#TodayInQueerHistory December 27 (1901) Celebrating Marlene Dietrich who was born #OTD. Marlene gave us an iconic lesbian kiss in her 1930s film Morocco. She allegedly enjoyed the thriving queer scene in 1920s Berlin, had relationships with other women and rocked a tuxedo!

Got some Christmas money burning a hole in your pocket? Spend it on books! Your brain will thank you 😁 #MuseumBums 👍🏛️🍑 Here's a link to buy ours, just, y'know, so you know it's there... 😇 www.gaystheword.co.uk/product-page...

#TodayInQueerHistory December 26 (1933) Queer Hollywood icon, Greta Garbo, stars in Queen Christina which opened #OTD. It tells a fictionalised version of the life of the Swedish Queen, it omits her close relationship with Ebba Sparre. It DID include Christina's habit of wearing masc clothes.

Boxing day is a liminal space

Watching THE GREEN KNIGHT again

😂😂😂😂😂😂

To me, my X-Mas!

Christmas run all done, and the hair went wild 😂😂😂 Merry Christmas lovely blueskiers from me and @thehistoryboy.bsky.social

#TodayInQueerHistory December 25 (2016) Remembering George Michael; pop star and all around good egg who passed #OTD. George did a lot for charity. Royalties from hit Jesus to a Child supported Childline. Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me supported HIV charities. He often donated anonymously too.

There is cheeses for meexes, wine and Muppets bringing festive lessons. It's the summer of the soul.

Merry Christmas eve, everyone

And Tiny Tim, who did not die. Yet did not live. Trapped forever in his tiny body, never growing older, cursed to survive only on the blood of the living, never to see sunlight again

#TodayInQueerHistory December 24 (2013) Code-breaker Alan Turing is granted a posthumous pardon for his 1952 conviction for Gross Indecency (code: being gay). Pardoning Alan led to the UK's Turing Law (2017) which pardoned around 50k men historically convicted of Gross Indecency.

Angus McBean was a successful theatre photographer from Wales. Every year, he would do a photo collage Christmas Card that always featured him and his boyfriend, David Ball, in surreal situations. Here they are "discovering a colossal nude in the desert", 1949, @metmuseum.org 😁👍🏛️🍑🎄 #MuseumBums

#TodayInQueerHistory December 23 (1925) Remembering William Dorsey Swann, drag pioneer who died #OTD. Swann is known as the first self proclaimed Drag Queen and would host grand drag balls where attendees were free to be themselves.

We are now watching Galaxy Quest and trying to find the moment Tim first experiences acting.

Parisot (the Director) tells a story about how Tim Allen just started crying after a scene one day "I don't like these feelings i'm having." Says Tim. "I'm going back to my trailor" and walks off. There's silence for a second. "Oh my god." Says Rickman. "I think Tim just experienced acting."

I'm deep in research mode for a new project and there are so many juicy little details I can't wait to unleash upon you all!

#TodayInQueerHistory December 22 (2021) Matrix Resurrections, the final installment of the Wachowski sisters' sci-fi epic Matrix series is released in US cinemas #OTD. In 2020 the sisters explained how The Matrix films can be a trans metaphor, using the character Switch as an example of this.

I love this so much.

Your annual reminder that if you get this cracker joke and are confused by it, it's apparently because "ffi" is a special character in some fonts and when the typeface is changed to one that doesn't have it, those letters disappear. It's supposed to be "coffin medicine".

“Kill two birds with one stone” from five languages… 5. Roast two pieces of meat on one fire (Polish) 4. Shoot two rabbits with one shot (Romanian) 3. Hit two flies with one swatter (German) 2. Catch two pigeons with one fava bean (Italian) 1. She both picked mulberries and saw her lover (Korean)

#TodayInQueerHistory December 21 (2005) Happy anniversary to Elton, David and all who were civil partnered in the UK #OTD, the earliest date post notice period. The 1st CP took place in the UK on 5/12 due to exceptional circumstances which meant that the notice period was waived for the couple.

It's your birthday, Duane.

Those of you involved with running charities, please note 👇

You can tell it's real art because it's hung on a wall in a gold frame ✅✅ 👍🏛️🍑 #MuseumBums Etude de Fesses (Study of Buttocks), by Felix Vallotton, 1884, recently exhibited in "Rear View" (2023), at LGDR, New York

#TodayInQueerHistory December 20 (2017) Caper in the Castro, the first queer video game, gets added to the Internet archive -- it's playable again! The caper is a murder mystery game designed by C. M. Ralph, and began life as a way to raise funds for AIDS charities. archive.org/details/hype...

Good for Kylie!

#TodayInQueerHistory December 19 (1922) The play, The God of Vengeance, is performed in English for the first time, opening at the Provincetown Playhouse. The play features women kissing, and is notable for having the first lesbian kiss on Broadway, when it opened there in 1924.

This is why you rarely see the anti trans side going after Hunter Schafer or Kim Petras. They went on puberty blockers and transitioned as teens. They're massively successful and living happy lives. They don't want to highlight that.

Dash my wig! These are getting added to my daily vocab

I hope that people still get a lot out of nonfiction. Learning from experts, particularly when there's so much misinformation and ai slop, feels more important than ever.

Hey look, it's me!

#TodayInQueerHistory December 18 (1892) The Nutcracker makes its debut at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg. It initially got a lukewarm reception, now a beloved ballet. It's one of the many works by Tchaikovsky, whose homosexuality was very much censored from accounts of his life.

"And Tiny Tim, who did not die" = heartwarming, Christmassy. "And Tiny Tim, who would not die" = sinister, alarming.

Oh no! I slept weird and now my shoulder is hurty.

#TodayInQueerHistory December 17 (1663) #OTD Njinga Ana de Sousa Mbande, Ngola (or king) of Ndongo and Matamba, died. She is known for her strategic prowess. She also has an enduring queer legacy: dressing in masc regalia, dressing her hareem of men in feminine attire and resisting colonisation.

Honestly, this is *chefs kiss*

You've heard of Elf on the Shelf but how about

This isn’t even all of the AIDS quilt. It was so long they didn’t have room to display it all. Reagan flat out fucking murdered queer people

Oh my muses, you'll never guess what happens on p153! 😱👍🏛️🍑 #MuseumBums It's curl up with a good book under the blanket season. Ideally our book: uk.bookshop.org/p/books/muse... @bookshop-org-uk.bsky.social 😁 Henri Gaudier-Brzeska's "Fallen Workman", 1912, from @tate.bsky.social

One final fun insight from the BlueSky wrapped? From #TodayInQueerHistory, you lot have really vibed with lesbian activists and complicated Scottish doctors.

ITS LOVE. Yeah, I think this is a good reflection of what you can expect from me 😂🥰

It's been a wild ride on bluesky this year. Thank you to this lovely lots for keeping me company 🥰

If you'd like to be a Pokémon pal, here's my friend code: 416729656477

There have been some wonderful queer-themed books published this year which would make *FABULOUS* Christmas presents. Here are my top picks (history first, then science below) . . . 📚 #booksky 🌈🗃️ #lgbtqhistory 🏳️‍⚧️🎄 #queerhistory 🎁

To beat the winter blues today, I'm going to use one of the most powerful weapons in our arsenal: disco music. 🪩🕺🪩

#TodayInQueerHistory December 16 (1988) Today we remember the passing of Sylvester the Queen of Disco, a trailblazer who never hid their queerness. Their hit You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) hit #1 on US dance charts and #8 on the UK charts. They willed their royalties to 2 HIV/AIDS charities.