Queer History 108: Mercedes de Acosta's Gorgeous Legacy

Let's get this straight from the jump: Mercedes de Acosta fucked. She didn't just fuck—she bedded the most beautiful, talented, and famously untouchable women in the world during Hollywood's Golden Age. While studio executives were busy crafting fake heterosexual romances for their stars and America was pretending queer people didn't exist, this audacious Spanish-American poet, playwright, and costume designer was busy seducing Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Isadora Duncan, Eva Le Gallienne, and a goddamn constellation of other luminaries who fell under her spell.

Born in 1893 to wealthy Spanish aristocrats in New York City, Mercedes wasn't just ahead of her time—she existed in a reality entirely of her own making. In an era when most lesbians lived in terrified secrecy, she strutted through life in men's clothing, openly pursued the women she desired, and kept hundreds of their love letters as trophies. When asked about her sexuality, she famously remarked: "I can get any woman away f…