GLR May-June 2025

The Gay & Lesbian Review May–June 2025 • VOLUME XXXII, NUMBER 3 WORLDWIDE

Editor-in-Chief and Founder R ICHARD S CHNEIDER J R . Managing Editor J EREMY F OX WORLDWIDE The Gay & Lesbian Review ® PO Box 180300, Boston, MA 02118

C ONTENTS

The First Homosexuals

F EATURES

“It will be seen as a political exhibition.” 12 J ONATHAN D. K ATZ In the Beginning Was the Word 14 D OUGLAS P RETSELL The First Lesbian Image-Makers 17 T IRZA T RUE L ATIMER Amrita Sher-Gil’s Crossing Worlds 23 N IHARIKA D INKAR

Literary Editor M ARTHA E. S TONE Poetry Editor D AVID B ERGMAN Associate Editors S AM D APANAS P AUL F ALLON M ICHAEL S CHWARTZ Contributing Writers R OSEMARY B OOTH D ANIEL A. B URR C OLIN C ARMAN A NNE C HARLES A LFRED C ORN A LLEN E LLENZWEIG C HRIS F REEMAN P HILIP G AMBONE M ATTHEW H AYS H ILARY H OLLADAY A NDREW H OLLERAN I RENE J AVORS J OHN R. K ILLACKY C ASSANDRA L ANGER

John R. Killacky interviews the curator of The First Homosexuals The word was “homosexual,” born in late 19th-century Germany In Paris, they turned to portraiture to encode their hidden desires Trained in Europe, she became a window on Indian women’s lives Promoted by Diaghilev, it reveled in artifice and erotic ambiguity How a Western concept played havoc with traditional institutions A 1942 raid exposed a secret subculture of same-sex art and activity A reluctance to name their sexuality has allowed critics to ignore it

Queer Modernism in Russia 26 P AVEL G OLUBEV

When “Homosexuality” Came to Japan 29 P ATRICK C ARLAND -E CHAVARRIA

Buenos Aires’ Men in Uniform 32 J OSEPH S HAIKEWITZ Reclaiming Canadian Lesbian Art 36 J OHNNY W ILLIS

R EVIEWS

Indra B. Tamang — My Curious Years with Charles Henri Ford 39 F ELICE P ICANO Michael Sappol — Queer Anatomies 40 V ERNON R OSARIO Alexis Pauline Gumbs – Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde 42 R EGINALD H ARRIS Marilee Lindemann and Ann Romines, eds. — Unsettling Cather 43 B RUCE S PANG Carol Verburg — The Theatrical Adventures of Edward Gorey 45 M ICHAEL Q UINN Jyotsna Vaid & Amy Hoffman, eds. – The Dream of a Common Movement 46 HNH IRSCH Edmund White — The Loves of My Life: A Sex Memoir 47 A LAN C ONTRERAS Zorian Clayton — Calling the Shots: A Queer History of Photography 48 M ATTHEW H AYS Pirrkko Saisio — Lowest Common Denominator 49 L ORI O’D EA Keetje Kuipers — Lonely Women Make Good Lovers 49 D AVID B ERGMAN Philip Gambone — Zigzag 50 H ANK T ROUT Emma Copley Eisenberg — Housemates: A Novel 51 J EAN R OBERTA Schwartzwald & Simon, eds. – Worldwise: Édouard Roditi’s Twentieth Century 52 C HARLES G REEN Phillip M. Ayoub & Kristina Stoeckl – The Global Fight against LGBTI Rights 53 D ENNIS A LTMAN David Meischen — Nopalito, Texas 53 D ALE B OYER Black Doves and Prime Target (TV miniseries) 58 C OLIN C ARMAN

A NDREW L EAR J AMES P OLCHIN J EAN R OBERTA V ERNON R OSARIO Contributing Artist C HARLES H EFLING Publisher S TEPHEN H EMRICK Webmaster B OSTON W EB G ROUP WebEditor A LLISON A RMIJO ______________________________ Board of Directors

A RT C OHEN ( CHAIR ) R OBERT H ARDMAN S TEPHEN H EMRICK H ILARY H OLLADAY D AVID L A F ONTAINE J IM J ACOBS A NDREW L EAR

P OEMS & D EPARTMENTS

G UEST O PINION — Lessons for Today from the “Lavender Scare” 5 R ONALD V ALDISERRI C ORRESPONDENCE 6 I N M EMORIAM — Felice Picano: Writer and Publishing Impresario 8 W ALTER H OLLAND BTW 10 R ICHARD S CHNEIDER J R . P OEM — “The Missionaries” 41 M ORRIS M C L ENNAN P OEM — “The Last Days” 44 D IEM O KOYE H ISTORY M EMO — Transgender Journeys as a Way to Sainthood 55 M AGALI M ERMET C ULTURAL C ALENDAR 56

R ICHARD S CHNEIDER , J R . ( PRESIDENT ) T HOMAS Y OUNGREN ( TREASURER ) S TEWART C LIFFORD ( CHAIR EMER .) W ARREN G OLDFARB ( SR . ADVISOR EMER .)

The Gay & Lesbian Review/ WORLDWIDE ® (formerly The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review, 1994-1999) is published bimonthly (six times per year) by The Gay & Lesbian Review, Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational corporation located in Boston, Mass. Subscription rates : U.S.: $41.70 per year (6 issues). Canada and Mexico: $51.70(US). All other countries: $61.70(US). All non-U.S. copies are sent via air mail. Back issues available for $12 each. All correspondence is sent in a plain envelope marked “G&LR.” ISSN: 1077: 6591 © 2025 by Gay & Lesbian Review, Inc. All rights reserved. W EBSITE : www.GLReview.org • S UBSCRIPTIONS : 847-504-8893 • A DVERTISING : 617-421-0082 • S UBMISSIONS : Editor@GLReview.org

May–June 2025

3