Stories of Pride 2022: Part 4 (1970-2015)
- beereed13
- Jun 22, 2022
- 10 min read
Updated: Jun 29, 2022
June is LGBTQIA+ Pride Month in the United States. This month was chosen because it commemorates the Stonewall Uprisings which began on June 28, 1969, when a group of queer folks - led by Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Stormé DeLarverie, and other members of the QTBIPOC community - fought back against the systematic police brutality and abuse they had lived with for decades.
Today, Pride is about so much more than this one moment in time. We’ve always been here, and we always will be. Storytelling is one of the oldest and most sacred ways of preserving and advancing culture. You cannot spell history without “story.” Each Wednesday of this month I’ll be rounding up stories of LGBTQIA+ people, moments, and movements throughout history and from around the world.
This is our culture. These are our stories. And this limited series is just the tip of the iceberg. May it inspire you to seek and share even more of our robust, beautiful, challenging history as a movement, community, and culture.
Renée Richards (1934-Present)
Renée Richards was born into an affluent New York family in 1934, and was assigned male at birth. She lived the life expected of her, as a man, getting married and having children as she pursued a career as a specialist in eye surgery and a passion for the sport of tennis. In 1955 and 1957 Richards reached the second round of the U.S. Open, competing in the men’s singles division.
Despite a full and successful life, Richards still struggled with “another side that kept coming out.” Deep down, she knew she wanted to live as a woman. She began shaving her legs and wearing heels when walking the dog, despite the fact that in the 1960s it was still very dangerous for transgender people to live as themselves. Because of this stigma, she tried to suppress these urges. As she put it in an interview with the BBC, “I kept pushing back until finally it was not possible to submerge Renée anymore - and Renée won out.” At 40 years old in 1975, Renée finally underwent gender affirming surgery.
Following her surgery, Renée had hoped to move to a new state and assume a life where nobody knew her history or past life. But when she began playing in amateur tennis tournaments, her story was leaked to the press and made public. This led to the United States Tennis Association declaring that she would be barred from competing at a professional level. Even though she hadn’t planned to pursue a professional career as a woman, this declaration of theirs lit a fire that caused Richards to fight back. In 1977 a long legal battle resulted in an official ruling from the New York State Supreme Court that it was unconstitutional for the U.S. Tennis Association to discriminate against her ability to compete.
Eight days after the ruling was handed down, Renée Richards competed in the 1977 U.S. Open in the women’s singles and doubles divisions. The media storm about the decision was frenzied and divided. About half of the public (and professional athletes’) reaction was fear that she’d have unfair advantages that no other women could compete against. The other half responded with empathy and support. The fears of the first half were quickly proven to be unnecessary when it became clear that Richards was playing with comparable physical abilities to her opponents, being easily beaten by the top seeds in singles and doubles. Fellow world class tennis player Sue Barker commented “She just melted into the tour and didn't dominate. She won matches and she lost matches. It didn't alter the game as some predicted.”
With today’s attacks on the rights of transgender athletes, it seems that Renée Richards’ story is more important than ever. These debates, theories, and fears have already been played out in the past, time and time again. May those on the front lines of the ongoing battle for trans rights look to Renée Richards and her story for inspiration and encouragement to keep moving forward toward their goals. *Note: It seems very likely that this is a case, similar to Mathilde de Morny of 19th century France, where white privilege and class privilege granted Richards more freedom in expression and living as herself than her contemporaries. That’s not to take away from the courage or struggles she faced, but to acknowledge that there are probably countless others whose stories, battles, and triumphs we will never know.
Randy Shilts (1951-1994)
Randy Shilts was a journalist who played one of the most crucial roles in the early days of the fight against AIDS: he made it publicly known. Hired by the San Francisco Chronicle in 1981, Shilts quickly became the first journalist for a major newspaper to focus his writing exclusively on the gay community. A few months later he began to write more and more articles about the then little-known disease disproportionately affecting gay men (the CDC hadn’t even agreed upon an official name for the disease yet). As a crusader for his cause, Shilts became the go-to voice for information and updates about the AIDS epidemic and the (lack of) response by the government.
In 1987, Shilts’ writing on AIDS hit a new high and also hit very close to home. This was the year he learned that he, himself, had contracted HIV. The same year, his book, And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic, was published. Its bold, scathing criticism of the government’s failure to act in this crisis created a rallying point and provided important eye-opening facts for activists to use in their fight. It quickly became a bestseller and was adapted into a movie in 1993.
Shilts also wrote two other books. His first, The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk, was published in 1982 and became an important source for films and documentaries about the pioneering LGBT politician in the following years. And his final book, Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the U.S. Military, was published in 1993 and became a bestseller like And the Band Played On before it. His work was hailed as “without question the most important works of literature affecting gay people” by Cleve Jones, the founder of the Names Project responsible for creating the AIDS Quilt. And Jones wasn’t alone in his belief in the importance of Shilts’ work. He received several notable awards during his lifetime, including the Stonewall Gay and Lesbian Book Award (1988), the GLAAD Media Visibility Award (1991), and the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Men's Studies (1993).
On February 17, 1994, Randy Shilts died from complications caused by AIDS. Although his life was cut short, his legacy endures and his work continues to inform and inspire.
Christy Martin (1968-Present)
Christy Martin was a pioneer in women’s boxing, debuting in her first professional fight in 1989. Prior to her arrival, women’s boxing matches were a novelty at best. In fact, women’s boxing was handled with such insincerity that the first time she jumped in a ring was with absolutely no experience whatsoever, a standard practice at the time. She didn’t know anything about boxing, but she knew she wanted to fight. In fact, she’d been fighting herself and the world for a long time, living in a closet as a high schooler whose high school sweetheart was another girl. The years of secrecy and internalized shame became the perfect fuel for a boxing career. She won that first match quickly and dominantly, and she was hooked.
Early in her career, it was hard for her to be taken seriously, but after a few official fights people began to take notice. She went on to be the first ever woman that Muhammad Ali ever booked to the undercard of his televised fights. She stole the show, and by the time she returned to her hotel room there were messages from half a dozen major talk shows wanting her to join them as a guest.
Shortly after her career took off her relationship with her manager and coach, Jim Martin (24 years her senior), became romantic. They eventually married. The relationship was a controlling and abusive one in which he isolated her in both her career and personal life. He refused to allow anyone else to assist with coaching her, and became a big enabler as she began descending into a battle of addiction. Unbeknownst to her, he was also recording everything that happened in their home on hidden cameras throughout their house, which he would later use as blackmail.
With the creation of new technological advancements, she and her high school girlfriend, Sherry, reconnected over Facebook. With this spark relit, Christy found the courage to leave Jim in 2010. The tabloids and media headlines were not kind in their response to the intel that Christy was leaving her husband for a woman. Jim’s response was explosive and violent, eventually leading to a brutal attack in which he stabbed her multiple times and shot her once in the chest, missing her heart by about 3 inches. But, always a fighter, she survived and went on to testify at his hearing where he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for her attempted murder.
Christy refused to let him take the career she so loved, despite the way it was entangled with their relationship, and got back in the ring after this traumatic event. Although she wouldn’t come out the winner of either of those fights, the triumph of reclaiming the boxing ring as her territory is profound in and of itself. After a 23 year professional boxing career of 59 fights, her record shows 49 wins (32 by knockout), 3 draws, and only 7 losses. Christy became the first female boxer inducted into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame in 2016. In 2017 she married a former boxing rival, Lisa Holewyne. In 2020 she was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Today, she owns and operates a boxing promotion company, Christy Martin Promotions. Earlier this month she released her first book, a memoir entitled Fighting for Survival: My Journey Through Boxing Fame, Abuse, Murder, and Resurrection.
Ladlad, Filipino political party (2003)
In 2003 the Filipino political party Ang Ladlad (now just called Ladlad) was started with Danton Remoto at its helm. (The Tagalog translation of “ladlad” refers to the unfurling of a cape and is used colloquially in that region in a similar way Westerners use the phrase “coming out of the closet.”) This is still the only officially recognized LGBT political party to emerge in the entire world. Their first focus when they formed was on getting candidates onto the ballot for the 2010 national elections in the Philippines.
Ladlad’s strategy to reach their goal of getting LGBT officials elected is to utilize a specific and rather unique portion of their country’s electoral system. In the Philippines there’s a number of seats in congress reserved for “special interest groups.” The groups that are represented are determined by the voters, and have been filled by farmers, women, migrant workers, and other such demographics that have specific needs for their communities.
After years of organizing, petitioning, and campaigning, Ladlad’s first application to nominate eligible candidates was denied by the Philippines Commision for Elections. Their published statement about why they refused the candidacy cited the Bible and Quran, saying the party would be a “threat to youth” and “promoting immorality.” This decision sparked outrage, protests, and ultimately led to a supreme court case that overturned the decision, granting Ladlad candidacy just weeks before the 2010 elections.
Although they have yet to win any seats in elections, they continue to campaign using their signature tactics of boisterous, unfiltered speeches about real issues that are often considered taboo (sex worker needs, medical rights for transgender people, and disproportionate amounts of power granted to churches in the heavily Catholic country). Their campaigns take them to beauty parlors and medical clinics, public squares and fish markets. They’re still a relatively new party that the political majority tried to eliminate before it even began. They face an uphill battle. But their presence stands as a reminder that the political arena is a valid and vital place to take a stand against oppression.
Two Spirits documentary (2009): Fred “F.C.” Martinez’s murder
Most people are familiar with the story of Matthew Shepard, a (white) college student who was beaten to death in Laramie, Wyoming for being gay in 1998. It’s a cultural moment that we still talk about over 20 years later. But almost nobody today remembers or knows the story of Fred “F.C.” Martinez, a Navajo teenager who identified as a two spirit (specifically, nádleehí) person and was beaten to death in almost the exact same way in the exact same region of the country less than three years later. (Case and point, Matthew Shepard’s Wikipedia page is well populated and heavily detailed. There is no Wikipedia page in existence for Martinez.)
Growing up in Colorado, F.C. refused to hide their queerness in school. For this they were relentlessly bullied. The 16-year-old disappeared in June 2001. Five days later their body was found, bludgeoned to death, at the bottom of a canyon on the outskirts of Cortez, Colorado. After bragging to friends that he had “beaten up a fag,” 18-year-old Shaun Murphy was arrested and ultimately charged with Martinez’s murder pled guilty. Murphy received a 25 year sentence, but was released in 2019 at the age of 36 after serving only 18 years. (This is another indication of the imbalance of justice people of color experience within America’s system. Shepard’s murderers each received two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.)
In 2009, filmmaker Lydia Nibley released the PBS documentary Two Spirits, which delves deeply into the Navajo tradition of honoring and recognizing more than two genders. It closely follows and documents the story of Martinez’s murder, and remains one of the only pieces of pop culture media to ever have done so. The documentary doesn’t hold anything back when acknowledging the way that whitewashing and colonization have changed and destroyed indigenous cultures, including with the importation of homophobia and transphobia. The film has no problem pointing out that there was a time - before the infringement of white, Christian, and European ideals - when Martinez’s nádleehí identity (holding both male and female spirits within themself at the same time) would have been considered a sacred gift. But as the movie puts it, “In another time, he would have been honored. Instead he was murdered.”
*AUTHOR’S NOTE: Language around what we identify as queerness or homosexuality today has changed a lot throughout history. Nuance over labels and terms is still a hot and ever evolving topic. For the sake of telling these (hi)stories, I have utilized different terms as I saw best fit to convey the meaning and context to a general audience. If you choose to carry these stories with you to share with others (and I hope you will), please feel free to update or change these terms if and when you see fit.
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