zorascreation:

gowns:

josé julio sarria, gay latino who ran for public office in 1961 - many many years before harvey milk

he ran for the san francisco board of supervisors and almost won by default, until people noticed there was a gay man running and immediately submitted everyone possible for the position. he didn’t win, but he still got 6000 votes, which shocked conservatives

he was also a drag queen popular at many of the balls at the time…and he still does it today (lookin good for a guy in his late 80s)!

It’s so funny how White “Queerstorians” conveniently never tell us about this beautiful querido right here. <3 

(via transtheorist)

“In 1920, the paper doll Baby Bobby has a pink dress in his wardrobe, as well as lace-trimmed collars and underclothes.”

(From the Smithsonian article, “When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?”)

When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?
(Smithsonian Magazine)

Little Franklin Delano Roosevelt sits primly on a stool, his white skirt spread smoothly over his lap, his hands clasping a hat trimmed with a marabou feather. Shoulder-length hair and patent leather party shoes complete the ensemble.

We find the look unsettling today, yet social convention of 1884, when FDR was photographed at age 2 1/2, dictated that boys wore dresses until age 6 or 7, also the time of their first haircut. Franklin’s outfit was considered gender-neutral.

But nowadays people just have to know the sex of a baby or young child at first glance, says historian Jo B. Paoletti…

Why have young children’s clothing styles changed so dramatically? How did we end up with two “teams”—boys in blue and girls in pink?

“It’s really a story of what happened to neutral clothing,” says Paoletti, who has explored the meaning of children’s clothing for 30 years. For centuries, she says, children wore dainty white dresses up to age 6. “What was once a matter of practicality—you dress your baby in white dresses and diapers; white cotton can be bleached—became a matter of ‘Oh my God, if I dress my baby in the wrong thing, they’ll grow up perverted,’ ” Paoletti says…

(I was pleasantly surprised by the ending of this article: “The fashion world may have divided children into pink and blue, but in the world of real individuals, not all is black and white.” Read it here.)

venus-to-mars:

A Photo I took of Mother Flawless Sabrina

“In 1968 Flawless Sabrina, World’s Most Masterful Mistress of Ceremonies, a.k.a. Jack Doroshow, skyrocketed to worldwide recognition, as the star subject of the documentary, ‘The Queen’. Shown at the Cannes Film Festival, Judith Crist called it one of the ten best films of the decade. Sabrina was later hired as a ‘special advisor’ on such films as Myra Breckenridge,Midnight Cowboy and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

…

In 1959 Sabrina organized her first contest, Miss Philidelphia. Repressive laws were enforced in the 1950’s-60’s. Three pieces of male clothing are required to avoid incarceration and in some states cross dressing is a felony. Sabrina and her girls (who included the likes of Monique, Dorian Corey, Crystal Le Belja, Mario Montez, Rachael Harlow and International Chrysis) endured raids, spent many nights (dressed) in jails, and were escorted to many state borders.

When organized a competition of state winners, Sabrina wanted to use the name ‘Miss Camp America’, but was sued by the Miss American Pageant, thus it was called the ‘Nationals’. Sabrina recruited many high profile judges including Judy Garland, Truman Capote, Gloria Swanson, Eartha Kitt and Andy Warhol (who helped finance ‘The Queen’). Not since the 1940’s was drag in America so celebrated. Sabrina organized her last pageant in 1967, Miss Fire Island, which is still going.”

(Source: theinevitability, via genderfork)

Recommendation: Ney Matogrosso — Genderfork

Ney Matogrosso is a gay Brazilian singer who first became popular in the ’70s. At the time, being gay was considered taboo in Brazil, so he never officially came out. Nevertheless, he didn’t let the conservative values of the country hold him back. He had a stage personality more flamboyant than Elton John and Liberace combined, and it came complete with outlandish costumes and hip shaking only a Brazilian can pull off.

Most impressive of all is that at 79, he is still just as fabulous today as he was all those years ago. As a Brazilian, I could not be prouder to have a musician such as him representing my country.

fyeahqueervintage:

[image description: image is a black and white photo of a protest. In front is a white person who is presumably a drag queen in a large coat and a dress with their arm in the air triumphantly. In the background there is a person holding a sign that says “drag it out in the open” in all caps.]

knowhomo:

LGBTQ* History You Should Know

(And Probably Never Heard Of)

— Compton Cafeteria Riots 1966 

“One weekend night in August — the precise date unknown — Compton’s, a twenty-four-hour cafeteria, was buzzing with its usual late-night crowd of drag queens, hustlers, slummers, cruisers, runaway teens, and down-and-out neighborhood regulars. The restaurant’s manager became annoyed by a noisy young crowd of queens at one table who seemed to be spending a lot of time without spending a lot of money, and called in the police to roust them — as it had been  doing with increasing frequency throughout the summer.

A surly police officer …. grabbed the arm of one of the queens and tried to drag her away. She unexpectedly threw her coffee in his face, however, and melee erupted…. The paddy wagons arrived and the street fighting broke out in Compton’s vicinity.”

Text from: Stryker, Susan. Transgender History. Berkeley, CA: Seal, 2008. P. 64

(via transpride)