Early Drag Queens

It's a very sad fact that even today non-heterosexual people have to live in fear, behind closed doors, all around the world. That to not be what so many considers "normal" is bad and wrong... I guess we can only pray to the LGBTQ-God that one day everyone will be accepted for who and what they are... But through the ages, brave people who aren't afraid to be who they are have always existed, and today I want to show you a few photos of some of the brave transvestites and drag queens of the past - from times when these men took even bigger risks than today showing their true identities. Cheers to them!

1800s

1800s

Pictured above is Brigham Morris Young, who in the 1800s made a career in drag, performing as Madam Pattrini.

1800s

Frederick Park and Ernest Boulton were the first men who openly dared to walk the streets in women's clothing. This was very shocking in Victorian London, and made the police launch investigations that were normally reserved for extreme criminals.

1800s

As it took a long time before it was respectable for women to have a career as an actress, men in women's clothes have been playing the female roles for centuries. So on stage, it was perfectly acceptable for men to perform in drag.

Ca 1915

Around the turn of the century drag performances became a category of it's own. Above we see vaudeville performer Julian Eltinge.

1920s

During the 1920 drag balls became popular. These were huge LBGT parties, where most men dressed as women.

Noted drag queen Harry S. Franklyn. 1920s.

Vaudevillian sensation Vander Clyde aka Barbette. 1920s.

Female impersonator Billy Richards. 1937.

Jerry Vaughn, 1947.

Source

Gay Couples From The Past

During his travels around the world, French screenwriter and director Sébastien Lifshitz has been collecting old photos of gay couples that he found at flea markets or in antiquarian shops. Then he decided to put them together in a book. It's called The Invisibles: Vintage Portraits of Love and Pride, and it's a collection of photos of gay people openly showing their affection for each other in a time when being homosexual was a lot more taboo than it is now.

Of course it's impossible to say all the people in these pictures actually are gay, but, as Lifshitz says himself; "I don't know these people - they are anonymous to me. I can't even really say that each person photographed into the book is gay, except when it's obvious. What I like is that there are different levels of reading these photos - I would say three levels to be exact. The first one is the pictures of obviously gay single people or couples, the second is the pictures of people which can be seen as 'undefined' (we're not sure) and the third level is the ones that are obviously not gay but playing with a gay attitude (cross-dresser, some 'garconnes,' etc.) I love the ambiguity and diversity of these pictures. These photographs ask questions."

Here are some of the photos from the book.

Source 1

Source 2