.

.

.

.

In the years of fighting leading up to Marriage Equality that was finally realized when Massachusetts legalized Same Sex Marriage in 2004 with the rest of the country catching up 11 years later, and with Vermont having previously recognized Domestic Partnerships and, when I was in Los Angeles where we were advocating for Domestic Partner recognition with the inclusion of straight people, who already could have common law ones, and any domestic relationship that did not involve sexual relations but shared expenses and caring for each other in what could be, in a sense, a union in everything but sex, a major insult to our humanity was our seeing fishing fleets, livestock, pets, any type of inanimate objects, including weapons of war being blessed while our long-term, committed relationships could not be.

Any committed relationship I was in was, in the eyes of the Church, not equal to a dog or a boat.

My humanity did not count.

Although it was considered equal to marriage, but with a different name, the fact that it had a different name constantly pointed toward a difference.

The name itself promoted inequality and a second class standing

It was “separate but equal” with the accompanying baggage.

It might not seem like much to those in places like Massachusetts where the Equality Act passed in 1989 and the legalization of Same Sex Marriage in 2004 so people under 40 have had their rights if not at birth, within their toddler-hood.

To those aware of the history of the past two millennia and have seen what it took to get to this place, it is a major step, albeit a small one, but one.

It’s a battle won but not a war concluded.

From this point on, those who want the next step need to work for it. We may know from social media it is something we want, so, it is our duty now to step up and make it happen.

The past has gotten us this far.

.

.

.

.

.

Having been born toward the beginning of the Baby Boom, 1950, and having to go from a post WWII Cold War era, through the Atomic, Space, AIDS, and computer Ages, I have had to do quite a bit of adaptation to change, and have managed it all very well, thank you.

It usually took a little trial and error, but I pretty much mastered, to a useful degree, many modern electronic devices that did not become common until my late adulthood.

After having found a way to use my classroom computer, projector, and erasable white-board to look up information to instantly show my class if a question was asked for which I did not have a ready answer by utilizing the internet, I was reprimanded and directed under penalty of potential dismissal for insubordination if I continued the practice. I did. I kept getting written up. My students learned things in a new way, and now everyone does it because it is so useful.

When I bought my first video cassette player, I was able to stop it from blinking “12:00” in only two tries.

When they were introduced, they did not always exist, I loved the convenience of debit cards. Just insert, poke some numbers, retrieve the card, smile at the cashier with a friendly thank you, and off you go, or take your cash from the ATM and weakly apologize to the next in line for taking too long when your interaction with the machine was of standard length.  It was simple, fast, and convenient. 

As I get older, the last thing I want to appear is a bumbling elder who seems lucky to make it through a day. This is not helped by the ever-changing and more complicated Point of Sale debit card machine.

It seems each store, and even over time the same ones, keep changing the POS machines making them more involved and complicated as we are now asked if we want a membership or want to make a contribution. We are asked to add the last digits of our phone number, if we would like cash back, and any number of questions that prolong the process. Purchasing the simplest thing now has a form of Exit Exam, making people look bumbling as they attempt to retrieve their card before the final exam question and appear to be unfamiliar with simple debit card machines with the clerk giving directions like feeble mindedness is the problem not the additional required steps. 

It makes seniors look stupid when it is merely a matter of forgetting which POS machine that particular store uses as it will definitely be different from the last store or that same store’s yesterday.

We have express lines for other things, why not a POS machine for people who want to make a simple purchase without the interview.

In, out. 

That simple.

The next time some high school kid gives me the side eye with a little sucking in of air because my body language projects that, as far as I am concerned, I am done only to have to be told I need to finish up the remaining questions, I am handing them a list of things this bumbling old man needs but is incapable of finding on his own in cursive.

In Europe the proprietary power cords that come with many devices, having left  Europeans having multiple cords, one for each device, the EU mandated that all charger cords have the same type of plug that goes into devices, a universal male, so an android and an I-pad can be charged without a hunt for the proper cord.

 We need universal POS devices with an option to go to another register of if we just do not  have time for the exit exam.

.

.

.

.

.

Speaking to a group of new citizens at their swearing in, Melania Trump assured them that ,

“My personal experience of traversing the challenges of the immigration process opened my eyes to the harsh realities people face, including you, who try to become U.S. citizens.” 

She came to this country following the rules required of all legal immigrants by being awarded an Einstein Visa that is reserved for “individuals with extraordinary ability“. She then married a U.S. citizen so that the child she delivered in 2006 became her anchor baby and the son of Donald Trump.

While he was president and had been railing against “chain migration” that allows an immigrant to get family members over here on a fast track, Trump’s parents-in-law, Melania’s parents, Viktor and Amalija Knavs, were sworn in as citizens utilizing it.

No extraordinary talent has been publicly witnessed on the part of Melania, so it was and still is unknown, although, we have all seen the pictures.

So all immigrants should come over that way.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Having accidentally come across a random and matter of fact one sentence reference to Homosexuality on a whaling ship, I immediately researched any such references found by others, but in 2017 the only reference to it was that it had to have been part of the whaleship culture even if there is no actual proof of it, only assumption and whatever Melville had hinted at.

For the next few years I hoped to find more references as I continued transcribing log books as a volunteer at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, and only found hints in such logs as that of the Jesse H Freeman in 1895 the same year and location, Herschel Island, as the entry I had found.

Until this past September, 2023, I had only found Homosexuality to be an assumption although I had the proof it was more than that. 

During a cross country train trip to revisit, perhaps for the last time, places I had lived starting in 1973, I was horrified by the lost, rewritten, and modified accounts of the past that denied the future Gay Community its own real history, learning in my own case that, in spite of documentation, hard copy and digital, my own history was being modified for modern sensibilities and in the process being misrepresented and finding myself a little embarrassed by how I came across.

I was able to restore my own history and rectify the errors whether accidental or designed.

I had approached the New Bedford Whaling Museum and, as a result of a talk with the president and the head of curation who explained that while they would support any research and accept the results because its structure and other legal and governmental regulations etc. has it an archival not research institute, within less than two weeks of my first approaching the Whaling Museum, the Quigley Institute for Non-Heterosexual Archival Archaeology was born with the web address www.gaywhalers.org.

I used Non-Hetersexual in the title as before, during, and after the present time our understanding of human sexuality has grown and we are learning of new variants constantly. I don’t care what you are, if it is not Heterosexual you’re in.

Archival Archaeology involves going back into accepted history to discover what was mistakenly omitted, what was changed, what was modified to make those unpleasant moments in history more palpable to modern times, omitted and disguised because of the personal, political, and religious beliefs prevalent at the time, or simply revised for any number of reasons. It involves restoring the vocabulary at the time as it was, after it has been modified by those preferring comfort over fact.

It brings events and people to light for a full understanding. 

It corrects the “historical record” and restores history to what was, warts and all, not what is wanted, and attempts to prevent the passing on of purposeful or accidental revisionism by making the facts known before misinformation sets in.

We save the past and the people.

Presently, the Institute’s attention is on whaling crew men because that is where my interest is at the moment and it was in whaling that we found some hidden people. The possibility is that as more people get involved and more leads have to be followed, the archival archaeology will spread to other areas.

The institute does not control anything. It does not direct, nor does it assign. The only person who can pass judgment on the value of a lead followed is the one following it and will see whether or not it ends up somewhere predictable or, better, surprising. 

It also answers the basic question when someone has found something interesting, “Now what do I do with it?”

I am hoping that eventually the site will be a place where discoveries are collected in one central location so they are easy to find for researchers.

Along with the answer to Homosexuality on whale ships, there are hints in local history of Boston Marriages and these should also be looked into to bring these brave women and their true selves out of the shadows.

The “companion” was often equal to the other but reduced in importance by the necessary socially preferred use of that term. We may read the words, but we are not there and miss the wink. 

I am asking that people read what I have found so far, and if they feel so moved, contribute what they may have found or list resources that others can research.

I am not an expert with degrees and a lot of training and experience, so I am quite aware I could often, if not always, be a little off the mark and welcome corrections and contributions.

As the purpose of the site is to preserve and reveal real history, my possible jumps to conclusions and romantic hopes need to be corrected where needed.

I am asking that anyone so interested help in the restoration of our place in history.

I have included a Gay Whalers Group for people to contribute as the spirit moves them. 

Make sure you include any necessary info about yourself so that proper credit can be given to the contributor. 

Things have to start somewhere.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.