"The First Queen of Drag"

The Feb. 17 issue of The Nation celebrates Black History Month by telling the story of William Dorsey Swann, known to his friends nearly 150 years ago as "the Queen." Born in Maryland in 1858, Swann "endured slavery, the Civil War, racism, police surveillance, torture behind bars and many other injustices." But sometime in the 1880s, he also became the first person known to dub himself a "queen of drag"—or, more familiarly, a drag queen.

Author Channing Gerard Joseph is writing a book about Swann, and begins his article by explaining what led him to take on that project. Back in 2005, he came across a Washington Post  headline from April 13, 1888: "Negro Dive Raided. Thirteen Black Men Dressed as Women Surprised at Supper and Arrested." According to another news account, a dozen attendees escaped as the officers barged in because Swann intervened, boldly telling the police lieutenant in charge: "You is no gentleman." In the ensuring brawl, the Queen's "gorgeous dress of cream-colored satin was torn to shreds."

If that tidbit doesn't make you eager to read "The First Drag Queen Was a Former Slave," nothing will!

Come to Stay

For those of you who enjoyed Bryan Washington's "Waugh", The New Yorker has just published a rather different story about a young man who receives a surprise visit from a man who grew up with his now dead dad when they were both boys in Jamaica. Stays for a week  😳  "Visitor"  😱

Lot  is his first collection of short stories. They'll definitely be worth reading if they're equally good!

The Journalist of Castro Street

We had an excellent turnout for our lively discussion of Randy Shilts' And the Band Played On last week (13, including two first-timers--welcome!). Philip Clark brought along a book that came out last year but I somehow missed: Andrew E. Stoner's The Journalist of Castro Street: The Life of Randy Shilts. It sounds like a strong candidate for our next reading list, so I've ordered it.

Several attendees also cited Shilts' last book, published the year before his death, as one we should read: Conduct Unbecoming: Lesbians and Gays in the U.S. Military, Vietnam to the Persian Gulf. (We've already read his other major work, The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk.)

Bayard Rustin: Free at Last!

Last month, I posted an item about an initiative to secure a posthumous pardon for civil rights activist Bayard Rustin (see below). Today's Washington Post reports the good news that California Governor Gavin Newsom has not only signed that pardon, but announced a clemency initiative to clear the records of other people who faced discriminatory charges for consensual activity with people of the same sex.

"In California and across the country many laws have been used as legal tools of oppression, to stigmatize and punish LGBTQ people and communities, and warn others what harm could await them for living authentically," Gov. Newsom said in a statement. "I thank those who advocated for Bayard Rustin's pardon, and I want to encourage others in similar situations to seek a pardon to right this egregious wrong."