Flashback Friday: Queer History Today, April 11th

April 11, 2025
HANK ORSO

Wow, a lot sure went down through the ages on this day, April 11th, so let's jump right into the good, the bad, and the fabulous for our Flashback Friday, shall we?

1780

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In England, William Smith and Theodosius Reed are put into deadly revolving stocks for the crime of sodomy. A plasterer and a coachman, respectively, the two were arrested after their "unnatural act" on a Saturday night at a public house. Reed, who was apparently too short for the height of the device, subsequently strangled after falling to his knees after being hit by a rock by one of the throngs of watchers (up to 20,00 by one report). The other died in jail after additional torture. Their torture and punishment were so severe that conservative Irish lawmaker Edmund Burke on 12 April 1780 would make an impassioned plea for the cessation of such cruel punishment, actually acting out the death of Reed by strangulation. It would not be banned until well into the next century.

1864

Johanna Elberskirchen is born in Germany. She was an out and proud lesbian and feminist activist who wrote about the concerns and equality of women, the queer community, and blue-collar workers, publishing books on women's sexuality health. She disappears somewhat after the Nazi's rose to power, her last public appearance on record being in 1930 in Vienna when she addressed a conference held by the World League for Sexual Reform. It is believed her ashes lie at rest in the grave of her life partner, Hildegard Moniac.

1901

Prolific writer, essayist, and poet Glenway Wescott is born in Kewaskum, Wisconsin. best known for The Grandmothers (1927). He was a contemporary and friend to photographer George Platt Lynes, and many of the expatriates in France in the 20s, notably Gertrude Stein, who wrote of him in her Autobiography of Alice B Toklas: "There was also Glenway Wescott, but Glenway Wescott at no time interested Gertrude Stein. He has a certain syrup, but it does not pour." He was also the model for the character of Robert Prentiss in Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, of which the narrator Jake says after meeting him, "I just thought perhaps I was going to throw up." Wescott was with his partner, the museum curator Monroe Williams, from 1919 until his death in 1987.

1932

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The inestimable Joel Grey is born. While he has given powerful performances through his long and storied career, originating the role of George M. Cohan in George M! in 1968, or the role of the Wizard in Wicked, he is undoubtedly known for originating the Emcee in the Kander and Ebb iconic musical Cabaret in 1966 and the subsequent Liza Minelli-starring film in 1972. He has won the Academy Award, the Golden Globe, the Tony, and the BAFTA. He is the father of chef James Grey, and Dirty Dancing and Ferris Bueller's Day Off star Jennifer Grey. Of his sexuality, Grey has said, "I don’t like labels, but if you have to put a label on it, I’m a gay man."

1953

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The Mattachine Society, one of the oldest gay rights organizations, holds its first constitutional convention at an LA church. It was first organized in 1950 by communist and labor rights organizer Harry Hay, pictured in the above photo, top left.

1956

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Christine Hallquist, the nation's first openly trans person to run for governor, was also a pioneer as a CEO (of Vermont Electric Cooperative) to transition while still holding that position, is born. Her run for Vermont governor in 2018 got the backing of the likes of Bernie Sanders and won 40% of the Democratic nominee vote. She would lose to the Republican incumbent. She is the focus of the documentary Denial, directed by her son Derek Hallquist.