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Sexuality and Gender Heros: 10 GLBT Pioneers You May Not Have Known About.

Posted by admin in Interesting

1.  Alexander the Gay…er… Great!

Alexander III of Macedon (356–323 BC),or “Alexander the Great” was the King of Macedon, and was successful in creating one of the largest empires the world has ever seen. Alexander is one of the most famous figures of antiquity, and is notable for his massive conquests, intellectual and tactical abilities, for spreading Greek civilization to the East, and for the purposes of our conversation today, for being a lover of men.

While there is little definitive proof,  and Alexander the Great never announced his homosexuality, there is a good deal of evidence that Alexander the Great was at the very least, bisexual.  By many accounts, he had at least two male lovers in his short time, one of which was perhaps his most treasured personal relationship of his life. According to the book “Alexander the Great” by Robin Lane Fox

“At the age of thirty Alexander was still Hephaestion’s lover although most young Greeks would have grown out of the fashion by then and an older man would have given up or turned to a younger attraction. Their affair was a strong one; Hephaestion grew to lead Alexander’s cavalry most ably and to become Vizier before dying a divine hero, worthy of posthumous worship.”

2. The First Gay Rights Group

The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee, WhK) was created in May of 1897 as an organization to campaign for the social recognition of GLBT men and women, and against their legal persecution. This is the first known organization with such a mission.

The WhK was a research group, publishing the Yearbook of Intermediate Sexual Types, almost quarterly from 1899-1933. They were also an activist group focusing on the fight against Paragraph 175 of the German Imperial Penal Code, which criminalized “coitus-like” acts between males. The WhK defended the accused at trials, conducted lectures for the public, and gathered signatures in an effort to repeal the law. Signatories included Albert Einstein, Hermann Hesse, Thomas Mann, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Leo Tolstoy.

3. The First Sex Change

Lili Elbe (Formerly Einar Mogens) was a Danish transsexual woman, and one of the first known recipients of the Male-to-Female sex change surgery. Einar’s transition to Lili came about as a result of his relationship with his lover and wife Gerda Gottlieb.  Gerda, an active painter would on occasion request Einar’s help when doing portraits. She liked to paint beautiful women in modern fashion, and Einar was happy to oblige by modeling the clothing for his wife.

Noticing his propensity toward female attire while modeling for Gerda, Einar (with Gerda’s insistence) began actively presenting as “Lili.” Over the following years, the couple moved to Paris where Lili lived full time as a woman, living with Gerda as a lesbian.

In 1930 Lili began a series of experimental surgeries to transform him physically into a woman. Over the next two years Lili underwent removal of the testicles, removal of the penis, implantation of ovaries (which was rejected shortly after), and eventually transplantation of a uterus (also failed). Lili died several months after her last failed uterus transplantation attempt as a result of tissue rejection.

The life of Lili and Gerda are to be portrayed in the upcoming movie “The Danish Girl” starring Gweneth Paltrow and Nicole Kidman, in 2011.

4.The Stonewall Drag Queens

The Stonewall riots in New York City are famous for having helped to spark the early Gay rights movement in the United States.

During the 1950′s and 60′s in NYC, there were very few places that welcomed openly GLBT individuals. Those that did were often bars. One such bar, The Stonewall Inn, catered specifically to some of the most marginalized and discriminated against members of the GLBT community: Drag Queens, who were representatives of a newly self-aware transgender community, effeminate young men, hustlers, and homeless youth.

Police raids were common on gay bars in NYC during this time, but in the 1960′s,  unrest in the community came to a head when officers lost control over a situation at the Stonewall Inn during a raid. The situation snowballed, spilling out of Stonewall and becoming a riot between the New York City police and the gay residents of Greenwich Village.

Controversy and outrage over the incidents became the catalyst for some of the first gay rights groups in NYC, setting a standard and model for future efforts.

5. First Openly Gay US Politician

In January 1974, Kathy Kozachenko won a successful bid for a seat on the Ann Arbor, MI city council, making her the first openly gay or lesbian political candidate to win a political office in the US.

Kozachenko ran on the Human Rights Party ticket, succeeding Nancy Wechsler, who had come out as a lesbian during her term on the city council. Its worthy to note that Wechsler was the first openly lesbian public-office holder in the US, but was not out when elected as was the case with Kozachenko.

6. First Gay Prime Minister

Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is an Icelandic politician and the current Prime Minister of Iceland. She had previously been Iceland’s Minister of Social Affairs and Social Security from 1987–1994 and 2007–2009. She has been a member of the Althing (Iceland’s parliament) for Reykjavík constituencies since 1978, winning re-election on eight successive occasions. She became Iceland’s first female Prime Minister on 1 February 2009; she also became the world’s first openly gay head of government of the modern era.

7. First Openly Gay Religious Figure

Gene Robinson (born May 29, 1947 in Fayette County, Kentucky) is a New Hampshire Episcopal Church Bishop. He was elected to the position in 2003.

Robinson is known for being the first openly gay, non-celibate priest to reach the level of Bishop in a major Christian denomination. Robinson came out to himself in the 1970′s while still in seminary, but did not come out publicly until years later after being ordained, marrying and starting a family. Robinson went public with his sexuality in the 1980′s after his divorce.

Robinson’s election to the position of Bishop was met with controversy both in and outside the church. Despite some internal dissenters, Robinson was ratified in a 62 to 45 decision. In the aftermath of his election to bishop, many “theologically conservative” parishes have aligned themselves with bishops outside the US Episcopal church in a movement known as the Anglican realignment.

8. First Openly Gay Sports Figure

David Marquette Kopay (born June 28, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois) is a former NFL football player who, in 1975, became one of the first professional athletes to come out as gay. Kopay was a graduate of the University of Washington where he was an All-American running back his senior year. He was signed by the San Francisco 49ers, and played professional football from 1964 to 1972.

After retiring from the NFL, he was considered to be a top contender for high level coaching positions, a dream he never fulfilled largely as a result of discrimination he faced after his coming out in 1975.

9. Transsexual Pregnancy, Transsexual Parents

You probably heard about Thomas Beatie, who last year became the first “Pregnant Man”, earning the term as a result of having legal status as a male in his state. Beatie was not however, the first Female to Male transsexual to be pregnant and give birth post-transition.

Matt Rice, a Female to Male Transsexual, conceived a son via in-vitro fertilization during his relationship with Patrick Califia, also a Female to Male transsexual. You can read more about them in an article from the Village Voice.

10. The World’s Youngest Transsexual

Kim Petras (born August 27, 1992, Cologne, Germany) is an aspiring German teen pop singer and also the world’s youngest post-operative transsexual. Kim was born on August 27, 1992,  and from the age of two insisted that she was a girl.  It slowly became apparent that it wasn’t a phase, and her parents began to allow her to wear gender neutral clothing and eventually took her to a specialist. Under the guidance of doctors, she began her gender transition at the age of 12, completing sex reassignment surgery at 16. Kim has become a minor internet musical sensation, and has been signed to the independent record label Joyce Records.