Laugh. Life is Funny

Tilda Swinton risked arrest waving a rainbow flag in front of the Kremlin in violation of Russia’s new homosexual propaganda bill. And she wants everyone who can to reblog it in solidarity.

Me:

Nichelle Nichols has passed away. 

Martin Luther King once convinced her to continue on as Uhura when she was about to quit. He told her how she was a role model for so many people and had to stay on. He rightfully recognized her as a trailblazer and the inspiration she continued to be. 

On This Day in History Shit Went Down: July 25, 1865

It was a century before women could vote, so it should be no surprise they weren’t permitted to attend medical school. This probably wasn’t a case of Margaret being transgender—although we cannot know for certain—but rather a plot by liberal-minded family and friends to allow the intelligent and driven young woman to masquerade as a man and become a physician in an era when misogynistic fuckweasels couldn’t imagine a woman being capable of such a thing. Being that I’m married to a brilliant female physician, this shit pisses me off. Anyway, Margaret’s uncle was named James Barry, and after his death Margaret took his name. And since Dr. Barry lived 56 years using masculine pronouns, I’ll honor that. Small and fair, many thought this James Barry fellow was merely a boy who’d not yet reached puberty and shouldn’t be allowed to graduate. But a friend of one of the plotters, the Earl of Buchan, intervened and Barry earned his MD.

Barry had once said to his older brother, “Were I not a girl I would become a soldier.” And so he did. Because he was entering the army as an officer, a medical examination was not required. Many commented on Dr. Barry being a feminine man, but despite being known for having a caring bedside manner, Barry also had a reputation for being opinionated and argumentative. His skill as a physician was lauded, however, and once he gave a public scolding to Florence Nightingale, who later referred to Dr. Barry as “the most hardened creature I ever met.”

Hot-tempered, he even took part in a duel against a British Army captain. The captain missed, and Barry blew his hat off. Barry traveled the world and climbed the ranks, eventually becoming Inspector General of military hospitals in 1857 in what was then the Province of Canada. The appointment was the equivalent of a rank of Brigadier General. Barry was a champion for better sanitation and food for the sick and injured.

Dr. Barry was forcibly retired due to ill health in 1859 and died in London on July 25, 1865, due to dysentery. He wanted to take his secret of being born female to his grave, asking to be buried in the clothes he died in and requesting that his body not be washed in preparation for burial. However, a servant undressed the body, and the secret was revealed.