Does Homophobia Have A Place In Queer History?

[CMacK]

Okay but: "And then the French showed up" has got to be the most English comment ever.

[CommissarMitch]

"Once upon a time in London there were no gay people at all... and then the French showed up!"

Banger

[bibeto]

Reminds me of a Kaz Rowe video on the NY "queer scene" in the past. There was a publication heavily criticizing any homosexual spaces and people, and were going so in-depth on the details that it basically became a step-by-step guide for newly arrived to NY on how to join that community.

[BucktailFishing]

Proof that nobody pays more attention to a thing than the people who disagree with, are afraid of or are offended by a thing. No matter what the thing is.

[danlorett]

"And then the French showed up" is just the English version of "Then the Fire Nation attacked"

[oxnyxws]

The problem with history is you need someone to write down the details - like today it would be odd to describe blue jeans so the only person likely to write about it is an outsider. Otherwise people only write down the extraordinary!.

[liamroarke]

"AND THEN THE FRENCH SHOWED UP."

Woman, when I say I shot my tea out my nose.

[legislativequeery]

As an academic studying LGBTIA+ politics I can confirm that 1. This is absolutely true, and 2. Italian operas absolutely turn you gay.

[lli]

Just blame the French for everything. Usually works 😂😂

[Tsuruchi_]

The guy who wrote this must have hated Shakespeare

[eldorados_lost_searcher]

Not entirely related, but apparently the US Navy spent a significant amount of time and resources trying to find a fictional character.

Back in the days before Don't Ask Don't Tell, the Navy found out that LGBTQ+ sailors were identifying each other as "friends of Dorothy." So they opened up an investigation to track down this Dorothy and keep her from coordinating this infiltration. Tracked her all over the Great Lakes area and beyond.

Turns out that Naval Intelligence doesn't know what a metaphor is, since the Dorothy in question was Dorothy Gale from The Wizard of Oz.

[BowserTheSecond]

I'm amazed to learn the same silly rhetoric as "Sailor Moon will turn your kids gay" goes back hundreds of years.

[thetaaaa]

"When I see two Ladies Kissing and Slopping each other, in a lascivious Manner, and frequently repeating it, I am shock'd to the last Degree; but not so much, as when I see two fulsome Fellows Slavering every Time they meet, Squeezing each other's Hand, and other like indecent Symptoms."

Yeah J, you were right, this pamphlet is an absolute blast to read

[ajparadise]

I remember my first day of choir class Freshman year of high school, my very obviously gay teacher welcomed us, then said, "yes, I'm gay, happily married to my husband Myles, and I have been ever since I saw that opera when visiting my family in Italy when I was 6." This is definitely what happened.

[NankitaBR]

"In the 18th century people said that Operas turned people gay, your discourse isn't correct or even new." Is a great sentence to say to current homophobes/transphobes that say that "so and so is turning our children gay/trans".

[spookysugar]

The author of that pamphlet was like "if watching italian operas doesn't turn you gay, why do I want to have more bodies in me than the Thames when I see the soprano in stage?"

[DissociatedWomenIncorporated]

As a trans bi woman I can confirm, there wasn’t even a _hint_ of the rainbow about me until I heard an Italian opera for the first time.

[rachzen]

It kind of reminds me of a story I heard from a lesbian senior citizen who said she didn't know where to find a lesbian bar until a homophobe yelled at her to go to x bar with all "those other women" and she thought, " well, finally I know where to go!"

[RamblinPhoenix]

It is always important to remember not just the topic but the writer and why they wrote it and not one of the marginlized ib group. Nice find!

[swearimnotarobot]

Yeah. That’s the same for a lot of things. Like how racists are the ones who care about race most. And how homophobes and transphobes have weird obsessions with them.