Editing California gold rush (section)

===Gender practices===
As the California gold rush brought a disproportionate population of men and set an environment of experimental lawlessness separate from the bounds of standard society, conventional American gender roles came into question.<ref name="Wide-open Town">{{cite book |last1=Boyd |first1=Nan Alamilla |title=Wide-open town |date=2003 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0520204157 |url=https://archive.org/details/wideopentownhist00boyd/page/26/mode/2up |access-date=April 12, 2021 }}</ref> In the large absence of women, these migrant young men were made to reorganize their social and sexual practices, leading to cross-gender practices that most often took place as [[cross-dressing]]. Dance events were a notable social space for cross-dressing, where a piece of cloth (such as a handkerchief or sackcloth patch) would denote a 'woman.'<ref name="muse">{{cite journal |last1=Sears |first1=Clare |title=All that Glitters: Trans-ing California's Gold Rush Migrations |journal=GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies |date=2008 |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=383–402 |doi=10.1215/10642684-2007-038 |s2cid=144533043 |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/glq/article-pdf/14/2-3/383/414276/GLQ142-3_10_Sears.pdf |access-date=April 12, 2021 |issn=1527-9375 |archive-date=July 31, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240731035729/https://read.dukeupress.edu/glq/article-pdf/14/2-3/383/414276/GLQ142-3_10_Sears.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Beyond social events, these subverted gender expectations continued into domestic duties as well. Though cross-dressing occurred most frequently with men as women, the reverse also applied.<ref name="atlas">{{cite web |last1=Imbler |first1=Sabrina |title=The Forgotten Trans History of the Wild West |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/trans-history-wild-west |website=Atlas Obscura |access-date=April 12, 2021 |language=en |date=June 21, 2019 |archive-date=July 31, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240731035729/https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/trans-history-wild-west |url-status=live }}</ref>

These miners and merchants of various genders and gendered appearances, encouraged by the social fluidity and population limitations of the Wild West, shaped the beginnings of [[LGBT culture in San Francisco|San Francisco's prominent queer history]].<ref name="Wide-open Town" />