It’s summertime again—and that means it’s Pride season! It’s time to wave our flags in the streets again and let the world know that we’re here, we’re queer and we’re definitely not going anywhere. While you’re enjoying an array of “out” performers at Pride events this summer, including yours truly, you might be interested to know about some of the pioneering LGBT American blues musicians who were open about their sexuality, to varying degrees, and help paved the way for the queer artists of today.

At a time when African Americans’ civil liberties were non-existent, they were nonetheless emboldened to sing the bawdy blues, dance and make double entendres at their own parties and clubs. When Memphis Minnie sang “I wants him to drive me downtown/yes, he drives so easy/I can’t turn him down” in “Me and My Chauffeur Blues,” she wasn’t talking about a car, but making a bold declaration that would make a polite white woman run for the smelling salts.

Prohibition made bathhouses and “buffet flats” popular, where prostitution, gambling and alcohol flowed easily. Buffet flats were after-hours spots, usually in private homes, where rooms could be rented by the night, or hour. Many offered a variety of sexual pleasures, both straight and gay. The “Queen of the Blues,” Bessie Smith, was rumored to be bisexual and known to have sang a few songs in a buffet flat parlor before retiring to a private room upstairs with both male and female admirers.

The blues celebrated sexuality, straight and gay, free or paid for, as a natural part of life. “Boy in the Boat,” recorded in 1930 by George Hannah, counseled “When you see two women walking hand in hand/ just look ‘em over and try to understand/they’ll go to those parties have the lights down low/only those parties where women can go.” In “Sissy Man Blues,” a traditional song recorded by many male blues singers, the singer croons, “Lord, if you can’t send me no woman, please send me some sissy man.” In “Sissy Blues,” Ma Rainey complained of her husband’s infidelity with a gay man named “Miss Kate.”
Lucille Bogan, in her “B.D. [bulldagger] Woman’s Blues, warned that “B.D. women, you know, they sure is rough/they drink up plenty whiskey and they sure will strut their stuff.”

The “sissies” and “bull daggers” mentioned in the blues were ridiculed for their gender-fluid mannerisms, though neither group was ostracized. Their same-sex appetites were treated in blues songs as part of a healthy sexuality. Lesbians had it a bit easier, since sodomy laws made it dangerous for men, in particular. Fats Waller described how men who played the piano were given “the femininity stamp.” Those who were actually gay had to remain in the closet at all costs.

In spite of the risks, some performers were very comfortable with their sexuality. Though married to a man, Ma Rainey openly took women as lovers. In her composition; “Prove It on Me Blues” she alludes to her preference for male attire and female companionship, yet dares her audience to “prove it.” Rainey’s defense of her lesbian life was quite courageous given the Victorianism of the era. Dancer and singer Josephine Baker was another bisexual performer whose open affairs with women, including artist Frida Kahlo, were legendary.

Many bisexual and lesbian women, including Gladys Bentley, Jackie “Moms” Mabley, Ethel Waters and Gertrude Pridgett (aka “Ma” Rainey), wrote and performed songs about same-sex relations. They paved the way for “out” blues women like Alberta Hunter and Big Mama Thornton (author of the Elvis Presley hit “Hound Dog” and arguably the first blues drag king). Rock and roll great Little Richard openly enjoyed affairs with both men and women, though he now identifies as “ex-gay.”

Non-traditional lifestyles have always been embraced in show business and this may be why many talented gays and lesbians became entertainers. Lesbians could earn a good income, limit their social contact with men and move within a predominantly female social world. Gay men could find other dancers, singers and composers in a world where late night hours and parties were the norm.

Though the blues is still primarily a patriarchal “man’s world” where the size of your guitar amp says more about your masculinity than anything else, slowly things are a-changin’. In 2010, there is an increasingly open LGBT presence in the blues world. Openly gay or bisexual blues performers such as me, Jason Ricci, Ruthie Foster, Earl Thomas and Gaye Adegbalola address our sexuality in song and all have been honored with nominations by the National Blues Foundation Awards and the OUT Music Awards. Gaye’s newest CD, “Gaye without Shame,” bluntly explores gender issues and Jason Ricci was flamboyantly fabulous while collecting his award for best harmonica player at the 2010 Blues Music Awards in Memphis—dressed in a long flowing burgundy robe over skin tight leather pants, with eyeliner, spiky hair and a small armory of bling.

I know Ma Rainey and other trailblazing queers who unflinchingly flaunted their sexual desires through music would be proud. Happy Pride to all of us!

— Bedecked in bright colored feathers, sequins and rhinestones, Candye Kane’s performance is Mississippi by way of Las Vegas with a quick stopover in San Francisco. She has recorded 10 CDs and been included in countless blues and jazz anthologies. She was nominated this year for three National Blues Foundation awards and has won Best Blues Artist nine times at the San Diego Music Awards. Visit candyekane.com or myspace.com/candyekaneband.