Ozaawindib

Harper-Hugo Darling

Ozaawindib is remembered in two ways. Firstly, as the agokwe woman who pursued John Tanner and was rejected, secondly, as the leader of multiple expeditions with multiple lakes named after her. Both of these narratives come from colonial forces, and neither is without bias. Without the work of indigenous scholars, two-spirit and otherwise, it is possible the story of Ozaawindib would have been completely erased from history.

Ferdinand Andreas Bruce

Harper-Hugo Darling

To exist as a transgender person is to be in a perpetual state of proving yourself. To family, to friends, to doctors, to religious authorities, and often to yourself. In a society where the genitals determine how people are treated, what jobs are available, what marriages are legally sanctioned, and how they are expected to behave, undermining the strict system set before them is an inherently dangerous task. This is true now, and it was true in 1808 when Ferdinand Andreas Bruce was born.

Ifti Nasim

Marc Zinaman

Ifti Nasim was likely the first openly gay poet to originate from Pakistan. In his early 20's, he emigrated to the U.S. to escape persecution for his sexual orientation. He became known locally for establishing Sangat, an organization to support LGBT South-Asian youth, and internationally for publishing Narman, a poetry collection deemed to be the first open expression of homosexual themes written in Urdu. A long-term resident of Chicago, Nasim was inducted into the city's Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in 1996 but never became a household name beyond the local accolade.

Armen Ohanian

Marc Zinaman

An innovative belly dancer, writer, poet, political revolutionary, translator, and all-around renaissance woman, Armen Ohanian dared to defy the stereotypes associated with Middle Eastern women during her lifetime. She overcame many obstacles to pursue a career that would showcase her numerous talents, distinctive artistry, and people’s culture to the Western world.

Sadao Hasegawa

Harper-Hugo Darling

The halls of queer history are filled with art. Sadao Hasegawa is another name in a long list of iconic creators who have shaped and changed their culture. His name most often shows up in lists, tied to two others. First, Tom of Finland remains one of the most well-known figures in queer art history. He is described as the “most influential creator of gay pornographic images.” The other name tied to Sadao’s is Yukio Mashima, an author equally controversial as he was iconic. It is primarily due to Hasegawa’s admiration that his name is linked to Mashima’s, as well as their similar deaths.

Witold Gombrowicz

Harper-Hugo Darling

Though now the legacy of Witold Gombrowicz is a rather universally celebrated one, within his lifetime, this was hardly the case. A Polish anti-nationalist whose work was banned, unbanned, celebrated, and derided, only his death secured his place as a loved and mostly uncontroversial writer. This place likely would have chafed against the author if he had lived to see it, as he spent much of his time deliberately leaning into both the love and hate he inspired.

Charlotte Payne-Townshend

Harper-Hugo Darling

Described by her friend Beatrice Webb, Charlotte Payne-Townshend was “an anarchist – feeling any regulation or rule is intolerable – a tendency which has been exaggerated by her intolerable wealth. She is romantic but thinks herself cynical. She is a socialist and a radical, but not because she understands collectivist standpoint, but because she is by nature a rebel. She has no snobbishness and no convention. She has ‘swallowed all formulas’ but has not worked out principles of her own. She is fond of men and impatient of most women – bitterly resents her enforced celibacy but thinks she could not tolerate the matter of fact side of marriage. Sweet tempered, sympathetic and genuinely anxious to increase the world’s enjoyment and diminish the world’s pain.”

Social Men

Harper-Hugo Darling

Capitalistic economic policies often enforce the social construct of gender. An economic system that is reliant and easily swayed by social mores, capitalism was created and has continued to be a tool of colonialism and patriarchy. In the story of the Nuer people, these facts are even more evident.

Gangadhar Rao

Will Darling

In history, some people are more distinguishable than others, having left deeper and longer-lasting marks on the world's outcome. The names we remember most tend to be leaders of rebellions, famous writers, those advocating for change, and those impacting the communities around them. Then, there are the names that often come connected to periods of change, mentioned in the footnotes but rarely given their counterparts' full attention.

Jean-Baptiste L'Heureux

Harper-Hugo Darling

To discuss the life of Jean-Baptiste L'Heureux is to take every account with a grain of salt. Beyond the fact that the man himself was a notorious liar and spent much of his life making up new backstories for himself, he was also a man with many enemies. Specifically, enemies within the Canadian government and various Christian institutions, as he spent just as much time making fools of them as anything else. The most reliable source to determine facts about his life and legacy would be the Blackfoot people. The reality is that the continued genocide against Indigenous peoples in Canada has wiped away much of the histories they kept. The stories that are still known are not among the most reliable sources, generally left on the accounts of religious authorities he offended and government officials he annoyed.

Paddy Chew

Dean Strauss

If you’ve ever been involved in any kind of queer organizing, or really any queer groups, you’ve likely heard a lot of talk about what it means to live openly and authentically. We talk about the danger and the joy that can come from being open about our queerness, especially when we’re one of few. That idea of being open and vulnerable affects not just us, but the people around us and the people that come after us. How much more vulnerable must it feel, then, to be the first in a community? In a city? In a country? That became a reality for Paddy Chew.

Ethel Pedley and Emmeline Woolley

Harper-Hugo Darling

Within the story of every queer person lies a tangled web of connections offering a glimpse of the queer community at the time. From Emmeline Freda Du Faur, we find a couple: two women who spent their lives together and whose relationship remains mostly unrecognized. Freda and her aunt Emmeline Woolley shared a name and an orientation; throughout most of her life, Emmeline Woolley was in a relationship with famed Australian children's book author and musician Ethel Pedley.

Emmeline Freda Du Faur

Harper-Hugo Darling

To discuss the life of Emmeline Freda Du Faur is to examine the realities of being the first. The difficulties, expectations, rewards, loneliness, victories, and complications. In the study of history, there is a particular preoccupation with the first, the beginning, in queer history doubly so. Even now, there feels like so many firsts in front of our community; witnessing these beginnings is a mixed blessing: the pain of suppressed voices and stolen opportunities tangled with the victory of passing a marker, going farther.

Walt Whitman

Dean Strauss

He is one of the most influential American poets, even called the poet of democracy. Poet Ezra Pound called Whitman "America's poet ... He is America." Whitman’s racism and his sexuality cannot be untangled, just as his work cannot be untangled from America itself, nor the racism they share.

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