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Transgender Parents Day Special · Lambda: the LGBT in Antiquity Podcast

• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, everybody, and welcome to Lambda, the LGBT and Antiquity Podcast.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Dominica Raven.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: November is Transgender and Nonbinary Awareness Month, and we are going to continue our plan to have weekly episodes for the entire month of November.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Today is the 1st of November, which is Transgender Parents Day.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: It is a time to celebrate the unique challenges and joys of being a queer parent.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Trans, non-binary, and gender queer folks bring a unique type of energy when they engage with children.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Ours is a form of queerness that requires a lot of strength and courage just to live your daily life.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: I have observed that most always the parent brings that fierce independence to bear when raising children.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: In this crazy world we live in, it's hard for them not to model strong women, strong men, and strong queerness as they raise their children.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: But there is also a playfulness, a kindness, and a joy in these types of relationships too.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: I have found many of the most affirming experiences in my life with children.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: They can be far more accepting, explorative, curious, and empathetic than many adults.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: In dark times I have found strength in the toothy, smiling affirmations of my nieces and nephews.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: An image of my three-year-old niece seeing a pride flag and screaming the rainbow song never fails to make me smile.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: So that is what we are going to try to celebrate today.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Transparent strength, resilience, kindness, and their ability to pass these attributes on to their children.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: There are a few reported cases of eunuchs having biological children of their own in the historical and medical documents from antiquity.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: It somewhat makes sense as they were living between genders, neither man nor woman, and naturally that put them simultaneously in close proximity to both the masculine and the feminine spheres.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: This is where their sexuality gets interesting.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: For eunuchs, both their sexual status and their social status were derived from their bodies.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because their bodies were queer, they were allowed in spaces both normal heteronormative men and women were barred from, respectively.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now, technically speaking, castration is never a guarantee of sterility.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: It remains quite possible to conceive viable offspring after physical or chemical processes.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: So the idea that some might be able to have had children of their own makes sense.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: That some would want to have children and a family of their own also makes sense.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: It is important to bear in mind that some of the references we have in the literature that survives are actually upper class Greeks and Romans passing court gossip that a rival's children were actually illegitimate children of court eunuchs.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: When you think about it, this is a massive multi-tiered insult.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: You are a cuckold.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: You are incapable of managing your own household.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: You aren't in control of your own women.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: You aren't even in control of your own slaves and servants.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: You are so impotent and so bad in bed that your wife preferred a half human semi veri to you, and so on.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Naturally, these illegitimate offspring raised concerns about succession, inheritance, and even citizenship, so this accusation was a serious matter.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: So we must always be careful when reading such statements.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Are these real statements of eunuchs' sexuality or slanderous gossip reflected at the master of the house?
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes these accounts do reflect eunuchs who did have children of their own.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: In such cases they were legitimate parents, however illegitimate the offspring may have been perceived societally.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: In such cases it seems these gender queer parents raise the children within their means.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: Often this would have meant preparing them for comparable lives in the service industry.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Their children may also have been devoted to a god or goddess, becoming priests and priestesses.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: Ancient life was difficult for everyone, especially servile cross-dressing eunuchs, but they did their best to raise the children and prepare them for their lives ahead.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Ancient adoption, much like marriage, was mostly a business and political arrangement.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: A powerful patofamilius would make a deal to adopt somebody for inheritance or political alliance.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: The child would be added to the family to seal the deal and strengthen the alliance.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: It really wasn't a way for somebody who couldn't have children to start their own family.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: However, there are stories of children abandoned by one family being picked up by another lonely couple.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Though instances of eunuchs collecting abandoned children are rare, instances of anybody collecting such children are similarly rare.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Frankly, some peasant family finding a child and deciding to raise it wasn't exactly significant news to the Greek and Roman historians, unless that child turned out to be related to somebody rich.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: These children would have been abandoned out of town under the assumption they would die of exposure or be consumed by some animal.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: When somebody passing by found the child and rescued it from this death, it was a sign of great kindness.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: They might have been of modest means themselves.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Most people in Greece and Rome were just making do themselves, after all.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Showing compassion to children in need is a testament of their desperate desire for family.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Tying it all together, the trans non binary priestesses of Caibulae, called the Galae, cared for children and brought them into their temples and religious order.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: They were inducted into the priestesshood fairly young, so they had training in the mysteries long before they were actually invested.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: It is always somewhat vague in the sources as to where these children came from.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: Most Roman accounts imply they were born somewhere in the east, but we have no reason to believe that's necessarily the case.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: It seems more likely they were inductees from all nations and provinces.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: While we don't really have a great account for their origins, we do know these children were cared for and prepared for the sacred duties they would one day be expected to carry out.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: These included street corner begging for alms to benefit the religion.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: They also learned to lead worship.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: This was difficult as the Galais used a particularly tricky and uneven meter for their ritual songs of praise called Galiambics.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: They would lead processions at festival days, including a great pine tree carrying parade through Rome itself.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: There was a lot to learn before they even made their sacred sacrifice and joined the priestesshood.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Let's not forget that Chaibole was the quintessential queer deity.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: They were born intersex, reassigned forcibly by their family, lived gender nonconformity at every stage of their life, married a cross-dressing eunuch, and survived it all to adopt and rear several children as foster kids.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Most significantly, they raised Dionysus and Artemis.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: Caibalae and Attis raise their children to be resilient, resourceful, and strong.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Brea is the bearer of mighty children, whether it's their own offspring like Zeus or fostered relatives.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: They create a space where it's safe to explore masculinity and femininity in their entirety.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Their children learn to drive chariots and hunt in the mountains, but they also learn to dance in the way they want and how to explore the mountains.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: They learn it is okay to dress in ways that feel most affirming to them and live affirmed lives.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: It is not surprising that both deities raised in this wild and queer environment grew up to be wild and queer adults, representing incredibly strong and unyielding deities.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Rea provided an excellent role model for the Gale to raise their own foster children.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Transgender Awareness Month is a chance to reflect on and discuss transgender and nonbinary people.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: During this period we can consider the struggles and difficulties as well as the victories and contributions of folks on the gender spectrum.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: It is time for advocating for our community's rights and educating about gender beyond simple binaries.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Above all, it is an opportunity for trans and nonbinary folks to be visible.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: We are planning for episodes every week again for Transgender and Nonbinary Awareness Month.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: We are going to explore gender in historical, social, and religious arenas.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: Planned episodes include a discussion of the three genders in antiquity, interpreting the gala as both trans and non binary entities, a discussion of the Eunuch Consul of Rome, and a discussion of ritual queer spaces.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: See ya next week.