October: LGBTQ+ History Month

Gay History Month

Hello, members of the alphabet mafia and supporters!

October is a fantastic month! We have breast cancer awareness, pumpkin spice, Halloween, and LGBTQ+ History month!

This month we try and evaluate and disseminate the white-washed heteronormative history we have been taught to learn about the true history of the LGBTQ+ Community.

There are many prominent figures of history that we do not learn about their suspected or known LGBTQ+ lifestyle. Many people ask why this is important. Why is it important to know that they were not “normal” (I hate that word)? The answer? Because representation is important.

As a child growing up, the only gay characters and people that I knew were overly flamboyant and stereotyped characters in a few movies and shows. There was no real representation. All I saw were people that were so overly “gay” that I thought that was what being gay meant.

We didn’t learn that a gay man (Alan Turing) is often credited with being the person that changed the outcome of World War II. Nor about Sally K Ride, the first woman astronaut, having to hide her homosexuality due to fear of being accepted. She never openly discussed this during her life. Her partner of 27 years opened up about it after her passing.

Not only do we not learn about figures in history that just so happen to be gay, we also do not learn about our gay history. There is no section focused on Matthew Shepard and the atrocious crimes he was subjected to, no talk of the Stonewall Uprising, no mention of pioneers Marsha P. Johnson and Silvia Rivera, and no discussion of the 1980s AIDS Crisis that wiped out nearly an entire generation.

So as we go through the month of October let’s remember those that have come before us. Please click on the links in this post to educate and help spread the knowledge of these figures.

Love and Light,

Joey - To Gay or Not to Gay