How good are you with LGBT+ history? What if a drag queen offers you $50 if you can name 5 important historical LGBT+ figures, but you can only think of RuPaul and Elton John?
Don’t stress, we got you, with some help from Twitter user @selfishfeminist.
#1
Pride in the US is a little different to Mardi Gras in Australia, but both have their roots in the Stonewall riots of 1969. The riots were a response to a police raid of the Stonewall Inn in New York, and activists like Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera and Stormé DeLarverie became iconic figures in the LGBT rights movement as a result of their involvement in the events at Stonewall.
… On June 28, 1969, however, when police attempted to empty the bar, the LGBT individuals fought back, igniting three days of riots and protests that launched the modern-day LGBT+ rights movement.
2. The first gay couple in recorded history lived in Ancient Egypt 2400 BC.
— ig: @selfishfeminist (@selfishfeminist) February 14, 2019
#2
While the 78ers can be credited with establishing Mardi Gras in Australia, Brenda Howard was one of the organisers of the first Pride in New York, the Christopher Street Liberation Day March, which commemorated the first anniversary of Stonewall.
4. The first Pride parade was co-organized by Brenda Howard, a bisexual woman. Howard was credited with co-organizing the first Pride march, and with coming up with the idea of creating a week-long Pride festival. This was the framework that shaped the Pride month we have today.
— ig: @selfishfeminist (@selfishfeminist) February 14, 2019
#3
South Australia was the first Australian state to decriminalise male homosexuality in 1975, and Tasmania was the last to do so, holding out until 1997.
18 years ago homosexuality was illegal in Tasmania. Now its parliament backs marriage equality. https://t.co/h0T63MGKZg
— Adam Morton (@adamlmorton) November 19, 2015
#4
Gilbert Baker created the first rainbow flag in 1978, and it was first debuted at the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Freedom Day Parade.
… green for nature, turquoise for the arts, indigo for harmony and violet for spirit. Because it was cheaper to produce with fewer colors, later editions of the flag were created with 6 colors, lacking the hot pink and turquoise.
— ig: @selfishfeminist (@selfishfeminist) February 14, 2019
#5
Denmark became the first country to legally recognise relationships between gay couples in 1989, and in 2001, the Netherlands became the first country to legalise same-sex marriage. Australia, as pretty much everyone knows, didn’t do so until after a non-binding plebiscite was held in 2017. Twenty-six countries around the world have now legalised same-sex marriage.
FUN FACT: In 1989, Denmark became the first country to recognise a legal relationship for same-sex couples, establishing registered partnerships. Twelve years later, in 2001, the Netherlands became the first country to establish same-sex marriage by law. pic.twitter.com/49ZdKHY5TY
— DMU LGBTQ+ Society (@DMU_LGBTQ) February 26, 2019
#6
In October 1973, the Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatry Federal Council became the first body in the world to declare that homosexuality was not an illness, and in December of that year, the American Psychiatric Association removed it from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
4. In 1987, Delta Airlines apologized for arguing in plane crash litigation that it should pay less in compensation for the life of a gay passenger than for a heterosexual one because he may have had AIDS.
5. Homosexuality was declassified as a mental illness in 1973.
— ig: @selfishfeminist (@selfishfeminist) February 20, 2019
#7
The first gay political group in Australia was the Australian offshoot of the US-based Daughters of Bilitis, which eventually became known as the Australasian Lesbian Movement.
Meet the women behind the first gay political group in Australia!https://t.co/oRgA3kabYU
— LOTL Magazine (@LOTLmagazine) February 25, 2019
#8
Lilli Elbe is known as the first woman to undergo gender confirmation surgery in 1930 in Germany (Germany, particularly Berlin, before the Nazis rose to power was pretty progressive when it came to LGBT+ people). The movie The Danish Girl was made about her life, but many trans people had concerns with the film’s portrayal.
Photo of Lilli Elbe, first transwoman in history and the real heroine of the Danish Girl film, in Paris 1926. Second is (The Dancer) portrait by Gerda, wife of Lilli before transsexualism, combining herself with Lili and a friend. Last is a portrait for Gerda by Lili, 1917. pic.twitter.com/puZrDUd87V
— GhadeerAhmed (@GhadeerAhmed_) June 13, 2018
#9
While @selfishfeminist suggests that drag is an acronym, standing for ‘Dressed Like A Girl’, there’s no legitimate source for this claim. Drag dates back centuries, so it’s likely we’ll never know the origins of the word. Some have suggested that it comes from theatre slang for long skirts dragging on the floor.
13. While many know the handkerchief code, it was popular for gay women to wear blue stars on their wrists in the 1950s and the 1970s to identify themselves in clubs.
14. The word drag is apparently an acronym, meaning ‘Dressed Resembling A Girl’.
— ig: @selfishfeminist (@selfishfeminist) February 11, 2019
This means that yes, drag does pre-date RuPaul, although he can be credited with introducing it to the mainstream.
For more LGBT+ history, check out the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives. You can also listen to the podcast Making Gay History for interviews with important LGBT+ figures about the historical events they lived through and contributed to.