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queerstorypodcast · 7 years

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Episode 3- The Riotous Truth

Episode 3- The Riotous Truth: The Stonewall Riots

Welcome again to Queer Story Podcast. The history they didn’t teach you in school. In celebration of pride I want to talk about the Stonewall riots and debunk some of the narrative myths of the events during that fateful summer in 1969.

My name is oso and this is the history they didn’t tell you.

This is complicated piece of Queerstory. I have been working on it for weeks.

I don’t know if any of ya’ll have seen Where Pride Began, the 2015 movie by Roland Emmerich on how the the Stone wall riots,

(Following the story of a young midwestern white boy. Presenting him as the one who felt the rage of “enough is enough”. Gay Liberation Movement and climate of white gay culture white washed and eliminated People of Color and key figures in this story: The Saint Queens: Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P Johnson; Miss Major, and Storme’ Delarvarie. As well as countless other Brown and Black transgender, drag wearing, street, various sexuality experiencing patrons of The Stonewall Inn.)

I wanted to force myself to watch this film, but I decided the general botched history that can be found on Wikepedia and other sources was just as available. I am talking about the re-written narrative, the white-gay-male centered narrative. Since I know the real history involved Latinx and Black folks, the Mob, and a non-planned explosion of being simply fed up with the cops.

Look: we all know that white people like to take credit for things that they didn’t do. Elvis, NASA, Miley Cyrus- Stonewall and the Gay “movement” isn’t any different. Once we face this fact, we can peel back the falsity and see the resplendence of what the energy and magick of the rage of powerful-people-oppressed can accomplish. Doors blown wide open for all of us. This episode is out of gratitude for that rage and strength.

Thank you to all the elders and ancestors that came before us.

Today we will focus on the retelling of the story of the Stonewall Riots. If you were at the Stonewall Riots and want to add to or detail the story, please contact me! [email protected]. I would love to make sure the story is correct, and listen to you, as I am piecing it together from various stories I have read.

What I have learned from for this episode are the testimonies of Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P Johnson, Miss Major, Titus Montavlo, and Mark Segal- who via PBS called out the 2015 film as

“...uninterested in any history that doesn’t revolve around its white, male, stereotypically attractive protagonist. It almost entirely leaves out the women who participated in the riots and helped create the Gay Liberation Front, which included youth, trans people, lesbian separatists and people from all other parts of the spectrum of our community.”

Interview here: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/stonewall-movie/

Let’s dive into today’s Queer Story!

Once Upon a Time, being gay and being thought of/seen as a “crossdresser” was illegal. As recently, in the state of New York, as 2011! Thanks to laws made in the mid-19th century, clothing choices were limited to the drag of the two binary genders. These current day bathroom bills aren’t too far off from US history’s invested interest in what’s between everyone’s legs. According to transgender historian, Susan Stryker, these laws made in the 1850’s were a “new development specific to gender presentation”.

The “3 Piece Rule”: one must wear 3 pieces of gender appropriate clothing, was a commonly enforced law. These laws effectively gave power to the police to enforce binary gender roles upon civilians who may have multiple, fluid, and/or queer genders. Which the police enforced liberally. This is the climate we find ourselves in 1969.

In 1969 the cops would harass people on the street and raid bars and events, demanding to see if “the genitals matched the clothing”, to which if they didn’t match to the cop’s understanding and, folks would be fined or arrested. In New York City, in the 60’s this was certainly the case.

This was an era of McCarthyism, police raids, removal of LGBTQ people from parks and public places, arrests, and a general loathing and ignorance about Queer and gender variant folks by wholesome hetero America. It was widely accepted that homosexuality and the transgender identities that were classified as “homosexual”, was a mental disorder and many folks were institutionalized at one time or another.

The FBI kept lists of “homosexual” people and establishments that were used to out people at work and subsequently, keep them un-employable. Trans folks, of all genders, were routinely fined, beaten, arrested, and murdered for wearing “clothing of the opposite sex”. This was a time in which the majority of gender non-conforming people, particularly, male assigned at birth feminine people, who identified as Queens, had absolutely no place in society. Queer people across the spectrum were exposed, harassed, institutionalized, jailed, and murdered- legally under the laws of many states.

Once upon a time, on 53 W. Christopher Street in the Big Apple, during the summer of ‘69, the world changed for Queer and gender non-conforming people forever. Today’s Queer Story is centered around the experiences of the the trans women of color, street kids, and gender non-conforming lesbians who frequented the Mafia-run dive known as the Stonewall Inn.

Before we dive into the story of the Stonewall Inn, I want to first mention Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, which had taken place in 1966, three years before Stonewall. In San Francisco’s Tenderloin district, trans folks flocked to Compton’s Cafeteria. One of the reasons they hung out there was because they were not allowed to kick it at the gay bars- this is an important part of this Queer Story- gay communities, even in Queer meccas like SF and NYC were generally transphobic and exclusionary.

At Compton’s, the cops would frequently raid and arrest people based on if their clothing matched their genitals. Until enough was enough, and a picket against such raids was set in motion by the Queens and Kings who spent time there. The picket was unsuccessful- but the outburst of pure raw transgender rage was not. For a couple of nights trans folks rioted at the cafeteria, and the police were called in. The time and dates of the riots are unknown, as police records are no longer around and newspapers did not cover the story.

Compton’s riots opened pandora’s box of possibilities. Three years later, on the other coast, the rage of trans folks of color rage pushed all of us out of America’s closet once and for all.

The setting of today’s Queer Story: Greenwich Village- a neighborhood where gay, lesbian, trans, and unhoused folks flocked to after the first world war. Because of the lingering effects of the prohibition era, the mob ran most of the underground joints and speakeasies. This was very good for Queer folks because drinking and “so-called” immoral activities, like essing D, finger banging, and looking better than you in some fabulous evening wear, found a natural home underground. There, in The Village, the classic New York Queer subculture flourished for two decades.

The 50s brought McCarthyism and social repression, which only helped attract Beat poets, artists, and radical people to the area- expanding the community. By the early 60s Mayor Robert F. Wagoner Jr, felt the urge (probably stemming from his unmet needs of sucking dick) to purge NYC of all gay bars in anticipation for the 1964 World’s Fair. This lead to police entrapment of gay men and gender/clothing policing of trans people.

The Stonewall Inn was owned by the Genovese Crime family, who had invested a whopping $3,500 to convert it from a hetero-night club to a bar where Latinx and Black drag queens, semi-queens, and street kids would spend time. It had no liquor license, so the mob paid off the cops weekly. Reportedly, the bar had no running water, overflowing toilets, and filthy glasses. But, it was the place where Queens, Kings, so-called “crossdressers”, and Queer street kids could congregate indoors and dance. There were two dancefloors and the music of Motown were the jams you would hear there.

Police raids were frequent at the bars of The Village, so there was a system in place to inform bar patrons of police presence. In the case of cops, the black lights would shut off and white lights would flicker. This indicated that folks should stop dancing and touching each other and play it cool.

According to Miss Major, a life-long trans activist and original Stonewall Girl, the patronage was mostly Black and Latinx trans folks and street kids. She also claims that gay men would rarely visit the bar. A fact corroborated with by Titus Montlavo, a former semi-queen who spent time at Stonewall when they were 16. Montlavo told Out Magazine: “At least 70%. The Spanish group was the Delightful Ladies. The black group was the Blackwell...The majority of people at Stonewall were either drag queens or gay men of color. You could never go to Julius [a nearby bar] unless you were extremely conservative and well dressed. We were never allowed there.”

According to the whitewashed, gay dominant narrative, you will find across all forms of historic media, Stonewall was “an even mix of GAY and lesbian, white, black, and hispanic people.” Remember Compton’s? Gay folks routinely rejected trans-women, drag queens and kings. This was no different in New York. There were gay bars around, but The Stonewall Inn was where the Queens were.

It is recorded that on June 28th, at 1:20 am four undercover police, two regular pigs, Deputy inspector Seymor Pine and detective Charles Smythe entered Stonewall and declared “Police we’re taking the place!” A handful of other mob-owned queer bars had been shut down in The Village that summer- they thought that night would be like the rest. They shoulda stayed home and watched Johnny Carson.

The cops worked the the routine, they tried to shut down Stonewall like they had the other bars- by forcing people to prove their genders, taking ID’s, and arresting what would be 13 people.

The actual riot began all thanks to a mixture of the rage of Queens and the resistance of Storme’ Delarverie, Black, stone butch stud, talented, drag king.

As the cops tried to arrest Storme’, they resisted. Onlookers said they saw a “stone butch” aggressively wrestlingt he cops back and forth all the way to the wagon. When they were beaten over the head by an officer and stuffed into the paddy wagon with three Queens, Storme’ cried out to all who could hear, “ WHY DON’T YOU GUYS DO SOMETHING?!” At this point the onlooking gay folks from the gaybars and Village were yelling to the cops, “Let them go!” and “pigs” and faggot cops”. For the folks gathered outside: when Storme’ cried out, people fought back.

Inside of the bar, according to Titus Montalvo, “When the fight started in that corner of the club—at the end of the bar—one very tall Spanish queen named Joey and a couple of black drag queens were at the corner at the time.” Other testimonies, including that of Sylvia Rivera, saw Marsha P. (Pay it no mind) Johnson throw a the first shot glass. It sounds like many folks started fighting back around the same time, different patrons saw different folks, all Latinx and Black, initiate the riot. This cannot be forgotten.

This explosion brought the gay onlookers into the riots. They saw the first wave of protest explode from the Queens, Storme’, and street kids- they saw how the outcasts of the world of “homosexuals” fought back. This was a moment of experiential solidarity.

Cops and a couple of reporters were barricaded in the bar, as protester rioted outside. Bricks wear hurled, coins, dog shit, high heels, and beer bottles. The outraged Queers tried to overturn cop cars and the paddy wagon and pull a parking meter out of it’s post to be used as a battering ram to get at the folks locked inside. They set fire to the bar with the cops and reporters inside. Gay men, who generally loathed the Queens, fought for and with the them on this night. Rallying against the cops who oppressed them all. It is reported that the cops were outnumbered by 500-600 people. Sylvia Rivera, the godmother of Queens and unhoused trans youth, said “It was the greatest moment of my life”.

Famously, the Queens and kids did their can-can “We are the Stonewall Girls, we wear our hair in curls, we wear no underwear, we show our pubic hair!” right around the same time the Tactical Patrol Force showed up. They used their force to try and subdue the crowd. Many people were beaten with night-sticks and knocked out cold. By 4:00 the riot had died down and folks sat in the electric air of change along Christopher street.

That same electricity kept its charge the following night, with tags of “Gay Power” and “Drag Power” scrawled all over the charred front of the Stonewall Inn. That night more people joined, tourists and folks who weren’t even Queer, just those who wanted to fight the cops. It was remarked that the next night there was a visible insurgence of Queer PDA, like never before seen. On this night - thousands showed up. This was the night people got buck wild. Saint Sylvia saw Saint Marsha climb a lamp post and drop a bag of heavy object on the windshield of a car- smashing it. The Queen of Queens.

The riot continued through the night until the TPF showed up again. But the damage had been done, the big gay cat was out of the big gay bag and would never be pushed back in again.

The following year was the first Pride event: The Christopher Street Day Parade and Festival.

During the following year, an activist movement co-created by Saint Sylvia and Saint Marsha, Michael Brown of the Mattachine Society, Dick Lietch, Martha Shelley, Lois Hart, Bob Martin, Marty Robinson, Karla Jay, and Bob Kohler, the Gay Liberation Front was founded. Brown, authored a pamphlet called “The Hairpin Drop Heard Around the World”, that allowed the Mattachine society to capitalize off of the momentum of the riots.

The GLF organized throughout 1970 and born from it were various caucuses,the Gay Activist Alliance, Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, and Lesbian Liberation Committee (among many other committees formed for Gay Liberation). The GAA, while being initially organized by gay men and women and trans folks, Queens, began to adopt the respectability politics that characterized the ousting of Sylvia, Marsh, Miss Major, and other Queens/crossdressers, sexworkers, and street kids- the very same to instigated the riots that prompted liberation in the first place.

In fact, these sensible gays worked very hard to exclude transwomen from the movement in subsequent Pride events years after the riots. According to Miss Major, “The sad thing about all of that was that the gay and lesbian community took that away from us and just completely white-washed us into the background as if we didn’t exist and weren’t there. They even claimed it was their bar, when you would rarely even see gay people there. “

What strikes me is a mixture of intersecting realities and narratives actually did bring the LGBT community together- eventually adding the Q- the reclamation piece. Gays rejected trans-people. White people reject Black and Brown people. So the story goes. Transfolks, we were’t the same as them, we made things unsafe for them because we can’t so easily pass in the world. Rejecting us was a multi-headed beast: self-preservation, misogyny, phobia of sexualities that might not be gay, and racism. The rage, that night, they came from Black and Brown Queens, shook something in the white gay community. They were compelled to implore the cops to let the queens and kings go. They jumped into the fight in the following nights.

Those gay people NEEDED the spark. I see it as a venn diagram: Queens who were Black or Brown were not permitted by society to have gainful employment or living accommodations, ever; gay men and women, particularly white and passing folks, could be employed and have housing- until the FBI lists publicly took those privileges away. Class and gender privilege divided these groups, until the laws pushed them together. That night of Stonewall, was the venn diagram of rage and disgust. It did not equalize us, it did not make the Queens acceptable to the gays overnight. It was simply a moment of overlapping rage, a moment where gay people could see their struggle in the people that they looked down upon.

The gays needed change from the police harassment just as much as the Queens, even if they couldn’t rise up until that night. Yes, they took over the story and in many ways historically own it. Yes, they took up space in the parades and festivals to come. Yes, they rewrote it to look more gay and less transgender; more white and less Black and Brown. Yes, it is hurtful, wrong, and super fucked up; it is the effects of colonization, the re-mix. It is yet another example of how the labor of Black and Brown folks has changed the world as we know it. And the disease of white toxic masculinity needs to hold credit.

This is where another crux exists. When it opened up everything for the gay and white folks, they tried to keep it. Consequentially, year after year, this pulled more gay and lesbian people into a place of personal pride. I can’t help but think about how this impacts the spectrum of the LGBTQIA community today? I can also see that it was a combination of the spark and the bullshit, that slowly expanded solidarity to the extent of having a larger community that refers to itself as LGBTQIA.

Sylvia: “I may be… You all better quiet down. I’ve been trying to get up here all day for your gay brothers and your gay sisters in jail that write me every motherfucking week and ask for your help, and you all don’t do a goddamn thing for them. Have you ever been beaten up and raped in jail? Now think about it. They’ve been beaten up and raped after they’ve had to spend much of their money in jail to get their self home and to try to get their sex changes. The women have tried to fight for their sex changes or to become women of the Women’s Liberation and they write STAR, not to the women’s groups, they do not write to men, they write STAR because we’re trying to do something for them. I have been to jail. I have been raped, and beaten. Many times. By men, heterosexual men that do not belong in the homosexual shelter. But, do you do anything for me? No. You tell me to go and hide my tail between my legs. I will not put up with this shit. I have been beaten. I have had my nose broken. I have been thrown in jail. I have lost my job. I have lost my apartment for gay liberation and you all treat me this way? What the fuck’s wrong with you all? Think about that! I do not believe in a revolution, but you all do. I believe in the Gay Power. I believe in us getting our rights, or else I would not be out there fighting for our rights. That’s all I wanted to say to you people. If you all want to know about the people in jail – and do not forget Bambi L’Amour, Andorra Marks, Kenny Messner, and other gay people in jail – come and see the people at STAR House on Twelfth Street on 640 East Twelfth Street between B and C apartment 14. The people are trying to do something for all of us, and not men and women that belong to a white, middle-class white club. And that’s what you all belong to! Revolution now! Gimme a ‘G’! Gimme an ‘A’! Gimme a ‘Y’! Gimme a ‘P’! Gimme an ‘O’! Gimme a ‘W’! Gimme an ‘E! Gimme an ‘R’! huh— Gay power. Louder! Gay Power!”

That was a speech made by Saint Sylvia at 1973 NYC pride, where she and Marsha were actively pushed out. Gay culture assimilation, “respectability politics” always pushing back. She enters the stage to a chorus of boos, allegedly after a gay male favorite: Better Midler left the stage.

The same people her labor liberated were the same who booed her and didn’t want to hear her speak. Sylvia not only worked for all Gay Liberation, she actively worked to have inclusion for trans and gender non-conforming people in the world of Gay Liberation. It was her labor that brought the T into the alphabet soup.

1973 was also the year the gays tried to ban Marsha from riding in the Stonewall Car. So what did she and Sylvia do? They went ahead of the opening banner and lead the entire parade. Which put pressure on the NYC gay march to allow transvestites and trans folks in the parade.

It’s truly disgusting to see how the story was white washed and rewritten, but I want to shift focus from that narrative and to how the entire story is about the power and strength of transwomen of color.

Once Upon a time, Black and Latinx Queens and Kings changed everything, for everyone, forever; they created the original festivities, Pride festivals and parades now attract and include more folks than ever. And during the month of June, people rejoice in who they are and how they love and how good we all look! More people are listening to the whole narrative and questioning the story, hungry for truth. And it isn’t over.

The story is complicated, gay cisgender men, especially white men, do get massive privilege in comparison to trans women of color. There is still trans-misogyny in the gay community. Old issues have transformed, yet persisted, over time, and it is still true that: trans women of color are fighting and creating so much for themselves, and all of us, while still being targeted by violence and murdered by hateful ignorance. This story is exalted by their strength and power; it wouldn’t be a Queerstory that changed the world without all of its parts.

Musical Break: Dame Shirley Bassey- My Life

Dialogue with Colin

#transcript #stonewallriots #transgender #queen #sylvia rivera #marsha p johnson #dame shirley bassey #queer #queerstorypodcast #lgbtq #lgbtqia #BIPOC #QTPOC

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queerstorypodcast · 7 years

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Episode 2- Magnus Hirschfeld

Hello and a good gay to ya’ll today! Welcome to Queer Story Podcast, I’m your host oso and I’m here with Jaz.

(thoughts on the show Transparent and the ties tothe story of Magnus Hirschfeld’s life.

Thank you to the ancestors for bringing us to this place, without you we wouldn’t be here.

Today’s episode is all about the godfather of all the gays and trans folks of the world: Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld. Who once said this quote: “The woman who needs to be liberated most is the woman in every man, & the man who needs to be liberated most is the man in every woman.”

One of the best tauruses to ever live, in my humble taurean opinion. Lets dive right into today’s Queerstory

Story:

Once upon a time in Germany, there was a man, an openly gay Ashkenazi Jewish man, who fully believed that being gay is a reasonable human experience. This man spent his entire life fighting for "Justice through science", for homosexual and transgender people to be recognized.

-He studied philosophy in undergrad. In 1892 he earned his doctoral degree

-He started a naturopathic practice in Magdeburg; in 1896 he moved his practice to Berlin-Charlottenburg.

-In 1896 he issued a pamphlet, Sappho and Socrates, on homosexual love under the pseudonym Th. Ramien

-In 1897, Hirschfeld founded the Scientific Humanitarian Committee with the publisher Max Spohr, the lawyer Eduard Oberg, and the writer Franz Joseph von Bülow.

- The Scientific Humanitarian Committee focused their work on defending the rights of homosexuals and to repeal Paragraph 175, the section of the German penal code that since 1871 had criminalized homosexuality. They argued that the law encouraged blackmail. Their motto was "Justice through science"

- This reflected Hirschfeld's belief that a better scientific understanding of homosexuality would eliminate social hostility toward homosexuals.

-Under Hirschfeld's leadership, the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee gathered over 5000 signatures from prominent Germans on a petition to overturn Paragraph 175. Notable folks who signed this: Albert Einstein, Ranier Maria Rilke, and Herman Hesse.

-The bill was brought before the Reichstag in 1898, but was supported only by a minority from the Social Democratic Party of Germany. Hirschfeld considered what would, in a later era, be described as "outing": forcing out of the closet some of the prominent and secretly homosexual lawmakers who had remained silent on the bill. He arranged for the bill to be reintroduced and in the 1920s it began to make some progress, before the takeover of the Nazis ended hopes for this support of homosexual communities.

One of the most prominent parts of Magnus’ career was his involvement with the homosexual sex scandal that emerged in Kaiser Wilheim II’s cabinet in 1907-1909. This was known as the Harden Eulenberg Affair. This affair was such a scandal it could be compared to the trial of Oscar Wilde 20 years earlier. We won’t get into the details of the accusations and the accused, lets just stay focused on Magnus’ involvement.

Like Oscar WIlde’s original trials, this one was in regards to suing for libel.In 1907 when General Kuno von Moltke sued the journalist Maximilian Harden after the journalist had run an article accusing Moltke of having a homosexual relationship with the politically powerful Prince Philipp von Eulenburg, who was the Kaiser's best friend. Hirschfeld testified for the journalist, Harden. Hirschfeld in his role as an expert witness testified that Moltke was gay, and thus what Harden had written was true. This had alot to do with Magnus’ personal agenda— as he was a gay scientist who passionately wanted to make homosexuality legal in Germany — he believed that proving that Army officers like Moltke were gay would help his case for legalization, and as such he also testified that he believed there was nothing wrong with Moltke. Hirschfeld testified that "homosexuality was part of the plan of nature and creation just like normal love." This caused OUTRAGE all over Germany. Various newspapers called him out as "a freak who acted for freaks” (thanks dear Dr for being for us freaks!) in the name of pseudoscience" and "Dr. Hirschfeld makes public propaganda under the cover of science which does nothing but poison our people. Real science should fight against this!" one of the newspaper’s stated.

SInce this isn’t a podcast on the Harden Eulenberg trial, I will move on to some other aspects of Hirshfeld’s career and work.

In 1921 Hirschfeld organised the First Congress for Sexual Reform, which led to the formation of the World League for Sexual Reform. Congresses were held in Copenhagen (1928), London (1929), Vienna (1930).

In 1904, Hirschfeld joined the Bund für Mutterschutz (League for the Protection of Mothers), the feminist organization founded by Helene Stöcker. He campaigned for the decriminalisation of abortion, and against policies that banned female teachers and civil servants from marrying or having children.

So, the Wiemer Republic is considering a bit more liberal than past German governments, during that time- between WW1 and WW2- Magnus created his magnum opus- Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (Institute of Sexual Research). It was opened on July 6th, 1919.

In Germany, the Reich government made laws, but the Länder governments enforced the laws, meaning it was up to the Länder governments to enforce Paragraph 175. Magnus’ villa purchased for the institute was technically in Prussia, where the lander did not enforce Paragraph 175. This is how Prussia became a homosexual hot spot of the time.

As for Magnus and his institute- it thrived. It was where Hirschfeld's immense archives and library on sexuality and provided educational services and medical consultations; the clinical staff included psychiatrists, a gynecologist, a dermatologist/ endocrinologist, and a dermatologist. The institute was also where you could find The Museum of Sex, an educational museum that was visited by schools.

It was a place intellectuals, writers, and general people came to understand their own sexuality- without discrimination and with full support. Their expertiences were validated and even recorded, to provide future validation and proof regarding various experiences of gender and sexuality.

In addition, a number of noted individuals lived for longer or shorter periods of time in the various rooms available for rent or as free accommodations in the Institute complex. Among the residents were Isherwood and Turville-Petre; literary critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin; actress and dancer Anita Berber; Marxist philosopher Ernst Bloch. Dörchen Richter, one of the first transgender patients to receive gender confirmation surgery pioneered at the institute. at the Institute. Lili Ilse Elvenes, better known as Lili Elbe , was a Danish transgender woman who also received gender confirmation surgery and treatment. Her autobiography was release 2 years after her death: Man into Woman.

It was while he was on an international tour for the League,had attracted over 130,000 members by 1930, that Hirschfeld was forced into exile. National Socialists in Berlin had launched a campaign to cleanse the city's libraries of 'un-German' material.

May 6, 1933 a crowd of students, backed by gestapo, stormed the Institute's offices. The they stole the contents of the library and it culminated in a public bonfire that destroyed 10,000-plus books, articles, magazines, and research material that the Institute had collected and produced.

In 1933 Magnus went into exile in France and by 1935 on his birthday passed away.

Documentation of concentration camps destroyed, no way to gauge how many homo sexual and transgender people died in the Houlcaust.

Bump: You’re listening to Queerstory

Music: The song ‘Wenn die beste Freundin’ ( When My Best Girlfriend)- Marlene Dietrich and Margo Lion 1928

Lyrics in english!

When the best girlfriend

Duet:

When the best girlfriend

With the best girlfriend

To do some shopping,

To get some exercise,

Wander through the streets,

Blabbing about everything,

Says the best girlfriend

To the best girlfriend:

My best, my best girlfriend!

Oh my best girlfriend,

Oh my pretty girlfriend,

Oh my faithful girlfriend,

Oh my sweet girlfriend!

Walks the best girlfriend

With the best girlfriend,

says to the best girlfriend

to the best girlfriend:

My best, my best girlfriend.

Spoken:

1. Girlfriend: Yes, what does the best girlfriend say? Tell me what crosses your mind!

2. Girlfriend: Well, I can only tell you one thing, if I didn’t have you ...

We get along so well …

1. Girlfriend: Yes, we get along so terribly well. How well we get along together!

2. Girlfriend: It's just hardly bearable, how well we both get along together.

1. Girlfriend: There's just one person I get along with equally well, and that is my cute, little husband.

2. Girlfriend: Yes, with your cute, little husband

Duet, sung:

Yes, my husband is a man!

Such a man, like my husband!

Like the husband of the woman,

like the husband of the woman!

We used to have paramours,

but that's all past!

Today, instead of paramours,

we have girlfriends!

Spoken:

2. Girlfriend: Your little man is a bit pushy!

1. Girlfriend: Really?

2. Girlfriend: Yes.

1. Girlfriend: Why?

2. Girlfriend: Well, I think so

1. Girlfriend: Well, why?

2. Girlfriend: Why I think so …?

1. Girlfriend: Why you think so?

2. Girlfriend: He does such things …

1. Girlfriend: I don't like it.

2. Girlfriend: Helloo!

Husband: What's this?

1. Girlfriend: You cheated on me with her.

Husband: Because you cheated on me with her.

2. Girlfriend: And you cheated on with him

1. Girlfriend: Because cheated on me with him

Husband: What's this for intricate family relations! Don't we want to get along?

2. Girlfriend: Yes, we would rather get along.

Husband: Stupid, silly love.

Husband accompanies with:

mmm - da-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta

When the best girlfriend

With the best girlfriend

To do some shopping,

To get some exercise,

Wander through the streets,

Blabbing about everything,

Says the best girlfriend

To the best girlfriend:

My best, my best girlfriend!

Oh my best girlfriend,

Oh my pretty girlfriend,

Oh my faithful girlfriend,

Oh my sweet girlfriend!

Walks the best girlfriend

With the best girlfriend,

says to the best girlfriend

to the best girlfriend:

My best, my best girlfriend!

Bump: You’re listening to Queerstory, a podcast about the histories of LGBTQ people, hidden from us in school, brought to you by me: oso and the Queer elders and ancestors that came before me.

The song you just heard is called ‘ Wenn die beste Freundin’. This song came out of a 1928 cabaret set in a department store. The scene this song was in featured a relatively still unknown Marlene Dietrich duetting with rising-star Margo Lion. The pair play two affluent women on a shopping trip. As the song unfolds it becomes clear that they are both dissatisfied with their husbands and their relationship with each other is more than a little intimate. Was a big hit and became an anthem for German lesbians in the late 20′s and early 30′s.

Dialogue:

We are now at the part of the show when we have a lil’ conversation about what we just learned. This is _____ my friend.

(conversation)

Thanks for reading Queer Story Podcast! Be well!

#transcript

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