👔 TREE 424: Body check

People say history repeats itself. People also say history doesn’t repeat itself but it rhymes. I think both are true. In our culture of daily Twitter outrage and nonstop hot takes, wise people slow down and look at what happened other times humans found themselves in [current hot situation]. There’s lots to learn. Humans haven’t fundamentally changed since we first started writing things down. Today’s moment of looking back is by Valorie Clark from the history podcast Unruly Figures.

Grow slowly
Jeff

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One.

When the Stonewall Uprising began on a hot and muggy June night of 1969, police harassment was at the core of the rebellion. The Stonewall Inn was a bar operated by the Mafia, who paid the police to leave their queer patrons alone.

The issue was more than the police interrupting a good social hour with ID checks. Often left out of the story is what happened to many queer people during these types of raids: Genital checks.

At the time, the NYPD used old masquerade laws to enforce gender normativity. They saw cross-dressing as a social threat, and punished it with an off-books rule of thumb: everybody had to wear at least three items of clothing specific to their assigned gender. If someone was suspected of cross-dressing, any police officer could order them to strip. If they were found to have male genitalia but were wearing “women’s” clothing (or vice versa) they could go to jail.

Even though the cases were almost always thrown out, the law became tools for the police to harass people and destroy their lives. After all, arrest records are public domain. Even if someone isn’t convicted, the record can hurt their professional and personal lives.

On the podcast, I covered Stormé DeLarverie, who tried to obey this law by wearing dresses in public. However, she appeared so androgynous she got arrested under this law twice and was probably subjected to genital checks. After that, she dressed in men’s clothing full time.

The old masquerade law that enabled these checks remains on the books in New York. In 2011, it was employed to arrest protesters who wore masks during Occupy Wall Street.

Two.

Stormé DeLarverie (center) surrounded by three drag queens from the Jewel Box Revue.

Three.

Ma Rainey’s 1928 song “Prove It On Me Blues” includes early lyrics addressing cross-dressing and same-sex attraction: 

Went out last night with a crowd of my friends
They must’ve been women, ‘cause I don’t like no men
It’s true I wear a collar and a tie…