PLYMOUTH - In the summer of 1637, two workg men at the English lony at Plymouth faced the possibily of executn, nvicted of what the law books said was a grave moral crime. Gay Pilgrims would have never looked this happy. John Alexanr and Thomas Roberts had been ught a homosexual relatnship. Court rerds…
Contents:
- THANKSGIVING GAY HISTORY: GAY PILGRIMS IN 1600’S PLYMOUTH MA
- GAY PILGRIM
- MERRYMOUNT: AMERI’S ‘GAY COLONY’ THAT’S LEFT OUT OF HISTORY BOOKS
- UNEQUAL JTICE FOR THE GAY PURANS OF NEW HAVEN COLONY
- AT PLIMOTH PLANTATN, LSONS GAY HISTORY
- GAY PILGRIMS
- THE GAY ART OF THANKSGIVG
THANKSGIVING GAY HISTORY: GAY PILGRIMS IN 1600’S PLYMOUTH MA
Dig to the history and you'll see plenty of early Amerin lonizers were super gay—and their patrts had views of that were plited, to say the least. * gay pilgrims *
In fact, as historians note, the name "Merrymount" n also refer to a Lat phrase meang “erect phall”—que a cince, given the men erected an 80-foot pole the center of our morn unrstandg of sexualy would have been pletely foreign to them, early European immigrants experienced same-sex attractn jt as we do today, and they had queer sex, entered queer relatnships, and formed queer hoeholds ways that are surprisgly though early laws lled for the ath penalty for “sodomy” and “buggery, ” the Pilgrims had a more plited attu about homosexualy than you might thk. This proto-Pri proved a b too much for the neighbors, who arrted Morton, chopped down the pole, and sttered the Puran objectns to homosexualy were not entirely rooted what we would ll genr normativy. ”It’s an attu that managed to stay wh Amerins over the terveng centuri, a tensn between distaste for homosexualy and rignatn that will never go away.
GAY PILGRIM
Homosexualy Ameri n be traced way back to the early settlers, better known as the Pilgrims. In 1637, 2 lonists were arrted for beg gay. * gay pilgrims *
And what really matters is keepg the muny together -- which I n relate to as part of a gay muny. Pilgrims John Alexanr and Thomas Roberts had been ught a homosexual relatnship.
Plimoth Plantatn Mm Plymouth Massachetts have disvered urt rerds om their se, and om a handful of others to piece together the liv of the lony’s and Ameri’s earlit gay and lbian settlers. Pickerg quoted the poet and thor Pl Mote, who wrote that most of gay history “li shallow bachelors’ grav. ’’ Though the historil rerd is sparse, “we n get a sense of what the optns of the past were, ’’ and provi some sense of history to a morn gay muny “that really don’t have a strong sense of s past much before 1960.
Plimoth Plantatn began rearchg the gay history of the lony about 15 years ago, preparatn for brgg s repli of the Pilgrim ship Mayflower to gay-iendly Provcetown.
MERRYMOUNT: AMERI’S ‘GAY COLONY’ THAT’S LEFT OUT OF HISTORY BOOKS
The worst place for gay Purans lonial New England was New Haven, Conn. You uld get hanged for your sexual orientatn. * gay pilgrims *
Through the rerds were snt the prosecutn of Alexanr and Roberts for homosexual nduct reveals layers of plexi the pilgrim life. As I gay man, I know that I did not choose to be gay, as many heterosexual people unfortunately believe to this day. Nobody choos to be gay, too; that is who we are.
Homosexualy Ameri n be traced way back to the early settlers, better known as the Pilgrims.
UNEQUAL JTICE FOR THE GAY PURANS OF NEW HAVEN COLONY
* gay pilgrims *
In 1637, two male lonists at Plymouth were arrted for beg gay. Most people don’t thk about homosexualy durg the time of the Pilgrims, or even durg the Amerin Revolutnary War, yet ’s there, buried our history books.
Von Stben, who has been threatened wh prosecutn for beg homosexual, ped Germany and sailed to Ameri. Everyone knows the history of gays the ary was not favorable until the last few years.
Ary would discharge soldiers for homosexual acts throughout the eighteenth and neteenth century even the absence of any explic act of sodomy.
AT PLIMOTH PLANTATN, LSONS GAY HISTORY
Gay illtrator J.C. Leyencker's Thanksgivg vers for The Saturday Eveng Post took the grim out of pilgrim. * gay pilgrims *
In October 1949, the Department of Defense standardized anti-homosexual regulatns across all branch of the ary: “Homosexual personnel, irrpective of sex, should not be permted to serve any branch of the Armed Forc any pacy, and prompt separatn of known homosexuals om the Armed Forc is mandatory.
The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, troduced by the Clton Admistratn, prohibed any homosexual or bisexual person om disclosg his or her sexual orientatn, or om speakg about any homosexual relatnships, cludg marriag, while servg the ary.
GAY PILGRIMS
Any service members who disclose that they are homosexual or engage homosexual nduct would be discharged. It wasn’t until Print Barack Obama’s sign of the Repeal Act of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell 2010 that gays and lbians were allowed to serve openly the ary.
THE GAY ART OF THANKSGIVG
In fact, there was one Amerin lony that strayed so far om the beliefs that they embraced homosexualy. Although homosexualy certaly existed amongst the Purans, was nsired to be a s and there were harsh penalti for those who were acced.
It’s the history of Merrymount that the most tailed rerd of homosexualy among lonists appears. Gay Purans 17th century New Haven Colony were better off wh money than whout.
New Haven hanged three gay Purans of low social stat between 1646 and 1655.