Did He, Or Didn’t He: Questions From 2023
A Geezer’s Notebook, By Jim Foster
2SLGBTQI+ is an acronym that represents Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and additional people who identify as part of sexual and gender diverse communities. The “2S” at the front recognizes Two-Spirit people as the first 2SLGBTQI+ communities. The “I” for intersex considers sex characteristics beyond sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. The “+” is inclusive of people who identify as part of sexual and gender diverse communities, who use additional terminologies.
This acronym is used in Canada to designate the sexual and gender diverse communities.
The reason I reprinted that interesting bit of information is because I saw 2SLGTQI+ in a editorial in the Toronto Star and had no idea what it meant. I knew part of it of course, I’m not completely clueless, although that is up for debate, but the ‘2S’ for Two-Spirit confused me, as did the ‘I’ for intersex. I still don’t understand that one. The ‘+’ not only did it confuse me but it really scares me; does that mean there could be more sexes out there?
Look folks, I will go along with you deciding what sex you are, or even what you want to be, but don’t expect me to adjust my pronouns to please you. I am a ‘he’ ‘she’ and ‘they’ person and have enough trouble keeping them straight without adding more. I’m too old to change. In fact I am so old I can remember when there were only two sexes. How is that for ‘old’?
Of course we knew some of our friends marched to a different drummer so to speak, but it made absolutely no difference to us back then, or now. But this flurry of so many genders and their proclivities coming out in our society has started me wondering if it has always been that way. Humans have been around for a long time and we may have missed some things. Is it possible we could have misidentified some peculiarities of the great leaders of the past? We just assumed everyone was straight male or female and never really gave much thought to the fact that our heroes may not have been what today’s society believes them to have been. God forbid one or two could even have been a bit kinky!
Since the beginning of time people have speculated about the sex lives of their peers. (Well, maybe not you, but I do, but then I’m a bit odd anyway) A classic example of course is the Biblical Moses. Moses wore a robe, we all saw the movie – but did he really? Could it have been a floor-length dress? It certainly couldn’t have been much shorter. (Charlton Heston would have looked ridiculous in a mini-skirt) Is it possible the man who lead the Hebrews out of Egypt was one of the world’s first cross-dressers? There was no condemnation of the practice in the Ten Commandments, but what if there were actually eleven in the original list and Moses scratched the last one out? He should have dumped the one about coveting thy neighbour’s ass while he was at it.
Henry VIII was quite a lad with the ladies and had wives coming out the ying-yang, but we’ve seen paintings of him; he wore puce tights and sported a peacock feather in his hat. Was he really annoyed enough with Anne Boleyn to have her charged with treason and beheaded, or was he just embarrassed because she laughed when she saw what he wore underneath his kingship outfit and told the palace chambermaids? Somewhere in Anne’s writings there is mention of his days of the week panties and questioned him as to why there were no Sundays. (If you don’t know the reason, watch When Harry Met Sally.)
Napoleon was often depicted with his right hand inside his uniform. Was it over his heart like an American at a ball game? Or could it have been the constant problem he was having with a faulty bra strap? We will never know for sure of course, but the Duke of Wellington does make snide mention of it in his memoirs.
One of the early heroes was Alexander the Great. Alex was apparently overly fond of one of his generals, Hephaestion, but was he really? Maybe they were just good friends and you know how rumours start. Granted they did hold hands a lot.
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert simply had to be straight because they had nine kids; they wouldn’t have had time for anything else.
(Image Supplied)
