published Tracking Classical Monsters in Popular Culture (2019). As well as writing for publications like History Today and Strange Horizons, she tweets about her research at @lizgloyn.

Where To Find Dr. Liz Gloyn Online:

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

45. There's No Crying in Baseball, But There Are Lesbians! Queer History of the AAGPBL

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An episode Leigh has been dreaming of since the start of the pod is finally here! In this ep, Leigh is joined by guest host Frankie de la Cretaz, sports journalist, queer history buff, and certified Gaylor Swiftie, to discuss the queer history of women’s baseball & softball, in particular the story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, aka the inspiration behind A League of Their Own! We discuss all the extreme “no-homo”ing that was happening in the League’s rules and regulations, and all the YES HOMO-ing that happened in spite of it, making the sport into an important site of queer community.

Frankie de la Cretaz (they/them) is a writer whose work focuses on the intersection of sports and gender. They are the co-author of HAIL MARY: The Rise and Fall of the National Women’s Football League and their work has been featured in the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, The Atlantic, and more.

Locate Frankie upon the internet:

The Beginnings: Women & Softball

Softball started as a way to play baseball indoors during cold winters, and women were there from the very beginning. Check out this photo of the first-known organized women’s baseball team, the Vassar College Resolutes, in 1876. Those outfits!

The Leagues: The AAGPBL

Prompted by the shortages of men in professional baseball due to World War II, chewing-gum magnate and owner of the Chicago Cubs, Phillip K. Wrigley, started recruiting women for his new All American Girls’ Softball League (which would change its name to the All American Girls’ Professional Baseball League) in 1943.

Phillip K. Wrigley

The original logo for the AAGPBL, when it was still the All-American Girls Softball league

1945 flier for aagpbl GAME

The first players signed to the AAGSL in 1943: Clara Shillace, Ann Harnett, Edie Perlick, and Shirley Jameson

The league’s regulations about makeup, grooming, and dress were extremely strict and feminized, to dispel associations of the league with lesbians.

Racine Bells vs. South Bend Blue Sox, September 14, 1947

AAGPBL doing calistenics in Opa-Locka, Florida, 1948

Dorothy Harrell, shortstop for the Chicago Colleens, in an amazing catch from a 1948 game

The Leagues: NGBL

Inspired by the success of the recruiting efforts of the AAGPBL, Forest Park roofing company owner Emery Parichy, who also owned the Chicago Cardinals football team, started the National Girls Baseball League, a professional underhand fast-pitch softball league based out of Chicago, that ended up being the primary rival league for the AAGPBL.

Where the All-American focused on femininity and image, the NGBL focused more on the sport. They allowed the players to compete in shorts, didn’t have makeup and charm school requirements, and was integrated.

Emery Parichy, the founder and owner of the national girls’ baseball league (NGBL)

The NGBL and AAGPBL were in constant rivalry for players and poached from each other enough that an official peace agreement had to be drawn up

Parichy’s Bloomer Girls in 1946

Pink Poirok and Ricki Caito

Lois Roberts, the famously barefoot outfielder for the Ngbl!

Nancy Ito, NGBL’s first Japanese american player in the ngbl, played shortstop for the bloomer girls in 1953.

Betty Chapman, the first Black woman to play professional softball. She was an outfielder for the admiral music maids, 1951

Gwen Wong, the NGBL’s first chinese-american player, a left-handed rookie pitcher from san francisco for the bloomer girls.

Their Turn at Bat: The Story of the National Girls Baseball League is a documentary project in the making by filmmaker Adam Chu, the premiere expert on the NGBL! Please visit his website to support the efforts to make the film and check out all the amazing memorabilia for the NGBL he has, and thank you to Adam for letting us use these photos and introducing our listeners to the NGBL!

Queer Ball Players of Note

Take a look at some of the ball players we mentioned in the episode who were/are queer!

Maybelle Blair

Born January 16, 1927 in Inglewood, CA, and was a pitcher for the Peoria Redwings in the AAGPBL. She then went on to play for the Cardinals in Emery Parichy’s NGBL, and then the Jax Softball Club of New Orleans, LA.

She came out at the age of 95 during the press tour for the new A League of Their Own series, which she consulted on, and is now living her best gay life!

JoJo D’Angelo

November 23, 1924 – August 18, 2013. Born in Chicago, IL, and played outfield for 2 seasons with the South Bend Blue Sox in the AAGPBL. She set an all-time record for fewest strikeouts in a season, until she was fired from the league for a “butchy” haircut. She went on to become a PE teacher and a hero of the Chicago public school system for 34 years.

Her obituary mentioned that she identified as a lesbian since she was a teenager.

JoJo D’Angelo, outfield for SOuth Bend Blue Sox

Mildred “Millie” Deegan

December 11, 1919 - July 21, 2002. Born in Brooklyn, NY, and ended up playing 10 seasons with the AAGPBL, as a Rockford Peach, Kenosha Comet, and a Fort Wayne Daisy, and was known as The Babe Ruth of Women’s Softball.

Her obituary mentioned her partner, Margaret Nusse, as her companion and survivor.

Babe Ruth feeling Millie Deegan’s bicep during an exhibition game, 1938. (Photo: The Diamond Angle, via Archive Today)

Millie and Margaret’s funeral plaque

Terry Donahue & Pat Henschel

Terry Donahue, August 22, 1945 - March 14, 2019, born in Saskatchewan, Canada. Played as catcher for the Peoria Redwings in the AAGPBL from 1946-1949, before playing for the Admiral Music Maids in the National Girls Baseball League in 1950.

She met her partner, Pat Henschel, during an off season from the AAGPBL at a hockey game, and they fell in love quickly. They kept their relationship secret from family until they were in their eighties, and a documentary A Secret Love was made about their relationship. They got married in 2015 at their assisted living facility.

Terry passed in 2019, and Pat Henschel is still living in the assisted living facility. Their legacy was cemented with a pair of bobbleheads, showcasing their sports prowess!

 

Dot Wilkinson

Born October 9, 1921 in Phoenix, AZ — we noted in the episode that she was still alive at the age of 101, but unfortunately she passed a few days after we recorded our episode.

One of the greatest women’s softball players of all time — Wilkinson was offered a contract with the AAGPBL and turned it down, put off by the homophobic rules and she was attached to her softball team, The Phoenix Ramblers, which she had been playing for since she was a bat girl at the age of 11.

She and her partner, Estelle “Ricki” Caito, met as rival softball players who then became friends and then began dating, in a REAL LIFE ENEMIES-TO-LOVERS trope!!

Dot WIlkinson, perhaps the best women’s softball player of all time. Played for the Phoenix Ramblers for 32 years.

Ricki Caito, second baseman for the Bloomer Girls of the NGBL. She also played softball for the California Orange Lionettes, opposite Dot WIlkinson’s Ramblers

Lorraine Hurdle

February 16, 1922 - January 2014. Hurdle never played for a professional league, but she played softball and baseball when she was part of the Women’s Army Corp, serving in WWII. She joined the military in 1944, moved to California in the 1960s, and had a successful tax advising business with a large group of Black and queer friends. She apparently frequently had crushes on femmes, including a school bus driver named Miss Ruby who called Hurdle “Daddy”. She was a classic old-school butch who liked cars, sports, and gambling.

Hurdle playing pool in her women’s army corps uniform. Lorraine Hurdle papers. Collection Number: 2018-12. GLBT Historical Society

Lorraine Hurdle and Baseball Team. Lorraine Hurdle papers. Collection Number: 2018-12. GLBT Historical Society

If you want to learn more, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Online Articles & Resources:

Books and Print Articles:

  • Pierman, Carol J. “Baseball, Conduct, and True Womanhood”. Women’s Studies Quarterly, Vol. 33, No. 1/2, Women and Sports (Spring-Summer 2005), pp. 68-85. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40005502

  • Cahn, Susan K. “From the ‘Muscle Moll’ to the ‘Butch’ Ballplayer: Mannishness, Lesbianism, and Homophobia in U.S. Women’s Sport.” Feminist Studies, vol. 19, no. 2, 1993, pp. 343–68. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3178373.  

  • Adams, Natalie, et al. “Tomboys, Dykes, and Girly Girls: Interrogating the Subjectivities of Adolescent Female Athletes.” Women’s Studies Quarterly, vol. 33, no. 1/2, 2005, pp. 17–34. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40005499.

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

BONUS 0.18. Take Me Out to the Ball Gayme: Will Graham Talks A League of Their Own

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Have you, like our dear host Leigh, gotten totally sucked into the amazing new Amazon Prime adaptation of A League of Their Own? Do you want to hear all about the show, its meticulous research into queer life of the 1940s and how the writers, producers, and cast opened up the scope of the movie to focus on the lives of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League’s queer players? Well then, hop in to this episode, where I’m joined by co-creator Will Graham to dive deep into A League of Their Own, early queer nightlife, the importance of representation both on and behind the camera, and what it means to be a young, queer kid who just wants to play ball and has finally found their team.

A League of Their Own follows queer women athletes and players during the first season of the All-American Girls’ Professional Baseball League, started in 1943 by chewing gum magnate and owner of the Chicago Cubs, Phillip K. Wrigley, in response to a shortage of male players due to World War II, We’ll be doing a full episode on the queer history of the AAGPBL and queer women in baseball/softball during this era next, so stay tuned!


Will Graham is a writer, director, and showrunner. He directed and executive produced episodes of Amazon’s Emmy and Golden Globe-winning series Mozart in the Jungle. He also wrote multiple episodes of Amazon’s comedy series Alpha House. Graham was one of the original founders of The Onion’s Onion News Network web series and won a Peabody Award for his directing and executive producing work on the show. He subsequently served as showrunner on IFC’s The Onion News Network series.

He founded Field Trip Productions in 2017, along with former UTA agent Hailey Wierengo. The company is currently producing multiple series through their first-look TV deal with Amazon Studios, including A League of Their Own, with Graham serving as co-creator and co-showrunner alongside Abbi Jacobson; Daisy Jones and the Six with Hello Sunshine, as well as many other forthcoming shows.


You can watch the first season of A League of Their Own on Amazon Prime.

To give you a taste, check out the trailer!

Where To Find Will Graham Online:

And for more information on A League of Their Own:

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

BONUS 0.17. Dip Me in Honey & Throw Me to the Lesbians: Queer Feminist Restaurant History

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Anyone remember that pin & bumper sticker with the slogan that serves as the title for this episode? Well, I hope you’re hungry, because we’re talking lesbians and food in this interview with Dr. Alex Ketchum, Director of the Just Feminist Tech and Scholarship Lab, lecturer, and author, whose work integrates food, environmental, technological, and gender history.

We talk about her latest book, Ingredients for Revolution: A History of American Feminist Restaurants, Cafes, and Coffeehouses, the first history of the more than 230 feminist and lesbian-feminist restaurants, cafes, and coffeehouses that existed in the United States from 1972 to the present. We dive into the ways these institutions provided spaces and community to tackle questions around the intersections between feminism, food justice, queer rights, and other social justice movements while serving as training grounds for women workers and entrepreneurs, as well as what the landscape of queer feminist restaurants looks like today.

Coinciding with the fiftieth anniversary of the trailblazing restaurant Mother Courage of New York City, Ingredients for Revolution: A History of American Feminist Restaurants, Cafes, and Coffeehouses is the first history of the more than 230 feminist and lesbian-feminist restaurants, cafes, and coffeehouses that existed in the United States from 1972 to the present. As key sites of cultural and political significance, this volume shows the essential role these institutions served for multiple social justice movements including women’s liberation, LGBTQ equality, and food justice, as well as for training women workers and entrepreneurs. 

This systematic study outlines the crucial steps it took to establish these businesses during eras when sexism was so institutionalized it was difficult for unmarried women to obtain a bank loan, while also showing the continuities and influences of past businesses on contemporary places. Through an examination of important establishments across America, Alex D. Ketchum first examines the foundational principles behind these businesses, noting key differences between cooperative, for-profit, and non-profit models. She then looks to issues of financing, labour, pay, food sourcing, and cultural programming to understand how these organizations reconciled feminist beliefs with capitalism and how they strove for more equitable and sustainable business practices. 

Brimming with illuminating archival research, interviews with influential restaurateurs, and illustrated with photographs, menus, posters, and calendars, Ingredients for Revolution is a fundamental work of women’s history, food history, and cultural history.  

 

Dr. Alex Ketchum is the Faculty Lecturer of the Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies of McGill University in Montreal. She is the Director of the Just Feminist Tech and Scholarship Lab and the author of Engage in Public Scholarship!: A Guidebook on Feminist and Accessible Communication. Her work integrates food, environmental, technological, and gender history.

Alex’s latest book, Ingredients for Revolution: American Feminist Restaurants, Cafes, and Coffeehouses, 1972-2022, is the first history of the more than 230 feminist and lesbian-feminist restaurants, cafes, and coffeehouses that existed in the United States from 1972 to the present.

Where can I get the book?

You can order your copy of Ingredients for Revolution for 20% off (for U.S. readers) through University of Chicago Press, or through Concordia University Press for Canadian readers.

The Podcast!

There’s also an accompanying podcast: Feminist Ingredients for Revolution: A Food and Queer History Podcast, full of interviews with others in the food justice and feminism world. Check it out at TheFeministRestaurantProject.com. You can listen to the trailer here!

Where To Find Dr. Alex Ketchum Online:

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

44. Can We Just Title An Episode "Fuck Colonialism"?: Reclaiming Two-Spirit Histories

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For this episode, Leigh is joined by Sam Campbell to discuss the history behind Two Spirit identities. In this episode, they cover the pre-colonial significance of Two-Spirit people to Indigenous communities, how early colonists were able to shape the narrative of what it meant to be Two-Spirit and how that has changed, and last, how colonization has nearly eradicated Two-Spirit histories. How can we uplift these stories to highlight Two-Spirit resilience despite the genocide they faced?

Sam Campbell is a Diné and Yome Two-Spirit individual who has dedicated their time to supporting LGBT2s+ groups. As a board member and former drum keeper for the Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits (BAAITS), they have helped facilitate community connection and healing. As a two-time TEDx speaker, Sam has worked to highlight the complexity of gender and sexuality as well as bring awareness to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls movement.

Locate Sam upon the internet:

Sam has also given two TEDx Talks on Indigenous and Two-Spirit history and reclamation:


Firstly, let’s define what we mean by “Two-Spirit”— below is a fantastic video from them.us, featuring Geo Soctomah Neptune (Passamaquoddy), a Two-Spirit activist, model, basket maker, and politician, whom we mentioned in our episode:

Some Historical Images/Illustrations of Two-Spirits:

“Employments of the hermaphrodites”, watercolor by jacques le moyne and then engraving by theodore de bry, 1591. The image depicts Timucuan two-spirt people carrying wounded peopleand the dead on stretchers, showing their roles as caretakers, medicine people, and death workers.

“Dance to the berdash”, 1835-1837, by george catlin. depicting multiple men dancing around a two-spirit person among the sauk and fox

cheyenne he’emane’o in a ledger drawing depicting the victory dance held after Custer's defeat in 1876

Cheyenne hetaneman, 1889. An AFAB two-spirit person in battle, wearing a men’s breechcloth, depicted on a ledger drawing.

a unknown quechan kwe’rhame, c. 1890s — one of the only known photographs of an afab two-spirit person from this era, wearing a men’s breechcloth and bow guards on their wrists.

Some notable Two-Spirit individuals in the historic record, whom we’ll be covering in their own episodes!

Bíawacheeitchish, also kown as Woman Chief or “Pine Leaf”, a Crow warrior

Hosteen Klah (Diné: Hastiin Tłʼa), a Diné nádleehi artist and medicine person

Lozen (1840-1889), Chiricahua Apache warrior woman, prophet, and one of the most trusted member’s of geronimo’s band fighting against colonizers

Osh-Tisch (also spelled Ohchiish), a Crow badé

We’Wha (1849-1896), a Zuni lhamana, fibert artist, weaver, and potter who became a cultural ambassador for the Zuni people and indigenous americans in general

What happened to these histories: The Effects of Colonialism

As soon as European invaders arrived, the oppression of Native peoples in the Americas begun, and violence and anti-indigenous treatment generally went one of two ways — violence and genocide or assimilation.

One of the most infamous events of genocide and hatred against Indigenous Two-Spirit peoples was in 1513, when Spanish colonizer Vasco Nuñez de Balboa had forty two-spirit people that he encountered in Panama put to death by his dogs. The event was depicted in an engraving based on a painting published by Theodore de Bry.

We are choosing not to show this image here, so as not to retraumatize Indigenous folks who may visit this site, but can be viewed by clicking this link if you so choose.

One of the other ways settler colonialism enacted violence upon Indigenous peoples was to work through assimilation and erasure and restriction of their culture — namely through institutions called “residential schools” or “boarding schools”, though they are better described as assimilation camps.

The children in these institutions were subjected to countless types of abuse, from physical, sexual, emotional, to religious. They were given new Anglo-Saxon names, forced to wear western dress and their traditional clothing destroyed, forbidden from speaking their languages or practicing Indigenous customs, and their hair was cut.

Indigenous children at the Carlisle Indian School, an assimilation camp (“Residential/boarding school”), founded in 1879 with the goal of separating children from their families and “killing the indian to save the man”.

A Diné (Navajo Nation) student of carlisle Indian Boarding School in the 1880s, in a “before and after” sequence. The student file lists him as Tom Torlino— his Diné name was Hastiin To'Haali.

Two-Spirit Artists, Activists, and Influences to Follow Today:

Geo Soctomah Neptune (Passamaquoddy), she/they, is a master basket weaver, performer, and model. She became the first openly Two-Spirit person elected to public office in Maine during 2020!

Kairyn Potts (Nakota Sioux), he/him, is a Winkte Two-Spirit Indigenous youth advocate, comedian, and actor. He hosts a Snapchat video series on Indigenous youth culture with Marika Sila called Reclaim(ed). He also has some really hilarious comedy videos on his Instagram and TikTok you should definitely check out.

View this profile on Instagram

Kairyn Potts (@ohkairyn) • Instagram photos and videos

Anachnid (Oji-Cree/Mi’kmaq), she/her, is a Canadian electronic musician based in Montreal and won the Felix Award for Indigenous Artist of the Year at the 43rd Félix Awards in 2021. Her album, Dreamweaver, was released in February 2020

(Note: We mispronounced this artist’s name as Arachnid in the episode, our apologies!)

Bobby Sanchez (Quechua Wari), she/they, is a rapper, poet, and model. Check out her amazing track “Quechua 101 Land Back Please”:

Recommended reading for Two-Spirit poetry and literature:

Sovereign Erotics: A Collection of Two-Spirit Literature

Red book cover art for "Sovereign Erotics: A Collection of Two-Spirit Literature, depicting an Indigenous woman with a camera

BAAITS Two-Spirit Powwow 2023

The Bay Area American Indian Two Spirits Powwow is coming up on Saturday, February 4 in San Francisco! If you are local to the area, or even just want to check it out virtually via the livestream or some of the events they have going on in the week preceding the event, check it out at www.baaits.org!

If you want to learn more, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Online Articles & Resources:

Books and Print Articles:

  • Fulton, Robert, and Steven W. Anderson. “The Amerindian ‘Man-Woman’: Gender, Liminality, and Cultural Continuity.” Current Anthropology 33, no. 5 (1992): 603–10. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2743927.

  • Parsons, Elsie Clews. “The Zuñi Ła’mana.” American Anthropologist 18, no. 4 (1916): 521–28. http://www.jstor.org/stable/660121.

  • Smithers, Gregory D. “Cherokee ‘Two Spirits’: Gender, Ritual, and Spirituality in the Native South.” Early American Studies 12, no. 3 (2014): 626–51. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24474873.

  • Dozono, Tadashi. “Teaching Alternative and Indigenous Gender Systems in World History: A Queer Approach.” The History Teacher 50, no. 3 (2017): 425–47. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44507259.

  • Katz, Jonathan Ned. “Native Americans/Gay Americans 1528-1976”, Gay American History: Lesbians & Gay Men in the U.S.A.

  • Kit Heyam. “‘Because of the manifestation of Spirit’: Gender, spirituality and survival in North America and South Asia”, Before We Were Trans

  • Roscoe, Will. Changing Ones: Third & Fourth Genders in Native North America

  • Williams, Walter L. The Spirit and the Flesh: Sexual Diversity in American Indian Culture

  • Roscoe, Will (editor). Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

BONUS 0.16. Undoing Silence: Hugh Ryan & The Women's House of Detention

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In this interview episode, Leigh sits down for a conversation with historian and writer Hugh Ryan about his landmark book The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison. The Women's House of Detention is the story of one building: the people it caged, the neighborhood it changed, and the resistance it inspired. Listen for an extremely enlightening conversation on the unlikely queer community found in a space of incarceration in the heart of New York's Greenwich Village, the ways in which the carceral state specifically targets queer women and transmasculine people, and the case for abolition as prioritizing of systems of care. 

Historian Hugh Ryan (When Brooklyn Was Queer) delivers an immersive study of a New York City women’s prison that operated between 1929 and 1971. Contending that the House of D, as it was known, “helped make Greenwich Village queer, and the Village, in return, helped define queerness for America,” Ryan recovers the story of Charlotte B. (most last names are withheld), who fell in love with a fellow inmate while awaiting her arraignment for “waywardism” in 1934, and other queer and “transmasculine” prisoners. Though the inmates’ harsh treatment, including “dehumanizing” medical exams, provoked riots beginning in the 1950s, queer women remained segregated and were still required to wear a “D” (for degenerate) on their clothes. Contending that these experiences pushed queer women to resist labels and take pride in their sexuality, Ryan notes that by the 1960s, the House of D was publicly linked to queer behavior in Broadway musical lyrics and magazine articles, and explains how Black Panther member Afeni Shakur, incarcerated in 1969, connected Black Power with gay liberation. Expertly mining prison records and other source materials, Ryan brings these marginalized women to vivid life. This informative, empathetic narrative is a vital contribution to LGBTQ history.”

-Publisher’s Weekly

 

Photo credit: M. Sharkey/Bold Type Books

Hugh Ryan is a writer and curator, and most recently, the author of The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison, which New York Magazine called one of the best books of 2022. His first book, When Brooklyn Was Queer, won a 2020 New York City Book Award, was a New York Times Editors' Choice in 2019, and was a finalist for the Randy Shilts and Lambda Literary Awards. He was honored with the 2020 Allan Berube Prize from the American Historical Association. Since 2019, he has worked with the NYC Dept. of Education to develop LGBTQ+ inclusive educational materials and trainings.

Where To Find Hugh Ryan Online:

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!