December 11th in Queer History

Born this day

Francesco Algarotti (1712 –  1764). Italian 

Italian philosopher and art critic. He is said to have been the lover of Frederick the Great, who made him a Prussian count in 1740 and court chamberlain in 1747.

Jean Marais (1913 – 1998) French

Actor and director, who was the muse and lover of Jean Cocteau until Cocteau's death, and who starred in several movies directed by him.

Reg Livermore (1938 – ) Australian

Actor, singer, theatrical performer and television presenter.

John Preston (1945 – 1994) US

Author of gay erotica and an editor of gay nonfiction anthologies, who was not embarrassed to state his occupation as "pornographer".

He was the author or editor of nearly fifty books, including such erotic landmarks as Mr. Benson and I Once Had a Master and Other Tales of Erotic Love. Other works include Franny, the Queen of Provincetown (first a novel, then adapted for stage), The Big Gay Book: A Man's Survival Guide for the Nineties, Personal Dispatches: Writers Confront AIDS, and Hometowns: Gay Men Write About Where They Belong.

Preston's writing (which he described as pornography) was part of a movement in the 1970s and 1980s toward higher literary quality in gay erotic fiction. Preston was an outspoken advocate of the artistic and social worth of erotic writings, delivering a lecture at Harvard University entitled My Life as a Pornographer. The lecture was later published in an essay collection with the same name. The collection includes Preston's thoughts about the gay leather community, to which he belonged.

Vicki Randle (1954 – ) US

Singer, multi-instrumentalist (primarily acoustic guitar and percussion) and composer, known as the first (and only) female member of the Tonight Show Band.

Died this day

Elmyr de Hory ( 1906 – 1976) Hungarian
Painter / Forger

Oskar Seidlin (1911 - 1984) US
Poet / Author

Allan Berube (1946 - 2007 ) US
Activist / Author

Maddie Blaustein (1960 - 2008) US
Actress


Sodomy in history, December 11 th

1978 — A California appellate court overturns the prostitution conviction of a man picked up by an undercover police officer. His probation had prohibited him from talking to any male on the street, and the appellate court found that unreasonable.


Sources:

Wikipedia

glbtq emcyclopedia

On this gay day