5 tips for the lesbian accidental time traveller
Time travelling can be lots of fun, just ask H.G. Wells, but such journeys have special challenges for lesbians. Laws and attitudes have changed a lot over the decades. Being a lesbian can complicate a time traveller’s attempts to fit into a new time and place. Accidentally traveling through time can make the situation even more challenging.
Just ask Dara Gillard. She’s an African-American lesbian from 21st century Chicago who accidentally travels to Edwardian London in my novel, The Time Slip Girl. This is what she would tell you about how to prepare for those times you inadvertently travel through time
These things do happen, she says, much like hurricanes, earthquakes, and plagues of frogs falling from the sky. We all must be prepared.
Dara says:
1. Don’t assume everyone is straight. There have always been women-loving women throughout time, although they may not be recognizable to the modern girl. They may not use the words lesbian, dyke, or queer. They may not use any word. Gay love wasn’t called the “love that dare not speak it’s name” for decades for nothing. But even if no one comes out to you, don’t assume.
2. Don’t assume everyone will hate you because you’re an African American lesbian. When it comes to one-on-one interactions, the average person is willing to help out someone who is lost and doesn’t care how different you are. We are more alike than we are different, even if we were born 100 years apart.
3. This is not specific to lesbian accidental time travellers, but accidentally traveling in time one way means you may accidentally travel again. Be prepared. Figure out a way to have your passport and other important papers attached to your body at all times.
4. Trying to find other lesbians will be very difficult. Meeting girls in 21st century America has gotten much easier with various apps, websites, sports teams, and social groups. If you travel to a time period where none of this exists yet, good luck finding other queer girls.
5. Know your history. If you travel back to 1908, like I did, you can forget about accessing Wikipedia or any electronic information source. I had to read the newspaper. It had incredibly tiny type and very few pictures, and I didn’t really have a good handle on what was coming next, like all these suffragette rallies that would have been fascinating to attend. I did figure out that H.G. Wells was still alive, and I would have loved to meet him. I didn’t know where to begin to look.
Safe journey! I hope you get home safely.
Elizabeth Andre writes lesbian romance, science fiction, and paranormal adventure. She is a lesbian in an interracial same-sex marriage living in the Midwest. She hopes you enjoy her stories. She certainly loves writing them. If you would like to support her work, become a member of her Patreon or subscribe to her email newsletter.
