Today in Labor History May 30, 1899: Pearl Hart committed one of the last stage coach robberies in America, and one of the only committed by a woman. At a young age, she married a man who turned out to be abusive. After watching Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, she decided that the cowboy lifestyle was the life for her. So, she abandoned her husband and caught a train to Trinidad, Colorado (near the site of the future Ludlow Massacre). "I was only twenty-two years old. I was good-looking, desperate, discouraged, and ready for anything that might come." During this time, she may have worked as a prostitute and developed a morphine habit. However, she wasn’t earning much money and decided to rob a stagecoach, along with a companion, Joe Boot. She cut her hair short and dressed as a man. They robbed the stagecoach without incident. But the authorities caught up them and arrested them less than a week later. Hart escaped, but was recaptured after two weeks. During her trial, she pleaded that she needed the money for her sick mother. The jury acquitted her, which really pissed off the judge.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #crossdressing #transvestism #robbery #poverty #pearlhart #cowboy #ludlow #Prostitution #sexwork #addiction

Today in Labor History May 30, 1899: Pearl Hart committed one of the last stage coach robberies in America, and one of the only committed by a woman. At a young age, she married a man who turned out to be abusive. After watching Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, she decided that the cowboy lifestyle was the life for her. So, she abandoned her husband and caught a train to Trinidad, Colorado (near the site of the future Ludlow Massacre). "I was only twenty-two years old. I was good-looking, desperate, discouraged, and ready for anything that might come." During this time, she may have worked as a prostitute and developed a morphine habit. However, she wasn’t earning much money and decided to rob a stagecoach, along with a companion, Joe Boot. She cut her hair short and dressed as a man. They robbed the stagecoach without incident. But the authorities caught up them and arrested them less than a week later. Hart escaped, but was recaptured after two weeks. During her trial, she pleaded that she needed the money for her sick mother. The jury acquitted her, which really pissed off the judge.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #crossdressing #transvestism #robbery #poverty #pearlhart #cowboy #ludlow #Prostitution #sexwork #addiction

Today in Labor History May 30, 1431: Teenage peasant soldier and crossdresser, Joan of Ark, was burned at the stake by an English tribunal, in part for the “blasphemy” of wearing men’s clothes. After her arrest, her male attire was taken from her and she was forced to sign a document (which she may not have understood) declaring she would no longer cross dress. But when her captors returned her men’s attire, to test her will, she promptly put the clothes back on. During her trial, she vowed, 'For nothing in the world will I swear not to arm myself and put on a man's dress.'" Twenty-fiver years later, Pope Callixtus III declared her a martyr. In 1909, they beatified her and they granted her sainthood in 1920. Transgender activist, writer and communist, Leslie Feinberg, argues in Transgender Liberation that "Joan of Arc was burned at the stake by the Inquisition because she refused to stop dressing as a man… an expression of her identity she was willing to die for rather than renounce."

She rose to prominence during the Hundred Years’ War, which was essentially a feud between competing monarchies (French and English) that left the peasants poor, hungry and at risk of being slaughtered. England had been winning the war and had almost gained control over France when Joan of Ark decided to intervene. She had been having religious visions and was convinced that only she could turn things around for France. She travelled to Chinon to meet King Charles, disguised as a male soldier, which later led to charges of cross-dressing. Convincing the King to turn the conflict into a religious war, she led his troops in the Battle of Orleans. By many contemporary accounts, it was her military advice that won the battle. However, by her own words, she never killed a man, preferring to carry the banner “forty times better” than a sword. In the centuries after her death, she became legendary.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #peasant #JoanofArc #transvestism #crossdressing #transphobia #catholic #poverty #feminism #transgender #lgbtq #TransRightsAreHumanRights

#MagnusHirschfeld on #Transvestism, Sexual Transitions and Transsexuality #TransRightsAreHumanRights

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CF4NWGBX

Today in Labor History May 30, 1899: Pearl Hart committed one of the last stage coach robberies in America, and one of the only committed by a woman. At a young age, she married a man who turned out to be abusive. After watching Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, she decided that the cowboy lifestyle was the life for her. So, she abandoned her husband and caught a train to Trinidad, Colorado (near the site of the future Ludlow Massacre). "I was only twenty-two years old. I was good-looking, desperate, discouraged, and ready for anything that might come." During this time, she may have worked as a prostitute and developed a morphine habit. However, she wasn’t earning much money and decided to rob a stagecoach, along with a companion, Joe Boot. She cut her hair short and dressed as a man. They robbed the stagecoach without incident. But the authorities caught up them and arrested them less than a week later. Hart escaped, but was recaptured after two weeks. During her trial, she pleaded that she needed the money for her sick mother. The jury acquitted her, which really pissed off the judge.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #crossdress #transvestism #robbery #poverty #PearlHart

#Women’s #panel seeks #action against ‘#conversiontherapy #training’ targeting LGBTQIA+ #community

A #Tirupati-based #organisation had #advertised a training program on treating 47 ‘#psychosomaticdisorders’, and listed #homosexuality, #lesbianism, #transvestism among them.

Conversion therapies are #pseudoscientificpractices, targeting the LGBTIQA+ into changing their #SexualOrientation, #GenderIdentity and #GenderExpression.

#LGBTQIA #India #Hate #Bigotry #Homophobia

https://scroll.in/latest/1046282/womens-panel-seeks-action-against-conversion-therapy-training-for-lgbtqi-community