Gathering Esperantists in Iowa

State? I'll settle for local

Oh, for the days when there were both state and local Esperanto organizations. By the time I had joined the Esperanto movement, most states had but a single Esperanto organization, and if a state (like California) was large enough, it had regional groups, but nothing more. In the mid–1980s, I was a member of the Esperanto Society of New England,[1] shows from what a (theoretically) large area we were drawing our potential members; it might have more truthfully been called the Esperanto Society of Greater Boston. I lived in Cambridge, and the furthest I ever remember going for a meeting was Concord, some 15 miles away.

The same was true, about the same time, when I was one of the founders of the Gaylaxian Science Fiction Society.[2] As the first, we didn’t attach any geographic designation to our name (subsequent groups did, usually on the form [Place] Gaylaxians), but we really were a group for LGBT (and LGBT-friendly) science fiction fans in the greater Boston area. A meeting has to be pretty compelling to spend an hour getting there.

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No Romance in the Mail for Iowa Esperantist

The correspondence was about
policing standards.

There have been some Esperanto romances. Couples have met through the Esperanto movement, formed relationships, and even had children who were brought up as second-generation Esperanto speakers.[1] So, perhaps the intimations of romance weren’t completely off base for the Leon Reporter of Leon, Iowa, when they reported and speculated on the mail received by the Leon deputy sheriff. They knew they were wrong though.

The item is sweet and has a suggestion of far-off romance. A mysterious stranger found by chance, although the newspaper did note that Mr. Mullinnix’s initial correspondent was a Japanese man. And though it was a postcard, aren’t the mails supposed to be accorded some level of privacy? Okay, you’re not tampering with the mail if you read a postcard, but talking about it in the paper?[2]

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The Lawyer, the Rug Merchant, and the Sodomy Charge

With whom did Benny attempt this?

Articles about sodomy charges in early-twentieth century newspapers tend to be a bit on the opaque side, often not disclosing the name of the other individual involved. Since at the time, opposite-sex couples could be, and were, charged with sodomy, sometimes it’s not clear whether or not the report of transgressive sex is a matter of early (and somewhat hidden) gay history. In this case, I have the suspicion that there’s a bit of gay history underneath it all.

In 1910, Benjamin A. Younkers was a lawyer in Des Moines, Iowa. He was thirty-five years old, married, and though native born, the son of immigrant parents. Martin J. Loftus was a rug salesman in Des Moines, Iowa. He was thirty-five years old, married, and though native born, the son of immigrant parents. How did these two men differ? Younkers had been married for three years, and had no children. Loftus had been married for fifteen years, and had two. Younkers was Jewish, with parents from Russia and Germany. Loftus had parents from Ireland.

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