Leanne, this is a really important topic. The erasure of gay and lesbian history and people in order to exploit them for transgender propaganda is infuriating.
Another remarkable woman I include in the list of misappropriated lesbians is Pauli Murray, a masculine presenting lesbian who, among many other accomplishments, was one of the founders of the National Organization for Women.
Where would trans ideology be today without the pioneering gays and lesbians who came before, who are now exploited for a purpose we never intended?
I do have a question, in all sincerity. I knew about Billy Tipton. When she died it was newsworthy in the lesbian community. But why do you refer to Billy as a "he"? To me, she's a female transvestite, a butch lesbian, a woman who passed. I knew many such women. They spoke about the tricky inner dichotomy they felt. Because of the burgeoning intersection between lesbianism and feminism in the 1970s, the butch lesbians I knew came to accept that they were, in fact, women, without changing a thing about their self-presentation. For some of those butches, embracing the fact that they were female was a profound step towards personal integration and a huge weight off their shoulders.
During her lifetime, Billy Tipton preserved the identity she had crafted so she could work as a jazz musician, and probably because she was more comfortable in men's clothes. There may also have been shame and internalized homophobia, which would make sense at the time. The culture was very homophobic, and passing as a man made her work life viable and also increased her chances of finding a woman to love her (there were many).
When she died there was speculation that her death was at least partially due to the physical and emotional stresses of hiding her identity from her lovers, her co-workers, especially the doctors, and even her kids.
This article describes some of the stresses she was under as the result of hiding her sex in her personal relationships and her working life:
But today, in the 21st century, is it necessary to perpetuate the transgender myth that being a masculine woman, or even "identifying" as a man, makes a woman a "he"? Billy is no longer here to give us her opinion, but it's my opinion that the closet door is wide open and thankfully, we can say what's true.
I'd love to hear your POV, if you care to share it. Thank you!
One thing that really worries me how Mo much is digital now. Think about it, in 1984 John Smith literally is changing old texts, now they can change every book on your kindle and who would be the wiser other than our memories.
This is an interesting comment but I don't understand what it has to do with my question in the moment.
Are you saying that it doesn't matter what pronoun you use when referring to Billy Tipton, because trans activists will just edit your comment to suit their agenda? Or am I missing something? I'm not disagreeing with you about the dangerously ephemeral nature of digital technology and the risks of tampering that go with it. Was your article tampered with?
Even before trans cultural hegemony reached its present peak, queer revisionists were hard at work queering the past. It felt like a slap in the face when I opened up a theater program for a play about the acclaimed and much-loved chef James Beard at Portland Center Stage and saw Mr. Beard referred to as "queer." If the author had been within earshot, I'd have straightened him out: "My dear, James Beard wasn't a bit queer. If anything, he was a nice old queen like many gay men of his generation."
When I'm commenting in forums with a high concentration of straight trans and queer allies, I love pointing out that Queer is neither a sexual orientation nor a gender identity but a scene and a posture, a learned set of pernicious philosophical and political viewpoints. But that's only the high church queers. Most queers are just obnoxious trendsters who've latched on to the newest way of making themselves insufferable.
Meanwhile, figures in the straight-dominated mainstream media and entertainment platforms fall all over themselves showing how with-it they are by erasing gay men and lesbians right and left. We're all queer now, I guess.
I've always hated the word queer. In the past it was because it was used as a slur. I think Marcus (The Offensive Tranny) summed up today's 'queer' quite well, "QIA+ are just identity labels for straight people who want to feel special."
"Meanwhile, figures in the straight-dominated mainstream media and entertainment platforms fall all over themselves showing how with-it they are by erasing gay men and lesbians right and left. We're all queer now, I guess."
This is a very cogent observation. If only we could get the self-styled wokerati to see it.
The myth-making around Stonewall is omnipresent and resilient; no matter how many false narratives you dispel, others arise to take their place.
Also, I did a bit of reading up about Marsha P, who is currently lauded as some prominent gay rights activist, who created a "shelter" for street kids. As far as I can tell, that "shelter" was a flophouse in which Johnson and her cohorts squatted for about nine months. Johnson did permit street kids to stay there, yes, and also permitted rampant drug use among them there.
I'm not saying Johnson was a bad person; but Barbara Gittings she* was not.
(This is Leslie, by the way. Male. Substack gets us mixed up even though we sign in with different e-mail addresses.)
I had a friend in high school like that I went through puberty with. He is long dead, too, alas.
It also reminds how the claim we make to parents and school boards who want to trans our children that "Trans is not the new gay" doesn't really land. Because trans *is* the new face of a certain type of homosexual activism. Now that they've won all the battles --same-sex marriage is now legal by Court fiat if not entirely popularly endorsed -- the activists need something new to attract donor money to keep their advocacy organizations well funded and fully employed. So trans rights is at, and that means rewriting history: all those gay men were really women, and the women men. Most of the trans-rights activists in Canada are publicly out middle-aged gay men and a few far-left women. Of course they are. People who actually identify as trans are really really rare.
The stress and anxiety caused by not knowing and dreading the discovery that g & l you know as ‘family ‘ will reject you for not conforming to the ideology that is erasing us cannot be understated. Added to being rejected by one’s biological family as not gay enough to ‘get it’ is beyond words. Another sleepless night.
Thank you for sharing. I’ve seen the erasure of etymology in place of “new meanings.” The other day, I had a long discussion with my 17 year old autistic daughter, who “identifies” as a trans man despite me lovingly explaining that her identity is not defined by sexual orientation or gender, but character and integrity. She wears dresses, only has female friends, and loves Hello Kitty. She explained to me the difference between omnisexual, pansexual and bisexual. Omnisexual is that you have no preference but are attracted to “all” genders, pansexual is similar but means one has a preference, and bisexual also refers to those attracted to multiple genders.
It is so hard to explain the truth in a loving way that doesn’t push her away as so many confused children have been by parents who just don’t buy what’s being sold. I told my daughter, who plans to legally change her name next year, that omni means all and bi means two. She advised me that bi no longer means two. This is just a tiny example of the idiocy these people have filled my child’s brain with, which I have had to navigate alone, lest I be called a transphobic bigot.
Female athletes live with permanent injuries caused by being forced to choose to either compete against a male opponent or lose their place at the university in which they’ve been accepted, their scholarships, and their place on the team.
Everything our country’s formerly considered credible medical organizations have taught us about gender and identity is not just misleading; they outright lied to us. “Puberty blockers are reversible. It’s just a pause button” and “gender affirming care is life saving.” “Children will die without this care.” This care is nothing beyond a superficial failure of an attempt to affirm fantasy over reality, in our most vulnerable, susceptible to peer pressure, and hormonal children. The fact is that puberty blockers followed by cross sex hormones will cause sterility. It’s not a risk; it’s a guarantee. Sterilizing children is illegal and defies “first, do no harm.”
Many of us know without a doubt that we would have been encouraged to “transition” if we were kids during this era. And despite only a small group of people are still on board, we are still being forced to comply with beliefs we do not agree with.
Meanwhile, 36 countries have banned the abusive and irreversible measures that have given a huge portion of our children, effectively guinea pigs for a highly fetishized ideology, lifelong medical conditions that are not just a risk but are a guarantee. Doctors who have performed gender reassignment procedures have watched their young patients die after receiving procedures they were too young to consent to and not physically mature enough to have successful outcomes. Vaginal tears during sex have caused major blood loss. Men and women who “paused” puberty did not have the brain growth that occurs during puberty so they are left cognitively impaired and men are left with one-inch penises. These things have led to suicide. NOT a child going through the difficult but natural process of puberty.
I think about my friend often. Watching someone you love die of AIDS is terrible.
Yes, I lost one most recently in 2006, and not a day goes by when I don't think of him.
Leanne, this is a really important topic. The erasure of gay and lesbian history and people in order to exploit them for transgender propaganda is infuriating.
Another remarkable woman I include in the list of misappropriated lesbians is Pauli Murray, a masculine presenting lesbian who, among many other accomplishments, was one of the founders of the National Organization for Women.
https://thevelvetchronicle.com/grave-robbers-declare-pauli-murray-was-not-a-woman/
Where would trans ideology be today without the pioneering gays and lesbians who came before, who are now exploited for a purpose we never intended?
I do have a question, in all sincerity. I knew about Billy Tipton. When she died it was newsworthy in the lesbian community. But why do you refer to Billy as a "he"? To me, she's a female transvestite, a butch lesbian, a woman who passed. I knew many such women. They spoke about the tricky inner dichotomy they felt. Because of the burgeoning intersection between lesbianism and feminism in the 1970s, the butch lesbians I knew came to accept that they were, in fact, women, without changing a thing about their self-presentation. For some of those butches, embracing the fact that they were female was a profound step towards personal integration and a huge weight off their shoulders.
During her lifetime, Billy Tipton preserved the identity she had crafted so she could work as a jazz musician, and probably because she was more comfortable in men's clothes. There may also have been shame and internalized homophobia, which would make sense at the time. The culture was very homophobic, and passing as a man made her work life viable and also increased her chances of finding a woman to love her (there were many).
When she died there was speculation that her death was at least partially due to the physical and emotional stresses of hiding her identity from her lovers, her co-workers, especially the doctors, and even her kids.
This article describes some of the stresses she was under as the result of hiding her sex in her personal relationships and her working life:
https://www.straightdope.com/21342213/what-s-the-story-on-the-female-jazz-musician-who-lived-as-a-man
But today, in the 21st century, is it necessary to perpetuate the transgender myth that being a masculine woman, or even "identifying" as a man, makes a woman a "he"? Billy is no longer here to give us her opinion, but it's my opinion that the closet door is wide open and thankfully, we can say what's true.
I'd love to hear your POV, if you care to share it. Thank you!
One thing that really worries me how Mo much is digital now. Think about it, in 1984 John Smith literally is changing old texts, now they can change every book on your kindle and who would be the wiser other than our memories.
This is an interesting comment but I don't understand what it has to do with my question in the moment.
Are you saying that it doesn't matter what pronoun you use when referring to Billy Tipton, because trans activists will just edit your comment to suit their agenda? Or am I missing something? I'm not disagreeing with you about the dangerously ephemeral nature of digital technology and the risks of tampering that go with it. Was your article tampered with?
Excellent post, Leanne! One of your finest!
Outstanding!
Even before trans cultural hegemony reached its present peak, queer revisionists were hard at work queering the past. It felt like a slap in the face when I opened up a theater program for a play about the acclaimed and much-loved chef James Beard at Portland Center Stage and saw Mr. Beard referred to as "queer." If the author had been within earshot, I'd have straightened him out: "My dear, James Beard wasn't a bit queer. If anything, he was a nice old queen like many gay men of his generation."
When I'm commenting in forums with a high concentration of straight trans and queer allies, I love pointing out that Queer is neither a sexual orientation nor a gender identity but a scene and a posture, a learned set of pernicious philosophical and political viewpoints. But that's only the high church queers. Most queers are just obnoxious trendsters who've latched on to the newest way of making themselves insufferable.
Meanwhile, figures in the straight-dominated mainstream media and entertainment platforms fall all over themselves showing how with-it they are by erasing gay men and lesbians right and left. We're all queer now, I guess.
I've always hated the word queer. In the past it was because it was used as a slur. I think Marcus (The Offensive Tranny) summed up today's 'queer' quite well, "QIA+ are just identity labels for straight people who want to feel special."
guys with intimacy issues and the gals who stick by them
"Meanwhile, figures in the straight-dominated mainstream media and entertainment platforms fall all over themselves showing how with-it they are by erasing gay men and lesbians right and left. We're all queer now, I guess."
This is a very cogent observation. If only we could get the self-styled wokerati to see it.
YES!
The myth-making around Stonewall is omnipresent and resilient; no matter how many false narratives you dispel, others arise to take their place.
Also, I did a bit of reading up about Marsha P, who is currently lauded as some prominent gay rights activist, who created a "shelter" for street kids. As far as I can tell, that "shelter" was a flophouse in which Johnson and her cohorts squatted for about nine months. Johnson did permit street kids to stay there, yes, and also permitted rampant drug use among them there.
I'm not saying Johnson was a bad person; but Barbara Gittings she* was not.
(*Assuming this pronoun even applies.)
Beautiful tribute.
(This is Leslie, by the way. Male. Substack gets us mixed up even though we sign in with different e-mail addresses.)
I had a friend in high school like that I went through puberty with. He is long dead, too, alas.
It also reminds how the claim we make to parents and school boards who want to trans our children that "Trans is not the new gay" doesn't really land. Because trans *is* the new face of a certain type of homosexual activism. Now that they've won all the battles --same-sex marriage is now legal by Court fiat if not entirely popularly endorsed -- the activists need something new to attract donor money to keep their advocacy organizations well funded and fully employed. So trans rights is at, and that means rewriting history: all those gay men were really women, and the women men. Most of the trans-rights activists in Canada are publicly out middle-aged gay men and a few far-left women. Of course they are. People who actually identify as trans are really really rare.
The stress and anxiety caused by not knowing and dreading the discovery that g & l you know as ‘family ‘ will reject you for not conforming to the ideology that is erasing us cannot be understated. Added to being rejected by one’s biological family as not gay enough to ‘get it’ is beyond words. Another sleepless night.
Thank you for sharing. I’ve seen the erasure of etymology in place of “new meanings.” The other day, I had a long discussion with my 17 year old autistic daughter, who “identifies” as a trans man despite me lovingly explaining that her identity is not defined by sexual orientation or gender, but character and integrity. She wears dresses, only has female friends, and loves Hello Kitty. She explained to me the difference between omnisexual, pansexual and bisexual. Omnisexual is that you have no preference but are attracted to “all” genders, pansexual is similar but means one has a preference, and bisexual also refers to those attracted to multiple genders.
It is so hard to explain the truth in a loving way that doesn’t push her away as so many confused children have been by parents who just don’t buy what’s being sold. I told my daughter, who plans to legally change her name next year, that omni means all and bi means two. She advised me that bi no longer means two. This is just a tiny example of the idiocy these people have filled my child’s brain with, which I have had to navigate alone, lest I be called a transphobic bigot.
Female athletes live with permanent injuries caused by being forced to choose to either compete against a male opponent or lose their place at the university in which they’ve been accepted, their scholarships, and their place on the team.
Everything our country’s formerly considered credible medical organizations have taught us about gender and identity is not just misleading; they outright lied to us. “Puberty blockers are reversible. It’s just a pause button” and “gender affirming care is life saving.” “Children will die without this care.” This care is nothing beyond a superficial failure of an attempt to affirm fantasy over reality, in our most vulnerable, susceptible to peer pressure, and hormonal children. The fact is that puberty blockers followed by cross sex hormones will cause sterility. It’s not a risk; it’s a guarantee. Sterilizing children is illegal and defies “first, do no harm.”
Many of us know without a doubt that we would have been encouraged to “transition” if we were kids during this era. And despite only a small group of people are still on board, we are still being forced to comply with beliefs we do not agree with.
Meanwhile, 36 countries have banned the abusive and irreversible measures that have given a huge portion of our children, effectively guinea pigs for a highly fetishized ideology, lifelong medical conditions that are not just a risk but are a guarantee. Doctors who have performed gender reassignment procedures have watched their young patients die after receiving procedures they were too young to consent to and not physically mature enough to have successful outcomes. Vaginal tears during sex have caused major blood loss. Men and women who “paused” puberty did not have the brain growth that occurs during puberty so they are left cognitively impaired and men are left with one-inch penises. These things have led to suicide. NOT a child going through the difficult but natural process of puberty.
This is both a lovely tribute to a beloved man and a powerful cri de coeur from the front lines of the "transgender" movement.
Thank you for writing so movingly and so strongly about the insanity of this ideology.