Earl Lind (born 1874)

Earl Lind (a.k.a. Ralph Werther and Jennie June) was one of the earliest transgender individuals to publish her own autobiography in the United States.

Jennie June was born in 1874 in Connecticut as Earl Lind. She was born in a Puritan family.

By 1895 she met other androgynes in New York City, in a society called Cercle Hermaphroditos, whose aim was "to unite for defense against the world’s bitter persecution."

According to Wayne Koestenbaum in The Queen's Throat, she believed that she could 'diagnose a man sexually simply by hearing him sing', and wanted to be an opera soprano.

An early autobiography of a transvestite, Autobiography of an Androgyne, was first published in 1918. Earl Lind is also the author of The Female Impersonators, first published in 1922.

Originally published in 1922, The Female Impersonators was a sequel to the Autobiography of an Androgyne and an account of some of the author's experiences during his six years' career as an instinctive female-impersonator in New York's underworld. It also includes the life stories of his androgyne associates and an outline of his subsequently acquired knowledge of kindred phenomena of human character and psychology.



Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Lind

( Further Readings )

Freddie Mercury & Jim Hutton

As frontman for the British rock group Queen, Freddie Mercury (September 5, 1946 – November 24, 1991) often appeared onstage sporting leather shorts and a matching cap. Although he valued his privacy, in a March 12, 1974, interview for New Musical Express he confessed, “I am as gay as a daffodil, my dear!” When asked whom he’d like to have been in another life, Freddie Mercury replied “Marie Antoinette . . . she had all those jewels.”

Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara, 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range. As a songwriter, Mercury composed many hits for Queen, including "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "Somebody to Love", "Don't Stop Me Now", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "We Are the Champions". In addition to his work with Queen, he led a solo career, and also occasionally served as a producer and guest musician (piano or vocals) for other artists. He died of bronchopneumonia brought on by AIDS on 24 November 1991, only one day after publicly acknowledging he had the disease.

Mercury was a Parsi born in Zanzibar and grew up there and in India until his mid-teens. He has been referred to as "Britain's first Asian rock star". In 2002, Mercury was placed at number 58 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, in 2006, Time Asia named him one of the most influential Asian heroes of the past 60 years, and he continues to be voted one of the greatest singers in the history of popular music. In 2005, a poll organised by Blender and MTV2 saw Mercury voted the greatest male singer of all time. In 2008, Rolling Stone editors ranked him number 18 on their list of the 100 greatest singers of all time. In 2009, a Classic Rock poll saw him voted the greatest rock singer of all time. Allmusic has characterised Mercury as "one of rock's greatest all-time entertainers", who possessed "one of the greatest voices in all of music".


In 1985 Freddie Mercury began a relationship with hairdresser Jim Hutton. Hutton, who was tested HIV-positive in 1990, lived with Mercury for the last 6 years of his life, nursed him during his illness, and was present at his bedside when he died. Hutton claimed that Mercury died wearing a wedding band that Hutton had given him. In his will, Mercury left his London home to his former lover and only true friend Mary Austin saying, "You would have been my wife and it would have been yours anyway".

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Stern, Keith (2009-09-01). Queers in History: The Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Historical Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals (Kindle Locations 8530-8536). Perseus Books Group. Kindle Edition.

( Further Readings )

More LGBT Couples at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Real Life Romance

Léon-Paul Fargue (March 4, 1876 – November 24, 1947)

Léon-Paul Fargue (4 March 1876 – 24 November 1947) was a French poet and essayist.

He was born in Paris, France on rue Coquilliére. As a poet he was noted for his poetry of atmosphere and detail. His work spanned numerous literary movements. Before he reached 19 years of age, Fargue had already published in L'Art littéraire in 1894 and his important poem Tancrède appeared in the magazine Pan in 1895.

From 1893 to 1895, he enjoyed a brief but intense relationship with his reputed literary collaborator, Alfred-Henry Jarry, the precursor of surrealism and credited with having invented the Theater of the Absurd, a fellow student at Henri IV. Though Jarry jested often about his homosexuality, this is his only known relationship, and it provided the material for his semiautobiographical play, Haldernablou (1894). (Picture: Alfred Jarry)

As an opponent of the surrealists, Fargue became a member of the Symbolist poetry circle connected with Le Mercure de France. Rilke, Joyce and others declared that Fargue was at the very forefront of modern poetry.

He was also a poet of Paris, and later in his career he published two books about the city, D'après Paris (1931) and Le piéton de Paris (1939). His earliest work is divided between Paris prowlings and intimate scenes of childhood and nature.

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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9on-Paul_Fargue

( Further Readings )

Rafael Campo (born November 24, 1964)

Rafael Campo (born 1964 New Jersey) is an American poet, doctor, and author.

He graduated from Amherst College and Harvard Medical School. He practices medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. His writing focuses on themes that promote equality and justice for gay people, people of color, and working-class people.

He served as a resident poet at Brandeis University and the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. He frequently reads at colleges, including Brown University, Stanford University, and Colby-Sawyer College. He currently instructs in the Lesley University low-residency MFA writing program in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Campo_(poet)

( Rafael Campo, 1992, by Robert Giard )

( Further Readings )

More Particular Voices at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Particular Voices

Mack Friedman

Mack Friedman is the author of Strapped for Cash: A History of American Hustler Culture. His essays have been featured at the Center for Exploratory and Perceptual Art and the Leslie-Lohman Gallery, and his performance art has been showcased at the Andy Warhol Museum. His stories have appeared in the anthologies Obsessed, Wonderlands, and Barnstorm. Setting the Lawn on Fire is his first novel.

Further Readings:

Setting the Lawn on Fire by Mack Friedman
Paperback: 160 pages
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press; 1 edition (May 25, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0299213447
ISBN-13: 978-0299213442
Amazon: Setting the Lawn on Fire
Amazon Kindle: Setting the Lawn on Fire

Ivan, a young Jewish boy from Milwaukee, embarks on a journey of sexual discovery that leads him from Wisconsin to Alaska, Philadelphia, and Mexico through stints as a fishery worker, artist, and finally a hustler who learns to provide the blank canvas for other people's dreams. The result is a new kind of coming-of-age story that sees passion from every angle because its protagonist is every kind of lover: the seducer and the seduced, the pornographer and the model, the hunter and the prey, the trick and the John.

More Spotlights at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Lists/Gay Novels

Rainbow Awards pre-party and 7th anniversary (Day 24)

November 2013 marks the 7th anniversary since I opened my first journal (and yes, I have an itch, but I will scratch it!), on LJ, and the 5th anniversary of the Rainbow Awards. So, of course I decided for a big bash party. 190 authors, all of them in the 2013 Rainbow Awards, have donated or an ebook, or a print book, and I will use them for a Treasure Hunt. Every day, for all November, I will post 6 excerpts (a random page of the book). No reference to title, or author, or publisher. You have to match it with the book ;-) comment on the blog (do not leave anonymous comments, if you post as anonymous, leave a contact email (comments are screened)), you can comment 1 time for more matchings (you can even try for all 6 books if you like, so 6 chances to win every day). Until the end I will not say which matching is right, so you will have ALL month to try. No limit on how many books you can win, the more you try the better chance you have to win. End of November, among the right matchings, I will draw the winners. So now? let the game start!

Be aware that these previous excerpts: 11, 23, 25 have not yet been matched, so if you go back there is good chance to win them! if at the end of the treasure hunt they will be still unmatched they will go to the one who matched more books.

The books are (Author - Title - Format of prize):

( The books are (Author - Title - Format of prize) )

Previous Post: reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3936171.html

Today excerpts are:

( Today excerpts are )

Basic Training by Marquesate

The only regret I have upon finishing this one is that it took me so long to read it. Actually, I’m ashamed cause I really liked the previous military romance I read by Marquesate, so I knew this one was probably as good as well, but there are so many books out every month, that I tend to read new to me authors, and let the ones I have already read got behind. Well, don’t do my same mistake and if you haven’t the chance, read Basic Training.

The main strength of the novel is the balance between manliness and romance, military and love story: never once the author forgot these were soldiers she was writing about, but at the same time, the romance was “romantic” (sorry the double similar words but they fit).

Aside from the military theme, that already part of a romance tradition, the author also ventured in another classical romance theme, the May/December romance, or better the young/older lovers: Platoon Sergeant Col 'Bulldog' Wilson is 35 years old, while new recruits Chris Thompson is 21 years old. Of course the age difference is part of the plot, with Col wondering if Chris is not searching a substitute father in him, even considering the bad relationship Chris has with his own father, but the author managed to shorten it with a clever expedient: Chris never hid his sexuality, since he was a teenager, arriving even to tick of the “homosexual” square in his enlisting papers, and so at 21 he hasn’t maybe much sexual experience on the field, but he had plenty of time to be self-conscious about his sexuality and desires; Col instead has always repressed his feelings, and at 35 he has never been with a man before, and he still needs to arrive to pact with his own sexual needs, let alone feelings.

It will be a long path for Col and Chris, another thing I liked of the story, we followed them for years, not just during the heat of the passion, but a path with a very romantic happily ever after at the end.

Paperback: 276 pages
Publisher: MLR Press (October 20, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1608204618
ISBN-13: 978-1608204618
Amazon: Basic Training
Amazon Kindle: Basic Training

Updates: http://www.goodreads.com/user/updates_rss/2156728?key=011e4dd0a1ff993d8c2322e691d6229ed9bbf74b