Tales from LGBTQ+ History
March 7, 2023In honor of LGBTQ+ History Month, we recently hosted a panel reflecting on the importance of remembering our history and using it to inspire our future. Speakers from various organizations joined to offer their favorite inspirational figures and moments in queer history, discussing what the month means to them and the vital role it plays in celebrating our community.
Preethi Rajgopal, Senior Analyst at Marsh McLennan, gave a fascinating insight into the queer-friendly history of India, pre-colonization.
“Hinduism actually has what we call three different gender categories,” she explained. “The two most common obviously being what is traditionally cis female and cis male, and then there’s a third category which was supposed to be a catch-all. Now interpreting text, that’s supposed to be anyone that’s trans or gender fluid, so civilization back then was really open to that.”
She went onto discuss the damaging impact of colonization on this queer-friendly culture, and the journey modern society has in educating young people about LGBTQ+ lifestyles.
Alex Guiste, Content Strategy Executive at Hogarth Worldwide, drew focus on the role of queer fiction in LGBTQ+ history. Referencing groundbreaking classic novels like Giovanni’s Room to more recent popular entries like They Both Die at the End, he discussed why it’s important for LGBTQ+ people to have a prominent role in storytelling.
“Thanks to books like Giovanni’s Room, we’re moving away from queer realism, because we’ve had to be realistic in telling our stories because they’re not believed by a lot of people,” said Alex. “And we’re now having queer fiction that is fantastical and romanticized and beautiful and ends happily, so the biggest and most wonderful change for me is just being able to read queer text for pleasure.”
Juan Pablo Italiano, Brand Integration Director at Warner Bros. Discovery, chose to discuss the history of LGBTQ+ representation in the media. He praised early film directors James Whale and George Cukor for their bravery in a time where homosexuality was frowned upon. He also shared some interesting thoughts on the future of LGBTQ+ representation.
“In my opinion, LGBTQ+ representation in the future will be organically integrated into stories,” he remarked. “I think it’s