From the Greek poet Sappho to 20th century footballer Lily Parr, history is full of women who were romantically and sexually attracted to other women. Unfortunately, like other queer peoples, queer women have found themselves erased from the history books, their lovers dismissed as ‘just friends’. But vital work is being done to ensure these stories are restored to the historical narrative. We spoke to four LGBTQ+ history experts about historical queer women and why queer histories are so important.
Kirsty Loehr
Kirsty Loehr is a writer based in Brighton in the United Kingdom. She is the author of A Short History Of Queer Women that explores the history of queer women through a comedic lens.
Leila J Rupp
Leila J Rupp is a historian, feminist and Professor of Feminist Studies at the University of California. She is the author of Sapphistries: A Global History Of Love Between Women, among other works.
Amelia Possanza
Amelia Possanza is the author of Lesbian Love Story: A Memoir In Archives which explores seven stories of love between women. She also works as a publicist.
Harper-Hugo Darling
Harper-Hugo Darling is the founder and head-writer of Making Queer History, a site that explores LGBTQ+ history through a series of informed articles and podcast episodes.
What are some of the significant events in the history of queer women that deserve to be highlighted and analysed further?
LJR: The very concept of “queer women” needs to be analysed first, because it means something particular in a contemporary context. From a historical perspective, we use the term to mean other-than-heterosexual women and what we would now call “nonbinary” people assigned female at birth.
