Hello all. I'm hoping I can get some help for a few questions I have regarding a writing endeavor of mine. It's a story that takes place during the American Civil War and follows some LGBTQA+ themes, including a soldier questioning his sexuality after beginning to have feelings for a fellow soldier (his best friend). He needs to confide in his attraction to men to that soldier. Another character is a lesbian who comes to the realization that she instead identifies as a man (a lot will be inspired by Private Albert D.J. Cashier, the trans-man who fought in the Civil War). I'm lesbian, so I understand the coming out process, the emotions behind it, etc. but I was wondering if anyone here knows of any LGBT stories from this era that I can use as reference for accuracy. I want the coming out scene to be as accurate as possible, so any information would be greatly appreciated!
TL:DR; I need information for writing two LGBT Civil War-era characters: one who is a gay male and one who is female-to-male transgender. I mostly want to know 1) what the male character's experience in coming out and finding a partner would have been like and 2) what the trans character would have had available to them in order to pass as male in the 19th century.
Any help is appreciated! Thanks!
Hi there - we're happy to approve your question related to your creative work, and we are happy for people to answer. However, we should warn you that many flairs have become reluctant to answer questions for aspiring creative writers, based on past experience: some aspiring novelists have a tendency to try to pump historians for trivia while ignoring the bigger points they were making, while others have a tendency to argue with historians when the historical reality does not line up with what's needed for a particular scene or characterization. Please respect the answers of people who have generously given you their time, even if it's not always what you want to hear.
Additionally, as amazing as our flair panel is, we should also point out that /r/AskHistorians is not a professional historical consultation service. If you're asking a question here because you need vital research for a future commercial product such as a historical novel, you may be better off engaging a historical consultant at a fair hourly rate to answer these questions for you. We don't know what the going rate for consultancy work would be in your locality, but it may be worth looking into that if you have in-depth or highly plot-reliant questions for this project. Some /r/AskHistorians flairs could be receptive to working as a consultant in this way. However, if you wish for a flair here to do this work for you, you will need to organize this with them yourselves.