#on the beginning of june though for pride month 🏳️‍🌈

[hamadacare-xoxo]

i might change my mind later but right now, I feel like moving blogs at some point🤔 it's just that tumblr isn't the best with remembering my tags and its getting on my nerves that I can't rely on typing a little bit of words to get it on a post like 'headcanons' and the tag not showing up at all, but all of the little commentaries I ever made is saved 🙃

[luciesartblog]

Gilbert Baker (June 2, 1951 - March 31, 2017) was a gay American artist, designer and activist, best known as the primary creator of the rainbow flag. In 1972 Baker was living in Chicago as an openly gay man, he was taught to sew by a fellow activist, Mary Dunn, using these skills to create banners for gay-rights and anti-war protest marches. It was also during this time that he met and became friends with Harvey Milk, an influential gay leader, who challenged Baker to create a new symbol of pride for the gay community.

The first rainbow flags were produced by a team that included Baker, seamster James McNamara and artist Lynn Segerblom. Segerblom, who was then known as Faerie Argyle Rainbow, reports to have created the original dyeing process for the flags. Thirty volunteers hand-dyed and stitched the first two flags for the parade. These original flags flew at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade celebration on June 25, 1978.

Though many variations have emerged in the decades since, the original design had eight stripes, with a specific meaning assigned to each of the colours: Hot pink for “sex”, red for “life”, orange for “healing”, yellow for “sunlight”, green for “nature”, turquoise for “magic” (though sometimes given as “art”?), indigo for “serenity” and violet for “spirit”.

I’m a little late for pride month, but I got all this done a lot quicker than I expected considering I only started working on it at the beginning of June (though I’ve been planning it on and off for a few years now😅). I did a lot of research and planning for each piece, and there was a lot I wanted to communicate with the project as a whole - it’s been a lot of work, and I challenged myself with a bunch of stuff I’m not familiar with, but I’m really happy with how everything turned out.

Happy pride, everyone, here’s to our community, to all the work that got us here, and to all the progress still to come! 🏳️‍🌈✨🏳️‍⚧️

[hard--headed--woman]

3rd day of Pride Month - 2nd LGB history 🏳️‍🌈

Today is the second day of my "post about one lgb icon/story everyday" thing for Pride Month, and I am gonna talk about the first lesbian wedding in Spain !

It's a quite famous story, but I wanted to talk about it anyway.

Here's the story of Elisa and Marcela !

Marcela Gracia Ibeas and Elisa Sánchez Loriga got married on June 8, 1901, in A Coruña, at Galicia, in Spain. Their marriage was the first homosexual marriage in Spain since the Roman imperial era (though some documents were found, proving that two men got married in Spain in 1061, I'll talk about it in another post !) and happened more than 100 years before the country legalized homosexual marriages !

To achieve this, Elisa disguised herself as a man, and adopted a male identity, Mario Sánchez, which is the name on their marriage certificate. Their lie was later discovered, but their marriage was never annulled, and they remained married for the rest of their lives.

Here's a picture of them after their wedding :

There is a very good movie on Netflix, called Elisa y Marcela, that tells their story. I watched it and liked it a lot, though there are some little criticisms to be made, and if you're interested, you should watch it too! I really enjoyed it and will probably watch it a lot of other times.

Note that there are some differences between the movie and the real story, and if you watch if, I think you should also read their true story, like reading their Wikipedia page. But the biggest part of the movie (except 1-2 details and the end) is pretty accurate, so if you want to watch it and to discover their whole story like that, don't read the end of this post ! I'll tell their story in details here. Keep reading only if you don't want to watch the movie/don't care about already knowing the entire story before watching it.

▪︎

The two young women meet at the Teacher Training College in A Coruña, where future primary school teachers are trained. Eighteen-year-old Marcela is studying there, while twenty-three-year-old Elisa is working there after completing the same course. They become friends, and then lovers. Marcela's parents, fearing scandal, send their daughter to continue her studies in Madrid, but it's not enough to end their love story. Marcela is appointed teacher in Vimianzo, in the village of Calo, while nearby Elisa works as a temporary replacement in Couso, a small parish in Coristanco in the province of A Coruña. They decide to live together in Calo, until 1889, the year in which Marcela leaves to teach in Dumbría while Elisa stays in Calo. The two keep in touch, writing to each other, until Elisa joins Marcela.

They live their love for years, hiding their relationship, until they have had enough, and decide to hatch a plan to get married.

In 1901, Elisa adoptes a masculine appearance and applies to the College of Education under the name of Mario. She creates a past for herself based on a cousin who died in a shipwreck, claims to have spent her childhood in London with an atheist father. She gets baptized as Mario on May 26, 1901 and gets her First Communion under the same idendity.

The couple gets married on June 8, 1901, after publication of the banns. A short wedding ceremony is performed before witnesses, and the couple spends their wedding night in the Corcubión guesthouse on Calle de San Andrés - Elisa and Marcela are officially the first spanish homosexual couple to get married since the Roman imperial era, their plan was a success.

Unfortunately, the villagers begin to have doubts, and realize that this marriage is what they call "a marriage without a man".

The Galician and Madrid press reports the case, the two women lose their jobs, are excommunicated and placed under arrest.

Here's a picture of them after their arrest :

Elisa tries to pass herself off as intersex (using the term hermaphrodite at the time) when a doctor checks whether she's male or female, to no avail. Despite this, and the Civil Guard's attempts to prosecute them, their marriage was never annulled, and the two lovers manages to escape. Their story becomes famous in Spain and many other European countries.

(Un matrimonio sin hombre = a marriage without a man)

After that, we don't know what happened to them. The last thing we know fore sure about them is that they embarked on a ship bound for South America - perhaps Argentina, like so many other Spaniards of the time, where they spent their honeymoon and settled.

But in 2008, a book, Elisa e Marcela – Alén dos homes (Elisa and Marcela – Beyond men), by Narciso de Gabriel, was published in A Coruña, and tells their story from 1901 to 1904. It narrates the events in Porto, Portugal, where they were imprisoned, tried, and later released. They fled to Argentina after the Spanish government demanded their extradition from Portugal. The book tells that before leaving Porto for the Americas, Marcela gave birth to a girl - I couldn't find any other information about that. It also tells that after they landed in Buenos Aires, Elisa (under the alias of Maria) married Christian Jensen, a wealthy immigrant from Denmark 24 years her senior, in 1903 and that Marcela, under the alias of Carmen, pretended to be her sister and stayed there with her daughter.

Elisa refused to consummate the marriage with Jensen. He grew suspicious and tried to have the marriage annulled on the grounds that Elisa wasn't, in fact, a woman. This claim was never substantiated: Three medical examinations confirmed that Elisa was a woman.[11] Since the marriage was between a man and a woman, and therefore valid, no charges were brought against Elisa. After this time, there is no further record of Marcela and Elisa. Still according to this book, Elisa refused have sex with Jensen, who grew suspicious and tried to have the marriage annulled on the grounds that Elisa wasn't, in fact, a woman. It didn't work : three medical examinations confirmed that Elisa was a woman, and since the marriage was between a man and a woman, and therefore valid, no charges were brought against Elisa. After this time, there is no further record of Marcela and Elisa - though some sources claim that Elisa killed herself in 1909.

I'm sorry if some things aren't very clear - sometimes the sources I've found contradict each other, and there are differences in information between French (I'm French), Spanish and English sources. Sometimes even the same source says two different things. I've done my best, and I hope what I've written isn't too far from the truth.

This is a very interesting sorry, that is very, very important in LGB history, and I encourage you all to do your own research, read the book and watch the film! Personally, I'm very happy to have discovered this story, which I like very much.

See you tomorrow for another story/lgb icon :)

[thechloediary]

osaaka | established relationship, fluff | coming out, pride 🏳️‍🌈

~~~~~

akaashi has always known he is gay. as long as he can remember, he has never felt attracted to girls. some girls are pretty of course, he’s not blind, but he never felt for them what he feels when he sees a boy.

still, there was a difference between knowing it for himself, and telling other people about it.

akaashi has always seen a coming-out as something very important, some sort of formal announcement that he would make to his close family. and that terrified him. he knew his parents love him, they have been very supportive ever since he’s a child. they have been very patient with him and his anxiety, always making sure that he would not feel overwhelmed in any situation. and they also have supported him in his career choice when he told them that he was really interested in architecture. akaashi loves his parents.

except, his parents kept telling him how he will soon meet a pretty girl at university and how they would end up married and with kids. akaashi could see how his parents wanted to have grandchildren and that is what scared him. he didn’t know how to tell them without deceiving them.

they were right though, he did meet someone pretty at university, just not a girl. he met osamu at the beginning of the school year when the latter was helping his brother to move in.

atsumu turned out to be akaashi’s roommate. and sometimes he wished atsumu’s confidence would rub off on him. atsumu had never come out, he told him, he would just not shut up when he found someone attractive, with no regards to the person’s gender and if someone said something, he’d just stop being friends with them.

“i don’t need close-minded assholes as friends,” the fake blonde had said once, shrugging. as if it was the easiest thing ever. and maybe it was.

seeing how atsumu acted with it gave him hope, and akaashi agreed with him, it is true that he doesn’t need friends like that. except here we’re not talking about friends, but his parents. akaashi doesn’t know if he can afford to lose his parents.

–

it took him a lot of time, and a lot of small hints dropped in order to test the waters before deciding it was time.

keiji and osamu have been together for about a year when akaashi decided that he needed to come out to his parents. he’s in love with osamu, he’s happy and he would love to finally be able to talk about him to his parents, not only as his roommate’s brother but as the love of his life. he’d love to introduce osamu to his parents.

plus, he felt bad about osamu who was out and proud. osamu repeated to him countless times that it was perfectly fine if keiji wasn’t ready to come out, and that he was happy just being by his side. plus, all their close friends knew about them, so osamu assured him that it was enough. but keiji still felt bad that he had to keep osamu a secret. he was not ashamed of his boyfriend, quite the contrary frankly – he wanted to scream on every rooftop that his boyfriend is the hot guy who makes the best onigiri in town.

he chose to make his coming out at the beginning of june, being immersed in the pride month’s spirit, he thought it was a good idea. osamu had asked him several times if he wanted him to go too but keiji had refused, saying that it was something he needed to do on his own.

and osamu had never felt more proud of his boyfriend. “i’ll be here on the couch waiting for you no matter what happens,” he had said before keiji left his apartment, not without kissing him for luck first.

–

the dinner went way better than akaashi thought it would, his parents didn’t take the news as bad as he thought they would. actually, they haven’t taken it bad at all. they hugged him and thanked him for telling them and that was all. keiji was so shocked that he did not even have the opportunity to process his feelings.

it’s only when he arrived at his boyfriend’s apartment after the dinner that the realization hit him. he had finally come out to his parents and they accepted him. without realizing it, he was crying. the sniffles he let out when he entered the apartment are what alarmed osamu who came running to the front door.

“keiji, sweetheart,” osamu said in a soft voice before opening his arms for his boyfriend. “did it go bad?” he asked.

akaashi was still sobbing in his boyfriend’s chest when he let out a small “no” that confused osamu even more.

“...no?” he asked, unsure.

akaashi then raised his head and osamu could see his boyfriend's smile on his tear stained face. they moved to the couch, keiji snuggled to osamu’s side and he retold the story of the evening to his boyfriend. akaashi couldn’t see him but throughout his whole story, osamu was looking at him with heart eyes.

“i’m so proud of you, baby.” osamu told him before kissing his forehead tenderly. and akaashi could feel the tears in his eyes coming back at the sweet gesture.

“thank you so much for believing in me.” akaashi replied, grinning widely.

osamu was also smiling happily at his boyfriend now, holding him a bit more tightly to his side.

–

after that, osamu met keiji’s parents and they automatically got along. akaashi felt a little bit dumb at the fact that he was scared to introduce them at first. he should have guessed, everyone loves osamu. still, seeing how well his boyfriend gets along with his parents brought him a type of joy that he had never felt. he truly felt whole, like he belonged.

–

one year later, akaashi wakes up to a divine smell in their kitchen – yes, their kitchen. osamu and keiji moved in together about eight months ago and akaashi truly thinks this was their best decision, especially if it means that he gets to see a shirtless osamu making them breakfast every morning.

“good morning my love,” osamu says when he hears footsteps behind him.

“good morning indeed.” he replies smugly, /this is truly a sight he’ll never get tired of./

he hears osamu snort before turning around to face him. “today is a special day,” osamu tells him, smiling. keiji is confused because he’s pretty sure there’s nothing today. it’s not his birthday nor osamu’s, and it’s definitely not their couple anniversary either because he already booked vacations for that date.

his face must have translated his confusion because he hears a soft chuckle from his boyfriend that makes him raise his head. he realizes that must have been spacing out quite a bit because when his eyes lift, he is met with a cake in front of him, sitting pretty on their kitchen table. “what’s this for?” he asks.

“today is june 5th,” osamu states as if this answers the questioning that is currently happening inside of keiji’s head. it doesn’t.

“...yes?”

“it’s been one year since you came out to your parents! happy anniversary, baby!” he announces way too cheerfully for someone who isn’t talking about himself.

akaashi just looks at him with wide eyes. he doesn’t know what is more surprising: the fact that osamu remembered the date he came out to his parents when even akaashi himself didn’t remember, or the fact that osamu thought this was something that needed to be celebrated, and with a cake.

“i-” he chuckles, “samu, you did all of this…” he points at the cake on the table as well as the plates of breakfast that he sees next to the stove, “…just because i came out to my parents a year ago?” he repeats the other’s statement, completely flabbergasted.

“yes!” osamu exclaims happily, his eyes shining in adoration to the point that akaashi feels his cheeks heat up under that intense gaze.

“i-” the absence of reaction somewhat worries osamu because akaashi can see his smile disappearing and a little frown appear on his lover’s forehead.

“are you mad that i made a cake?” osamu is pouting and fidgeting like a child being scolded.

the sight is way too endearing to keiji that he chuckles and shakes his head in response. “no babes, i’m not mad that you made a cake,” he says fondly. and he watches how the light comes back on his boyfriend’s face along with a more reserved smile. “but why?” he can’t help but ask.

“i’m proud of you keiji. i already told you that last year.”

“yeah but that was last year, when it /actually/ happened. we don’t need to celebrate it.” he tries to argue but osamu is a stubborn man.

“yes we do. coming out has never been a thing in my family, ma always repeated to us when we were kids that we could like whoever we wanted. tsumu and i told her when we were all three of us doing the dishes, tsumu said “ma i’m bi” and i added then “oh and i’m pan”, and that was all. and ma almost didn’t have any reaction apart from the small smile we could see on her face.” osamu tells him before going into more details about that day, and even if keiji has already heard the story, he still likes to hear it. it somehow brings him comfort. “but i know it’s not the same for you. i know coming out was a big thing for you and i know you really cared about it, that it was an important thing you wanted to do.” he pauses looking at keiji with a loving smile that takes his breath away. osamu then adds, “so yes, we do. we do need to celebrate it.”

akaashi feels tears gathering behind his eyes at his boyfriend’s words, he never thought he would have such a loving man by his side. he feels so full of love that doesn’t even know what to say, no words could express his gratitude.

as always, osamu must have noticed because akaashi then hears a “come here” from the other man, and he sure as hell doesn’t need to be told twice. he jumps in his boyfriend’s arm and mumbles a small “thank you. i love you, osamu.”

“i love you too, keiji.”

they stay like this for a while. at one point they separate from the hug so that they can kiss and then akaashi wraps his arms around osamu’s waist and puts his head on his chest, the latter has his head resting on the smaller man’s head.

“still, did you have to make a cake that big? we’re only two.” akaashi chuckles.

“there’s no such thing as a cake that's too big.” osamu replies smugly, and he knows akaashi rolled his eyes at that even though he can’t see his face.

keiji snorts at that, /of course/ he thinks. “my bad. i should have known when i decided to date a chef,” he jokes.

“wait to see the ones i’ll make for our kid's birthdays.”

at that, it’s like akaashi’s brain completely shut down. everything is blank. no thoughts at all but the word ‘kid’ repeated a billion times per minute.

his shock must have alarmed osamu because he can feel how the other’s body tenses between his arms. he decides to loosen his arms to that he can look his boyfriend in the eyes. he can now see the panic on osamu’s face when he locks eyes with him, the latter probably didn’t think before talking.

“i-” he chuckles and scratches his neck nervously, trying to avoid akaashi’s gaze. “i’m sorry, i don’t know why i said that. i mean- i do know why but i didn’t want to say it like that. i wanted to talk to you about it first but it escaped my mouth before i could even think of stopping myself,” he blurts really fast.

akaashi grabs his lover’s arms and draws little circles on his skin. “samu, baby, breathe. it’s okay.” he tries to calm him down. when he sees that osamu is somewhat less panicking, he thinks about what his boyfriend implied and a smile appears again on his face. “you want us to have a kid?” he asks shyly, staring at osamu’s face.

osamu nods. “i…” he chuckles sheepishly and keiji can see how redder his cheeks become by the seconds. “i have looked at several adoption centers already,” he admits.

“you- i- what?” akaashi isn’t sure his eyes can widen more, he can’t believe what he’s hearing and he also isn’t sure his heart can survive that many jumps per day. he feels like his heart will come out of his ribcage with how fast it’s beating.

“i love you and i want a family with you, keiji.” osamu states.

keiji feels like crying again, “i love you so much samu. i want a family with you too, there’s nothing i’d like more than that.” he says between two sobs.

the kiss they share after that is full of love, adoration, and promises for the future. keiji cannot express how blessed he feels to have found osamu.

he thinks of them cooking together (osamu cooks and keiji talks), of them going on walks, of them taking showers together, of them sleeping together, of every single moment they have spent together and he feels so grateful.

and then he thinks of the fact that they will share even more moments together, and not only them but also with their kid. he thinks of the fact that his parents and of osamu’s mom and thinks of how spoiled their kid will be. all of this just confirms his choice of having booked vacations for their anniversary, he can’t wait to propose to osamu and start their little family together.

keiji feels like he could die from happiness on the spot at all these revelations. he doesn’t know what to say so he goes for the first thing that comes to his mind, “thank you for loving me.”

// end.