Queer Ancestors & Guides

Queer Ancestors & Guides

This is a living document: one that grows as I learn more about the Queer Spirits and energies that surround us daily.

Erinle is known for having the best of both worlds: being captivatingly androgynous and able to change gender at will. As a man, he's handsome, strong, associated with Earth, and one of the best hunters and fishermen. As a woman she's gorgeous, over Water and life-giving rivers. 

In any form, Erinle will always be wearing the finest clothes and jewels. They are the Orisha of health, prosperity, and the number 7.

In one popular story, Ogun was awestruck by Erinle's singing while hunting. Ogun offered to teach Erinle how to drum if he taught Ogun how to sing. This led to a strong bond between the two, where some say it went from friends to lovers.

Another story tells how Oshun was also captivated by Erinle’s charm and beauty. However, their marriage didn’t last, Oshun growing jealous of Erinle’s time away hunting. She left him and abandoned their children. This is why Erinle is also said to be a patron for single parents.

Erinle was syncretized as St. Raphael and is often associated with the Caduceus and the color green.

Notes & Resources

 

Gilbert Baker was born in Chanute, Kansas. He served in the U.S. Army from 1970 to 1972, stationed in San Francisco during the dawn of the gay rights movement. After his honorable discharge, Baker created banners for gay rights and anti-war events through the early 1970s. It was in 1978 that Baker would create the first rainbow flag, due in part to the request of friend and fellow activist Harvey Milk.

The first flag had eight colors: Pink (Sex), Red (Life), Orange (Healing), Yellow (Sunlight), Green (Nature), Turquorise (Magic & Art), Blue (Peace), and Purple (Spirit).

In 2003, Baker commemorated the flag's 25th anniversary by making one that spanned from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean in Key West, Florida. Baker refused to trademark his creation, never making any money from it. He did create designs for everyone from now California senator Dianne Feinstein to the King of Spain.

Gilbert Baker died in 2017, in his New York City home.

Notes & Resources

 

Today, Marsha P. Johnson is best known for her involvement in the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, an event that lead to gay rights as we know them today. While it's said Johnson was the the one to "throw the first brick", she wouldn't arrive until around 2 AM (well after the riot had begun). It was during the second night of the uprising that Johnson famously dropped brick-filled bag on a police car.

Johnson went on to march in 1970’s Christopher Street Liberation Day, the first Gay Pride event in the U.S. Just three years later, the gay and lesbian committee banned Johnson and other drag queens from participating in the gay pride parade because the committee believed their presence would be "giving them a bad name". In response, Johnson and the queens marched ahead of the parade defiantly.

Besides Stonewall, Johnson participated in several queer liberation efforts, including: Gay Liberation Front, ACT UP, starting Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) with friend and fellow activist Sylvia Rivera. Johnson and Rivera would go on to create the STAR House, a refuge for homeless queer youth in 1970. They used money earned through sex work to provide food, clothes, and shelter to those who needed it.

Her efforts live on today through the Marsha P. Johnson Institute, an organization dedicated to protecting and defending Black transgendered people.

Notes & Resources

 

Oshumare (also known as Ochumare, Oxumare, Bessem, Dan) is the orisha of rainbows and has strong connections to transformation, abundance, and snakes (sometimes depicted as a rainbow snake). Along with Erinle (scroll up), Oshumare is a patron of the LGBTQA+ community as well as children. He (or they) is often depicted as androgynous or gender-fluid. 

Originating from Dahomey, Oshumare appears in the Yoruba religion and has spread through its diasporic offspring Candomblé and Santeria. He has strong ties to Nana Buruku, Babalu Aye, and is said to work closely with Shango. 

Notes & Resources

 

During the 1880s, William Dorsey Swann threw a series of "drag balls" in Washington D.C. Formerly enslaved and working people would gather and compete in dance competitions.  

The balls were regularly raided by police and Swann was arrested multiple times. It was during his 1896 arrest that Swann applied for pardon from President Grover Cleveland. The request was denied, but it cemented his queer activism in history.

Notes & Resources

Back to blog

Leave a comment