Gender and Sexuality in the American West: Forgotten Queer Histories of the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

The narratives of queer individuals are often overlooked in the construction of the history of the American West. This work focuses on the lives of queer individuals living in the American West during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. “The dearth of historical evidence should not be construed as the absence of it.”1 While finding sources that demonstrate queer historical experiences is difficult, nevertheless, their experiences significantly contribute to a more inclusive and accurate understanding of the history of the West. By examining a range of historical evidence through the lens of queer historical theory, this work reveals the forgotten stories of the early American West. In this paper, I analyze primary sources such as newspapers and pictures through the lens of queer theory to uncover stories and evidence of queer individuals living in the American West during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. I frame my work within the context of secondary sources from other queer and American West historians. After conducting intense research, I concluded that frontier culture, gender population imbalances, and a lack of state regulation allowed queerness to thrive in the early American West until the end of the nineteenth century, when a significant cultural shift occurred. This paper highlights how these narratives challenge dominant heteronormative frameworks and enrich our comprehension of American identity. A queer framing of the study of American history specifically challenges traditional hyper-heterosexual visions of the American West while advocating for the integration of queer histories into broader historical discourses. The queer history created for this thesis compiles and analyzes stories of several queer individuals that supplement the field of American Western, which until recently has omitted, censored, or disregarded LGBTQ+ individuals in history. Ultimately, this paper aims to provide meaningful contributions to the study of American Western history with the creation of queer histories that can uncover some of the silences of history.