The Sound of Queer Music

Think of “gay” music and whose name springs to mind? Elton John? k d lang? Tchaikovsky? Philip Brett? Who?!

Tomorrow would have been Philip Brett’s 75^th birthday. Sadly, he died ten years ago today, one day before his 65^th birthday. In the world of musicology (the scientific study of music) Philip Brett (pictured right) was one of the most influential, pioneering and controversial scholars. A miner’s son from Edwinstowe in the heart of Sherwood Forest and a Southwell Minster chorister, Brett became the Professor of Musicology – the top tune tutor – at the University of California. He was even nominated for a Grammy award.

In 1976 he shocked the American Musicological Society (AMS) by saying during a lecture that Benjamin Britten’s homosexuality influenced his compositions. Some professors walked out saying his lecture was “pornography”. But today Brett’s work has become accepted and has influenced hundreds of scholars into researching the lgbt links and influences in the music of other composers and songwriters.

It was actually the Stonewall Riots in New York in 1969 that was pivotal in Brett’s life and career. The riots sparked a blinding revelation, ignited by the sight of the abuse the Stonewall rioters received from the New York police. He wanted to do something. He recognised that society as a whole owes a great deal to the creative input from the lgbt community and here it was being persecuted and abused, so Brett, who was a member of the music faculty at the University of California at the time, decided to do two things which he thought would show both his support for lgbt rights and reveal to the musical world the contributions made by the lgbt community. These things were

1)      to come out publicly, and

2)      to begin research into the lgbt influences in music.

It was while studying at Cambridge (where he met and became friends with E. M. Forster) that Brett earned a one-year advanced graduate course at the University of California, Berkeley. After receiving his PhD he returned to Berkeley and stayed there for 24 years. He became Professor of Musicology in 1978.

What made him leave Berkeley was his wish to be with his partner since 1974, George Haggarty, who was Professor of English at the University of California’s campus at Riverside. Philip became Dean of Humanities at Riverside, and Distinguished Professor of Musicology the year before he died. Both Philip and George were members of the university’s lgbt group, LavendarCal.

The AMS, after recognising the academic value of Brett’s ideas and coming to terms with the concept of sexuality in music, asked him to found their Gay and Lesbian Study Group in 1989. In 1996 the Study Group instituted an award for the best publication or research paper on lgbt musicology. They named it the Philip Brett Award and is still awarded annually. Subjects of the winning publications range from Tchaikovsky to Dusty Springfield, and from opera to American vaudeville.

In June 2009 Davitt Moroney, one of Brett’s students (now a music professor at the same university himself), succeeded in gathering enough funds from Lavender Cal and other supporters to persuade the university to set up a new research fellowship into lgbt studies in any academic area. The fund is named after Brett.

Even though Brett’s reputation isn’t wide-spread, it still exerts an important influence on the development into how lgbt factors affect the arts. Davitt Moroney says there’s no reason why there shouldn’t be lgbt research into other sciences such as chemistry, physics or mathematics (ironically, there’s another Edwinstowe connection here, because Alan Turing’s father was also born there).

Philip Brett died of cancer at the age of 54 in 2002, leaving his partner of 28 years Professor George Haggarty.

Caribbean Queer Carnival

Trinidad and Tobago is another nation celebrating its 50^th year of independence. It shares its early heritage with that of Jamaica, being the island from which the Carib people moved from mainland South America into what we now call the Caribbean islands. For the early lgbt heritage of Trinidad and Tobago see my article on Jamaica.

The Trinbagonian lgbt community has taken a keener interest in its heritage than the Jamaican, mainly through the work of CAISO (the Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation), an lgbt rights and community support organisation founded in 2009. Caiso is also the name given to a Trinidadian art form and the organisation includes art and history projects in its work.

Many stories of gay life in Trinidad and Tobago throughout the past 5 centuries emerged through CAISO’s project. In colonial times one of the most well-known Governors of the islands, Sir Ralph Woodford, reputedly had dozens of “pretty young men” around him. It is ironic that Woodford Square in Trinidad’s capital Port of Spain was named after him and is the area known for its nightly “parade” of transvestites.

The “after hours” scene enjoyed by gay Trinbagonians in the 1970s and 1980s included many bars who welcomed lgbt clientele – remarkably quite a few for such a small nation population. Bars such as Lote’s, Club Liquid and Just Friends were very popular, and smaller towns around the island also had their underground gay scene and venues. As with all lgbt communities Trinidad had its fair share of colourful characters, with nicknames like Stingy Brim, The Rocket, and Pongin’ Patsy being particularly well remembered.

For a bit more information about Trinidad’s lgbt heritage go here.

In recent years there have been successes and failures in the work of activists in Trinidad and Tobago. One failure was losing the debate on whether gay cruise ships should be allowed to dock in the islands. One success has been cancelling concerts by artists from other Caribbean nations who use violently homophobic lyrics in their songs.

Perhaps the biggest area where the lgbt Trinbagonians have been most widely celebrated is in art, particularly the native caiso form and carnival design.

In 1929 a group called The Society of Trinidad Independents was formed. Their aim was to promote local and indigenous art. Members of the group came from all ethnic backgrounds and they exercised a certain tolerance toward the lgbt community. Indeed, some of its leading members, such as Carlisle Chang, were gay. The Society became unpopular among the average Trinbagonian art-going public because of the blatant nudity in some of their works and their outspoken views on equality and prejudice.

Among the Caribbean as a whole there is a strong tradition of carnival and the lgbt influence is seen today in the work of Peter Minshall. Although not a Trinidad native he was brought up on the islands and is considered the leading figure in world carnival design. As mentioned in my Olympic Countdown series Peter worked on the Olympic ceremonies in Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996, and he won an Emmy for Outstanding Costumes for a Variety or Music Programme for his work on the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002.

Although homosexuality in Trinidad and Tobago is illegal, there are many activists and lgbt rights organisations working in the country to encourage change.

Coming Out Today

To celebrate National Coming Out Day today (in the US) and tomorrow (in the UK) here is a list of some of the people who have officially come out so far in 2012 (in roughly chronological order). Some of these people were already out to family and friends and within their professional circles. In coming out to the wider world most of these names have given their support to various lgbt issues and campaigns.

Todd Glass, US comedian

Jason Somerville, top poker player

Matt Bomer, US actor

Magda Szubanski, Australian actor (“Kath and Kim”)

Omar Sharif jr., grandson of Egyptian acting star Omar Sharif

Gillian Anderson, US actor (revealed a lesbian relationship when young)

Anthony Wong, Hong Kong pop star

Paul Iacono, US actor (“The Hard Times of R J Berger”)

Zachary Wyatt, Missouri state legislator

Josh Dixon, US gymnast and Olympic hopeful

Laura Gabel, lead singer of rock band Against Me!

Jim Parsons, US actor (Sheldon in “The Big Bang Theory”)

The Green Lantern, DC comic superhero

Anja Pärson, Swedish Olympic skiing champion

Anderson Cooper, CNN anchorman and broadcaster

Frank Ocean, R+B singer

Karen Hultzer, South African archer (came out at the Olympics)

Mika, singer (previously identified himself as bisexual)

Jason Ball, Australian rules footballer

Lori Lindsey, US footballer (Olympic reserve player)

Wade Davis, former NFL football player

Orlando Cruz, WBO featherweight boxer (ranked 4 in the world)

From this list it can be seen that there is wide range of professions, from acting to legislation, from singing to comic book superhero. But the largest group, some 7 in all, are athletes. Whether this is because of the large emphasis on sport this year because of the Olympics or because of a greater acceptance in sport of out lgbt athletes is difficult to judge.

There are other people who have been revealed as lgbt, though these have been widely known to be open about their sexuality at work, and have generally not been noticed until appointed to a more public role (e.g. such as US legislators or Presidential advisers).

Last year Zachary Quinto from the US tv series “Heroes” and Mr Spock of the rebooted “Star Trek” films chose the week of National Coming Out Day to come out himself, prompted by the suicide of bullied bisexual teenager Jamey Rodemeyer.

I wonder who will be coming out today?

Gay in the Great Lakes of Africa

Of all the nations of Africa who gained independence 50 years ago only one celebrates during the UK’s celebration of Black History Month. Fifty years ago today Uganda gained it’s independence. Two other neighbouring countries also became independent in 1962, Burundi and Rwanda. All 3 nations form part of the Great Lakes region of central east Africa. They have slightly different encounters with European settlers than most of the rest of Africa in that the area held an air of special mystery as being the source of the Nile. As a result it was explorers and missionaries were the first to make the region known to Europeans, not military or economic colonists.

National flag of Rwanda

The region has recently seen many troubles, not least of which is the extermination of up to a million Tutsi Rwandans in 1994. Without going into detail about the social make up of the Rwandan nation the majority Hutu and minority Tutsi are the same race so “genocide” is not the correct word. The Tutsi are descendants of the pre-colonial privileged social group – people with land and power – and they still have some of this status today. The Hutu were the equivalent of the working class who farmed the land of the Tutsi.

National flag of Burundi

Anthropologists say that homosexuality was widespread among young men in both the Tutsi and the Hutu of Rwanda and Burundi before the days of European occupation. The two social groups could have partners from the other. But what they did between themselves was always private and secret, so it is virtually impossible to know how many same-sex couples had physical relationships.

As in most other cultures, the homosexual practices in the courts of the ruling chiefs are more well documented – there was little secrecy there. Tutsi youths being trained to serve as page boys to their leaders are known to have engaged in same-sex activity. The leaders, or kings as the Europeans called them, may well have had a harem of young men as well as several wives.

In the neighbouring region of Buganda in present day Uganda, Mwanga II succeeded his father as Kabaka of “king” in 1884. He was 16. The Bugandans had similar cultural practices to the Tutsi and Hutu.

Mwanga opposed all attempts by Christian and Muslim missionaries to convert his people from their own beliefs. However, there were many converts by the time he came to power and Mwanga ordered them all to go back to their traditional beliefs or be killed. Several members of his own court had become Christian, including his “Master of the Page Boys” Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe.

As was customary in Mwanga’s culture he had many young page boys to serve his every wish at court. This included any sexual wish. Mwanaga was to go on and have 16 wives and 10 children, but in these his teenage years, new to the throne, he took advantage of his position and demanded his pages have sex with him. Most of these boys had been converted to Christianity and refused. In his fury Mwanga had 22 of them burnt alive or executed over a 2 year period, including Joseph, his Master of the Page Boys. These page boys became regarded as martyrs by the Catholic Church and were canonised in 1964.

National flag of Uganda

Given his defence of his cultural right to do whatever he wanted to do to his page boys in the face of Christian opposition, it is ironic that present day Buganda is part of a country that uses a Christian basis to justify imposing the death penalty for gay men.

Fortunately there are gay rights groups and activists within Uganda, though their fight for rights looks like it may be long one.

Flower Power - A Passionate Flower

On the one hand there’s well-known Christian symbolism associated with the Passion Flower. On the other there’s some quite overtly sexual symbolism. And I’m guessing that you’d like to hear about one more than the other!

But let’s start with its native habitat. The passion flower is an American and Asian flower. It was used by most of the indigenous American civilisations in some form or other in herbal medicine or as religious offerings.

As mentioned previously in Flower Power Xochipilli was the Aztec god of flowers, beauty and gay sex. Passion flowers are known to have been grown as sacred plants in the gardens of Aztec priests, perhaps no more so than by the priests of Xochipilli.

Across the Pacific in Japan the passion flower appears to be considered as a symbol of homosexuality, not unlike the green carnation. There doesn’t seem to be any firm evidence of exactly why this is, with several theories being suggested on the internet. One theory says that the purple colour of the passion flower was linked to the lavender of the gay rights movement in America in the 1970s. Another theory points out that the plant is bisexual. Yet another says that it became popular among gay men because it resembled a certain part of a man’s anatomy!

Developing this last theory further, it is ironic that the name Passion Flower has been used since the 1990s for a California store that sells adult toys, lubricants and lotions. For those of you who are interested in knowing more of the passion flower’s erotic associations and uses there’s a comprehensive look here.

This site makes a strong connection between the vine of the passion flower and the central American myths about the origin of maize. Here we can bring back Xochipilli. He was also as Aztec maize god and, when worshipped with the main god of maize Centeotl, became a combined single deity called Centeotl-Xochipilli. As this single deity Xochipilli was given offerings to ensure a good maize harvest.

Queer in the Caribbean

To celebrate the 50^th anniversary of their independence I’m going to look at the lgbt heritage of 2 Caribbean nations – Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. Their histories contain many common elements that would contain much duplication of information if treated separately, though I’ll have a look at the more recent history of Trinidad and Tobago later in the month.

The Caribbean gets its name from a South American people who settled in the islands called the Caribs. They left no written history and all we know of their culture comes from artefacts, archaeology and written accounts by European invaders in the 15^th century. Any references to same-sex relationships come from a European Christian perspective in which anything the native people did was seen as evidence of the “lower status”.

The Caribs were a more war-like race than the Arawaks, another South American people who had settled there earlier, and they took the islands from them. The male captives, if any, were imprisoned, and it is recorded that the Caribs ate parts of their captives bodies to give them more strength. The Europeans, when they arrived, built up this practice to make it appear that Carib cannibalism was actually quite common and more widespread and frequent than it really was.

Reports by Spanish invaders referred to this and other acts as “against natural law”. As occurred in other parts of the world these other acts may have involved the rape of male captives as ritual humiliation. Consequently the Spanish Queen Isabella considered the “unnatural acts” by the Caribs as justification for their slavery.

The influx of slaves from Africa was the major factor in the change in the ethnic make-up of the Caribbean. Like some of the native gods and deities of central and south America some of the gods and deities from Africa had dual or intersexual natures. These beliefs mingled with the native deities and resulted in an early form of voodoo. Even today Caribbean voodoo and its related beliefs have a number of deities with lgbt aspects.

During the following centuries Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago became home for European settlers, bringing with them their own beliefs about same-sex relationships. This, in turn, influenced the laws of the islands once self-government and independence was gained in the 20^th century.

The slave trade also brought with it other sexual practices – rape and prostitution. The early white colonists were predominantly male. At first, only those who were firmly established could bring their families with them. The only outlet for sexual urges (where you didn’t have to pay) was with slaves. Being regarded as property and not people this gave slave owners a warped justification for the rape of male and female slaves (that’s why so many African-Americans have European ancestry). Although they don’t specifically say so, recent studies into present Caribbean attitudes to homosexuality imply that this abuse from slave owners is a major factor in the current homophobia in Jamaican and Trinbagonian society.

The influence of the Anglican church is another big factor. The church’s disapproval of homosexual practices (quite different from their attitude to homosexual desires, though the two have often been confused) helped to give moral justification to present Caribbean attitudes.

But not everything about lgbt culture in Jamaica is bad. Some very influential and successful gay and bisexual men have Jamaican roots. Perhaps the most influential of these was Claude McKay (1889-1948) (pictured right).

Claude was born in Clarendon, Jamaica. He was the son of land-owning black West Indians of African descent. As a teenager Claude began to write poetry, not in standard English but in his own local dialect. His first poems were published in 1912.

After moving to the USA later that year he became part of a cultural explosion among the African-American community in Harlem, New York. His poems and novels of life in the suburb became one of the main contributors to the growth of the Harlem Renaissance – the cultural movement of the 1920s and 30s which influenced many areas of literature and entertainment. It saw the birth of an African-American national consciousness which went on to become the Black Rights Movement. Its influence spread to music and the creation of modern jazz and soul.

Many other descendants of African slaves who passed through the ports of Jamaica, Trinidad and the Caribbean also made huge contributions to the Harlem Renaissance and the Black Rights Movement. These include Countee Cullen, Bruce Nugent, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith and Wallace Thurman.

Black History Month 2012

Once again October sees the UK celebrating Black History Month. This year Jamaica is celebrating the 50^th anniversary of its independence. But there are other nations which also became independent in 1962. They all have a different lgbt heritage and include ethnic cultures other than African-American.

These others countries are Algeria, Burundi, Rwanda, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uganda. This month I want to celebrate them all by looking at their lgbt heritage, both before and after independence.