4.
Congratulations! Your pride colors are the entire diverse rainbow: purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, brown, and black!
All the colors have meaning. On the diversity pride flag, black and brown acknowledges and respects that people of color – especially Black and brown people – are part of our LGBTQIA2+ community and should be celebrated. You already know that history is more than what’s taught in school – and you understand that in addition to the stories of women, and people of color, and disabled people, the stories of men who loved men, women who loved women, people who loved without regard to gender, and people who lived outside gender boundaries have been hidden from us.However we identify, whoever we love, there’s a liberation that comes from leaving behind the sanitized history we’ve been taught and embracing the more inclusive and fascinating stories of real people across time and around our world.So let’s celebrate the true diversity of being human – of being Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans, Queer, Gender Nonconforming, Asexual, Intersex, Two-Spirit, and beyond – with the answers to this quiz:1. Michelangelo carved hearts into the eyes of the statue of David. Displayed on a pedestal that puts David’s feet above nearly everyone’s head, David’s eyes are another 16 feet up. The hearts are a secret right there in full view of everyone!2. Sappho’s poems on fragments of papyrus have indeed been discovered in an ancient trash dump in Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, in the mouth of a mummified crocodile, and as part of the hard cartonnage case of an Egyptian mummy. While Sappho is pictured on the outside of this Greek vase, fragments of her poems were not found inside.3. In 1886 We’wha travelled to Washington, D.C. as a cultural ambassador for the A:shiwi. We’wha wowed Washington society – but no one knew of We’wha’s third gender identity.When it was discovered, We’wha’s gender was cruelly treated as a joke.4. The English language version of the Bible – the “King James” version – is indeed named after this King James the First.King James wrote the man he loved, George Villiers, in 1623, saying “I had rather live banished in any part of the earth with you than live a sorrowful widow’s life without you.”5. Because she was the first European to climb to the top of four different mountains in New Zealand between 1910-1914, Freda du Faur got to name them. Today, Du Faur Peak and Cadogan Peak are a lasting tribute to Freda and Muriel’s love. 6. The doctor in Denmark who helped Christine Jorgensen transition her body to match her gender was Dr. Christian Hamburger. Christine chose her name to honor him.In 1950, two months into her tests and treatments, Christine wrote to friends, “I think we (the doctors and I) are fighting this the right way—make the body fit the soul, rather than vice-versa.” 7. All four answers were correct for this one! Bayard Rustin was indeed arrested for protesting Jim Crow laws 22 times, and he organized the 1963 March on Washington, D.C. where Dr. King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, and Bayard debated Malcolm X, and he practiced non-violence.In fact, it was Bayard who taught the principles of nonviolent protest to Dr. King. In 2013 President Barack Obama awarded Bayard the Presidential Medal of Freedom, calling him “a giant in the American Civil Rights Movement” and saying, “for decades, this great leader, often at Dr. King’s side, was denied his rightful place in history because he was openly gay. No medal can change that, but today, we honor Bayard Rustin’s memory by taking our place in his march toward true equality, no matter who we are or who we love.”8. Kendall wrote that in the 1990s, when she and M’e Mpho fell in love, things had changed in Sesotho culture for women who loved women.A photo of M'e Mpho and Kendall. Kendall explained, “The practice of marriages had stopped.” Homophobia in Lesotho had spread to the point where “M’e Mpho became embarrassed about it. She was uncomfortable with that kind of openness.”9. All three answers are correct for this one! Evidence of Hatshepsut transitioning their gender presentation includes: statues of Hatshepsut showing each phase of their gender presentation, and Hatshepsut proclaiming herself king – not queen – in the stone carvings called the Oracle Text, and the color of different statues of Hatshepsut in her Temple of Millions of Years progressing from yellow (the color traditionally used to depict women who stayed indoors) to orange (an unusual for Egyptian art hybrid color) to red (the color traditionally used to depict men who went outdoors).Three statues of the Pharaoh Hatshepsut, showing left to right the evolution of her gender expression.Based on primary source materials, all of these Queer true stories – and many more – are shared in NO WAY, THEY WERE GAY? Hidden Lives and Secret Loves, available everywhere books are sold, and in awesome libraries.I hope these glimpses of Queer History have emboldened you to find out more, and claim your – our – LGBTQIA2+ cultural heritage!The light in me recognizes and acknowledges the light in you,LeeP.S. Word of mouth is the best way to expand the reach of discovering, claiming, and owning our Queer history. If you know someone who might enjoy this Quiz, please share with this link: leewind.org/quiz/ Thank you!P.P.S. If you opted-in for email updates about Queer History, LGBTQ Teen books, and more, expect to see that in your inbox. If you want another chance to opt-in, click here to subscribe.
