Events this day in Queer History
1988 – First World AIDS Day
2008 – Registered partnerships legal from this date in Victoria, Australia
2009 – Treaty of Lisbon & Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union amended to include sexual orientation protection
Born this day
Olivier Rouyer (1955 – ) French
Retired football striker from France. He earned seventeen international caps (two goals) for the French national team during the late 1970s and early 1980s. A player of AS Nancy, he was a member of the French team in the 1978 FIFA World Cup. He coached Nancy from 1991–1994.
Rouyer came out as gay in 2008 after leaving the team
Jeff Gannon (1957 – ) US
James Dale Guckert is a conservative columnist better known by the pseudonym Jeff Gannon. He first came to public attention when, despite having no congressional press pass, and no recognized journalistic credentials, he was able to attend a White House press conference and ask an excessively deferential question of President George W. Bush. Still with no congressional press pass, he was able to continue to attend White House press briefings with daily press passes.
When other journalists began to probe his background, they found that he had previously been involved with various gay escort service websites, using the professional name "Bulldog", and charging $200 an hour.
Oscar Swartz (1959 – ) Swedish
Swedish entrepreneur, writer and blogger. In 1995 he co-founded the magazine QX,which is today the largest magazine for LGBT people in Scandinavia.
Armin Meiwes (1961 – ) German
German man who achieved international notoriety for killing and eating a voluntary victim whom he had found via the Internet. After Meiwes and the victim jointly attempted to eat the victim's severed penis, Meiwes killed his victim and proceeded to eat a large amount of his flesh. Because of his acts, Meiwes is also known as the Rotenburg Cannibal or Der Metzgermeister (The Master Butcher)
Matthew Sheppard (1976 – 1998) US
Hate Crime Victim
August Provost (1979 – 2009) US
A US Navy sailor who was shot in the head while on sentry duty. Provost had previously complained of suffering "harassment" from his peers, but did not talk of the details, for fear of bringing trouble on himself under DADT. It was widely suspected that this may have been a hate crime, motivated by orientation or race or both, but this was never confirmed - a sailor arrested for the murder committed suicide before the case came to trial.
Died this day
Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, known as Pope Leo X from 1513 to his death in 1521, was the last non-priest (only a deacon) to be elected Pope. He was the second son of Lorenzo de' Medici, and cousin of Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici, who later succeeded him as Pope Clement VII.
Several modern historians[4] have concluded that Leo was homosexual. Contemporary tracts and accounts such as that of Francesco Guicciardini[5] have been found to allude to active same-sex relations – alleging Count Ludovico Rangone and Galeotto Malatesta among his lovers.
Tsar Alexander I of Russia (1777 - 1825)
Grandson of Catherine the Great, who came to the throne following the assassination of his father, Paul I. Rumors of his homosexuality began circulating shortly after his coronation in 1801. During the early part of his rule, he relied on an "Unofficial Committee," composed of four of his young companions, for political guidance and support.
Aleister Crowley (1875- 1947 ) UK
Aleister Crowley, born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema.
Crowley was also bisexual, a recreational drug experimenter and a social critic. In many of these roles he "was in revolt against the moral and religious values of his time", espousing a form of libertinism based upon the rule of "Do What Thou Wilt". Because of this, he gained widespread notoriety during his lifetime, and was denounced in the popular press of the day as "the wickedest man in the world."
James Baldwin (1924 - 1987) US
Novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic, whose essays, for instance "Notes of a Native Son" (1955), explore palpable yet unspoken intricacies of racial, sexual, and class distinctions in Western societies, most notably in mid-20th century America.
His second novel, Giovanni's Room (1956), written well before the equality of homosexuals was widely espoused in America, is a classic of gay literature.
Alvin Ailey Jr (1931 - 1989 ) US
A prolific choreographer, Alvin Ailey created 79 original works for his company. His signature piece, “Revelations” (1960), is touted as the most-watched work of modern dance.
Ailey died at age 58 from complications of AIDS. In his memory, a section of West 61st Street in New York was named “Alvin Ailey Way.”
Billy Lyall ( - 1953) UK
A keyboard player and vocalist with Pilot, and an early member of the Bay City Rollers. He also contributed to The Alan Parsons Project with fellow Pilot members, and released a solo album, Solo Casting in 1976.
Lyall died of AIDS-related causes in 1989, aged 36.
Ramses Shaffy (1933 - 2009 ) Dutch
A Dutch singer and actor, who became popular during the 1960s.
Sodomy in history, December 1st
1642 — Connecticut passes a law against sodomy, making its law based upon the Old Testament proscription in Leviticus.
1715 — An Oxford University student notes in his diary that sodomy was very common there. "It is dangerous sending a young man who is beautiful to Oxford."
1881 — Washington recognizes common-law crimes, making sodomy a crime.
1890 — The Montana Supreme Court affirms a sodomy conviction because the man convicted had not preserved his appeal, leaving the Court nothing to review.
1927 — A California appellate court upholds the sodomy conviction of a man after a private investigator hid under his bed to catch him in consensual sexual relations with his partner.
1978 — A Tennessee judge dismisses charges against four Gay men, claiming that the 1977 sexual assault reform law repealed the crime against nature law by implication.
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