Is LGBT History 'Fake'? #ad

(I'll be there for the one on 24th Feb 6.30pm - come join me!)

Is the queer history we read online real? Who are the historians and curators trying to preserve lgbt artefacts and stories for future generations as well as our own? Will our pride signs be studied in museums in 100 years time? I talked to Matthew Storey to find out!

Thank you so much to Historic Royal Palaces for sponsoring this video!

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[davidcheater]

I had volunteered for a while at the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives.


Some of the things that people generally wouldn't consider as being important that conserve a lot of information: street flyers, t-shirts, and event posters.

[rominaaguirre]

In Argentina we have the book "la historia de la homosexualidad en Argentina" With many photos, police records, letters and newspaper articles of the time.
The book begins in pre-Columbian times and ends in the present, highly recommended :D

[Genitianadinarica]

I teared up not gonna lie. This is a topic that always cuts me deep, loss of history, and LGBT history in particular.
This was such a beautiful and thoughtful and kind way to approach this subject.
Also I'm grateful that you brought up the question of class and who gets to tell their story.
Thank you for this beautiful and informative video!

[alannachmarie]

there was an LGBT display in dublin museum this year called the rainbow revolution it was absolutely beautiful it had all things belonging to famous LGBT heroes in irish history like rodger casement's coat 🥺

[lloroshastar]

I only know of one LGBTQ+ story from my families history, currently I have one cousin who is a gay man and another cousin on the other side of the family who is a trans woman. Prior to this there was no mention of LGBTQ+ activity at all in my families history, but there was one story that my grandfather (who passed away when I was young) told my Uncle who is not my blood relative but married my aunt. He told him that during the second world war he served on a ship, and there was a man serving on that ship who was believed to be gay. He then told my Uncle that the crew of the ship 'dealt' with that man. I'm afraid I don't know any more details than that, I'm afraid to ask to be honest. But I as a straight cis man am told over and over again mostly by other straight cis men that homosexuality is everywhere now, that it is being forced down our throats and the idea that LGBTQ+ people were ever treated badly in the past is a lie. If that's the case, why is it that the only story involving an LGBTQ+ person ever told in my family was the most horrific form of persecution imaginable and yet suddenly when the laws are changed and LGBTQ+ people are allowed to be free my family produces two LGBTQ+ people. What that tells me is that LGBTQ+ people have always been persecuted, always been silenced, always been erased and now that society has finally evolved for the better do we see that LGBTQ+ people were here all along in great numbers.

[Elagabalus]

I'm currently completing my masters dissertation in ancient history, and this is something of an interesting topic in my area. For instance, we have famed authors like Sappho of Lesbos, who's poetry is truly remarkable and inspired the terms lesbian and sapphic. Of course for a few hundred years, historians denied that she was in anyway 'inappropriately' affectionate toward the women mentioned in her poetry. The whole, 'just good friends' thing. Likewise, there is some evidence that Virgil and Horace had a thing for each other, since references to one another in their poetry is...just adorable honestly (see Horace Odes 1.3). But their infatuation is vehemently denied by most classicists if you ask. 

Then of course, there are the infamous emperors and their 'debaucheries.' Caligula definitely liked men, though his sexual exploits in general are depicted in sources as pretty caricatured, but hey maybe his was just kinky. More obscure is Elagabalus of the Severan dynasty. They liked to dress up in women's clothing, but referred to by their servants as 'empress, ' and had more than one male favorite at court. It's hard to tell what of this is slander from later sources, as acting feminine was the worst thing a man could do in ancient Roman, or to what degree we can understand Elagabalus as having a different gender identity as we would understand it. Gender and sexuality are far less easily categorized in the ancient world, so saying someone 'was' gay, a lesbian, trans, or queer is sort of inaccurate. That said, these are all well document instances of potential queer history, that has often been dismissed or caught up in moralizing, since they tend to be among the 'debauched' elites of ancient Rome.

But getting to the those who didn't have clear representation is much harder. For instance, there are some inscriptions, particularly in Greece, or low class or even slave people who are buried with or writing epitaphs for a same sex partner. The language used is very similar to heterosexual couples and marriages, so it's clear they conceptualized their union in the same way. But again, there are few examples of this, and often they're hard to find since they have been classified over the centuries as being brother, sisters, or just good friends.

[hannahkat]

I think it's so important to talk about history because, just like monarchy, it's so legitimising. So much of the talk on trans and non-binary identities frames it as this newfangled invention, kids just wanting to be cool or quirky, and by putting it in this historical context we can say that no, this is a facet of the human experience which has always existed and needs recognition. I've seen a lot of growth in gay, lesbian and (to a lesser extent) bisexual history and it's great to see that and almost feel validated, and at a time in which many gender identities are just disbelieved it's so important to have this academic weight behind their existence.

[ReadingMartin]

Came for cool history, stayed for the cute historian dude.

[ronaldopantoja]

The sadiest thing about us is that when we are representend in the history, that is made by people who tried to patologize or criminalize us. Maybe it means that we must to build our own history, but its very hard when we are talking about erasure.

[autumnbrookesings]

When they were talking about Lord Harvey and pages ripped out of diaries, it reminded me of my own diary when I was a young teen. I had written a few entries about being exposed to the queer community and then realizing I'm queer. Months later, when I was made to feel shame about that from my family, I ripped out those pages and got rid of them to ensure no one could find them and read them.

It's sad to think how much history has been lost because someone decided it was shameful and destroyed it.

[siftage]

A short while ago a spanish historian published a book about lesbian and bi women through history, "Señoras que se empotraron hace mucho" (which is roughly translated as "women who had sex a long time ago") by Christina Domenech. I read it recently and it's really good! great video btw❤️❤️

[redactedredacted]

This is such an interesting conversation.I love history in general but it frustrates me for reasons discussed in the video (it's filtered through privilege and what people were allowed to be literate).It saddens me how little working class lgbt history has been preserved.
Two of the few definite historical trans men I know about were doctors (one of which was the brother of a baron) and there's this really fascinating BBC documentary about trans women from the 1970s.It's amazing but shows a limited perspective because if I'm remembering it right all the women were extremely middle class.

[loonathehelpline]

I have one request and that is that we preserve a flannel, a snapback, a vest top and cuffed jeans.

[Jayleon]

One of your best videos yet. Smart, engaging, informed, honest and very interesting. The tone is also also has a maturity that avoids being preachy, while maintaining gravitas of the subject. Plus hair and high waisted slacks are AMAZING.

[Ms]

Hi hello, gay Christian here. One of the things that encouraged my stance of "gay is okay" was me hearing more about queer history and seeing how much gets swept under the rug and forgotten. Like, just centuries of being in the closet, either forcibly or after the fact. Really made me question the whole "no positive representation of gay people in the bible- it's All condemnation" idea. Like, I'm straight up side eyeing David and Jonathan or the centurion and his "servant", maybe others. Who knows? I just wouldn't be surprised if we straightwashed some couples for a couple millennium is all.

[annarchie]

Love the video. And I just have to say how great it is that British people pronounce "again" as "a-gay-n"

[arif_and_ricky]

Hey Rowan, it's Ricky from In Wonderland and IT GETS BETTER UK, your videos are always amazing! every time you leave us speechless !!! thank you for everything you are doing for the community 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

[clairekim]

I go to a historically women's college, so a lot of the college museum archives consists of lesbian and queer art, articles, activist materials, etc. dating back decades. Unfortunately since I'm only a first year and there's a pandemic, I've only been able to look at limited materials from the digital archives. It's so fascinating because these are pieces of history from queer people who were my age, and who were just these average college students existing and interacting in a different time.

[shookydough]

I'm from Germany and the only times we talked about LGBTQ+ people was 1. when we learned about HIV (which I only remember as a negative experience because it felt like anything other than heterosexuality is wrong) and 2. when we talked about Sappho in Latin class. Learning about Sappho was so meaningful to me, even though we only talked about her for a few minutes. Back then I didn't realize I was bi, but I remember how moved I was when learning about her.

[chaoscryptid]

Will there be captions/subtitles on this video? I have auditory processing disorder and I love this topic but I just can't understand the video ☹️