Queer Ancestor Spotlight: The Fuck Tree
The Fuck Tree is sessile oak tree on Hampstead Heath in north London. It is located in an area known for gay cruising going as far back as the Victorian era. It’s popularity is due to the shape of its trunk, which is ideal for having sex. In 2023, London-based reporter Bron Maher wrote about the Fuck Tree for The Fence. In this piece he described the tree as:
“The roots of the tree splay out like a hand clutching a bed sheet; the trunk is prone and abdomen-high, its belly flat to the Heath floor before making an abrupt 45-degree lift toward the canopy. This tree, I tell you, has a slutty little back arch"
Queer Ancestor Spotlight: Newport Sex Scandal
A forgotten bit of American queer history involves future president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the YMCA, and a bunch of Navy men who liked to have sex with each other in the early 20th century. Often referred to as the Newport sex scandal, this episode in American queer and military history shone a light on the underground culture of men who had sex with men long before Stonewall. What began as one man’s moral crusade against homosexuality shortly after the end of World War I turned into a national moral panic that made it’s way all the way to the United States Senate.
Queer Ancestor Spotlight: Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands
This month we remember a short-lived micronation that was born as a political response to LGBTQ+ discrimination in Australia. This micronation was founded in 2004 and lasted until 2017. The territory was comprised of small and mostly uninhabited islands and reefs in the Coral Sea, northeast of Queensland, Australia.
Queer Ancestor Spotlight: Siwa Oasis
This post is a bit different because it doesn’t center a particular figure and instead focuses on a location: the Siwa Oasis. This oasis is located in Egypt, near the Libyan border. It is one of the most isolated settlements in Egypt with a distinct culture and language. Settlement at the oasis dates back to ancient Egypt, and it was home to an oracle of Ammon.