Posted: September 1, 2025 in *Celebration*, a story, Events, Fight On!, for your reflection, In Remembrance, LOVE, Much Love, OH ART OH!, Our Stories, Queer Thoughts, resistance, Solidarity, Thank You, Trans Love We got you., We rememberFurbirdsqueerlySeptember 1, 2025This work is a collage—gleaned from many sources, in tribute to and in service of the people. It is an invitation. It celebrates the Imperial Court System and the work they’ve done over the last 60 years, while honoring other courageous people who dared to push back against a corrupt, phobic society, crossing boundaries set up to keep our people down. But once we learned how to fight back, we certainly did a good job.History, as it’s often taught, has turned many people off. We want to make it joyful. We want to make it inclusive. Sure, some PhDs will wag their fingers. The historians—whoever they claim to be—will tisk and tut, clinging to the protocols of a society long overdue for composting. And those still loyal to the mothballed myths will scoff, “These folks don’t know a damn thing.”Meanwhile, we’re over here singing Happy Birthday to the Imperial Court—because joy, camp, and community memory deserve a place in the archive too.Someone told me the other day that I wasn’t a proper historian. Well, I said, No—I’m not a historian. I’m an OurStorian. An OurStorian is of the people. OurStories are far more fulfilling than hisstory. I refuse gatekeeping. I honor lived experience, joy, and resistance. I move with defiance. I include celebration, song, and the audacity to say that some memories can be playful and still profound. For the life of me, I do not understand those who want to parrot, give a long dusty back to the teacher, to recite. Many times, I say to myself, ‘I am so glad that history teachers turned me off, so I did not pursue a career in history or the documentation of it in academic ways. As Emma Goldman said: “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.”
He goes on to explain the beginnings of the Twenty Club and the Gender Identity Clinic of New England,
In 1974, the Gender Identity Clinic of New England was founded at Mount Sinai Hospital in Hartford by Dr. Michael Baggish, Canon Jones, and others working in the Hartford area who were working with the Transgender community. Meetings were held in 1973, and within a year, a board was organized, and a constitution and bylaws were approved. The board began conducting interviews with applicants to the clinic for evaluation. The first surgery to take place at the clinic was in the summer of 1974 and for the next eight years, surgery for both male-to-female and female-to-male patients was performed by Dr. Baggish. In 1980, the board ascribed to the Standards of Care as established by the Harry Benjamin International Association on Gender Dysphoria.
I bet you that you never knew the surgery was done in Hartford way back in 1974!
Go and read the whole article! It is packed with the history of our community!
Diana, Thank you for publishing this link to the latest essay on my site. I had a wonderful time writing the piece. I couldn't stop thinking about the national court 60 years and the Ct. Courts 32 years of giving back to the community. As we well know that presenting such a event as this takes work, work, work. I put quite a bit of information in this piece and of course a link to this site for people who want to know what laws we have in Ct. to protect them. (thanks for your work on this) Also some doors are opened in the work for exploration, more info on the Sugar & Spice group. CCSU will be doing a conversation interview with Lola and Mucha hopefully if I can arrange it. There is much to learn about the early court that needs to be recorded for a true picture of OurStories. Did you dig my picture in the article about the art auction at the Snowball. Oh to be so young again. Be well Diana and thanks again and again for your work.
ReplyDeleteRichard Nelson