$6.95 US, $7.95 Canada Ethnographic Journeys November–December 2025 GLRk ALFRED CORN Young Years with Ed White BRUCE VILANCH Crazy Days of TV Comedy FRANK RIZZO The Subversive After Dark Kamehameha III and His Co-King BY DEAN HAMER ‘Coming In’ As a Two-Spirit Journey BY CHASE BRYER Caste and Gender in India BY POORVI GUPTA Gender Identities In Native African Societies BY JOHN MOTAROKI Culture Clash in South Africa BY KELLEY NELE Constantine Cavafy
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The Gay & Lesbian Review November–December 2025 • VOLUME XXXII, NUMBER 6 The Gay & Lesbian Review/WORLDWIDE®(formerlyThe 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. WEBSITE: www.GLReview.org • SUBSCRIPTIONS: 847-504-8893 • ADVERTISING: 617-421-0082 • SUBMISSIONS: Editor@GLReview.org Editor-in-Chief and Founder RICHARDSCHNEIDER JR. Managing Editor JEREMYC. FOX Literary Editor MARTHAE. STONE Poetry Editor DAVIDBERGMAN Associate Editors SAMDAPANAS PAULFALLON MICHAELSCHWARTZ Contributing Writers ROSEMARYBOOTH DANIELA. BURR COLINCARMAN ANNE CHARLES ALFREDCORN ALLENELLENZWEIG CHRIS FREEMAN PHILIP GAMBONE MATTHEWHAYS HILARYHOLLADAY ANDREWHOLLERAN IRENE JAVORS JOHNR. KILLACKY CASSANDRALANGER ANDREWLEAR JAMES POLCHIN JEANROBERTA VERNONROSARIO Contributing Artist CHARLES HEFLING Publisher STEPHENHEMRICK Webmaster BOSTONWEBGROUP WebEditor ALLISONARMIJO ______________________________ Board of Directors ART COHEN(CHAIR) ROBERT HARDMAN STEPHENHEMRICK HILARYHOLLADAY DAVIDLAFONTAINE JIMJACOBS ANDREWLEAR RICHARDSCHNEIDER, JR. (PRESIDENT) THOMAS YOUNGREN(TREASURER) STEWARTCLIFFORD(CHAIR EMER.) WARRENGOLDFARB(SR. ADVISOR EMER.) WORLDWIDE The Gay & Lesbian Review® PO Box 180300, Boston, MA 02118 WORLDWIDE POEMS &DEPARTMENTS CONTENTS FEATURES REVIEWS GUEST OPINION—Reclaiming Nepal’s Six-Gender Heritage 5 SUNILBABUPANT CORRESPONDENCE 7 POEM— “Resurrection Sequence” 20 SHANLEYSMITH-POOLE POEM— “A Suggestion for Gays” 22 JONATHANBRACKER ARTIST’S PROFILE — Bruce Vilanch, Comedy Writer to the Stars 26 MATTHEWHAYS POEM— “Spring” 30 PATRICKKINDIG CULTURAL CALENDAR 48 ART MEMO— The Subversive World of AfterDark Magazine 49 FRANKRIZZO Alice T. Friedman —Queer Moderns: Max Ewing’s Jazz Age New York 31 ALLENELLENZWEIG Gregory Jusdanis and Peter Jeffreys —Constantine Cavafy 33 ALANCONTRERAS Jake Poller —Christopher Isherwood 34 HANKTROUT Sarah Schulman —The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity 35 BRIANALESSANDRO BRIEFS 36 Constance Debré —Playboy, Love Me Tender, andName 38 LORI O’DEA Magdalena J. Zaborowska —James Baldwin: The Life Album 39 ELAINE MARGOLIN Peter Dubé —Desire as Praxis: Towards a Queer Surrealism 40 PETERMUISE Pan Wendt, editor —Erica Rutherford: Her Lives and Works 42 CASPER BYRNE Paul Lisicky —Song So Wild and Blue 43 JEANROBERTA Christopher Tradowsky —Midnight at the Cinema Palace 44 MICHAELQUINN Gaar Adams —Guest Privileges 45 ANNE CHARLES Jeffrey Seller —Theater Kid: A Broadway Memoir 45 CHARLES GREEN Oksana Vasyakina —Steppe: A Novel 46 ANDREWHOLLERAN John Loughery —Where the Pulse Lives 47 BRUCE SPANG Queer Lens: A History of Photography (art exhibition) 50 IGNACIODARNAUDE Ethnographic Journeys Kamehameha III and His Joint King 10 DEANHAMER Kaomi, the young monarch’s aikāne, acted as co-ruler for a time “Coming In” as a Two-Spirit Journey 13 CHASE BRYER In Native American cultures, finding your true gender is a quest Native Identities Live On in Africa 16 JOHNMOTAROKI A third gender was recognized in Nigerian and Angolan cultures South Africa’s Clash of Cultures 18 KELLEYNELE Traditional gender roles, banned by the British, are being revived Caste and Gender Identity in India 21 POORVI GUPTA The low-ranking Dalits have borne the brunt of gender persecution A Pansy by Any Other Name... 24 HUGHHAGIUS 900 years of LGBT history told in 12 labels for the same-sex deed RememberingElena, and Ed White 28 ALFREDCORN An early friend was there for the making of Edmund’s first novels GLRk November–December 2025 3
writer John Motaroki explains that missionaries and colonial administrators condemned nonbinary identities as deviant and immoral, erasing their status and criminalizing traditional practices. Patriarchal ideas of gender also prevail in South Africa, where trans people like contributor Kelley Nele face discrimination in health care, education, and the workplace. A long series of laws imposed across the continent in the 19th, 20th, and even 21st centuries have outlawed “cross-dressing” and samesex acts of intimacy, but resistance remains. In India, the worst persecution falls on gender-nonconforming people who are members of the Dalit caste, once known as “untouchables.” Journalist Poorvi Gupta writes that Dalit trans people face overwhelming and overlapping prejudices, but they’re fighting for greater recognition and respect. In neighboring Nepal, a half-dozen genders were traditionally recognized, writes activist Sunil Babu Pant, ones that he and other Nepalese are pushing to revive—a return to tradition that rejects capitulation to Western norms. Yet again we have proof that there’s no one concept of gender worldwide. Societies have for millennia devised numerous variations that go far beyond the simple binary. These articles also show that LGBT people everywhere are resistant to having an identity forced upon them. It’s a message that feels particularly timely now, as LGBT people globally face renewed threats. JEREMYC. FOX WHAT FOLLOW are “ethnographic journeys” not only in the sense that they transport us to non-Western cultures, but also because they represent a personal journey for writers in search of gender identities that were extinguished by colonial powers. In a half-dozen articles, we hear from scholars and members of these cultures about what was lost when outsiders imposed a strictly binary gender code on societies around the world, pushing out more expansive understandings of gender and sexuality. In Hawai‘i, European colonization meant quashing the concept of aikāne—intimate same-sex friendships that could be equal to opposite-sex partnerships. Scholar Dean Hamer explores one of the last gasps of anaikāne relationship, the love between King Kamehameha III and Kaomi Moe, who came to rule Hawai‘i alongside the King but later surrendered this connection so the King could remain on the throne. In North America, colonization decimated not only Native populations but also their acceptance of multiple genders and fluid roles. Chase Bryer, a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, writes that modern Two-Spirit Native Americans are working to reclaim their cultural heritage and to re-envision themselves in traditional roles within their families and communities. In Africa, the chibados of Angola and the yan daudu of Nigeria held important ceremonial posts and were respected as members of a third gender, horrifying the colonists. 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a deeper tension in Nepal’s evolving gender discourse. The slogan “trans women are women,” seeks to affirm trans dignity, but it also underscores the straitjacket of binary thinking. Why must someone become a man or a woman to be valid? In Indigenous and Asian cultures, including Nepal’s Tantric tradition, there was no compulsion to “transition” into a binary category. A person with third-nature qualities was considered whole, not in need of fixing, correction, or reclassification. So when we chant, “Trans women are women,” are we protecting dignity—or prescribing conformity? Nepal doesn’t need more inclusion in Western frameworks. We need to dismantle those frameworks and rebuild from our own ancestral blueprints. That means: funding Ropain Jatra as a form of gender liberation and diversity; recognizing Ajima temples and third-gender shrines as sacred sites of gender multiplicity; and highlighting rituals, oral histories, and sacred architecture that affirm six or more genders—not just two. Pride is not a product. It is a practice. When I see young people dancing barefoot in the rice paddies during Ropain Jatra—some wearing fariya (a calf-length sari worn by hill women), others in kachchhad (a traditional male wrap), and some in both—I don’t see borrowed queerness. I see ancestral courage. I see Ajima smiling from her shrine. Sunil Babu Pant is the founder of The Blue Diamond Society and executive director of MayaKo Pahichan Nepal. Reclaiming Nepal’s Six-Gender Heritage SUNILBABUPANT I N THE BUSTLING Kathmandu Valley, nestled among ancient shrines and crumbling stupas, lie quiet but potent testaments to a forgotten truth. Long before the rise of Western gender vocabularies or activist hashtags, Nepal recognized not two, but six—or even seven—distinct gender identities. This legacy, now largely eclipsed by patriarchy and colonial modernity, is at the heart of my 2024 documentaryAjima and 6 Genders. The film explores Nepal’s matriarchal and Tantric past through the figures of Ajimas, grandmother goddesses still revered in many Newar households. An Ajima is not only a symbol of protection, wisdom, and fertility; she is also the spiritual gatekeeper to a worldview in which gender diversity was not just accepted—it was sacred. Rooted in Tantric philosophy, the Ajima tradition celebrates feminine creative power and reveres the vulva as a divine lifegiving force. Tantric temple architecture often features symbolic triangular doorways or yonic (vulva-shaped) imagery, explicitly honoring the divine feminine. More crucially, Tantra recognized multiple distinct gender expressions, including those of woman-nature, man-nature, and multiple third-nature forms—people embodying fluid or composite expressions of gender. Gender was not assigned at birth. It was acknowledged—through ritual, communal recognition, and spiritual alignment—during adolescence or early adulthood. To honor this lineage, for the past two years the non-governmental organization MayaKo Pahichan Nepal, where I am executive director, has reimagined Ropain Jatra, Nepal’s monsoon rice-planting festival, as a joyfully indigenous celebration of gender diversity. This year’s celebration brought together more than 100 gender and sexual minority community members and allies. Yet as we reclaim this heritage, we confront a troubling contradiction. International donor agencies, Western embassies, and international NGO’s overwhelmingly promote Western LGBT frameworks—drag shows, hormone clinics, pride parades, rainbow branding—while largely ignoring indigenous gender expressions and spiritual cosmologies. Today, Nepal’s legal recognition of gender identities is in disarray—partly because of these tensions between local concepts and Western expectations. Looking only at people assigned male at birth, the contradictions are stark: • Many who haven’t medically transitioned are legally recognized as men. • About 2,000 have acquired legal identification marked “other” (our third-gender category), most without gender-affirming surgery. while fewer than 100 have undergone medical transition and hold ID as “other.” • Some are legally recognized as women post-transition, while others—without medically transitioning—hold female IDs. This legal mosaic reflects both the cultural recognition of third-gender identities and the Western trans model—applied simultaneously and inconsistently to similar populations. The result is administrative confusion. These contradictions reflect GUEST OPINION November–December 2025 5 A POWERFUL STORY OF LOVE, LOSS, AND SURVIVAL STONEWALL BOOK AWARD NOMINEE Before Pride, there was pain. Jack Cooper’s Pain Before the Rainbow reveals the haunting realities faced by gay men in the 1970s—and the courage that shaped queer survival. Beautiful, raw, and unforgettable, these stories remind us why visibility and freedom matter today. “Courageous and insightful.” —ELIZABETH ANN ATKINS “Uplifting and unforgettable.” —GLENN E. KAKELY
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Seems like it would have been perfect for Benemann’s piece. What would it be like to hear it sung by Emerson, Allen, & Manning’s Minstrels? Allan Weinreb, Rochester, NY To the Editor: Apropos of your article on the “Counter Jumpers,” I have a postcard [below] that makes fun of their kind. Unfortunately, it was never used, so there’s no postmark, and we don’t know to whom it was sent or when. My guess is that it’s from lateish in the 19th century. George Glastris, Chicago Face It: There Are LGBT Conservatives To the Editor: In Eli Erlick’s “Making Sense of the Trans Right” [July-Aug. 2025 issue], the author seems amazed that some transgender individuals have conservative politics. I’m friends with a gay man who was not at all surprised when I told him that there was a right-wing extremist group made up of gay men, who pointed out that gay men can be found across the political spectrum. Nor was he surprised when I told him there was an anti-feminist group formed by gay men. There is a tendency for persecuted groups to be politically liberal, but all groups are formed by individuals, and individuals do not think identically. Also, each individual is a member of varied demographic groups involving gender, class, race/ethnicity, religion, marital status, etc. Some gay males might identify mainly as Native Americans, some women might identify mainly with the poor, some Blacks might identify mainly with other Christians, and some lesbians might identify mainly with other single people. These crosscutting identities and the varied values attached to them are bound to influence political opinions. Regarding that trans woman neo-Nazi, she cannot be crazier than white racism’s entire Nazification since it ceased being mainstream. Back in the old Correspondence
segregationist days, men like George Wallace, who battled Nazism in WWII, were the stubborn segregationists. That Nazism represents “white” pride, nationalism, or anything is sheer insanity. The Nazis were at war with white countries, packed white people into their death camps, and were allied with Japan! However, like everyone else, transgender people can be expected to look at issues and come to their own conclusions, which will be varied and sometimes downright bigoted and twisted. There should be no surprise that trans people are Republicans, Democrats, socialists, racists, and neo-Nazis. Denise Noe, Bolivar, MO A Survivor of the “Lavender Scare” To the Editor: Ronaldo O. Valdiserri’s essay on the McCarthy-led persecution of gay men in U.S. government service in the 1950s [July-Aug. 2025 issue] reminds me of someone I knew from that era. In the early 1970s, as a young British diplomat (heavily closeted because being gay was a sackable offence in the British Foreign Office), part of my job in the British Embassy in Paris was to liaise with the Private Secretary to the Duke of Windsor (then living in semi-exile with the Duchess in the Bois de Boulogne). The Duke’s Private Secretary was a charming, clever, and cultured American, then in his sixties, named John Utter. He had been forced to resign from the State Department because of his homosexuality. It was clear from my conversations with John that his employers were not the easiest. “He [the Duke] lives for her, and she lives for parties,” was one of his pithier observations. After the death of the Duke of Windsor, John accompanied the Duchess to London for her husband’s funeral, telling me on his return how the Duchess and the Queen Mother (allegedly sworn enemies) had sat “like two old grannies” on a sofa at Windsor Castle, watching TV together. In recognition of his selfless service, Queen Elizabeth II made John a Companion of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO), one of the few honors that are within the personal gift of the monarch rather than the government. I doubt if the Queen knew that John was gay. Nor do I imagine she would have cared. But I like to think McCarthy might have been turning in his grave. Stephen Wall, London, UK A New York Monument’s Louisiana Roots To the Editor: In 2019, TheG&LRdevoted an entire issue to the 50th Anniversary of Stonewall. One of the articles contained an oblique reference to George Segal’s Gay Liberation sculpture [in Greenwich Village] having been funded by the Mildred Andrews Fund, a New Orleans-based foundation. Having fund-raised for the New Orleans gay community for many decades, this made my ears perk up, as I had never heard of the Mildred Andrews Fund. After a bit of a deep dive, I learned that the Mildred Andrews Fund is actually Cleveland-based, but was administered by the physicist, philosopher, and philanthropist Dr. Peter Putnam, who resided in the small Louisiana city of Houma, about sixty miles from New Orleans. After all these years, Dr. Putnam is finally having something of a moment of his own with the publication of Amanda Gefter’s Finding Peter Putnam. In addition, the state of Louisiana, in what is believed to be a first in this reddest of red states, has placed a historic marker near where he lived acknowledging his contributions [shown above]. Perhaps fittingly, the marker was installed by the state highway department. At the time of his death, Dr. Putnam was employed there as the night janitor. Attached is a photograph of the historic marker. What started as a semi-correct allusion in a G&LRarticle now stands as the first monument to an out gay man in Louisiana history. Jack Sullivan, New Orleans, LA Correction Due to a typo in the July-August 2025 issue’s BTWcolumn, competitive swimmer Lia Thomas was incorrectly identified as “Tia” Thomas. A Note from the Editor As the author of the bimonthly BTWcolumn that has appeared almost without interruption since 2001, let me acknowledge its absence from this issue. It’s not that the material has dried up—”ex-gay” therapists are still getting busted, along with corrupt homophobes, et al. It’s just that it’s gotten so much harder to find the ironic twist or even the moral lesson in the these lapses in this age of impunity. That said, I do intend to resume the column going forward. —RS in2026 8 TheG&LR
WHEN CAPTAIN JAMES COOK and his crew first encountered the Hawaiian Islands in 1778, they underwent many shocks to their sensitivities, but none more astonishing than the natives’ acceptance of aikāne—intimate friends of the same sex. At first the foreigners were unsure what the word meant. Second Lieutenant James King, upon being told by a young man that he was aikāneto the chief, remarked: “We do not know for certain what relation an Aikāne is to the King; nor are willing to credit what some have learnt from the Women.” But within two months, James King “had no doubt of what an Aikāne meant,” which he characterized as “the foulest pollutions that disgrace the men.” David Samwell, the surgeon’s mate, was more specific: “their business is to commit the Sin of Onan upon the old King.” This same-sex interest was not limited to royalty nor to native men, as Samwell observed when a Hawaiian man visited his ship and “seeing a handsome young fellow whose appearance he liked much, offered six large Hogs to the Captain if he would let him stand his Aikāne for a little while, such is the strange depravity of these Indians.” For the next two centuries, a long procession of foreign colonizers, missionaries, and settlers, together with the many Hawaiians and plantation worker immigrants who adopted Western ways, did everything they could to discourage, delegitimize, criminalize, and punish samesex relationships. They even redefined aikāne to strip it of its sexual connotation (much to the chagrin of dictionary-trained missionaries whose requests to become the aikāne of Hawaiian men were met with great merriment). They failed to appreciate that aikāne relationships were more than purely social or romantic; they were interwoven into the fabric of Hawaiian society, and over time there would be bold individuals who would insist that same-sex relations be recognized and respected as a vital component of their indigenous way of life. The most prominent but also misunderstood of these heroic figures was Kaomi Moe, the aikāne of a Hawaiian king who came to be his co-ruler. ESSAY Kamehameha III and His Joint King DEANHAMER Dean Hamer, a scientist, author, and filmmaker, lives in Hawaiʻi with his husband and partner in activism, Joe Wilson. § KAOMI WAS BORNon Maui a little after the turn of the 19th century. His mother was Kahuamoa, a Hawaiian woman. His father Moe was a native of Bora Bora who picked up the nickname “Jack” during his time as a seaman aboard the HMS Bounty. They were part of the household of Ka‘ahumanu, the favorite wife of Kamehameha I, who became the kuhina nui, or regent, after his death. Kaomi was a bright young man. He was one of the first students of Hiram Bingham, leader of the company of American missionaries who arrived in Hawai‘i in 1820, and so excelled that he was put in charge of a school to teach reading, writing, and Christian principles to the followers of Ka‘ahumanu, who had become Hawai‘i’s most ardent supporter of Christianity. He also toured the islands preaching salvation and establishing prayer-meeting groups. His work played an important role in Hawai‘i’s embrace of the new “palapala” (writing and all kinds of printed materials), soon becoming one of the most literate societies in the world. Even the missionaries who came to despise Kaomi described him as charming, a gifted storyteller with a good sense of humor. He was also said to be handsome; one writer called him “angelically beautiful.” By age twenty he had moved to Honolulu, where he came under the tutelage of Boki, royal governor of O‘ahu, a high chief who had been baptized as a Catholic but refused to be married in church and insisted on maintaining a Hawaiian lifestyle. It was from Boki that Kaomi learned traditional healing practices such as the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses through touch. Kaomi’s skills as a healer soon brought him to the attention of Kauikeaouli, the second son of Kamehameha the Great, who had become King Kamahemeha III at age twelve when his brother died during a trip to England. There is no record of the first meeting or courtship of Kauikeaouli and Kaomi, but soon the two became lovers. This came as no suprise to Hawaiians, who were accustomed to such intimate same-sex relationships. Kaomi had previously beenaikāneto Kuakini, royal governor of Hawai‘i Island, who had himself been aikāne to Kamehameha the Great, uniter of the kingdom. The sole visual representation that remains of Kaomi is a missionary’s sketch showing him as an attendant to Kuakini as they watch a hula performance. Although there was gossip that Kaomi had seduced the young 10 TheG&LR King Kamehameha III
king, Kamehameha III had in fact shown “a fondness for such tempting delights” from early on. Ka‘ahumanu had tried to put a stop to Kaomi’s behavior by offering him a young chiefess to marry, but he would not consent, reminding her that “The lover has been deaf even from ancient times.” His punishment was to build a cattle pen for Bingham, a task he undertook with relish. Everything changed when Ka‘ahumanu died unexpectedly in 1832. Kaomi, whom the missionaries refused to baptize despite his important role in the spread of Christianity in Hawai‘i, rebelled against the church and became a leading spirit in a group of flamboyant young men who called themselves the Hulumanu, or bird feathers. Declaring a kind of guerrilla war on Christian morality, they forced church members to drink gin in a parody of the breaking of the kapu in 1819, when Ka‘ahumanu rescinded Hawai‘i’s ancient system of taboos to subsequently promote instead Christian values. Now eating and drinking freely symbolized freedom from the church and its restrictions. They mocked Christian burial by burying a pet baboon in a coffin with prayers and Christian ceremonies. They especially delighted in disrupting Sunday services by playing drums loudly at the church door. Kaomi’s relationship with Kamehamea III became official the next year when his aikāne elevated him to the position of mō‘i ku‘i, aupuni ku‘i, or joint king and joint ruler. This gave Kaomi the power to draw upon the kingdom’s budget, transfer Christian-owned lands to the Hulumanu, distribute clothing and money, and impose special taxes to pay his debts. Chiefs, warriors, and guards were put at his service, and the king declared his house near Honolulu Harbor taboo to enter. While many previous ali‘i (heredity nobles) had appointed their aikāne to important social and governing roles, this was the first time that one had been given so much authority, making Kaomi and Kamehameha III the two most powerful people in the Hawaiian Kingdom. In March 1833, the joint rulers put their vision of a Kānaka Maoli (indigenous) nation into law. A crier was sent through the streets of Honolulu to proclaim the abrogation of all Christian laws and regulations save for the prohibitions against theft and murder. The Natives quickly resumed their “heathen ways.” Pastimes like ‘ulu maika and pūhenehene, stone games accompanied by gambling, were played with abandon. When Kuakini, now royal governor of O‘ahu, flew a kite—an entertainment prohibited by the missionaries as frivolous—a hundred kites were seen flying in the sky within 24 hours. The “demon” rum, which the missionaries viewed as their greatest adversary, was again freely made and consumed, with Kaomi and Kamehemaha III teaching people how to set up their own stills. Church attendance fell markedly, and with the Biblical prohibitions on sexual behavior erased, people were free to make love however and with whomever they pleased. Hawai‘i was once again a land of le‘ale‘a: pleasure and joy. Of all the traditions Ka‘ahumanu had banned, the people most missed hula. More than just entertainment, hula was a way to preserve genealogies, reenact historical events, honor deities and leaders, celebrate fertility and procreation, and express joy, grief, and amorous passions. Stephen Reynolds, a longtime resident merchant from America, described in his journal the joy that accompanied the revival of this tradition at the home of Kaomi, who happened to live next door: At daylight the natives assembled in the yard next to mine and had a great dance. The streets, lanes, fences were filled with people to witness one of their former pastimes. The utmost satisfaction appeared to light the countenance of the spectators. The native at whose house the dance took place (by the name of Kaomi) was First to be baptized; the First to be Teacher; the First to be married; the First to turn off his wife; the First in the Dance; First in all turnings. Hawaiians from across the islands were ecstatic with the revival of their cultural practices, and many flocked to O‘ahu to savor the new freedoms. But the missionaries were shocked and horrified. Two male lovers were running the kingdom. Had they no shame? § THE MISSIONARIES URGED the Christianized chiefs to intervene. Sensing the danger to his aikāne, Kamehameha III had Kaomi’s house surrounded with a detachment of guards and issued a proclamation that no one was to enter the compound on pain of death. Nevertheless, the Christian ali‘i hatched a plot to assassinate Kaomi. On March 15, 1834, exactly one year after the abrogation of the Christian laws, they sent an elder chief named Kaikio‘ewa to carry out their plan. He arrived at Kaomi’s house in what is now downtown Honolulu, along with a servant carrying a war club, who proceeded to tie Kaomi’s hands behind his back. Kaomi did not resist. He could have ordered his guards to kill Kaikio‘ewa and his servant; that was his royal prerogative as aikāne to Kamehameha III and co-ruler of the island. Instead, he simply said: “If death is my prophecy, death it shall be” (“uaaeaku e paa i ke kaula, a e make paha, e make no”). Why did Kaomi allow himself to be overcome? I believe he recognized that the struggle between the traditional Hawaiian way of life and the restrictive Calvinist morals of the missionaries had come to a perilous tipping point. If he and his aikāne persisted in their relationship and rejection of Christianity, there would be a civil war. Kamehameha III would likely be deposed, perhaps even killed, and there would be no clear successor to lead the kingdom. Kaomi allowed himself to be escorted to Honolulu Fort, where he was to be executed. Kina‘u, the premier at that time, was alarmed at what appeared to be the beginning of a rebellion against the monarchy, but Kaikio‘ewa was insistent that the “troublemaker” should be put to death. Just at that moment, Kamehameha III rushed in, dressed in the scant clothing he was wearing when a guard had run to tell him about the plot against Kaomi, and untied his aikāne’s bonds. Infuriated, Kaikio‘ewa sprang forward and attacked his ruler. Back and forth they tussled, until the king ended on top of the rebellious chief. “You are not the ruler over the kingdom if you keep on indulging yourself in evil ways!” said Kaikio‘ewa, but the king did not answer. Instead, he took Kaomi to his home at Ka-hale-uluhe (the “house of ferns,” near present-day St. Andrews Cathedral), which was made taboo so no one could enter it. Kamehameha III was not cowed by the attack on his aikāne; instead he seemed determined to reassert his authority. A few Despite gossip that Kaomi had seduced him, the young king had shown “a fondness for such tempting delights.” November–December 2025 11
days later, Kamehameha III, Kaomi, and the Hulumanu embarked on a grand tour of O‘ahu, moving the court from Honolulu to Ewa. Along the way they indulged in prodigious amounts of rum, now readily available, and of ‘awa, a traditional Polynesian drink with euphoric effects. The king was determined to show that he was still the ultimate arbiter in the kingdom. But Kaomi realized just how unstable the situation had become. So long as he and Kamehameha III remained together in what the Christians regarded as a relationship too disgusting to even be named, there was little chance that they could maintain the monarchy and establish the kingdom as an independent nation worthy of international recognition. And so, Kaomi ended his aikāne relationship with Kamehameha III and left the court. It was not an act of cowardice but of bravery, loyalty, and love. Shortly thereafter, Kamehameha III attempted to take his own life by slitting his throat and drowning himself. It’s not clear whether this act was related to the breakup with Kaomi. Very little is known about what happened to Kaomi next. Some missionaries and Christianized Hawaiian historians claimed he died shortly after the abduction incident in a state of poverty and disgrace. Hiram Bingham, who had introduced Kaomi to Christianity yet refused to accept him into the church, was particularly harsh: “Kaomi fell into neglect, and ere long, faded away and died, none seeming materially to feel his loss, or to envy the fleeting honors and pleasures of such an infidel despiser of revealed religion.” This seems to have been wishful thinking, because another missionary, Sheldon Dibble, wrote of meeting Kaomi in Lahaina, Maui, three years later. Dibble was also a passenger on the schooner on which Kaomi, who was travelling to Honolulu for medical treatment, died in 1837. His departure was accompanied by a large tsunami, which Dibble interpreted as a divine punishment for his sexual sins. Kaomi’s survival of the assault by Kaikio‘ewa led one modern historian to speculate that he was sheltered at Moku‘ula, the royal compound in Lahaina that was taboo to the missionaries’ prying eyes. Other Hulumanu were important members of the court there, and the king may have continued to provide support for his ex-lover even if their relationship could no longer be public. It’s impossible to know for sure, as none of Kaomi’s writings were preserved. Nor does he have any known descendants who might have passed on his oral history. § THE “TIME OF KAOMI,” as the period of 1832–1834 came to be known, represented a revival of Native traditions and resistance against Westernization that became a recurring theme in Hawaiian history. In the 1880s, King David Kalakaua, known as the “Merry Monarch,” sparked the first Hawaiian renaissance by reviving Hawaiian music and hula, building ‘Iolani Palace and fostering national identity and pride. The second Hawaiian renaissance, starting in the 1970s, centered on language revival, long-distance traditional canoe voyaging, land struggles, and legal inclusion. But even though both movements trace their roots to the time of Kaomi, his name was not mentioned, and discussion of same-sex relationships and gender fluidity in Kānaka Maoli society were absent. Similar to the marginalization of gay men during the Civil Rights movement and lesbians within the women’s movement, debates surrounding sexual and gender identities were seen as irrelevant, inappropriate, or even damaging to the broader cause. Instead, for more than a century, historians presented the time of Kaomi as a warning against the perils of resisting Christian commandments. Kaomi was described as “cunning” and “evil,” and the Hawaiian practices he helped revive as “sinful pleasures” and “things of darkness.” Many biographies of Kamehameha III simply skip from 1832, when he became ruler, to 1839, when he initiated the legal changes that led to a constitutional system, completely ignoring the period in between. Today, however, there is renewed attention to Kaomi and what he can teach us about the lasting impact of colonization and the importance of resilience in the face of adversity. Adam Keawe Manalo-Camp, a young Native Hawaiian cultural historian, sees Kaomi’s journey as “a story of Indigenous resistance, of a kanaka trying to navigate an imposed worldview that sought to erase us.” This interest has been reflected in academic papers, artworks, a play, and exhibitions at the Bishop Museum and King Kamehameha V Judiciary History Center. Given the current global assault on queer rights, it’s important to ask how the legacy of Kaomi can best be preserved and passed on to future generations. Lei Pua ‘Ala Queer Histories of Hawai‘i, a multidimensional project that I co-direct with my husband and partner Joe Wilson to document and memorialize gender and sexual diversity across the multicultural landscape of the islands, is approaching this question through the lens of the commemorative landscape. The aim is to create a permanent public art piece that portrays Kaomi neither as a villain or a victim but as a hero—a man who was willing to sacrifice everything, even his own life, to protect the man he loved and save the Hawaiian Kingdom. Statues are a classic way to honor heroes, but in Kaomi’s case, a traditional solid sculpture wouldn’t capture the complexity of how he has been viewed from various perspectives over time. An intriguing alternative is to create a parametric sculpture composed of thin, parallel sheets. From one angle, Kaomi appears to be a three-dimensional figure, but as viewers move around it, he would seemingly vanish, only to reappear from different viewpoints—just as he did over the past two centuries. Now more than ever, it is crucial for queer people to see themselves reflected in public spaces as valued members of society—past, present, and future. Equally important is the broader society’s need to understand that gender and sexual diversity are not “woke” concepts but essential parts of our shared history and humanity. I cannot imagine a better teacher than Kaomi Moe to convey these truths. REFERENCES Kamakau, Samuel Manaiakalani. Ruling Chiefs of Hawaii. Kamehameha Schools Press, 1992. Klieger, P. Christiaan. Kamehameha III. Green Arrow Press, 2015. Manolo-Camp, Adam Keawe. “Ka Wā Iā Kaomi: The Time of Kaomi.” Historical Investigations in West Maui. Lance D. Collins and Bianca K. Isaki, editors. University of Hawaii Press, 2024. Silva, Noenoe K. Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism. Duke University Press, 2004. Author’s Note: As with many colonized populations, reconstructing the saga of Kaomi is hindered by the paucity of contemporary source materials. Most of what we have is the work of outsiders, often missionaries, rather than native Hawaiians. 12 TheG&LR
IN MAINSTREAM LGBT CULTURE, a person’s identity is often defined by the act of “coming out” to family, friends, and others. Many Native Americans who identify as Two-Spirit see it differently. Cree Two-Spirit scholar Alex Wilson describes the Two-Spirit journey as one of “coming in,” a reframing that shifts the focus from public disclosure to a return—a reclaiming of one’s place within family, community, culture, and land. “Two-Spirit” is a contemporary term used by Indigenous communities in the U.S. and Canada. It denotes an Indigenous LGBT person and embraces traditional cultural identities outside the Western-based binaries of gender and sexuality, ones that existed prior to colonization. Anishinaabe Elder Myra Laramee received the term in a dream and proposed it in 1990 at the Third Annual Inter-Tribal Native American, First Nations, Gay and Lesbian American Conference in Winnipeg, Canada. Since its introduction, the Two-Spirit concept has become a community organizing tool and a pathway for Indigenous LGBT people to return to their tribal communities. Prior to the arrival of European settlers in North America, many Native American communities recognized and embraced multiple genders and fluid roles, and many still do. Plural genders like those acknowledged by Native American communities are mirrored in cultures worldwide, such as the Zapotec muxe in Mexico, the Bugis bissu in Indonesia, and the hijra in ESSAY ‘Coming In’ as a Two-Spirit Journey CHASE BRYER South Asia. The idea that more than two genders exist is deeply rooted in history, including within the lands now known as the United States. Traditional Navajo culture recognizes four genders. The termnádleehi describes Navajo citizens with a masculine body and a feminine nature and loosely translates to “one who constantly transforms” or “one who is changing.” Such people are revered in Navajo culture, holding special spiritual roles in the community. In Native Hawaiian culture, the termmāhūrefers to people who embody both male and female spirits. Māhū hold sacred traditional roles as healers, teachers, and cultural keepers. These identities are based on a person’s gender expression and the roles they fulfill within the community rather than solely on their biological sex. Colonization systematically disrupted traditions honoring gender and sexual diversity and imposed rigid Western norms, sought to dismantle Indigenous kinship systems, and enacted cultural erasure through mechanisms such as Christian boarding schools, bans on ceremonial practices, land dispossession, and widespread violence. Settler colonialism in North America operated on the imperialist ideology of Manifest Destiny, a doctrine that held that it was the God-given right of the United States to overspread the continent from coast to coast, and that justified the theft of Indigenous lands and the perpetration of genocide. Gender was also weaponized in this process. Cree Métis Two-Spirit Elder Albert McLeod has said that gender too was one such “tool of colonization,” pointing to the assimilationist agenda of the more than 300 federally backed Christian residential schools established across the U.S. and Canada. At these institutions, Native children were forcibly separated from their families, stripped of cultural expressions such as braided hair, and compelled to adopt rigid, binary gender norms unfamiliar to their communities. The schools functioned as engines of indoctrination, erasing traditions and reshaping Indigenous identities for generations. Human remains of more than 1,000 people, mostly Native students, have been found at three residential schools in Canada. Despite this, investigations into the legacies of these residential schools remain glaringly absent in the U.S.—a country often more comfortable erasing Native histories than confronting them. The Two-Spirit concept of “coming in” rather than “coming out” resonates deeply for me. As a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, I grew up with stories of removal, of collective trauma, and of resilience. My family’s history traces back to the Trail of Tears, when our ancestors were forcibly displaced from our traditional homelands in the Southeast. I had relatives in federal Indian boarding schools. Yet despite this deep connection to our November–December 2025 13 Chase Bryer, a doctoral candidate at Brown University School of Public Health, is a gerontological social worker and host of the Small Town Queers Pod podcast. He dedicates this article to Beverly Little Thunder, who died on July 18th. Chase Bryer, Landa (Miko) Lakes, and B. Trent Williams at the 37th Annual International Two-Spirit Gathering in Hinton, Oklahoma.
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