Queers in History

Tuesday, 29 November 2011

November 29th in Queer History

Events this day in Queer History

2007 - Civil Unions become legal in Uruguay making it the first Latin Americannation to do so

Born this day

Percy Jocelyn (1764 – 1843) Irish .

Anglican bishop of Ferns and Leighlin in the Church of Ireland (1809–1820)and later bishop of Clogher from 1820 to 1822. He was forced from his position after he was caught in a compromising position with a Grenadier Guardsman, John Moverley, in the back room of a LondON public house. He and Moverley were released on bail, provided by the Earl of Roden and others. Jocelyn broke bail and moved to Scotland where he worked as a butler under an assumed name. He was declared deposed in his absence by the Metropolitan Court of Armagh in October 1822 for "the crimes of immorality, incontinence, Sodomitical practices, habits, and propensities, and neglect of his spiritual, judicial, and ministerial duties".

Jocelyn was the most senior British churchman to be involved in a public homosexual scandal in the 19th century.

Billy Strayhorn (1915 – 1967) US.
Composer, pianist and arranger, best known for his successful collaboration with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington lasting nearly three decades. His compositions include "Chelsea Bridge", "Take the "A" Train" and "Lush Life".

He participated in many civil rights causes. As a committed friend to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., he arranged and conducted "King Fought the Battle of 'Bam'" for the Ellington Orchestra in 1963 for the historical revue My People, dedicated to Dr. King.

Strayhorn was openly gay, and lived with his first partner, African-American musician Aaron Bridgers,until Bridgers moved to Paris in 1947.

Philippe Elan (1960 – ) French.
French born singer, living in Holland with his lover Gijs van der Grinten, a violinist of the Dutch Ballet Orchestra. Elan received a Edison (Dutch award) for his first album Chansons Classiques.

Martha Beck (1962 – ) US.
Sociologist, therapist, life coach and best-selling author. Beck is the daughter of deceased LDS (Mormon) scholar and apologist, Hugh Nibley. She received national attention after publication in 2005 of her best-seller, Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith in which she accuses her father of sexual abuse.

Both Martha Beck and her now ex-husband subsequently came out publicly as gay and have stated that they no longer consider homosexuality a form of compulsive behavior. In 2003, Beck separated from her husband, divorcing from him in 2004. She began living with her partner Karen Gerdes, a social worker and professor, during her marriage and has continued this relationship.

Guillaume Dustan (1965 – 2005) French.
Born William Baranès, Dustan was an openly gay French writer and journalist.

Simon Amstell (1979 – ). UK

A BAFTA nominated,award-winning English comedian, television presenter, screenwriter and actor, best known for his roles as former co-host of Popworld, former host of Never Mind the Buzzcocks and co-writer and star of the sitcom Grandma's House.

Died this day

Cary Grant (1904 - 1986 ) UK/US

Archibald Alexander Leach, better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship. Known for his transatlantic accent, debonair demeanor and "dashing good looks", Grant is considered one of classic Hollywood's definitive leading men.

Grant was married five times, but some, including Hedda Hopper and screenwriter Arthur Laurents, have said that Grant was bisexual, the latter writing that Grant "told me he threw pebbles at my window one night but was luckless". Grant allegedly was involved with costume designer Orry-Kelly when he first moved to Manhattan, and lived with Randolph Scott off and on for twelve years. Richard Blackwell wrote that Grant and Scott were "deeply, madly in love", and alleged eyewitness accounts of their physical affection have been published.

Sodomy laws in history, November 29

1876 — Utah outlaws sodomy.

1967 — A California appellate court rejects a privacy argument and upholds the constitutionality of the state’s "oral copulation" law.

Sources:

Monday, 28 November 2011

November 28th in Queer History

Born this day

Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon ( 1661 - 1723) US

Governor of New York and New Jersey between 1701 and 1708, and is perhaps best known for his cross-dressing while in office. Cornbury came to be regarded in the historical literature as a moral profligate, sunk in corruption: possibly the worst governor Britain ever imposed on an American colony.

Cornbury is reported to have opened the 1702 New York Assembly clad in a hooped gown and an elaborate headdress and carrying a fan, imitative of the style of Queen Anne. When his choice of clothing was questioned, he replied, "You are all very stupid people not to see the propriety of it all. In this place and occasion, I represent a woman (the Queen), and in all respects I ought to represent her as faithfully as I can."

Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632 – 1687) French
Italian-born French composer who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. He is considered the chief master of the French Baroque style.
He was known to be a libertine. Although his life is full of meteoric heights, his love affairs with men and women also brought him down in scandal several times at the great displeasure of Louis XIV.

Ernst Rohm (1887 – 1934) German
An officer in the Bavarian Army and later an early Nazi leader. He was a co-founder of the Sturmabteilung ("Storm Battalion"; SA), the Nazi Party militia, and later was its commander. In 1934, as part of the Night of the Long Knives, he was executed on Hitler's orders as a potential rival.
Röhm and other SA leaders such as his deputy Edmund Heines were more or less openly homosexual.(In 1931, the Münchener Post, a Social Democratic newspaper, obtained and published Röhm's letters to a friend in which Röhm discussed his sexual affairs with men).

Owen Dodson (1914 – 1983) US
A poet, novelist, and playwright, he was one of the leading African American poets of his time, associated with the generation of black poets following the Harlem Renaissance. Dodson's poetry varied widely and covered a broad range of subjects, styles, and forms. He wrote at times, though rarely, in black dialect, and at others quoted and alluded to classical poetry and drama. He wrote about sexuality and about religion.

Anthony Edward Dyson (1928 – 2002) UK
Literary critic, university lecturer, educational activist and pioneer gay rights campaigner, Dyson single-handedly took the initiative in forming the Homosexual Law Reform Society (HLRS) in May 1958.

Joke Swiebel (1941 – ) Dutch
Politician, a former MEP (Member of the Europen Parliament) and founder of the LGBT Rights Intergroup.

Rita Mae Brown (1944 – ) US
Writer, best known for her first novel "Rubyfruit Jungle". Published in 1973, it dealt with lesbian themes in an explicit manner unusual for the time. Brown is also a mystery writer and screenwriter.

She is listed at number 74 in the book "The Gay 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Gay Men and Lesbians, Past and Present".

Herbert Muschamp (1947 – 2007) US
Architectural Critic for The New York Times from 1992 ro 2004. He was openly gay, and the centrality of gay men in the cultural life of New York City was central to his writing. He continued to write until his death from lung cancer in Manhattan in 2007.

Gordon Marsden (1953 – ) UK
British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Blackpool South since 1997. Marsden is openly gay and lives with his partner.

John Galliano (1960 – ) UK
Fashion Designer

Thierry Paulin (1963 – 1989) French
Serial Killer, active in the 1980's. Together with his lover, Jean-Thierry Mathurin. Together, they murdered and robbed a series of elderly women, using their gains to finance drugs and a lavish lifestyle.
He died of AIDS in 1989.

Erwin Mortier (1965 – ) Belgian
Author, originally writing in Dutch.

Colman Domingo (1969 – ) US
Actor, playwright and director.

Siri Hall Arnoy (1978 – ) Norwegian
Politician for the Socialist Left Party. She was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Akershus in 2001, but was not re-elected in 2005. She then served in the position of deputy representative during the term 2005–2009.
Hall Arnøy is openly lesbian.

Jonny Staub (1979 – ) Canadian
Radio and television personality. In 2001, at age 22, he was the youngest DJ in a major time slot in the Vancouver market.
Staub is one of Canada's first openly gay DJs in the Vancouver radio market.

Died this day

Jeffrey Dahmer (1960 - 1994 ) US
Serial Killer and sex offender, Dahmer murdered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991, with the majority of the murders occurring between 1987 and 1991. His murders involved rape, dismemberment, necrophilia and cannibalism. On November 28, 1994, he was beaten to death by an inmate at the Columbia Correctional Institution, where he had been incarcerated.

Terry Lester (1950 - 2003 ) US
Actor, whose big break came when he joined CBS daytime soap The Young and the Restless in 1980. After leaving it in 1989, he worked on the soaps Santa Barbara for a year, and As the World Turns .

Lester kept his personal life under wraps, but a 2002 In Magazine LA article on former soap star Thom Bierdz claimed that Lester, along with Michael Corbett and Bierdz, made up a trio of gay actors who worked on The Young and the Restless in the 1980s.

Leroy F Aarons (1933 - 2004 ) US
journalist, editor, author, playwright, founder of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. In 2005 he was inducted into the NLGJA Hall of Fame.

Tony Holland (1940 - 2007 ) UK
Television screenwriter best known as a writer and co-creator of the BBC soap opera EastEnders.
Holland entered into a civil partnership with Paul Wade in May 2007.

Sodomy laws in history, November 28

1951 —The Oklahoma Court of Appeals upholds a consensual sodomy conviction and refers to Washington Confidential as proof that homosexuality is overrunning the nation.

Sources:

Sunday, 27 November 2011

November 27th in Queer History

Born this day

Katharine Anthony (1877 – 1965) US

Author, a biographer best known for The Lambs (1945), a controversial study of the British writers Charles and Mary Lamb. She became a public school teacher by 1910, working in Arkansas. By 1920 she was living in Manhattan with her life-partner Elisabeth Irwin (1880–1942), the founder of the Little Red School House, with whom she raised several adopted children.

Edmund John (1883 – 1917 ) UK

Poet of the Uranian school. His verses were modeled on the Symbolist poetry of Swinburne and other earlier poets. Much of his work was condemned by critics for being overly decadent and unfashionable. He fought in the First World War but was invalided out in 1916. He died a year later in Taormina, Sicily.

Nicole Brossard ( 1943 – ) Canadian

French Canadian formalist poet and novelist.

Terry Baum (1946 – ) US.

Playwright, playwright who in 2004, ran for the United States House of Representatives as a member of the Green Party, against House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

John Aravosis (1963 – ) US.

Author and activist, Democratic political consultant, writer, gay activist and blogger. Aravosis, an attorney who lives in Washington, D.C., is the founder of AMERICAblog and a co-founder of StopDrLaura.com.

Marc Ramsbottom (1963 – ) UK.

Politician, a Manchester city councillor and parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Democrats.

Adam Shankman (1964 – ) US.

Film director, producer, dancer, actor, and choreographer. He has been a judge on the television program So You Think You Can Dance since Season 3. He began his professional career in musical theater, and was a dancer in music videos for Paula Abdul and Janet Jackson. Shankman also choreographed one of the Spice Girls' tours. He has directed several feature-length films, including A Walk to Remember, Bringing Down the House, and Hairspray.

Shy Love ( 1978 – ) US

Porn Actress, stage name of an American pornographic actress, of Sicilian and Puerto Rican descent. She has been active in the porn industry since 2003.

In a 2007 interview with Gamelink, she said her relationship with her husband was only the third real relationship with a man she had ever had, that theirs was an open relationship, and she likes to play with other women

Died this day

Guido Gezelle (1830 - 1899)

Belgian priest and poet, born in Brugge as Guido Pieter Theodorus Josephus Gezelle. He is considered by the Belgians as one of their greatest poets.

Magnus Enckell (1870 - 1925 ) Finnish .

Painter, the first Finnish painter to break with Naturalism, Enckell was homosexual, as seems indicated in some erotic portraits which were quite uninhibited for their time. As Routledge's "Who's who in gay and lesbian history" puts it, "His love affairs with men have not been denied ... Enckell's naked men and boys are openly erotic and sensual."

Harvey Milk (1930 - 1978) US.

Politician, who became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Politics and gay activism were not his early interests; he was not open about his homosexuality and did not participate in civic matters until around the age of 40, after his experiences in the counterculture of the 1960s.

Milk served almost 11 months in office and was responsible for passing a stringent gay rights ordinance for the city, before being. assassinated on November 27, 1978,

Despite his short career in politics, Milk became an icon in San Francisco and "a martyr for gay rights", according to University of San Francisco professor Peter Novak.[1] In 2002, Milk was called "the most famous and most significantly open LGBT official ever elected in the United States"

Jerry Hunt (1943 - 1993 ) US

Simon Bailey (1955 - 1995) UK

Anglican priest, and a sexually active gay man who contracted HIV. He learned that he had the virus just as he took up the position of Rector of Dinnington in South Yorkshire. When he became too unwell to conceal his condition from the people around him he informed the diocesan authorities and gradually introduced the news to his own parishioners. Though not the only Anglican priest at that time to be HIV-positive, and eventually to develop AIDS, he was the first to stay in parish ministry, continuing to celebrate the Eucharist until only a few weeks before his death. The priest visibly dying among the people to whom he ministered was a powerful symbol of Christ, evocative of the line, 'The wounded surgeon plies the steel', in East Coker by T. S. Eliot.

Daniel Farson (1927 - 1997 ) UK.

British writer and broadcaster, who was a popular television personality and prominent public figure in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Douglas LePan 1914 - 1998 ) Canadian.

Diplomat, poet, novelist and professor of literature. In 1990 he created something of a sensation with Far Voyages, a volume largely composed of gay love poetry. Although he had married, and had two children,the marriage was a difficult one, not least of all over issues relating to sexual orientation.

Alan Freeman (1927 - 2006) Australian.

British disc jockey and radio personality in the United Kingdom for 40 years. In March 1994 Freeman revealed on breakfast television that he had become celibate in 1981, but had been bisexual. He was memorably described by Graham Chapman as being "...keen on motor bikes and leather and men"

Jane Rule (1931 - 2007 ) Canadian.

Writer of lesbian-themed novels and non-fiction. She claimed she was a tomboy growing up and felt like an outsider for reaching six feet tall and being dyslexic. When she was 15 she read The Well of Loneliness and wrote later, "suddenly discovered that I was a freak."

In 1964, Rule published "Desert of the Heart", which featured two women who fall in love with each other and caused Rule to receive a flood of letters from "very unhappy, even desperate" women who felt they were alone and would be miserable. The novel caused her to be sought out by Canadian media, and Rule later wrote, "I became, for the media, the only lesbian in Canada. A role I gradually and very reluctantly accepted and used to educate people as I could."

The book was later made into a movie by Donna Deitch, released as "Desert Hearts" , which quickly became a lesbian classic. The Globe and Mail said of it, "the film is one of the first and most highly regarded works in which a lesbian relationship is depicted favourably."

Sodomy laws in history, November 27

1700 — Pennsylvania raises the penalty for sodomy to life imprisonment for whites and death for blacks. In addition, whites can be flogged every three months during the first year of confinement and, if married, castrated and automatically divorced.

1911 — The Washington Supreme Court upholds a sodomy conviction even though a witness gave contradictory and admittedly untrue evidence.

1956 — A California appellate court says that violations of the oral copulation law automatically make the defendant a vagrant as well.

1956 — The California Attorney General issues an opinion that the oral copulation law permits a jail sentence of less than a year, but that the crime against nature law does not.

1996 — The Austrian Parliament defeats, on a tie vote, a bill to lower the age of consent for sexual relations between men to the same age as between women or between a man and a woman.

Sources:

Saturday, 26 November 2011

November 26th in Queer History

Born this day

Mary Edwards Walker (1832 – 1919),US. Surgeon

Feminist, abolitionist, prohibitionist, alleged spy, prisoner of war and surgeon, she is the only woman ever to receive the Medal of Honor.

She volunteered with the Union Army at the outbreak of the American Civil War and served as a female surgeon. She was captured by Confederate forces after crossing enemy lines to treat wounded civilians and arrested as a spy. After the war she was approved for the Medal of Honor for her efforts.

After the war, Walker continued to live a nonconformist lifestyle. A strong advocate of dress reform, she wore men's clothing exclusively and was arrested on several occasions for impersonating a man. At her funeral, she was buried in a black suit, not a dress.

Emlyn Williams (1905 –1987),UK. Actor, Playwright

Welsh dramatist and actor.

Earl Wild (1915 –2010,)US. Pianist

A pianist widely recognized as a leading virtuoso of his generation, Harold C. Schonberg called him a "super-virtuoso in the Horowitz class". He was known as well for his transcriptions of classical music and jazz, and was also a composer.

Alma Routsong [Isabel Miller](1924 – 1996), US. Author

A novelist, best known for her lesbian fiction, which she published under the pen name Isabel Miller

Wayland Flowers (1939 – 1988), US. Puppeteer

A puppeteer. He was born and raised in Dawson, Georgia. Flowers was best known for the puppet act he created with his puppet Madame. His performances as "Wayland Flowers and Madame" were a major national success on stage and on screen in the 1970s and 1980s.

Felix Gonzales-Torres (1957 –1996), Cuban. Artist

American, Cuban-born visual artist.

Cherry Jones (1956 - ), US. Actress

Theater, film and television actress best known for her role as president of the United States on the FOX series “24.” A Broadway veteran, Jones is considered one of America’s foremost stage actresses. She has received two Tony Awards.

Simon Nkoli (1957 – 1998), South African. Activist

Simon Tseko Nkoli was an anti-apartheid, gay rights and AIDS activist in South Africa. By coming out as gay while a political prisoner, he helped to make the African National Congress more supportive of gay rights. Later, GLOW (a gay activist group he founded) was instrumental in having South Africa become the first country in the world to have LGBT protection written into the state constitution. Other countries have since followed South Africa's lead.
Nkosi's role, (which therefore has global significance)has been recognized with several international awards.

Sue Wicks (1966 – ) US. Basketball
A former basketball player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She played with the New York Liberty from 1997 to 2002. She currently serves as a collegiate basketball coach.

John Amaechi (1970 – ), UK. Basketball

A retired American-born British basketball player who currently works as a psychologist, educator and political activist in Europe and the United States, John Amaechi was the first NBA player to speak publicly about being gay. In 2007, three years after retiring from pro basketball, he became one of only six male professional athletes in the four major U.S. sports to come out.
Esera Tuaolo, an NFL player who came out in 2002, said of Amaechi, “What John did is amazing. He does not know how many lives he’s saved by speaking the truth.”

Tammy Lynn Michaels (1974 – ), US. Actress

Tammy Lynn Michaels (born Tammy Lynn Doring), also known by the surname Etheridge after marrying Melissa Etheridge, is an American actress, who was a regular cast member on the Warner Brothers Network television show Popular and guest-starred on the Showtime drama The L Word.

Jason Sechrest (1979 – ), US. Porn, Screenwriter

On-screen personality and writer in the adult industry. He has starred in numerous adult films, straight and gay, but only in non-sexual roles. His Web site caters to straight, gay and bisexual adult markets. Sechrest himself is bisexual.Arena magazine listed him as one of the "50 Most Powerful People in Porn" list along with Larry Flynt and Hugh Hefner. He has also been called "The Oprah of Porn"

Died this day

Winnaretta Singer (1865 - 1943 ) US. Heiress

Winnaretta Singer, Princesse Edmond de Polignac,was an American musical patron and heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune.

She had affairs with numerous women, never making attempts to conceal them, and never going for any great length of time without a female lover. She had these affairs during her own marriages and afterwards, and often with other married women. The affronted husband of one of her lovers once stood outside the princess's Venetian palazzo, declaring, "If you are half the man I think you are, you will come out here and fight me."

Peter Hujar (1934 - ), US. Photographer

Photographer, known for his black and white portraits, and also for farm animals and nudes. His most famous photograph is Candy Darling on Her Deathbed which was later used by the group Antony and the Johnsons as cover for their album I Am a Bird Now. The lover of artist David Wojnarowicz, Hujar died of AIDS complications in 1987.

Joey Stefano (1968 - 1994), US. Poet

Joey Stefano's father died when he was 15. After several years of prostitution and hard-core drug use in New York City, Stefano moved to Los Angeles and quickly became a star in gay pornography. His image and success caught the attention of Madonna, who used him as a model in her 1992 book Sex.

Mario Cesariny de Vasconcelos (1923 - 2006) Portuguese. Poet

Among the most important Portuguese surrealist poets, having published several major works during a career spanning 50 years. Cesariny was also a painter, but his work became more centered on poetry in the 1950s.

Pia Beck –– (1925 - 2009). Dutch, Pianist

A Dutch jazz pianist and singer, one of the first artists to come out publicly, in the 1970's, she campaigned actively in the USA against Anita Bryant. Her life partner was Marga Samsonowski.

Sodomy laws in history, November 26

1861 — Nevada passes its first criminal code and retains the life sentence for sodomy.

1958 — The British House of Commons debates, but shelves, the Wolfenden Report.

Source: Calendar of Sodomy, November

Friday, 25 November 2011

November 25th in Queer History

Events in Queer History

1975 – Campaign for Homosexual Equality rally in Trafalgar Square, London, UK

Born this day

Virgil Thomson (1896 – 1989), US. Composer

Robert Friend (1913 – 1998) US Poet, Translator

Rosa von Praunheim (1942 – ), Latvian. Director, Activist

Lars Eighner (1948 – ), US. Author

Randy Turner ( 1949 – 2005), US. Singer

Bruno Toniolli (1955 – ), Italian / UK. Dancer, Choreographer, Presenter

David B Feinberg (1956 – 1994), US. Author, Activist

Tonie Walsh (1960 – ) Irish. Activist, Journalist, Presenter

Craig Seymour (1968 – ), US. Author, Photographer, Professor,Stripper, Journalist

Jason Rae (1986 – ) US. Politician

And those who died:

Yukio Mishima (1925 - 1970 ) Japanese. Author

Laurence Harvey (1928 - 1973) Lithuania / UK / South African. Actor

Sir Anton Dolin (1904 - 1983 ) UK. Ballet

Alan Bray ( 1948 - 2001) UK. Historian, Activist

Pierre Seel (1923 - 2005) French. Author

Died this day

Sodomy laws in history, November 25

1120 — The sinking of the "White Ship" kills the sons of England’s King Henry I. A writer claims they died as punishment for sodomy.

1953 — The Montana Supreme Court upholds a sodomy conviction over protests of the prosecutor’s statements. The court reporter did not record them all, thus removing them from review.

1964 — The North Carolina Supreme Court rules that a sodomy indictment merely stating that the defendant "committed the abominable and detestable crime against nature" with a named male person was sufficient.

1968 — The Michigan Court of Appeals upholds the constitutionality of the state’s sodomy law.

1980 — The Kentucky Supreme Court rules that circumstantial evidence can be used to prove penetration in sodomy cases.

Sources:

Thursday, 24 November 2011

November 24th in Queer History

Events in queer history:

2008 - A lower court in Florida, USA declares the state's ban on adoption by same-sex couples is unconstitutional

Born this day

Margaret Caroline Anderson (1886 – 1973),US. Editor

American founder, editor and publisher of the art and literary magazine "The Little Review", which published a collection of modern American, English and Irish writers between 1914 and 1929. The periodical is most noted for introducing many prominent American and British writers of the 20th century, such as Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot in the United States, and publishing the first thirteen chapters of James Joyce's then-unpublished novel, Ulysses.

Her co-editor on the Review was her lover, Jane Heap.

Denise Restout (1915 – 2004) French. Musician, Teacher, Author, Editor

Keyboard teacher; expert on German and French Baroque performance practice for the keyboard; and protégé, assistant, editor, biographer and domestic partnerof noted harpsichordist Wanda Landowska.

Arthur Tress (1940 – ) US. Photographer

Notable American photographer, well known for his staged surrealism and exposition of the human body.

Candy Darling (1944 – 1974) US. Actress

American actress, best known as a Warhol Superstar. A MTF transsexual, she starred in Andy Warhol's films Flesh and Women in Revolt, and was a muse of the protopunk band The Velvet Underground.

Born James Lawrence Slattery in Queens, NY, she changed her name to Hope Slattery in 1963/1964 after she started going to gay bars in Manhattan and making visits to a doctor on Fifth Avenue for hormone injections. Later, she changed her name again, eventually settling on Candy Darling. After appearing in Warhol's films, she appeared in further independent films, and on stage.

Maxim Thorne (1964 – ), US. Politician, Activist.

Thorne was a senior leader of America’s oldest civil rights organization, the NAACP. He served as a surrogate on the 2008 Obama presidential campaign and the Campaign's LGBT Leadership Council. He has served at Human Rights Campaign and Human Rights Campaign Foundation the nation’s largest LBGT civil rights organization as the Chief Operating Officer and Vice President.

Died this day

Freddie Mercury (1946 - 1991), UK. Singer

Farrokh Bulsara, better known as Freddie Mercury, was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, notable for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range. As a songwriter, Mercury composed many hits for Queen, including "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "We Are the Champions". In addition to his work with Queen, he led a solo career, penning hits such as "Barcelona", "I Was Born to Love You" and "Living on My Own".

He died of bronchopneumonia brought on by AIDS on 24 November 1991, only one day after publicly acknowledging he had the disease.

Joseph Hansen (1923 - 2004), US. Author

American crime writer and poet, best known for a series of novels starring his most iconic creation, the private eye Dave Brandstetter, an openly gay private eye who still embodied the tough, no-nonsense personality of the classic hardboiled protagonist.

Hansen was married to artist Jane Bancroft, a lesbian, from 1943 to her death in 1994. He said their relationship was that of "a gay man and a woman who happened to love each other." The couple had one daughter, who later had a sex-change operation.

Sodomy laws in history, November 24

1982 — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturns the lewdness conviction of a man for dropping to his knees during a dance and kissing the clothed crotch of another man.

Sources:

Wednesday, 23 November 2011

November 23rd in Queer History

Events this day in queer history:

1973 – First Gay Academic Union conference (two day conference)

Born this day

Bill Bissett (1939 – ), Canadian. Poet

Canadian poet famous for his anti-conventional style. He often does not capitalise his name or use capital letters. In 2006, Nightwood Editions published "radiant danse uv being", a poetic tribute to bissett with contributions from more than 80 writers.

Bruce Vilanch(1948 – ), US. Scriptwriter, Comedian, Actor

American comedy writer, songwriter and actor. He is a six-time Emmy Award-winner.

Died this day

Gene Moore (1910 - 1998), US. Window Dresser

A leading window dresser of the 20th century, who worked for almost forty years for Tiffany's on Fifth Avenue. (The example of his work above uses a watermelon made of gumdrops to display the jewellery).

Boudewijn Buch (1948 - 2002),Dutch. Author, Presenter

Dutch writer, poet and television presenter.

Sodomy laws in history, November 23

1828 — Florida repeals its common-law reception statute, thus legalizing sodomy.

1943 — The Indiana Supreme Court upholds a conviction for attempted sodomy of a man who made repeated attempts to seduce a male teenager, and the teenager had police arrest the man.

1977 — Wisconsin enacts a new criminal code that reduces the penalty for sodomy from a felony to a misdemeanor, with a maximum penalty of 9 months in jail.

1977 — An Ohio court dismisses an importuning charge because the undercover police officer encouraged the solicitation.

1998 — Reversing a 1996 decision, the Georgia Supreme Court strikes down the state’s sodomy law on broad privacy grounds.

Sources:

Tuesday, 22 November 2011

November 22nd in Queer History

Born this day

Andre Gide (1869 – 1951), French. Author

French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1947. Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the symbolist movement, to the advent of anticolonialism between the two World Wars.

In 1893 and 1894, Gide traveled in Northern Africa, and it was there that he came to accept his attraction to boys.He befriended Oscar Wilde in Paris, and in 1895 Gide and Wilde met in Algiers. There, Wilde had the impression that he had introduced Gide to homosexuality, but, in fact, Gide had already discovered this on his own.

Benjamin Britten (1913 – 1976), UK. Composer.

English composer, conductor, and pianist, and probably the most important English composer of the twentieth century (certainly of opera). He first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work "A Boy Was Born" in 1934, and continued to produce important works for four decades. Having previously declined a knighthood, Britten accepted a life peerage in 1976 as Baron Britten, of Aldeburgh, a few months before his death.
He and his partner the tenor Sir Peter Pears, are one of the best known gay couples in music. Their two graves lie side by side in Aldeburgh.

James Gleeson (1915 – 2008), Australian. Artist, Poet, Author, Critic

Australia's foremost artist. He was also a poet, critic, writer and curator. He played a significant role in the Australian art scene, including serving on the board of the National Gallery of Australia. Gleeson's themes generally delved into the subconscious using literary, mythological or religious subject matter. He was particularly interested in Jung's archetypes of the collective unconscious.
Gleeson died in Sydney in 2008, aged 92. His life partner was Frank O'Keefe, who had died the previous year.

Nicholas Dante (1941 – 1991), US. Dancer, Author

American dancer and writer, best known for the musical A Chorus Line, which earned him the 1976 Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for Best Book of a Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The story of Paul, the homosexual Puerto Rican dancer whose early career consisted of working in a drag show, was based primarily on Dante himelf.

Peter Adair (1943 – 1996) US. Director / Artist

Filmmaker and artist, best known for his pioneering documentary, Word Is Out. The film, the first of its kind to present gays and lesbians in a positive light, was a critical hit nationwide. It was as much a vital part of his own coming out process as it was an attempt to show gays and lesbians in a very human and non-sensational manner.

Billy Jean King (1943 – ) US. Tennis

Life Magazine named Billie Jean King one of the "100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century." A tennis champion and an outspoken advocate for gender equality in sports, King has become an icon and legend for her contributions to the advancement of women's sports.
An outspoken advocate against sexism in sports, King hoped "to use sports for social change." In 1973, King became the first woman to defeat a former male Wimbledon Champion in "The Battle of the Sexes." The Women's Tennis Association named King its first president that same year.
She was married for 22 years and struggled for a long time with her sexuality. Since coming out in 1988, she has helped further the visibility and inclusion of the GLBT community.

Art Sullivan (1950 – ), Belgian. Singer

Belgian singer.He was successful in many countries, including Belgium, France, Portugal and Germany.

Horse McDonald (1958 – ), UK. Singer, Musician

Scottish female singer-songwriter. She has a wide following in the United Kingdom, including many lesbian fans, has toured with Tina Turner and secured several record chart hits in Europe.

Christopher Ciccone (1960 – ), US. Artist,Screenwriter, Director

Artist, film director, artistic director, dancer, best selling author, and interior and furniture designer. He is the younger brother of Madonna.

Stephen Hough (1961 – ), UK / Australian. Pianist, Composer, Author

British-born classical pianist, composer and writer. Hough performs as a recitalist and chamber musician, and has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras around the world. In addition to his career as a performer, he is also a music teacher and a composes.

He joined the Roman Catholic Church when he was 19. He has written about his homosexuality and its relationship with both his music-making and his religion.

Rickard Engfors (1976 – ), Swedish. Drag Queen, Model, Entertainer

Swedish drag queen, model, and stylist.
His career began in 1996 as an artist in Swedish drag troupe After Dark and he was quickly appointed to "Christer Lindarws crown prince" and was also known as "Sweden's best looking girl". He has performed for royalty, won awards for his artistic efforts and shared the stage with many of Sweden's most beloved artists.
In 2004 the Swedish fashion house Panos Emporio chose Rickard as its house model for a swimwear range, which caused so much controversy that it was re-shot using a Greek model called Aleka

Yves Steinhauer (1976 – ), Canadian, Luxembourg. Singer

Lead singer for "Marilyn's Boys", the first openly gay boy band in Germany. Born in Luxembourg, he later lived in the US, and Canada, then Germany.

Lucian Dunareanu (1977 – ), Romanian. Activist, Editor

Romanian gay rights activist and the executive director of Be An Angel Romania, an LGBT rights organisation based in Cluj-Napoca.Dunareanu is the owner of the Toxice musical group, which is the first professional drag queen band in Romania

Alasdair Duncan (1982 – ), Australian. Author, Journalist

Author and journalist, based in Brisbane on the east coast of Australia. He is a section editor at weekly music magazine Rave

Died this day

Friedrich Alfred Krupp (1854 - 1902), German. Businessman

German industrialist, of the Krupp steel manufacturering company, taking over the leadership of his father's company in 1887. He committed suicide in 1902, a week after the Social Democratic magazine Vorwärts claimed in an article that Friedrich Alfred Krupp was homosexual, and that he had a number of liaisons with local boys and men.

Rose Cleveland (1846 - 1918 ) US. First Lady

First Lady during the first of her brother, U.S. President Grover Cleveland's two administrations. She was the sister (not the wife) of President Cleveland. When her elder brother won the presidency, she became first lady and lived in the White House for two years.
When President Cleveland married Frances Folsom, Rose resigned and began a career in education. At age 44, she started a lesbian relationship with a wealthy widow, Evangeline Simpson, with explicitly erotic correspondence. However things cooled off when Evangeline married an Episcopal Bishop of Minnesota, Henry Benjamin Whipple. By 1910, he died and the two women rekindled their relationship and eventually moved to Bagni di Lucca, Italy to live there together.

Lorenz Hart (1895 - 1943), US. Lyricist

Lyricist half of the famed Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart. He "had a remarkable talent for polysyllabic and internal rhymes", and his lyrics have often been praised for their wit and technical sophistication.
For years Hart was a bachelor and lived with his widowed mother. He suffered from alcoholism. He would sometimes disappear for weeks at a time on alcoholic binges. Hart died in New York City of pneumonia from exposure on November 22, 1943, after drinking heavily.

Sodomy laws in history, November 22

1950 — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rules that two teenagers who witnessed an act of fellatio on a third teenager were not accomplices.

1961 — The Oregon Supreme Court rules that the state’s sodomy law outlaws cunnilingus.

1967 — The Washington Supreme Court again upholds the right of the state to convict sodomy defendants based on the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice.

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