A city is a metonym for public space — it is modelled by the moral code of its populace and, conversely, each city frames the type of life it allows and inspires in its people. Some municipalities have begun to queer their city space as an expression of solidarity and global positioning. In Vilnius, Paris and Brussels, some pedestrian crossings have become rainbow coloured. In Vienna and London, traffic lights illuminating two heart-printed skirts standing side-by-side or jointly dashing, or combined symbols of circles and crosses and arrows that make for either a trans-sign or a same- or opposite sex couple — have been permanently installed.
The number of cities accommodating signs of different subcultures increases each year and it is impossible to find a city without sex-themed graffiti that could be interpreted from both straight and non-heterosexual points of view. The rainbow stepped down from Christian iconography, carrying the peace message, and entered the streets at the beginning of the s, following the rebellions in San Francisco and New York.
Tallinn has been hosting Pride marches and small urban festivals since But, what do we know about the time prior to that? I have studied representations of sexual and gender minorities in the printed media of the s and s Estonia. In fact, the term homosexuality formed in the last quarter of the 19 th century, and its meaning evolved parallel to eugenics, i.
During the inter-war period, all non-heterosexual identities were thus equally obscure to everyone — some extended their comprehension towards queer identity while others considered a cross-dresser as much a perpetrator as a rapist.
What to do with the representations of sexual and gender minorities? Fearful, peeking shadows moving surreptitiously [on Kaarli Boulevard and near St. Nature, this mystical primal power, has created for them propensities that are deemed unnatural in good company. The subject matter was humourised through a sensational tone that converts all of the narratives into somewhat quasi-fictional sources, no matter how precise the reported descriptions may seem in detail or fact.
