I got my hair cut today, going from about ten inches of length to a pixie cut and oh my gosh, it feels so good! I liked having long hair, but the heat today was really doing a number on me. So, now I’m back to the short look for the time being.
Also, I’ve discovered that I am terrified of cicadas! So, that’s been fun! Especially since the tree outside my house is full of the shrieking horndogs.
And yes, I know they’re harmless and can’t hurt me and are just trying to ensure the continuity of their species before they die out. But, see, they violate the unwritten and unspoken contest I have with bugs: we’re cool as long as I cannot see them. Since I am very, very bad at “oh, look! There’s a cool thing!” this works well for us.
See, I have discovered that I hate cicadas for the same reason I love the C-5 Galaxy cargo plane: I can easily see them without the effort required for smaller, faster and more agile flying objects.
That and cicadas look like alien demon spawn and I think they steal souls by looking at you.
I mean, there was a spider in the bathroom at work today and while I was mad, it was like, “ok, you’re a bitch but at least you can’t fly!”
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On a more writerly note, I’ve figured out a bit of world building that’s deep backstory for Universe-46534 but that ties things together in a more sensible way.
More on that later, for now it’s time for Pride Fun Facts #7-13:
Pride Fun Fact #7: in 1776, Jemima Wilson declared themselves to be genderless and took the name “the Publick Universal Friend.” They were also openly asexual. They became a preacher, their theology based on Quaker values (their family’s faith) though they were considered a heretic by other Quakers due to preaching for gender equality.
The Friend also offered medical care to the wounded of both sides during the American Revolution.
In 1783, they formed the Society of the Universal Friends, making them the first non-binary American to form a religious movement.
Source: https://worldqueerstory.org/2018/06/21/the-publick-universal-friend/
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Pride Fun Fact #8: In 1972, the band Lavender Country was formed by Patrick Haggardy (guitarist, lead singer), Michael Carr (keyboardist), Eve Morris (fiddler, singer) and Robert Hammersttom (guitarist & only straight member of the group). Their self-titled album was released in 1973 and was the first gay-themed album in country music history.
The group dissolved in 1976, but reunited briefly in 2000 after a 1999 article on gay country musicians sparked interest in the group again.
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Pride Fun Fact #9: On April 21, 1966, in order to challenge a New York State law that prohibited the serving of alcohol to “known homosexuals” — because they were considered inherently disorderly — Dick Leitsch, Craig Roswell and John Timmins staged a “Sip-In” at Julius, a tavern in Greenwich Village, New York City.
Originally, they were going to go to the Village Hall, where they’d arranged to meet reporters to witness the protest Unfortunately, a NY Times reporter who got to the hall before the protesters (they were running late) told the manager what was going to happen and the manager shut the hall down and out up a sign “If you are gay, please stay away.”
The next bar, Dom’s, was also closed.
At the next two bars – a Howard Johnson’s and a tiki bar called the Waikiki, the trio read their statement: “We are homosexuals. We are orderly, we intend to remain orderly, and we are asking for service.” And in both places were served drinks.
Frustrated, they went to Julius’ which had a sign saying it was a raided establishment and were finally refused a drink. This became the basis for a lawsuit to get the restrictions against serving homosexuals repealed and to fight the stereotype that allowing homosexuals in bars would automatically make the establishment a “disorderly house.”
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Pride Fun Fact #10: the first recorded same-sex couple in history appears to be a pair of ancient Egyptian men, Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum, who lived c. 2400 BCE. They served as Overseer of the Manicurists for the pharaoh Nyuserre Ini (they shared the title) and were listed as royal confidants.
Evidence for them being a same-sex couple includes: they were buried together and there is art depicting them embracing with their noses touching, which was an intimate pose.
However, there are those who think they may have simply been brothers, possibly twins. There is also art depicting their wives and children – which doesn’t mean Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum couldn’t be a couple.
Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khnumhotep_and_Niankhkhnum
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Pride Fun Fact #11: On August 29, 1867, Karl Heinrich Ulrichs became the first academic to speak publicly in defense of homosexuality. He pled before the Congress of German Jurists in Munich, calling for the repeal of anti-gay laws — without success.
Ulrichs came out to his family in 1862, explaining to them that he was an “Urning” (Uranian in English) — a word he’d coined to describe men who desired men. He also created a word for men who desired women – Doing, as well as similar terms for women who desired women/men, bisexuals and the intersexed.
Ulrichs was an early sexologist, studying human sexuality and possibly one of the first people to publicly come out after he began publishing pro-Uranian literature.
Source: Karl Heinrich Ulrichs @ Wikipedia
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Pride Fun Fact #12: While ‘coming out’ is often seen as something that young people do, it’s not limited to those kids today with their genders and their pronouns. People in their fifties, sixties, and even eighties can and do come out as LGBTQ.
While several celebrities have come out, today I want to focus on Kenneth Felts, who came out to his daughter at 90.
Felts realized he was gay when he was twelve but had been taught that being gay was a sin. When he was 29, he had a whirlwind romance with another man, named Philip. Unfortunately because of the stigma surrounding coming out in the 1950s and 1960s as well as the lack of community, he left Philip and lived as a straight man. He married and had a daughter and last year, during quarantine, he decided to come out to his daughter (who, herself had come out to him years before as a lesbian).
You can read more about Felts here
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Pride Fun Fact #13: on June 12, 1967, the US Supreme Court unanimously struck down bans on interracial marriage across the United States in Loving v. Virginia. This case would help provide a precedent for the overturning of bans on same sex marriages in 2015.
In 2007, Mildred Loving said this on the subject of the 40th anniversary of the ruling:
My generation was bitterly divided over something that should have been so clear and right. The majority believed that what the judge said, that it was God’s plan to keep people apart, and that government should discriminate against people in love. But I have lived long enough now to see big changes. The older generation’s fears and prejudices have given way, and today’s young people realize that if someone loves someone they have a right to marry.
Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don’t think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the “wrong kind of person” for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people’s religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people’s civil rights.
I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard’s and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That’s what Loving, and loving, are all about.
Doomsday Writer! 