Polari Diaries

Photo

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 12:20:47 -0400

blinkingmidnightclock: French Quarter Mardi Gras drag in the...

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 08:59:57 -0500

French Quarter Mardi Gras drag in the 1950s

“Mardi Gras Day was the only opportunity for gay people to legally gather in public…Mardi Gras was the only time by law in New Orleans you could cross-dress. Any other time you were subject to arrest…You had to be out of drag at dark and you still had to have on one piece of man’s clothing.”

—from The Sons of Tennessee Williams (dir. Tim Wolff, 2010)

stevienyc: Photos from protests for queer rights in the 80’s As...

Sat, 05 Jan 2013 14:24:44 -0500

stevienyc:

Photos from protests for queer rights in the 80’s

As part of Crystal Bell’s NYU thesis project A Social OUTlet she released these photos via flickr from her brother’s personal collection.

A set of photos from a part of history that we may have never seen without social media.

To see the full set of photos visit here…

cannibalcoalition: sewingwitch: sometimesiseetoomuch:
Thu, 20 Dec 2012 14:05:00 -0500

cannibalcoalition:

sewingwitch:

sometimesiseetoomuch:

very good

I like how the tiki has a wig.

Can I have the brunette? She seems my type.

animula, vagula, blandulahospes comesque corporisquae nunc...

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 09:46:46 -0500

animula, vagula, blandula
hospes comesque corporis
quae nunc abibis in loca
pallidula, rigida, nudula,
nec, ut soles, dabis iocos…

This isn’t necessarily LGBTQ history, per se, but if you aren’t listening to Tracy...

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 12:00:34 -0500

This isn’t necessarily LGBTQ history, per se, but if you aren’t listening to Tracy Chapman, then you are MISSING OUT.

indophilia: Mahmud of Ghazni and Malik Ayaz. Mahmud of Ghazni...

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 11:54:54 -0500

indophilia:

Mahmud of Ghazni and Malik Ayaz.

Mahmud of Ghazni founded the Ghaznavid Empire and ruled as a sultan. He fell in love with Malik Ayaz, a Turkish slave, and their relationship became the epitome of idealized love in Islamic legend and Sufi literature. As the story goes, Ayaz asked Mahmud who the most powerful man in the kingdom was. When the sultan replied that it was himself, Ayaz corrected him, claiming that in fact Ayaz was the most powerful, since Mahmud was his slave. The “slave to a slave” became a favorite trope in Persian literature. R.G.L.

Image by artist Ryan Grant Long

ALSO SEE MY BABUR ENTRY FOR ANOTHER ANCIENT SAME SEX ROMANCE

http://indophilia.tumblr.com/post/31074503067/baburs-sexuality-at-one-party-babur-saw-a-very

"The Love that dare not speak its name” in this century is such a great affection of an elder for a..."

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 13:14:09 -0500

“The Love that dare not speak its name” in this century is such a great affection of an elder for a younger man as there was between David and Jonathan, such as Plato made the very basis of his philosophy, and such as you find in the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare. It is that deep, spiritual affection that is as pure as it is perfect. It dictates and pervades great works of art like those of Shakespeare and Michelangelo, and those two letters of mine, such as they are. It is in this century misunderstood, so much misunderstood that it may be described as the “Love that dare not speak its name,” and on account of it I am placed where I am now. It is beautiful, it is fine, it is the noblest form of affection. There is nothing unnatural about it. It is intellectual, and it repeatedly exists between an elder and a younger man, when the elder man has intellect, and the younger man has all the joy, hope and glamour of life before him. That it should be so, the world does not understand. The world mocks at it and sometimes puts one in the pillory for it.”

- Oscar Wilde (via juliassundial)

thehomophilemovement: Then and Now: Black Gay...

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 07:47:45 -0500

thehomophilemovement:

Then and Now: Black Gay Pride

~http://blackpridesociety.org/history/

~http://zestbooks.net/lgbtq-pride-history/

anotheralexandros: pentapod-monster: high-functioning-sociopath...

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 16:00:39 -0500

anotheralexandros:

pentapod-monster:

high-functioning-sociopaths:

According to Greek mythology, hyacinths originated because of the wrath of Zephyr, god of wind. Apollo, ~~king of all the gods~~, fell in love with Hyacinthus, prince of Sparta. One day as Apollo and Hyacinthus were playing discus, Apollo threw the discus and Zephyr, jealous and enraged that Hyacinthus prefers Apollo over him, caused the wind to make the discus hit Hyacinthus and kill him. Broken hearted, Apollo created the hyacinth flower out of the blood of his friend.

Hyacinth, blue: Constancy, Sincerity

Hyacinth, purple: I am sorry, Please forgive me, Sorrow

Hyacinth, white: Loveliness, I will pray for you, Unobtrusive loveliness

Hyacinth, yellow: Jealousy

There you go, my favorite flower slides perfectly with both tumblr dash background and my tumblr personality.

I even have new ship.

apollo isn’t king of all the gods tho

This myth also inspired a poem by Omar Khayyam—it’s one of my favorites.

XIX

I sometimes think that never blows so red
The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled;
That every Hyacinth the Garden wears
Dropt in her Lap from some once lovely Head.

funeral-wreaths: The Warren Cup, AD 5-15

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 15:55:10 -0500

funeral-wreaths:

The Warren Cup, AD 5-15

"Was I really capable of vice? Yes - I felt it within me, in this hatred, in this horror, in this..."

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 09:36:33 -0500

““Was I really capable of vice? Yes - I felt it within me, in this hatred, in this horror, in this confusion itself. But love was no vice. When best I loved, then I was best.””

- Olivia, Dorothy Strachey 1949.

Olivia, the eponymous character is a young girl at a French finishing school who falls in love with her teacher, Mlle Julie.

(via iwhohavenoface)

handi-pigeon: Portrait of woman in suit and hat.

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 04:48:36 -0500

handi-pigeon:

Portrait of woman in suit and hat.

poem

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 19:12:51 -0500

dotdotdotexclamation:

Godlike the man who

sits at her side, who

watches and catches

that laughter

which (softly) tears me

to tatters: nothing is

left of me, each time

I see her,

… tongue numbed; arms, legs

melting, on fire; drum

drumming in ears; head-

lights gone black.

…why?

Sappho’s poem of jealousy survives only because the ancient critic Longinus quoted it as a supreme example of poetic intensity: “Are you not amazed at how she evokes soul, body, hearing, tongue, sight, skin, as though they were external and belonged to someone else? And how at one and the same moment she both freezes and burns, is irrational and sane, is terrified and nearly dead, so that we observe in her not a single emotion but a whole concourse of emotions? Such things do, of course, commonly happen to people in love. Sappho’s supreme excellence lies in the skill with which she selects the most striking and vehement circumstances of the passions and forges them into a coherent whole” (Longinus, On the Sublime).

antinous

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 14:24:42 -0500

antinous

"We were led out of the bar and they cattled us all up against the police vans. The cops pushed us up..."

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 09:36:53 -0500

“

We were led out of the bar and they cattled us all up against the police vans. The cops pushed us up against the grates and the fences. People started throwing pennies, nickels, and quarters at the cops.

And then the bottles started. And then we finally had the morals squad barricaded in the Stonewall building, because they were actually afraid of us at that time. They didn’t know we were going to react that way.

”

- Interview with transgender activist Sylvia Rivera about the Stonewall riot. (via outforhealth)

Photo

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 04:48:48 -0500

diamantfabriken: From Autostraddle.com’s “150 years of...

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 19:12:38 -0500

diamantfabriken:

From Autostraddle.com’s “150 years of lesbians”.

tahlalaliaaa: Can anyone recommend some (non-fiction) books on queer/lesbian women in Victorian...

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 17:16:42 -0500

tahlalaliaaa:

Can anyone recommend some (non-fiction) books on queer/lesbian women in Victorian times? I’m finding out so much about Victorian gay men in this Oscar Wilde book and the first steps being made towards some sort of gay rights movement in Britain, but apart from a passing mention of a couple of lesbian supporters of The Cause, there’s nothing on women who love women.

Someone recommended the Tipping the Velvet miniseries—it was actually based on a novel! The author is Sarah Waters, and it’s an excellent book. The description is fanastic, and it’s exceptional in its description of lesbianism/crossdressing in different parts of town and different classes. I haven’t read much literature set in Victorian times, and I still found it to be a fantastic read.

Genesis 1: 3-4: And Gloria cackled, let there be sparkle: and there was sparkle. And Gloria vardad the sparkle, that it was bona: and Gloria medzered the sparkle from the munge.

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 14:25:00 -0400

retoocym:

The Polari Bible

Polari Diaries

Photo

blinkingmidnightclock: French Quarter Mardi Gras drag in the...

stevienyc: Photos from protests for queer rights in the 80’s As...

cannibalcoalition: sewingwitch: sometimesiseetoomuch: Thu, 20 Dec 2012 14:05:00 -0500 cannibalcoalition: sewingwitch: sometimesiseetoomuch: very good I like how the tiki has a wig. Can I have the brunette? She seems my type.

animula, vagula, blandulahospes comesque corporisquae nunc...

This isn’t necessarily LGBTQ history, per se, but if you aren’t listening to Tracy...

indophilia: Mahmud of Ghazni and Malik Ayaz. Mahmud of Ghazni...

"The Love that dare not speak its name” in this century is such a great affection of an elder for a..."

thehomophilemovement: Then and Now: Black Gay...

anotheralexandros: pentapod-monster: high-functioning-sociopath...

funeral-wreaths: The Warren Cup, AD 5-15

"Was I really capable of vice? Yes - I felt it within me, in this hatred, in this horror, in this..."

handi-pigeon: Portrait of woman in suit and hat.

poem

antinous

"We were led out of the bar and they cattled us all up against the police vans. The cops pushed us up..."

Photo

diamantfabriken: From Autostraddle.com’s “150 years of...

tahlalaliaaa: Can anyone recommend some (non-fiction) books on queer/lesbian women in Victorian...

Genesis 1: 3-4: And Gloria cackled, let there be sparkle: and there was sparkle. And Gloria vardad the sparkle, that it was bona: and Gloria medzered the sparkle from the munge.

cannibalcoalition: sewingwitch: sometimesiseetoomuch:
Thu, 20 Dec 2012 14:05:00 -0500

cannibalcoalition:

sewingwitch:

sometimesiseetoomuch:

very good

I like how the tiki has a wig.

Can I have the brunette? She seems my type.