Recently, New York Mayor Mamdani reference The Cercle Hermaphroditos in a speech in support of Pride, and New York’s contributions to LGBTQ history. So, here is a little on this relatively obscure group, for those who haven’t heard of them:

The Cercle Hermaphroditos, founded in 1895 in New York City, was the first known transgender advocacy group in the U.S. This was at a time when cross dressing was a punishable crime. Their home at Paresis Hall provided a safe place for androgynes, queens, fairies, Uranians, and hermaphrodites (the terms transfeminine people used for themselves in those days) to gather and socialize. Most of what is known today about the secret organization comes from the memoirs of Jennie June, a female impersonator and regular at Paresis Hall, a gay bar and brothel near Washington Square Park, where the Cercle met. According to June, members were Ultra-Androgyne, & would always clothe themselves as female in their daily lives if the law permitted it. She also described the Cercle Hermaphroditos as a mutual aid society, where people assigned male at birth who lived as women could come together for safety and support.

In her book “The Female-Impersonators,” June chronicled her time as a sex worker in 1890s Manhattan. She described how transfeminine people were subjected to blackmail, violence, police harassment, theft, murder, and suicide. Paresis Hall club maintained a room to store women’s clothes for members, so they could avoid police harassment and street violence on their way to meetings. Discussions at the hall included topics like how to show solidarity with transmasculine people, and the latest science on gender and transfemininity.

In 2019, Shualee Cook wrote a play called “Circle Hermaphroditos” about a transmasculine person who goes to Paresis Hall to find a lady he can legally marry, then play the roles expected of them in public while pursuing the life they want in private. But finding the proper match is more difficult than he expected, especially after the club is raided by police.

References:
glreview.org/cercle-hermaphrod…
getplume.co/blog/trans-history…
parityproductions.org/cercle-h…

#lgbtq #pride #pridemonth #trans #transgender #transrightsarehumanrights #cerclehermaphroditos #drag #crossdress

Today in Labor History May 30, 1431: Teenage peasant soldier and crossdresser, Joan of Ark, was burned at the stake by an English tribunal, in part for the “blasphemy” of wearing men’s clothes. After her arrest, her male attire was taken from her and she was forced to sign a document (which she may not have understood) declaring she would no longer cross dress. But when her captors returned her men’s attire, to test her will, she promptly put the clothes back on. During her trial, she vowed, 'For nothing in the world will I swear not to arm myself and put on a man's dress.'" Twenty-fiver years later, Pope Callixtus III declared her a martyr. In 1909, they beatified her and they granted her sainthood in 1920.

She rose to prominence during the Hundred Years’ War, which was essentially a feud between competing monarchies (French and English) that left the peasants poor, hungry and at risk of being slaughtered. England had been winning the war and had almost gained control over France when Joan of Ark decided to intervene. She had been having religious visions and was convinced that only she could turn things around for France. She travelled to Chinon to meet King Charles, disguised as a male soldier, which later led to charges of cross-dressing. Convincing the King to turn the conflict into a religious war, she led his troops in the Battle of Orleans. By many contemporary accounts, it was her military advice that won the battle. However, by her own words, she never killed a man, preferring to carry the banner “forty times better” than a sword. In the centuries after her death, she became legendary.

Historically, she has been portrayed as a saint, heretic, religious zealot, deranged teenager, witch, proto-feminist, and even as a Marxist liberator." Transgender activist, writer and communist, Leslie Feinberg, argues in Transgender Liberation that "Joan of Arc was burned at the stake by the Inquisition because she refused to stop dressing as a man… an expression of her identity she was willing to die for rather than renounce."

#workingclass #LaborHistory #peasant #JoanofArc #crossdressing #transphobia #catholic #poverty #feminism #transgender #lgbtq #TransRightsAreHumanRights

Wow, what an amazing Day of Protest today was! I have tons of photos to pour over to share with you guys, but before I do there were two dampers to the day that I need to talk about. Physical assaults driven by hate, to be specific.

Today's rally and march was specifically to address the UCP's upcoming referendum, all of the UCP's cruel cuts to our vulnerable populations, cuts to our public education and health services, and the UCP's discriminatory practices that target marginalized Albertans such as queer and trans kids. The referendum is not just about separation, but about extreme xenophobic anti-immigrant hate questions involved, which attempts to create an apartheid state in Alberta where residents can receive or be denied critical service like healthcare, based on their ethnic origins.

There is a a violent, hateful environment being actively brewed in this province by our government and their divisive politics.

One such hate-monger was this anti-trans agitator who stood in the way of the much loved Joyful Dinosaurs. At first I thought she was just oblivious and rude, as I couldn't get any decent photos of the Joyful Dinosaurs during their presentation, with her standing right in front of them live-streaming the crowd and telling "her followers" what to share. Then during the Joyful Dinosaurs speech, they said that "we know trans kids are not the problem". Hearing that set this woman off and she started swearing and going off with anti-trans slurs. You can see the clippet of video I attached here, when she starts screaming "Pedos!" at the dinos and the crowd. It is at this point that Gil McGowan, Alberta Federation of Labour president, approaches her calmly and gently, and has a few words with her (you can see him approach in the video clip). I'm guessing he asked her to politely step down or something, and I saw that she was starting to get physically violent with him. So I quickly jumped up from where I was standing on a lower level, so that I could stand nearby behind Gil, "just in case". After she seemed to be done swearing at him, Gil walked back to the speakers' area, and she directed some anger towards me before disengaging. But she kept walking towards where Gil was, and so I decided to place myself in the middle of that wide open space that stood between her and the AFL staff. Just to be clear, this was a VERY large space. They were nowhere near her, and neither was I. When she saw me standing in the gap however, she came rushing up to me screaming, "GET OUT OF MY SPACE!" I just stood there, not moving, while she kept pushing into me screaming. Then attacked me, and hit me with her selfie stick, sending my hat flying off my head. As I batted away her attack, her selfie stick ended up in my hand. This detail sounds unimportant now, but just wait... I went down a level after this, while she kept live streaming from up top. She kept trying to agitate me, pointing at me and threatening me. I held her selfie stick openly in my hand while she was threatening me, and when other people started asking if I were okay I mentioned to one that she left me with her weapon. At that point she must have been stalking my conversations because she came running up to me again screaming, "GIVE ME BACK MY STICK!" So I held it out to her and asked, "You mean this weapon you hit me with?" and she screamed back, "YES, GIVE ME BACK MY WEAPON!"

As horrible as that experience was, that last line still had me in stitches, lol. "Give me back my weapon!" At least that gave me something to laugh about, and just the incredible energy of the rally made me quickly forget about this incident.

Until on my way home, when I was assaulted again. Sitting at a red light on 100 Avenue just before it turns into Victoria Park Road at 116 Street, I was going straight through so was in the middle lane since the right lane was a turn lane. I had already been sitting on the red for quite a while, when suddenly I felt this violent push behind me, and all of a sudden I was being violently pushed out of my lane by a large charcoal pickup truck. I got off my bike and stood in front of the truck, snapping the quick picture you see in the attachments (EDIT: Sorry, I guess I can't attach it at the same time as the video, so it will be in the comments), then trying to open my phone to call 911. I verbally said I was calling 911 though, so the man started driving his truck INTO me as soon as he heard that. I quickly put my phone in my pocket so I could protect my body with my hands while he kept driving his truck at me and pushing me through the intersection. So I started calling out to anyone around, "Somebody please call 911! Somebody please call 911", as he kept pushing me through with his truck, then turning north onto 116 Street (from the middle lane, not the turn lane).

I just got off the phone with police dispatch, and they want me to report this as a collision, due to him hitting me on my bike. We all know this is a lot more than a "collision" though. It was a hate crime, though the police will never define it as such because cyclists are not a protected class. However, hatred of cyclists is just one of many divisive rage-baits that the UCP has been engaging in, as they overstep their jurisdiction to legislate the removal of municipal bike lanes. THIS is the reason why entitled people like this feel the privilege to do whatever they want to whomever they want, as long as they are in these groups targeted for hate. It includes trans people, queer kids, women, First Nations, disabled folk, teachers, doctors, anyone who stands up against war and genocide, and yes, even people who dare to ride a bicycle.

This is what this rally was about. Read the signs, listen to the people, listen to the speeches. We may direct the need for action towards legislations like the upcoming referendum, but if you listen to the concerns being raised, you will find that this was very much an ANTI-HATE and ANTI-DISCRIMINATION rally. That is what binds all the different groups present together. This is why everybody is appalled by what is going on under the UCP's government.

But as I said before, I have a ton of photos of this absolutely INCREDIBLE rally, with the most intense energy experienced! This is what heals, knowing that we do have a safe space, with safe people. People who don't violently assault you because you don't hate the way they hate, or because you are their object of hate. That is the majority of us, and we are strong when we stand together! We win we are united!

A UNITED Canada means a country for ALL people. There is no room for hate in discrimination in OUR Canada. The Separatists' "Independent Alberta" is a state born out of xenophobia and hatred. THAT is why many of us will not be able to live in it.

#abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli #solidarity #transrightsarehumanrights #HateSpeech #yeg #yegbike