Why the need for such a book?
Six years ago I dropped off some LOTLs (a glossy mag for gay women published in Australia) at The Triangle Project in Cape Town, South Africa. I was chatting to then Director Vanessa Ludwig and she, as a young brown lesbian, asked what I, as an older white gay woman talked about with my friends.
She and her brown friends, it transpired, were very politically aware while me and my white friends were not. She asked what it was like coming 'out' in paternalistic, politically and racially charged South Africa when I was in my teens. And was fascinated to hear my stories.
"Oh you really should come and give some talks to the younger lesbians here at the Project," she said, "we need to preserve our gay history ... give youngsters something good to read, something inspiring, something to make them feel that they are not alone and that it's okay to be gay."
I said, "Well it's a hell of a lot easier for gay girls today because there are clubs to meet up at, books to read, the Internet to trawl ... Google to ask, Facebook to find like-minded friends, and loads more."
"Oh sure there is," she replied, "but the problems and challenges you faced (how to tell your folks, when to confess to your friends, how much to tell your boss, etc,
etc) are all exactly the same things that many gay people still have to deal with today. It's pretty much the same circus... just in a different tent."
Giving gay people their history
The fear of living as an "out" gay person and the removal of homosexuality from history has deprived gay people of the recognition of large parts of their lives and their loves. By denying the existence of homosexuality, historians have routinely robbed gay people of an identity, of role models and of their rights.
A comment often made by people coming to terms with being gay is that they feel isolated ... the only gay person in the world. The distortion of the past and denial of homosexuality feeds this social and personal isolation. Without a 'history' gay people are denied a sense of self, a sense of worth and often feel they have no voice.
That is why I wrote this book... to give straight people a clearer picture of us gay people, to give gay people a sense of pride and to encourage everyone to be less judgemental of those who are different among us.
Barbara Castle-Farmer
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