Black History LGBT love, revisited

by Makhesha Hogg Paige
LGBT Black Issues Columnist

Many people would assume black information sources would not highlight LGBT issues in their stories. But to my surprise, magazines such as Jet Magazine have covered LGBT issues as far back as the 70’s. They have also featured black LGBT families as recent as 2012.

While researching the black history of LGBT love, I came across the story of Edna Knowles and Peaches Stevens, a lesbian couple, who were wed in a gay bar in Chicago. The story was covered in Jet Magazine on October 15, 1970. Its title was “Two Females ‘Married’ In Chicago­­-To Each Other.”The writer made sure to point out that “Although the duo has a type of ‘Marriage License’ in their possession, the state’s official marriage license bureau reported it had no record of their license.”

I’m glad that the magazine did not make a spectacle of the couple’s love or state anything negative. They acknowledged it like any other couple’s wedding announcement. I found this article on the the Pop-Up Museum of Queer History’s Tumblr site. “The Pop-Up Museum of Queer History is a grassroots organization that creates memorials to celebrate the rich, long, and largely unknown histories of queer people.”

In that same article I found another story of a popular cross dressing performer by the name of Gladys Bentley. Bentley was popular in the 1930’s. She played piano and sang in clubs in New York. Columnist Louis Sobol recalled a conversation that he had with Gladys in which she invited him to her upcoming wedding. Sobol, assuming that she was marrying a man asked who the lucky man was – to which she replied, “Man? Why, boy you’re crazy. I’m marryin’ ——’ and she named another woman singer."

Bentley wed her white fiancé in Atlantic City with her entertainment friends as guests. How brave of Bentley to not only wed a woman but a white woman at that in the 1930’s, when racial tensions were high in many parts of the United States. Even though their same-sex marriages were not legal, black LGBT people created their own traditions and ceremonies.

I came across another website which displays old photos of black males who appear to be romantically involved titled 140 Years of Black Gay Male Couples in Photos. (The website is dangerousminds.net.) Most of the men are sitting in close proximity to each other or are in romantic embraces. I can’t imagine that these men were able to be “out” in public with their significant other, but I am sure glad that they documented their love with photographs.

Kudos to Jet Magazine and all African American news sources who were pioneers in recognizing black queer love.

The preservation of the history of black LGBT love is so important and is out there to be researched and brought to the forefront. Hopefully, all African Americans will be embrace this part of black history and be willing to learn from it and grow as a community.

The Gayly – February 22, 2015 @ 11:30am.