LGBTQ+ History Month (October 1-30) celebrates the diverse contributions of the LGBTQ+ community. The month was founded in 1994 by Rodney Wilson, a gay history teacher from rural Missouri, and was declared National History Month by President Obama in 2009.
In this month’s “Community Voices” post, Jess Collins, a 2017 Alameda High School graduate, Office Specialist in the Department of Teaching and Learning, and member of AUSD’s LGBTQ Roundtable, also discusses common misconceptions about LGBTQ+ history. I am writing. As contributions from several prominent LGBTQ+ people.
“As we near the end of LGBTQ+ History Month, we would like to share some common misconceptions about LGBTQ+ history that we often see in the media. A deeper understanding of LGBTQ+ history will help us all realize the power of LGBTQ+ and the LGBTQ+ movement.
The common narrative would be that the LGBTQ+ rights movement began with the June 1969 Stonewall Riots. This was not the first riot, even though it was an important part of the LGBTQ+ rights movement.
The first known riot by LGBTQ+ people resisting police harassment was the Compton Cafeteria Riot in San Francisco in 1966. Police raids frequently occurred to arrest drag queens and trans women for “impersonating women.” At this time, it was illegal to wear more than three items of clothing assigned to the “opposite sex.” It could be as simple as wearing a shirt with the buttons reversed. In the incident, a police officer grabbed a drag queen and she threw coffee at him, sparking a riot.
Another misconception that has been promoted by the media and popular culture for years is that white gay men are solely responsible for the LGBTQ+ rights movement, but this is not true. While many influential white gay men have played important roles in the LGBTQ+ movement over the years, transgender people of color are believed to have started the movement. In both of the riots mentioned above, trans women and drag queens (mostly people of color) were at the forefront of the riots, but they are not getting the recognition they deserve. Martha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, both trans women of color, were prominent figures in the Stonewall riots and paved the way for the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.
Not only is it important to learn about the history of the LGBTQ+ rights movement, but it is also important to learn about LGBTQ+ people throughout history.
Influential people you may not know about where LGBTQ+ is:
Gladys Bentley (1907-1960) was a black lesbian blues artist during the Harlem Renaissance who was known for wearing top hats and suits. James Baldwin (1924-1987) is a famous writer who wrote about black queer identity. Andy Warhol (1928-1987) was a famous artist known for his paintings of Campbell’s soup cans. Quinn (1995-present) is a soccer player for the National Women’s Soccer League and the Canadian National Team, and the first non-binary athlete to win an Olympic gold medal.
These are just a few people known as queer in a short period of history. If this history is new to you, we hope you’re interested in continuing your own research to learn more about the LGBTQ+ rights movement, LGBTQ+ people throughout history, and other social justice movements. ”
