I just reviewed a book entitled Gay & Lesbian History for Kids: The Century-Long Struggle for LGBT Rights, with 21 Activities by Jerome Pohlen. It’s a great addition to the many published works on the subject. What makes this one special is that it targets youth. Young people today should learn their LGBT history. Interestingly, while reading other reviews of the book, I found complaints about its academic credibility. The sore spot relates to certain early historical figures deemed to be LGBT simply by doing the math. The critique cites the lack of data to confirm that, say, Michelangelo or President James Buchanan were gay.
True, we might not have much to go on, but it just takes a glance at his statue of David to exchange an insightful nod with anyone with any sense of carnal respect. It might also help to know the artist had a penchant for male prostitutes as models. One can easily imagine the artist catching “David’s” eye on the Ponte Vecchio and asking him back to the studio to “model.” Andrew Jackson’s cattily calling Buchanan “Miss Fancy” might not be proof of a poof, but it sure sounds like it. It just seems strange that straight academics should be so vehemently opposed to at least considering the possibility that, over the centuries, gay people contributed to the human narrative. Denying our LGBT past seems to me a greater scholastic sin of omission than the attempt to reconstruct it. Besides, any historian knows the adage “The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”
Meanwhile, it’s LGBT History Month. Stonewall, the newly released movie version, doesn’t count. It’s not history. It’s Hollywood revisionism in the guise of a pretty boy. But, there’s real history being made. The Milwaukee LGBT Film/Video Festival is in the midst of its 30th anniversary, an amazing milestone. This past summer the Alliance School graduated its 10th class of seniors. The Milwaukee Gay Arts Center also reached the decade mark and the Lesbian Alliance celebrated its 25th anniversary. For that matter, many of the city’s myriad LGBT organizations have cause to commemorate their long-term existence. The Saturday Softball Beer League just fêted its outgoing commissioner of a dozen years and its treasurer. They each received the Founder’s Legacy Award. That’s history.
I spoke with Cary Costello, the director of UW-Milwaukee’s LGBT Studies Program. I asked if it included a course on the city’s LGBT history. He acknowledged there was but it hasn’t been offered recently due to budget cuts. It seems there’s now a criterion to fulfill before a course is offered. The class has to be full and full means 35 students.
There’s the History Project’s display at PrideFest, of course. Thousands view it every year. Obviously, people are interested in our LGBT past. It also maintains a website. But, I’m told the History Project needs volunteers to keep it all going. And, while there’s a wonderful collection of LGBT documents in the UWM Library Archive, there is no repository for artifacts and memorabilia.
Cream City Foundation recently announced a scholarship fund. Maybe we also need funding to underwrite our historical preservation.
