What’s missing here? In the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,
and queer communities, Black History Month focuses primarily on
gay men and Women’s History Month is all about white lesbians.
The invisibility of bisexuals, transgenders, queers and women of
color is not because there is a paucity of us that exist or made
history; our invisibility is evidence of how race, gender and
sexual politics of the dominant culture are reinforced in ours.
As we move out of Black History Month and into Women’s History
Month, I am reminded of Gladys Bentley, a 250-pound African-
American lesbian known as “America’s Greatest Sepia Piano
Player” and the “Brown Bomber of Sophisticated Songs.” Bentley’s
fall from the entertainment spotlight, however, is a cautionary
tale about what can happen to us during a repressive political
era when both church and state are our enemies. … our
invisibility is evidence of how race, gender and sexual politics
of the dominant culture are reinforced in ours. Bentley is,
therefore, best understo