The reason that I offered that background concerning those three events is because it helps me to explain what ‘Two Female Impersonators Backstage, N.Y.C. 1961’ was doing socially/culturally, and/or politically when Diane Arbus created it. Diane Arbus was put in a very high seat. This is because she befriended her subjects, instead of objectifying them. Arbus was known for expanding notions of acceptable subject matter and violating canons of appropriate distance between photographer and subject. 

This photo was taken in 1957 and shows a protest because of the government's persecution of the LGBTQ community. In the picture, Frank Kameny was just fired by the United States Army in the first legal proceedings. Kameny appealed his firing through the courts before he was turned twice. Kameny's pushback against the U.S. Government's policy on homosexual employees was the first of its kind from a gay man. He then argued through written letters and eventually through the courts that the government's discrimination on the basis of sexuality is no different from discrimination based on race or religion. This relates to Diane because she is one to not judge and be okay with Frank’s identity. 

Diane Arbus’s ability to find people who were creating their own identity was not hard. People ask, why did she chose to train her lens repeatedly on people who were vulnerable. This is because she proclaimed her love for photographing “freaks.” She sought out people with unusual stories to seek out their strangeness and capture it for her collection.

Frank Kameny. (2024, March 24). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Kameny. Accessed April 1 2024.

“1950s - Explore a Decade in LGBTQ+ History: Pride & Progress.” Explore a Decade in LGBTQ+ History | Pride & Progress, www.prideandprogress.org/years/1950s. Accessed March 28 2024.