Pride came after the fall - LGBTQ existence evidenced through art & destruction; from rubble, to riot, to reclamation.
- celestial body
- Jun 23
- 10 min read
Art will forever be tied to social challenge and change. It simultaneously captures the current collective mind of a society, and works to expand that mind. It provides evidence of existence even as it seeks to push beyond the bounds of it. By providing an audience with a window through which they can see another's life it acts as a catalyst for empathy and in turn an engine for change, whilst preserving evidence of the views existence.
Chapter 1 : Rubble
The picture speaks a thousand words the silenced cannot say.
So it is that we find art closely linked with a myriad of causes and calls for equality. I have written at length in the past on the importance of art in modern protest movements, with particular focus on the change affected by collectives of Artists in the height of the AIDS epidemic, so we will look at broader artistic representation when we reach the modern age.
Yet before we look in to the modern day, it's important to acknowledge the sheer depth of history that surrounds this topic of artistic expression. (This is especially important considering the tactics of erasure and the weaponization of the unfamiliar so often used by those detractors of human equality).
For as long as there has been art, there has been LGBTQ art (it's almost like the sexual and gender spectrums are an innate part of human life, crazy talk, I know.) Some of the most well known examples are to be found in the works of the Ancient Greeks. There are more than a few vases depicting scenes even the most conservative of historians would find impossible to explain as "being roommates". Later in antiquity we find the Romans deifying Hadrian's lover Antonius and the relationship between the two, the resultant imagery inspired art for centuries.
This history, this legacy, is by no means confined to one continent or one letter of the modern alliance, from the Sumerian Gala to the Navajo Nádleehi we see cultural and creative recognition & record of diverse gender identities around the world that go beyond the binary. From beadwork and textiles in North America, to Sculpture and painting in South East Asia, the spectrum spanned the globe.
So if this recognition, this acceptance and even celebration, permeated so many cultures, why did it stop? Why has the dogma of the last two centuries been one that vilified LGBTQ people? Why did we enter modernity with the idea that being trans was something 'new'?
Whilst a full answer is undoubtedly as vast as it is intangible, we can see very clear moments that would go on to shape the western worlds outward and inward view of these ideas. The rise of puritanism in sync with the spread of European colonialism in the 16th & 17th centuries (and beyond) is one such movement. Here we find colonial powers exporting the religious repression and oppression they had bought in to domestically.
One of the clearest cases of such a thing can be found in India. Here the Khwaja Sara, communities of diverse gender identity, have been for 800 years. Here the historic work of art and literature the "Kama Sutra" was created, depicting a vast spectrum of not only sexuality but also gender. Here the British arrived and instituted 'Section 377' criminalising acts "Against the order of nature". Here the Khwaja Sara (Kinnar) were labelled an "Unlawful tribe". Here the scars of colonialism would run so deep as to still prevail decades after the colonial yoke had been lifted.
Both history and ignorance are written by the victor.
This tale is repeated throughout the colonial era, across nations and continents. At times it is less direct, the erasure of LGBTQ knowledge a side effect of the genocides, or a result of blanket cultural repression. Through it all the weight of oppression forced upon the marginalised would outstay the colonial powers who placed it there.
Yet this alone cannot explain why after the Wests "social enlightenment" we didn't see more change. What happened in that period after colonialisms fall but before the riots at stonewall? The late 19th and early 20th century saw a great many social movements gain ground, The abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, solidifying of workers rights... Yet by 2003 it was still illegal to discuss LGBTQ topics in Britain's public institutions, and in 2025 trans people are being legislated out of public spaces. We know the legacy of propaganda runs deep, that the criminality forced upon the community tainted them in the eyes of others. But this scar alone does not explain why the community entered the 21st century faced with not only vitriol, but palpable ignorance.
If we look at 1920s Berlin we actually find a city with a thriving LGBTQ culture that seems vastly at odds with the state of the western world a few decades later. Looking at Paris we see a similar story, with bohemian ideals and queer culture intertwined. In general it appeared that LGBTQ rights where on track to follow the abolition of slavery and the search for suffrage.
The community was on the verge of embracing the liberation many saw after centuries of being held back, so what held it back another hundred years? Where is the celebrated art and cultural record of this time, where was the formative research that came with the new schools of phycology, and medical sciences 20th century evolution, how was this now thriving community forced so far underground that it seemed to vanish?
I know many of you have seen where this is going, its not hard to see the next goose-step in early 20th century European history. But what many don't realise is that it wasn't just the missing knowledge brought about by the Nazis genocide, nor solely a return to the criminalisation of LGTBQ existence which would lead us to the ignorance of today, but a systematic erasure of all academic knowledge gained on the topics of gender and sexuality as they pertain to LGBTQ lives. The destruction of the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft and murder of the first recipients of G.A.C, the occupation of Paris, even post war Britain's chemical castration of a War Hero. All would combine to put a boot so heavily on the communities neck as to force it underground many would forget it had ever existed.
Here is how our history fell to rubble, with the criminalisation of existence through the force of empire and law. Through the trauma of genocide and the centuries long erasure of humanity.
Chapter 2 : The Riot
It is the middle of the 20th century, the 40s had just seen the end of the war and those with pink triangles taken from one prison to another (Nazi implemented laws on homosexuality would not be repealed until 1969). The 50s would start with heroes of the allies being chemically castrated for their love. The previous cultural centres for LGBTQ people were gone or forced even further underground.
The next 2 decades find post war celebrations turn cold, distrust blooms. McCarthyism and lavender scare seize America. Here suppression through propaganda reminds us that art need not be of a moral quality (or any quality at all) to have an impact, even if that impact is horrific.
Primarily written works of propaganda fill the 50s, pamphlets that warned government workers and the general public of the "danger" that LGBTQ people present to people. Reports publicised in government offices to reinforce the "security risk" LGBTQ people pose. The art of slogan, creative writing come pseudo science, combined with the advent of zines a decade prior pushed forth the first wave of modern "outrage".
Almost as though in response, many of the artworks from the queer community of the time are directed at the hypocrisy of those in power, whilst similarly masking their queerness in the imagery of the everyday, they required admitting knowledge of the community to understand exactly what was shown, and in doing so reinforced the notion of an integrated society by placing our commonality at the fore.
Works like 'The Fleets in' by Cadmus exemplify this. Financed by the governments own New Deal program to paint "American Scenes" it depicts drunken sailors cavorting in the red light district, and this is why it was censored (according to the admiral who did so) but there are subtle cues indicating a number of the figures to be gay and trans individuals. The LGBTQ representation in the artwork seemed to have slipped by its detractors amongst the public, and was either missed or intentionally omitted by those in the navy. Cadmus would smartly seize upon the censorship, producing prints and distributing them to papers who wrote on the story. In a pleasant twist of fate the efforts to supress the painting made it famous.
As we reach the 60s, films are more commonly produced, played in schools and on PBS. Titles like "Boys Beware" educated students on the dangers of gay men as predators, whilst "The Homosexuals" talked to tv audiences of this "mental illness" and "moral deviancy". Again this increase in attack brings a rising defence to meet it, fervent artistic rebellion grows emboldened. (The impact of the intersectional nature of the civil rights movement should not be understated as we cross these decades, but that deserves and frankly requires its own write up, suffice to say the LGTQ movement was not simply emboldened by the attacks upon it, but by the leaders of communities it saw around it and intersected with)
This emboldened movement saw Hockney's 'We two boys clinging' make plain his love, in every way a painting as rebellion, pushing back against the institutional nature of Britain in both its statement and stylistic approach art.
Diane Davies would speak truth to power through documentary photography, in doing so she captured the broad strokes of bravery as typified by the individuals that make up a collective. Davies gave human face and voice to a community who had their humanity questioned.
Friction would build. Those in power had failed to supress humanity and love through lies and law. The pen that pushed legislature and slander against the people was pulled back and a boot pressed firmly in its place as police raids escalated. The authorities had lost playing paper against the community who wielded craft scissors, so the rock came down, and would be returned in kind.
It is 1969, and a police raid on the Stonewall inn turns in to a riot that would ignite a movement. It is a tale widely known in the community, but its important we touch on it here for those who don't know. It was a watershed moment in the modern LGBTQ movement, a moment were people forcefully reclaimed their right to exist, and the rightful outrage that came with having their lives threatened through the state sponsored erasure their free participation in society.
On that night, as many others, police would arrest multiple people for "not wearing gender appropriate clothing"*.
On that night, as many others, these arrests would be accompanied with brutality, patrons were sexually assaulted, beaten, dragged, and slammed against walls as they were arrested.
On that night, unlike many others, patrons & onlookers would be overcome by empathies justifiable rage.
*(this law would in effect remain for decades whilst changing its wording to arrest people dressed for "the purpose of prostitution" a crime colloquially known "walking whilst trans" for the disproportionate way it is enforced against trans people and used to dispel their gathering in public places. Though now and across the last several years multiple pieces of legislation have continued to be pushed that would in effect revive the old wording of the law to criminalise those who do not conform to arbitrary gender and dress standards)
Now Stonewall was not the first raid that was answered through force, throughout the 60s similar incidents occurred with the Black cat tavern raid in L.A and the Compton Cafeteria in San Francisco being prominent examples. But Stonewall was the galvanising moment that spread beyond the days and area around it, it became a rallying cry. It typified resistance.
For six days the protest would continue. Streets around stonewall filled with thousands of people who had found fears tipping point. It had become clear the state would take anything and everything from them, so what was their left to lose.
Chapter 3 : Reclamation
"You know, the guys there were so beautiful—they've lost that wounded look that fags all had 10 years ago." - Alan Ginsberg
This empowered feeling would spread, snowball, to see the movement strengthened by the participation of cultural leaders and allies. Artists both prominent and unknown let fear slip to be replaced by the cries of the streets. Warhol, Mapplethorpe, McDarrah, Hammer, Hammond, Griffo, Schmidt, Oppie, on and on the list grew. And with each artist came an audience, some inherently queer, but others were having their eyes opened to the "other" among them, for the first time.
The thousand words each picture painted talked of empathy, of acceptance, of love, fear and rage to be understood. Whether it be in phrases on placards, posters on walls, or portraiture and photography, arts truth was shattering the lies told by authorities fear.
“The Stonewall event itself is like high art. . . . It’s one of those moments where reality and everything come together to create history.” - Lanigan Schmidt (artist and stonewall participant)
Now those who know their history will know what happens to this newly invigorated movement in the following decades. The community will see victories in their push for equality, but they will see so much tragedy to match it. Ihave previously documented in art how we lost so many brilliant & beautiful individuals through callous governments inaction. I have also written at length on the AIDS epidemic and the resultant arts impacts. How Artists like Félix González-Torres helped reshape public opinion on LGBTQ people and on the epidemic that plagued society as a whole. So for the sake of your attention span I'll share those below rather than repeating them here.
Suffice to say that it would not be a simple journey post stonewall, the battle would wage for decades. It would not be until 2003 that teachers in the UK could legally talk about LGBTQ topics in schools, America would not federally legalise gay marriage until 2015, and in 2025 the UK would regress an ban trans women from womens bathrooms. Throughout the decades of struggle lives would be destroyed by stigma, and death would stalk the community at behest of the powerful.
Yet through it all though the community would not return to the closet, the landscape of LGBTQ life and art had fundamentally changed. We would continue to represent ourselves and the injustice we faced, through the direct truths in our art. No longer confined to histories margins, to implication and encoded references, we were Greek pottery once again, bold and clear in our existence, our love, and our place in society. We reclaimed our lives and will defend that reclamation to the last.
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