By Riley Fontana
Hometown Weekly Reporter
“The LGBTQ+ History of Massachusetts” hosted by the Tewksbury Library and available through several other towns including Dover was an hour-long webinar about historically queer people in Massachusetts and surrounding states.
Joan Ilacqua, the Executive Director of The History Project, an organization focused on archiving LGBTQ+ history in Boston, led the talk. She covered over 400 years of history using written accounts, oral history and other documentation to tell the stories of many queer folks in Massachusetts.
Ilacqua began by talking about the native land inhabited by Massachusetts residents, and the queer practices of some native tribes. She spoke about Geo Soctomah Neptune, a Native American from Maine, and their contributions to queer acceptance in native communities. She spoke of the native traditions and beliefs of the Two-Spirit people and the belief these people contain both female and male spirits. She spoke of other native traditions that internally and externally may be viewed as queer.
Ilacqua spoke of The Public Universal Friend, a preacher from Rhode Island, a person who would be classified as non-binary in today's terminology. The Public Universal Friend had fallen deathly ill and upon their healing gave up their old identity and began to use gender-neutral pronouns and dressed in androgynous clothing. They continued to preach under their new identity. The Public Universal Friend used scripture quotations to explain their transformation as a message from God.
Ilacqua also educated the crowd on Boston Marriages. These were not legal marriages but two usually wealthy women living together without men. This was a term native to New England in the early 20th century. While some of the relationships between the women were romantic, several were not and they acted more as roommates than lovers.
Joan Ilacqua ended the talk with a section about Boston pride celebrations. She discussed the history of these celebrations and the different organizations that help to create these events. She spoke about the first pride in the 1970s and how these events created a welcoming community in the Boston area for those of queer identities.
“The LGBTQ+ History of Massachusetts” discussed a variety of less publicized pieces of queer history in the New England area. The event held in cooperation with The History Project shined light onto smaller pieces of queer history, lending its ability to provide an array of knowledge to attendees and spark curiosity for a continued quest of knowledge.
