It’s the height of summer—that’s right, it’s 65 degrees Fahrenheit here in Edinburgh, officially “phew, what a scorcher” territory for the Scottish capital—so let’s do a quiz.
I found “A Queery Query: Test Your Gay IQ,” by Ian Young, in the Nov. 15, 1979 issue of The Advocate. It’s a tad dated (hardly a surprise, given that it’s 46 years old), and a bit heavy on gay-male culture (I’ll spare readers the task of deciding whether Radclyffe Hall is a boys’ school, a country house, or a lesbian author), but I thought I’d pull out a few of the questions for your quizzing pleasure. Answers down below. I’ll put the whole thing at the bottom of the page so you can go deep on gay royals if you’d like.
Note: The language is direct from 1979.
- In January 1927, a gay play called The Drag opened in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Who was the author?
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Give the titles of the following plays: a) The country life of a lesbian couple is broken up when one of them is seduced by a man. A falling tree crushes the other one. b) A handsome young man seduces all the members of a household. c) A little girl spreads a rumor that two teachers are lesbian lovers. d) A man robs a bank to buy his lover a sex-change operation. e) A tweedy actress loses her job and then her lover. f) A young king has an affair with his brother who then goes mad. The king drowns in a marsh. g) When a lawyer’s closetry leads to the death of a young gay man, he helps to expose a blackmail ring. h) A gangster brutalizes friends and enemies alike but brings his mother tea every morning and takes her to the seaside. i) Twenty-six lesbians and gay men talk about their lives.
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Rose O’Neill was a lesbian poet. But she made her money as the creator of a popular item of Americana. What was it?
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Why did author Rita Mae Brown disguise herself as a man?
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What French artist asked, “Why should I paint dead fish, onions and beer glasses when girls are so much prettier?”
COOL THINGS: A Place of Our Own was longlisted for the Polari First Book Prize.
AND I got to make an episode of one of my all-time favorite podcasts, Decoder Ring, … about TEETH! (I love researching and writing about queer history and culture, but I must admit, dentistry and dental access are my true obsessions.) Decoder Ring is devoted to solving cultural mysteries, and this time around, the inciting question was: Why do Americans bad-mouth British teeth? I spoke to several fabulous historians, a professor of public dental health, and a bunch of dental professionals at Dentistry Scotland, a trade show in Glasgow. (Talk about living the dream!) Please listen, and let me know if I convinced you!
UPCOMING EVENTS: In the week of September 29, I’m going to do an event in Edinburgh in collaboration with the Lavender Menace Archives (I’ll be talking with legendary Lavender Menace co-founder Sigrid Nielsen) and the awesome queer book group Wuthering Dykes. We’re just pinning down the date.
I’m glad to say the dates are finally fixed for October events in Eugene, Oregon (10/14), Portland, Oregon (10/16 and 10/17), and Seattle (10/20, though there is one detail still to sort with this event). You can find details on my events page.
RECOMMENDATIONS: I suspect I’m the last person to discover this author, but I just absolutely inhaled Glassworks, the first novel by Olivia Wolfgang-Smith, and I am madly crossing things off my to-do list so I can start Mutual Interest, which was published this February. Completely propulsive prose—as my genius agent, Maggie Cooper (who clued me in to Wolfgang-Smith) pointed out, unlike a lot of contemporary literary fiction, which can be very interior, her characters have bodies and they use them to move and clash and drop things and live.
LISTEN TO ME: Gotta check out that Decoder Ring episode!
ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS UP TOP: 1. Mae West. (2025 note: There’s a great episode of Decoder Ring in part about this.) 2. a) The Fox; b) three possibilities here: Teorema, Something for Everyone (also called Black Flowers for the Bride), Entertaining Mr. Sloane (2025 edit: You'd have to list at least a quarter of all movies if asking this today); c) The Children’s Hour; d) Dog Day Afternoon; e) The Killing of Sister George; f) Ludwig; g) Victim; h) Villain; i) Word Is Out. 3. The kewpie doll 4. To report on the goings-on at an evening at the gay baths. 5. Marie Laurencin.
THE QUIZ IN FULL:
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