In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, Jen Manion, a Professor of History and of Sexuality and Women’s and Gender Studies at Amherst College and author of the book, Female Husbands: A Trans History (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2021), joins host Liz Covart to investigate the early American world of female husbands, people who were assigned female gender at birth and then changed their gender at some point in their lives to live as men. [Read more…] about Female Husbands: Transgender People in Early American History
Gender
Historical Travel: Mapping the Gay Guides
Mapping the Gay Guides (MGG) relies on the Damron Guides, an early but longstanding travel guide aimed at gay men since the early 1960s. An LGBTQ equivalent to the African American “green books,” the Damron Guides contained lists of bars, bathhouses, cinemas, businesses, hotels, and cruising sites in every U.S. state, where gay men could find friends, companions, and sex. [Read more…] about Historical Travel: Mapping the Gay Guides
Jazz and Friends National Day of Community Readings
The 7th Annual Jazz and Friends National Day of School and Community Readings will be held on Thursday, February 24th, both in person at the Saranac Lake Youth Center at 6 pm and virtually.
The Jazz & Friends National Day of School and Community Readings is an event that helps to promote a more inclusive educational environment for transgender, non-binary and gender expansive youth. Parents, caregivers, educators, students and community members across the country will join together to support and affirm that our youth can be who they are. [Read more…] about Jazz and Friends National Day of Community Readings
Transgender Day of Remembrance Event Set For Friday
Transgender Day of Remembrance is November 20th. It’s a day to memorialize those who have been killed or murdered as the result of transphobia, (hatred or fear of transgender and gender non-conforming/non-binary people) and those who died as a result of suicide.
This day serves to bring attention to the continued violence and non-acceptance endured by the transgender community which we see at an alarming new rate emanating from federal government against its own people. [Read more…] about Transgender Day of Remembrance Event Set For Friday
LGBTQ Pride Month Is History In Action
LGBTQI+ Pride Month is normally associated with colorful parades and marches and speeches by local, regional, and national leaders, but it’s part of an important political history as well.
Out of all the months in the year, why June? [Read more…] about LGBTQ Pride Month Is History In Action
NYS Budget: What It Means for LGBTQI Community
On the heels of having passed the 2021 New York State budget, Amanda Babine, Executive Director of Equality New York, has outlined the following issues that affect the LGBTQI community: [Read more…] about NYS Budget: What It Means for LGBTQI Community
Geographies of Gender at Brooklyn Museum
The Brooklyn Museum is set to celebrate their exhibit Out of Place: A Feminist Look at the Collection during Women’s History Month on March 7th, as part of their First Saturday programs.
Throughout the evening, women and nonbinary artists from across Brooklyn explore how gender maps onto our bodies, our histories, and our political movements. Highlights include an artist talk with Naima Green, a Night Market, and music from Sammus. [Read more…] about Geographies of Gender at Brooklyn Museum
Women’s Rights Alliance Conference Nov 1-2
The Women’s Rights Alliance of New York State Inc. has announced the agenda for it’s upcoming Women’s Rights and Justice in New York State, Past and Present Conference, set for November 1st and 2nd, in Syracuse.
The conference will include 15 presentations and 43 presenters, all representing programs produced in preparation for the 2020 women’s suffrage 100th anniversary celebration for women’s right to vote in the United States. [Read more…] about Women’s Rights Alliance Conference Nov 1-2
Charity & Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America
We tend to view gay marriage as a cultural and legal development of the 21st century.
But did you know that some early Americans lived openly as same-sex married couples? [Read more…] about Charity & Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America
Some NNY Media Was Reluctant to Support Women’s Rights
North Country newspapers, the only media during the 1800s, were slow to come around and at times downright resistant to women’s rights. Their job was to report the news, but in order to maintain readership, they also had to cater to their customers — like the old adage says, “give ’em what they want.” That atmosphere made it difficult for new and progressive ideas, like women’s rights, to make headway.
The push for women’s rights exposed many inequities early on, but it was difficult to establish a foothold among other important stories of the day. The powerful anti-slavery movement of the 1800s presented an opportunity, for although women and slaves were at opposite ends of the spectrum in the popular imagination — women on a pedestal and slaves treated terribly — they sought many of te same goals: freedom to speak out on their own behalf, the right to vote, and equal pay for equal work. Women passionate about those subjects joined anti-slavery organizations to seek freedom and equal rights for all, regardless of race or sex. [Read more…] about Some NNY Media Was Reluctant to Support Women’s Rights