Gay women in history

In celebration of Pride Month, we honor LGBTQ+ women who have made remarkable contributions to the nation and helped advance equality in fields as diverse as medicine and the dramatic arts. Here are a few of their stories, represented by objects in the Smithsonian's collections. 1. Josephine Baker. In observance of Women's History Month, we present some of the most significant LGBTQ+ women activists of the 20th and 21st centuries.

From left: Mary Bonauto, Margarethe Cammermeyer, Kelley. From the out-and-proud Yorkshire noblewoman who kept an encrypted diary of her liaisons with women to the Mexican singer who had an affair with Frida Kahlo and died a legend at 93, these are. From bisexual Roaring Twenties music icons who moonlighted as spies to the first American woman in space, they represent the very meaning of aspirational — and transformational.

It’s no secret that LGBTQ+ women have been breaking boundaries since the beginning of time.

famous lesbians today

Unfortunately, patriarchy and homophobia often leave their identities obscured from history. While every March marks Women’s History Month, queer and transgender women have yet to get their flowers. Over the centuries, lesbians and other queer women have pushed the world forward, often challenging norms and defying the expectations of their times. Some of those on this list lived at a time when there was no language for queer identity as in the present time, and often could not come out due to societal restrictions and concerns for their own safety.

Like much of LGBTQ history, identifying who someone was requires squinting through the haze of the past and reading between the lines of diaries, historical records and second-hand accounts. What is certain, though, is that queer women have always been around, even if their circumstances forced them to obscure their full selves. Educated, wealthy and masculine in appearance, she had relationships with women beginning at an early age and by all accounts was unabashedly queer and self-assured, navigating her way around polite society while excelling as a businesswoman.

Though it is unclear exactly what transpired at the church, experts are in agreement that the pair made vows to each other and exchanged rings. There was no legal recognition of the marriage at the time, but a commemorative plaque adorns the church and celebrates their union. Margaret Chung is best known as the first Chinese American woman to become a physician — and lesser known as a queer woman who attracted a clientele of lesbian couples and women seeking birth control.

Chung graduated from medical school in and was known to wear a dark suit and carry a parakeet around in a cage dangling from her wrist. Although Chung never came out, she did reportedly have intimate relationships with women, and rumors of her sexuality followed her throughout her life.

Barnes was a journalist before she was a novelist, poet and playwright. Her reporting stood out for being sensationalist and immersive, and she often tackled the political issues of her day. For an assignment published in New York World Magazine in , Barnes submitted to being force-fed in prison, something that was being used on suffragists as they carried out hunger strikes. An artist who defied the expectations of her day, Gluck was a British painter born Hannah Gluckstein in Gluck came from a wealthy family, and her privilege both insulated her and offered her the freedom to live a more open life.

She had relationships with several women, including a playwright and society woman named Nesta Obermer. Gladys Bentley was a singer, piano player and entertainer who performed in the s and s, in the era that came to be known as the Harlem Renaissance. Bentley was a powerful performer, and she was known for her top hat, tailored white tuxedos and risque lyrics.

She did not conceal her sexuality but celebrated it, flirting with women in the crowd and incorporating a more masculine identity into her performances. She became one of the best-known Black entertainers of the time, and at the height of her fame she moved from Harlem to Park Avenue and had a team of servants. Born in Costa Rica in , Chavela Vargas was 14 years old when she fled to Mexico with dreams of becoming a singer.

Vargas rose to fame in the s and s, and had a reputation for being macho and drinking hard. The bars were constantly being raided, and Bamberger was looking to give women a space to meet one another that would be safe and private. She also wanted to dance without being arrested. Activism was central to her life, and issues of racial equality, feminism and queer identity were all themes in her work.

Hansberry did not publicly come out during her lifetime, and most of what we know about her sexuality comes from her diary entries and other personal writings. She founded the New York chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis and edited The Ladder, the first nationally distributed lesbian publication in America. Later, she was key in the decision by the American Psychiatric Association to end its classification of homosexuality as a mental illness.

An advocate of education and books as a necessity for freedom and representation, she joined the gay caucus of the American Library Association in the s. It was the first anthropological study of a queer community in the U. IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.