Talk:Laura de Force Gordon

Possible Further Reading
Would be great to comb this student piece for more information/resources. — Preceding unsigned comment added by LuisVilla (talk • contribs) 07:37, 17 December 2013 (UTC)
 * This is now cited, and I have pulled a lot from it, but it still has a lot to give. —Luis (talk) 07:11, 31 May 2017 (UTC)

Lesbian?
I note that this is tagged as being a subject for the LGBT studies WikiProject, but other than the one letter-to-the-editor to Ms. magazine, none of the sources I have at hand say Gordon was a lesbian, and one quotes a private letter saying her husband had been "nearer and dearer than life" (Babcock, p. 24). I'm not sure where to go next on this issue: if there are credible sources on the issue (perhaps the Stryker book, which is not online?) we should obviously add the information, but the Ms. letter seemed very trivial, and I don't have any other sources to add. Noting that here and will return to it when I can. —Luis (talk) 19:39, 2 March 2017 (UTC)
 * If there has been significant discussion by reliable sources about her orientation, the best approach may be to note just that. Rivertorch   FIRE WATER   05:19, 3 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Thanks, . This prompted me to push at the one cited source a little harder, and I found a copy of the relevant chapter, which is actually just the forward - she isn't mentioned in the body of the book at all. So I have updated the relevant section to address the topic more squarely. Still not super-satisfying, but better than it was. —Luis (talk) 07:03, 3 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Yes, I think that's an improvement. The Shilts ref is interesting, too. I read that book too long ago to remember details like that. Rivertorch   FIRE WATER   14:35, 3 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Shilts was a bit of a stretch, since it is only a quote and no commentary. But given the success of that book it is probably the way many people will first come across Gordon. (That's how I first came to this article, a lot of edits ago!) —Luis (talk) 21:46, 3 March 2017 (UTC)
 * the GA reviewer pointed out that this still has lesbian-related categories; any thoughts on whether those should stay or go? (Or better yet, references to relevant policies if you know of any?) Thanks! —Luis (talk) 06:52, 31 May 2017 (UTC)
 * From the relevant guideline:
 * "A central concept used in categorising articles is that of the defining characteristics of a subject of the article. A defining characteristic is one that reliable sources commonly and consistently define the subject as having—such as nationality or notable profession (in the case of people), type of location or region (in the case of places), etc."
 * and also
 * "For a dead person, there must be a verified consensus of reliable published sources that the description is appropriate. Historically, LGBT people often did not come out in the way that they commonly do today, so a person's own self-identification is, in many cases, impossible to verify by the same standards that would be applicable to a contemporary BLP. For a dead person, a broad consensus of academic and/or biographical scholarship about the topic is sufficient to describe a person as LGBT. For example, while some sources have claimed that William Shakespeare was gay or bisexual, there is not a sufficient consensus among scholars to support categorizing him as such — but no such doubt exists about the sexuality of Oscar Wilde or Radclyffe Hall."
 * You can draw your own conclusions, but but I read that as deprecating the lesbian categories for the purposes of this article. Rivertorch   FIRE WATER   12:50, 31 May 2017 (UTC)

Another picture!
Picture here. Will try to upload and use later. —Luis (talk) 05:16, 31 May 2017 (UTC)