Queers in History

Tuesday, 28 February 2012

February 28th in Queer History

Events this day in Queer History

1977 – Gaysweek first published in New York, USA
2007 – Equalised age of consent comes into force in Jersey, UK

Born this day

Vincente Minnelli  (1903 –  1986)
Stage and film director, famous for directing such classic movie musicals as Meet Me in St. Louis, The Band Wagon, and An American in Paris. He was married to Judy Garland from 1945 until 1951, with whom he was the father of Liza Minnelli.

Stephen Spender (1909 –  1995), UK
English poet, novelist and essayist who concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle in his work. Spender's sexuality has been the subject of debate. He had many affairs with men, especially in his earlier years, but later had heterosexual relationships and was twice married.

Tommy Tune (1939 – ), US
Actor, dancer, singer, theatre director, producer, and choreographer. Over the course of his career, he has won nine Tony Awards and the National Medal of Arts.

William Finn (1952 – ),  US
Composer and lyricist of musicals. His musical Falsettos received the 1992 Tony Awards for Best Music and Lyrics and for Best Book.

Rosie Mendez (1963 – ),  US
Democratic Party politician in New York. She is a member of the New York City Council from Manhattan.

Danielle Egnew (1969 – ), US
Singer / Actress

Died this day

Henry James – US / UK (1843 - 1916)
American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He is primarily known for the series of novels in which he portrays the encounter of Americans with Europe and Europeans.
Though closeted, Henry James had a number of intimate relations with young men, and his sexual orientation imbued his fiction.

Edmund John UK (1883 - 1917)
British poet of the Uranian school, a small and somewhat clandestine group of male pederastic poets Much of his work was condemned by critics for being overly decadent and unfashionable.

Stephen Tennant (1906 - 1987) UK
British aristocrat known for his decadent lifestyle. It is said, albeit apocryphally, that he spent most of his life in bed.

Rev Peter Gomes (1942 – 2011) US
Gay, Black, Baptist, Republican clergyman

Sodomy in history, February 28th

1799 — The Mississippi Territory’s first criminal code contains no mention either of sodomy or common-law crimes.

1894 — The Massachusetts Supreme Court rules that sodomy indictments do not have to be specific.

1994 — The Louisiana Supreme Court rules that solicitation for sodomy without an offer of compensation does not constitute an attempt to commit sodomy.

Sources:

Monday, 27 February 2012

"Eminent Outlaws: The GayWriters Who Changed America"

Book Review, at the Star Tribune:

NONFICTION: "Eminent Outlaws: The GayWriters Who Changed America,"

by Christopher Bram
Once World War II was over, there was no stopping gay writers from stepping out of the shadows.
It is remarkable to recall, as Christopher Bram does in "Eminent Outlaws," that 1948 saw publication of two overtly gay novels -- Gore Vidal's "The City and the Pillar" and Truman Capote's "Other Voices, Other Rooms." Capote's novel was "dazzling," said the Chicago Tribune, but Time magazine said his "theme is calculated to make the flesh crawl." Both books were bestsellers.
Bram, best known as a novelist ("Gods and Monsters"), gives an endlessly fascinating, first-of-its-kind account of about a dozen gay novelists, poets and playwrights, from Vidal and Tennessee Williams to Tony Kushner and Edmund White, each of whom had far-reaching impact over five postwar decades.
Even for those familiar with these writers, Bram's book serves an invaluable, connect-the-dots function. It's also an amiable, opinionated and occasionally gossipy guide to famous feuds, love affairs and literary treasures worth rediscovering.
-full review at StarTribune.com

In an interview with the Strib, Christopher Bram named his personal favourites by some of the authors discussed in Eminent Outlaws:

Edward Albee: "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"Hands down.
James Baldwin: "Another Country." In a way this is a post-gay novel. It has gay and straight characters and a sex scene between a gay man and a straight man. It's the mid-'60s and he's already writing a post-gay novel.
Christopher Isherwood: "Down There on A Visit." I love "A Single Man," but "Down There on a Visit" is even better. I love its scope.
Edmund White: "A Farewell Symphony." It has a wimpy last quarter, but it has great stuff before then.
Tennessee Williams: "A Streetcar Named Desire." The great American play, with a major gay episode in it.
Armistead Maupin: "The Night Listener"
Andrew Holleran: "Dancer from the Dance." It really holds up. It's now become a great historical novel of New York in the '70s.

Sunday, 26 February 2012

February 26th in Queer History

Born this day

Christopher Marlowe (1564 – 1593), UK
English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian,next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists and for the homoerotic situations and incidents which occur in his plays and poems more frequently and more variously that in any other major English Renaissance writer.

Two famous quotations attributed to him were "St John the Evangelist was bedfellow to Christ and leaned alwaies in his bosome, that he used him as the sinners of Sodoma" and "That all they that love not Tobacco & Boies were fooles". These may have been invented by his enemies, but they are in keeping with sentiments expressed or implies in his work.

Ferdinand I of Bulgaria (1861 – 1948), Bulgarian
Prince. Ferdinand's bisexuality was both well-known and exploited throughout European diplomatic circles. It became the custom for visiting dignataries seeking favour from Ferdinand to be accompanied by a handsome young equerry and Ferdinand's regular holidays on Capri, then a famous haunt for wealthy gay men, was common knowledge in royal courts throughout Europe.

Mabel Dodge Luhan (1879 – 1962), US
A wealthy American patron of the arts. She is particularly associated with the Taos art colony. She was actively bisexual during her early life and frankly details her passionate physical encounters with young women in her autobiography Intimate Memories

Christopher Gillis (1951 – 1993), Canadian
Dancer and choreographer and member of the Paul Taylor Dance Company.

Jerry Mills (1951 – 1993), US
Gay cartoonist, noted particularly for his creation of the "Poppers" comic strip. The strip told of the adventures of Billy, a West Hollywood muscleboy, and his sidekick Yves (based on Mills), a big-hearted nebbish who offered good advice and caution (usually unheeded) for his glamorous friend.

Andrew Olexander (1965 – ), Australian
Openly gay politician. He was an independent member of the Victorian Legislative Council, after being expelled from the parliamentary Liberal Party, following a drink driving incident.

Josephine Wiggs (1965 – ), UK
Indie/alternative rock musician, noted for her work with the bands The Perfect Disaster, The Breeders, and Dusty Trails.

Died this day

Constance Ford (1923 - 1993), US
Actress and model, best known for her long-running role as Ada Hobson on the daytime soap opera Another World.

Jose Quintero (1924 - 1999), Panamanian
Theatre director, producer and pedagogue best known for his interpretations of the works of Eugene O'Neill.

Sodomy in history, February 26th

1897 — An all-male house of prostitution is raided in Eureka, Utah. The owner and three prostitutes are arrested.

1915 — Nevada enacts a broadly worded vagrancy law that prohibits only males from being out late at night for purposes of lewd or dissolute conduct.

1943 — Oklahoma outlaws solicitation for a sexual act.

1955 — Wyoming raises the maximum penalty for sodomy from 5 years to 10 years.

1986 — The Oklahoma Court of Appeals rules that the state’s crime against nature law can not be constitutionally applied to people of the opposite sex, but makes no ruling on the same sex, since it was not at issue in the case.

Sources:

Saturday, 25 February 2012

February 25th in Queer History

Born this day

.Richard Wattis (1912 - 1975) UK

English character actor,best known for his appearances in British comedies of the 1950s and 1960s, typically as the "Man from the Ministry" or similar character, with trademark thick-rimmed round spectacles. He was an openly gay man in an era when this was a taboo subject.

Severo Sarduy (1937 – 1993), Cuban
Poet, author, playwright, and critic of Cuban literature and art. Along with José Lezama Lima, Virgilio Piñera, and Reinaldo Arenas, Sarduy is one of the most famous Cuban writers of the twentieth century; some of his works deal explicitly with male homosexuality and transvestism.
He died due to complications from AIDS just after finishing his autobiographical work Los pájaros de la playa.

John Saul (1942 – ) US
Author of suspense and horror novels. Most of his books have appeared on the New York Times Best Seller List. Saul, who is openly gay, lives with his partner of 32 years, who has collaborated on several of his novels.

Jorge Donn (1947 – 1992), Argentine
An internationally-known ballet dancer, he was best known for his work with the Maurice Béjart's Ballet company, and his participation as lead dancer in Claude Lelouch's film Les Uns et les Autres. He died of AIDS on 30 November 1992

Rodger McFarlane (1955 – 2009), US
Gay rights activist who served as the first paid executive director of the Gay Men's Health Crisis and later served in leadership positions with Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Bailey House and the Gill Foundation.

Died this day

Mario de Andrade (1893 - 1945 ), Brazilian
Poet, novelist, musicologist, art historian and critic, and photographer. One of the founders of Brazilian modernism, he virtually created modern Brazilian poetry with the publication of his Paulicéia Desvairada (Hallucinated City) in 1922.

Tennessee Williams (1911 - 1983), US
Writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater, but also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs. Williams won a Tony Award for best play for The Rose Tattoo (1951) and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for A Streetcar Named Desire (1948) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955). He is today acknowledged as one of the most accomplished playwrights in the history of English speaking theater.
After some early attempts at heterosexual relationships, by the late 1930s Williams had accepted his homosexuality. However, he wrote directly about homosexuality only in his short stories, his poetry, and his late plays.

James Coco (1930 - 1987), US
Character actor, who won awards for his work on Broadway, television and film

Sodomy in history, February 25th

1784 — Georgia passes a new law adopting English statutes and common law. A survey of what statutes had been adopted by this law revealed that it did not include the buggery statute, making sodomy legal in Georgia.

1914 — The North Carolina Supreme Court rules that fellatio violates the state’s "crime against nature" law.

1976 — Indiana passes a new criminal code that repeals its sodomy law.

1983 — The Rhode Island Supreme Court rules that the enactment of a comprehensive sexual assault reform law did not impliedly repeal the crime against nature law.

Sources:

Friday, 24 February 2012

February 24th in Queer History

Born this day

Marjorie Main (1890 – 1975) US
Character actress, mainly at MGM, perhaps best known for her role as Ma Kettle in a series of ten Ma and Pa Kettle movies. Although she was married (to Stanley LeFevre Krebs, who died in 1935), three authors, Boze Hadleigh, Axel Madsen, and Darwin Porter, have asserted that Main was a lesbian.According to Keith Stern and Boze Hadleigh, Marjorie Main had a long-term lesbian relationship with actress Spring Byington.

Doric Wilson (1939 – ) US
Playwright, director, producer, critic and gay rights activist. A veteran of the anti-war and civil rights demonstrations of the early 1960s-mid 1970s, Wilson was a participant in the Stonewall Riots (1969) and became active in the early days of the New York Gay Liberation movement as a member of GAA (Gay Activist Alliance). He supported his theatrical endeavors by becoming a "star" bartender and manager of the post-Stonewall gay bar scene, opening such landmark institutions as The Spike, TY's and Brothers & Sisters Cabaret. In 2004, Wilson was named a Grand Marshal of the 35th Anniversary Pride Day Parade in New York City. He was featured in the documentary Stonewall Uprising (2010) by Kate Davis and David Heilbroner.
In 1974, Wilson (with Billy Blackwell, Peter del Valle and John McSpadden) formed TOSOS (The Other Side of Silence), the first professional theatre company to deal openly and honestly with the gay experience.

Tony Holiday (1951 – 1990) German
Born Rolf Peter Knigge, Holiday was a German pop singer and songwriter, who died of AIDS on Valentines Day, 1990 at the age 38.

Judith Butler (1956 – )  US
Post-structuralist philosopher, who has contributed to the fields of feminism, queer theory, political philosophy, and ethics. In the field of gender and sexuality, she is best known for her landmark book Gender Trouble, first published in 1990,in which she describes gender not as fixed and given, but as a social construct - as "performance". The book, which sold over 100,000 copies internationally and in different languages, has since had a formative influence on the later development of queer theory, and on related fields, including queer theology.
Butler currently lives with her partner, the political scientist Wendy Brown.

Jennie Livingston (1962 – )  US
Film director best known for the 1990 documentary about the New York gay and transgender Black and Latino ball culture, "Paris is Burning".

Laurent Ruquier (1963 – ) French
A popular French journalist, satirical comedian, and TV and radio host. He is also a columnist, lyricist, author, screenwriter, and impresario.

Nitzan Horowitz  (1965 –  ) Israeli
journalist and politician. He was the Foreign Affairs commentator and head of the International desk at News 10, the news division of Channel 10, before being elected to the Knesset on the New Movement-Meretz list in 2009. Horowitz then became the second openly gay Knesset member in Israeli history.

Jolie Justus (1971 – ) US
Lawyer and politician from Missouri. A Democrat, she is a member of the Missouri State Senate, after being elected in 2006. She is the first openly gay member of the Missouri Senate and only the third ever publicly gay member of the Missouri General Assembly. In 2009, Senator Justus was named to The Advocate's "Forty Under 40" list, a list of forty young leaders of the LGBT community.[
She married Shonda Garrison in Iowa in 2009, when that state legalized same-sex marriage.

Ashley MacIsaac (1975 – ) Canadian
Professional fiddler and actor from Cape Breton Island,noted for his rock-star bravado and eccentricities.
In 1996, in a Maclean's interview, he claimed that he had discussed his sexual life, including his underaged boyfriend in an interview with the LGBT newsmagazine The Advocate.[11] The Advocate did not print any of the material

Jose Galisteo Spanish
Singer / Musician / Actor / Reality TV [Operacion Triunfo]

Gwen Araujo (2002 - 1985 ) US
Pre-operative teenage transwoman, murdered in a hate crime killing in Newark, California, in October 2002.

Died this day

Malcolm Forbes (1919 - 1990) US
Publisher of Forbes magazine, founded by his father B. C. Forbes and today run by his son Steve Forbes. During life, he was noted for his opulent and lavish lifestyle, but kept his sexuality secret. After his death in 1990, OutWeek magazine published a story with the cover headline "The Secret Gay Life of Malcolm Forbes," by Michelangelo Signorile, which outed Forbes as a gay man.Signorile was critical of the media for helping Forbes publicize many aspects of his life while keeping his homosexuality a secret.

Johnnie Ray (1927 - 1990) US
Singer, songwriter, and pianist. Popular for most of the 1950s, Ray has been cited by critics as a major precursor of what would become rock and roll, for his jazz and blues-influenced music and his animated stage personality.
Ray was arrested twice for soliciting men for sex, in 1951 in the restroom of the Stone Theatre burlesque house in Detroit, and in 1959, also in Detroit, for soliciting an undercover officer in a bar called the Brass Rail.

Sodomy in history, February 24th

1863 — The Arizona Territory receives the laws of New Mexico, which includes its common-law reception statute, making sodomy a crime punishable by life imprisonment.

1938 — A California appellate court upholds an oral copulation conviction of a man in a hotel after naval investigators listened in and heard his bed squeaking.

1975 — The Louisiana Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of that state’s sodomy law.

Sources:

Thursday, 23 February 2012

February 23rd in Queer History

Events this day in Queer History

2009 – The Colorado House approves a domestic partner benefits bill that would make it easier for unmarried couples (including LGBT) to make medical decisions for incapacitated partners and leave property to their partners [or 24th February 2009]

Born this day

Robin Wood (1931 – 2009) UK / Canadian

Canada-based film critic and educator.
In September 1974, Wood and his wife divorced. Around this time, he also had a relationship with John Anderson, the dedicatee in at least one of Wood's books. Later he was to meet Richard Lippe, with whom he lived from 1977 until his death in 2009.
After his coming out as a gay man, Wood's writings became more political, primarily from a stance associated with Marxist and Freudian thinking, and with gay rights.

Sugar Lee Hooper (1948 – 2010) Dutch
Stage name of Marja van der Toorn, a Dutch singer and television personality, known for her forthright presentation, shaven head and brightly colored dresses. In 1988, she formed a registered partnership with Andrea van der Kaap. In 2001,the pair converted the partnership into full marriage under the new Dutch law - the first Dutch entertainer to do so.

Glen Maxey (1952 – )  US
Politician from Austin, Texas, who was the first openly gay member of the Texas Legislature.

Mary Glasspool  (1954 –  ) US
Suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Los Angeles in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. She is the first open lesbian to be consecrated a bishop in the Anglican Communion.

Michael Hardwick (1954 –  1991) US
Barman / Activist

Karin Wolff (1959 – )  German
Politician and vice-president of the German state of Hesse, for the conservative Christian Democratic Union. Her academic training and early professional career was in history and evangelical theology, and she remains active in religion. She is a member of the Synod of the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau (EKHN), and of the Board of Education of the Evangelical Church in Germany.
In July 2007 she came out publicly, and lives in an openly lesbian relationship in Darmstadt.

Olivier Ducastel (1962 – )  French
Film director, screenwriter and sound editor who currently works in collaboration with his professional and personal partner Jacques Martineau.

Vaginal Davis (1969 – )  US
Genderqueer performing artist, painter, independent curator, composer, and writer. Davis's name is a homage to activist Angela Davis.

Michael Ausiello (1972 – )  US
Television industry journalist and actor.

Died this day

William Bonin (1947 - 1996 ) US
Serial killer and a twice-paroled sex offender, also known as the Freeway Killer, a nickname he shares with two other serial killers. Between 1979 and 1980, Bonin tortured, raped and killed a minimum of 21 boys and young men, and is suspected of committing a further fifteen murders. Bonin was convicted and eventually executed in 1996 for 14 of these murders.

Tuulikki Pietila (1917 - 2009) Finnish
Graphic artist and professor, one of the most influential people in Finnish graphic arts, whose work has been shown in numerous art exhibitions.

Scott Symons (1933 -2009) Canadian
Author, who wrote two novels with homoerotic themes before leaving Canada to live in Morocco.
He was openly gay at a time when this was very difficult, publishing his first novel, Place d'Armes, which dealt directly with homosexuality, two years before gay sex was decriminalized in Canada.

Sodomy in history, February 23rd

1921 — The Washington Supreme Court denies the right of defendants in sodomy cases to challenge the morality of the prosecuting witness.

1966 — The Maine Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of the state’s sodomy law, but overturns the conviction of an openly Gay man because of prejudicial remarks of the prosecutor.

1966 — The Louisiana Supreme Court upholds a sodomy conviction even though a witness not connected to the case was permitted to testify.

1983 — The New York Court of Appeals strikes down the state’s loitering law in a case brought by a Gay man.

1989 — A Michigan appellate court overturns a gross indecency charge against a man for fondling an undercover police officer’s clothed crotch area and refuses to follow case law in the state by limiting the scope of the law to nonconsensual acts.

Sources:

Wednesday, 22 February 2012

February 22nd in Queer History

Born this day

Edna St Vincent Millay (1892 –  1950) US
Poet / Playwright

Jane Bowles  (1917 –  1973) US
Author / Playwright, who married the writer Paul Bowles.  It was an unconventional marriage: their intimate relationships were with people of their own sex, but they maintained close ties to each other

Kenneth Williams  (1926 –  1988) UK
Actor / Comedian

Joanna Russ  (1937 – ) US
Author

Barry Dennen  (1938 –  ) Actor / Singer / Author

Pierre Vallieres ( 1938 – 1998) Canadian
Journalist / Author / Publisher

Billy Name  (1940 –  ) US
Photographer

Ed Savitz  (1942 –  1993) US
Businessman

Felice Picano (1944 – )   US
Author / Poet / Critic / Playwright / Publisher

Karla Jay (1947 – ) US
Professor / Author / Activist

Didier Lestrade (1958 – )   French
Activist / Author / Publisher

Gigi Fernandez  (1964 –  )Puerto Rican / US
Tennis

Brian Greig  (1966 –  ) Australian
Politician

Aiden Shaw  (1966 –  ) UK
Porn / Poet

Hans Klok  (1969 –  ) Dutch
Illusionist / Actor

Melissa York  (1969 –  ) US
Musician

Drew Barrymore  (1975 –  ) US
Actress / Director

Died this day

Sara Josephine Baker (1873 - 1945 )US
Author

Andy Warhol (1928 - 1987 ) US
Painter / Printmaker / Photographer / Director

Glenway Wescott (1901 - 1987 ) US
Author

Elliott Hayes (1956 - 1994 ) Canadian
Playwright

Gisberta Salce Jr (?? - 2006 ) Brazilian
Homeless Murder Victim

Fr Robert Carter (1927/8 - 2010) US
Priest and Gay Activist

Sodomy in history, February

1861 — North Carolina amends its sodomy law to eliminate the need to prove emission of semen, but retains the death penalty.

1972 — The Missouri Supreme Court upholds that state’s sodomy law.

1973 — The California Supreme Court overturns public restroom sodomy convictions because of police surveillance from above in a doorless stall.

Sources:

Tuesday, 21 February 2012

February 21st in Queer History

Born this day

Anais Nin  (1903 –  1977) French
Author

W. H. Auden (1907 –  1973) UK / US
Poet

Humphry Berkeley (1926 –  1994) UK
Politician

Barbara Jordan  (1936 – 1996)  US
Politician, who gained national attention for her intelligence, acumen, and oratorical skill as a member of the United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee during hearings on the articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon over the Watergate scandal. In her career as a legislator and educator she was a vigorous proponent of equal rights, especially for African Americans and women. A deeply closeted lesbian, she did not, however, speak out for the cause of glbtq rights.

Keith Prentice  (1940 –  1992) US
Actor

Sam Garrison  (1942 –  2007) US
Lawyer / Activist

David Geffen  (1943 – ) US
Legendary music promoter, film producer, entertainment business mogul and philanthropist.

Peter Hitchener  (1946 –  ) Australian
Presenter

Phil Reed  (1949 –  2008) US
Politician

Isaac Julien  (1960 – ) UK
Artist / Director

Chuck Palahnuik (1962  – ) US
Author / Journalist

Jenny Hiloudaki (1968 – ) Greek
Model / Author

Ramy Eletreby  (1981 – ) US
Actor / Journalist

Died this day

Harriet Hosmer (1830 - 1908 ) US
Sculptor

Sodomy in history, February 21st

1788 — New York amends its sodomy law to also require the forfeiture of estate of convicted sodomites.

1903 — New York City police raid the Ariston baths and arrest 26 men for sexual activity (the first recorded raid on a US gay bathhouse). 7 later sentenced to between 4 and 20 years imprisonment. The others in the place are released with a warning and made to leave the building passing through a jeering crowd that had gathered.

1947 — A New York court upholds the conviction of a man for public indecency for sending a young man a letter stating his desire to fuck him. A month later, another court frees him because there was actually no law against what he did.

1963 — American Samoa passes a sodomy law, basing it on the Georgia law, so that two women can not be prosecuted under it.

1963 — The District of Columbia Court of Appeals upholds another solicitation conviction of a man with the corroborating evidence that he had put forth no character witnesses for himself.

1975 — The Washington Court of Appeals rejects a defendant’s contention that fellatio was not a violation of the state’s sodomy law.

Sources:

Monday, 20 February 2012

February 20th in Queer History

Born this day

William Lygon  (1872 –   1938) UK
Politician

Baron Jacques D’Adelsward-Fersen  (1880 –  1923) French
Author / Poet / Aristocrat

Robert Andrews  (1895 –  1976) UK
Actor

Roy Cohn  (1927 –  1986) US
Lawyer / Politician

Dr Joel Weisman  (1943 –  2009)  US
Physician

Torstein Dahle  (1947 –  ) Norwegian
Politician

Andre van Duin  (1947 – ) Dutch
Actor / Singer

Lord John Browne  (1948 –  ) UK
Businessman

Mab Segrest  (1949 –  ) US
Poet / Activist

Gaetan Dugas  (1953 – 1984 ) Canadian
Flight Attendant [Alleged to be Patient Zero in the AIDS epidemic]

Philip Hensher  (1965 –  ) UK
Journalist / Author

Stephen Gendin  (1966 –  2000) US
Author / Activist

Stuart Miles  (1970 –  ) UK
Presenter

Calpernia Addams  (1971 –  ) US
Author / Activist / Actress / Musician

Aditya Bondyopadhyay  (1972 –  ) Indian
Lawyer / Activist

Jeremy Jordan  (1978 –  ) Canadian / US
Porn

Adrian Lamo  (1981 – ) US
Journalist

Died this day

Laurence Housman ( 1865 - 1959) UK
Playwright / Author / Illustrator

Anthony Asquith (1902 - 1968) UK Director

John Paul Hudson (1929 - 2002 ) US Activist / Journalist

Marcella Althaus-Reid (? - 2009 ) Argentinian
Theologian, who applied the principles of the liberation theology she she applied in Argentina under the military theology, to sexual liberation and feminist theology. She was a pioneer in the development of queer theology, best known for her landmark books "Indecent Theology" and "The Queer God".

Jason Wood (1972 -2010) UK
Singer / Drag Queen [Cher Travesty]

Sodomy in history, February 20th

1775 — In Frisia, the Netherlands, two teenage servants are banished for three years for "toleration of sodomy."

1852 — Delaware eliminates the flogging penalty for sodomy and substitutes time in the pillory before imprisonment.

1939 — The Indiana Supreme Court rejects the contention of a man and woman convicted of sodomy that oral sex only between people of the same sex is sodomy.

1959 — The Idaho Supreme Court upholds the sodomy conviction of Gordon Larsen, one of the Boise victims, despite inflammatory remarks by prosecutors at his trial. The U.S. Supreme Court refuses to review the decision.

1973 — The District of Columbia Court of Appeals rejects a First Amendment challenge to Gay men soliciting for sex.

1974 — A California appellate court rejects a challenge to the constitutionality of the state’s oral copulation law.

Sources:

Sunday, 19 February 2012

February 19th in Queer History

Events this day in Queer History

2009 – North Dakota Senate votes to include LGBT in the Human Rights Act
2010 – Football V Homophobia launches in the UK

Born this day

F. O. Matthiessen  (1902 – 1950) US
Historian / Literary Critic

Carson McCullers  (1917 –  1967 ) US
Author / Playwright

George Rose  (1920 – 1988) UK
Actor / Murder Victim

Dudley Cave (1921 –  1999) UK
Activist

Sheila Kuehl (1941 - ), US
California state legilator

Stuart Challender  (1947 –  1991) Australian
Conductor

Jackie Curtis  (1947 –   1985) US
Actress / Poet / Playwright

Pim Fortuyn  (1948 –   2002)
Dutch Politician

Lari Pittman  (1952 –  ) US
Artist

Stephen F Kolzak (1953 - 1990) US
Director

Justin Fashanu  (1959/61 - 1998)  UK
Footballer who was known by his early clubs to be gay, and came out to the press later in his career, to become the first and only English professional footballer to be openly homosexual. Until former France international Olivier Rouyer came out in 2008, Fashanu was still the only professional footballer in the world to disclose that he was gay. Fashanu hanged himself in May 1998,at a time when he was wanted in the United States on charges of sexually assaulting a teenager in Maryland. In his suicide note, he insisted that the sex had been consensual.
Since his death, he has been frequently held up as a role model, to encourage other sporting figures to come out publicly.



Jaime Bayly  (1965 – ) Peruvian / US
Author / Journalist / Presenter

Dallas Angguish  (1968 – ) Australian
Author / Poet

Beth Ditto  (1981 –  ) US
Singer

Died this day

Andre Gide (1869 - 1951) French
Author

Suzanne Malherbe (1892 - 1972) French
Artist

Eric Stryker (1954 - 1988) US
Porn

Derek Jarman (1942 - 1994) UK
Director / Screenwriter

Charles Trenet (1913 - 2001) French
Singer / Author

Sylvia Rivera (1951 - 2002 ) US
Activist

Sodomy in history, February 19th

1821 — Maine enacts a new sodomy law. It retains the male-only provision of the Massachusetts statute, but sets a one-year minimum penalty.

1926 — A California appellate court upholds a sodomy conviction based on photographs without any relationship to the case found in the defendant’s vest.

Sources:

Saturday, 18 February 2012

February 18th in Queer History

Born this day

Tuulikki Pietila (1917 –   2009) Finnish
Artist

David March (1925 – 1999) UK
Actor

Ned Sherrin  (1931 –  2007) UK
Presenter / Author / Director

Duane Michals  (1932 – ) US
Photographer

Audre Lorde  (1934 –  1992) US
Author / Poet / Activist

David Ehrenstein  (1947 –  ) US
Film Critic / Journalist / Author / Blogger

Margaret Smith  (1961 – ) UK
Politician

Christopher Sieber  (1969 –  ) US
Actor / Singer

Ben Harvey  (1979 – ) US
Presenter

Died this day

Michelangelo (1475 - 1564 ) Italian
Sculptor / Painter / Architect / Poet / Engineer

Charlotte Cushman (1816 - 1876 ) US
Actress / Singer / Playwright / Director

Scott O’Hara (1961 - 1998 ) US
Porn / Poet / Editor / Publisher / Author

Laurel Hester (1956 - 2006) US
Police Officer

Barbara Gittings (1932 - 2007) US
Activist

A prominent American activist for gay equality. She organized the New York chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) from 1958 to 1963, edited the national DOB magazine The Ladder from 1963 to 1966, and worked closely with Frank Kameny in the 1960s on the first picket lines that brought attention to the ban on employment of gay people by the largest employer in the US at that time: the United States government.

Sodomy in history, February

1854 — Alabama is the first state in the nation to make conviction of the "crime against nature" a specific grounds for divorce.

1893 — The Washington Supreme Court notes that Washington has no sodomy law, even though it is indictable under the common-law statute.

1930 — The Iowa Supreme Court upholds a sodomy conviction despite "conflict and contradictions" in the testimony.

1937 — Vermont outlaws oral sex, which the statute calls "fellation."

1957 — The Arkansas Supreme Court upholds the sodomy conviction of a man committed on a blind boy of borderline intelligence, after the trial judge determined him competent to testify because "he believes in God" and had the Bible read to him.

Sources:

Friday, 17 February 2012

February 17th in Queer History

Born this day

Arcangelo Corelli (1653 – 1713) Italian
Composer / Violinist

Friedrich Alfred Krupp (1854 - 1902), German.
German industrialist, of the Krupp steel manufacturing 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.

Oskar Seidlin (1911 - 1984) US

Poet / Author

Sir Alan Bates (1934 - 2003) UK

Actor, who came to prominence in the 1960s, a time of high creativity in British cinema, when he appeared in films ranging from the popular children’s story Whistle Down the Wind to the "kitchen sink" drama A Kind of Loving. He is also known for his performance with Anthony Quinn in Zorba the Greek, as well as his roles in King of Hearts, Georgy Girl, Far From the Madding Crowd, and The Fixer, which gave him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. In 1969, he starred in the Ken Russell film Women in Love with Oliver Reed and Glenda Jackson, with a renowned fireside naked wrestling scene with Oliver Reed.

Although he was married to Victoria Ward from 1970 until her death from a wasting disease in 1992, Bates had numerous homosexual relationships throughout his life, including those with actors Nickolas Grace and Peter Wyngarde, and Olympic skater John Curry. In 1994 Curry died from AIDS in Bates's arms.

Claudia Schoppmann  (1958 – ) German
Historian / Author

Angela Eagle (1961 –  ) UK
Politician

Cheryl Jacques  (1962 –  ) US
Politician / Activist

Peterson Toscano  (1965 – ) US
Playwright / Actor / Blogger / Comedian / Activist / Minister

Peter Karlsson  (1966 –   1995) Swedish Ice Hockey

Billie Joe Armstrong  (1972 – ) US
Singer / Musician

Antton Harri  (1974 –  ) Spanish
Porn

Harisu  (1975 –  ) South Korean
Singer / Model / Actress

Eric Magyar (1975/6 – ??)
Porn / Director

Died this day

Jack Cole (1911 - 1974) US
Dancer / Choreographer

Randy Shilts (1951 - 1994 ) US
Author / Journalist

Sybille Bedford (1911 - 2006) UK
Author

Sodomy in history, February 17th

1755 — Georgia enacts a law making it a crime to deny that Georgian laws are in force, thus showing that English laws are not recognized. Since Georgia has no sodomy law, this shows that the English sodomy law was not considered in force.

1905 — In Ohio, a man is sent to the State Reformatory for sodomy even though the records state that he "proved" his absence from the crime scene. He spends two years in the Reformatory.

1923 — Utah amends its sodomy law to outlaw oral sex and to increase the penalty to 3-20 years.

1950 — Georgia repeals its ban on probation for sodomy.

Sources:

Thursday, 16 February 2012

February 16th in Queer History

Born this day

Katharine Cornell (1893 –  1974) US
Actress

John Schlesinger (1926 –   2003)
US Actor / Director

Paul Bailey  (1937 –  ) UK
Author

John Corigliano (1938 –  ) US
Composer

Steve Kmetko  (1953 – ) US
Presenter

John Balance  (1962 – ) UK
Musician

Truong Tan  (1963 – ) Vietnamese
Artist

Michele Clarke  (1973 – ) Trinidad & Tobago / Canadian
Director / Author

Aaron Tanner  (1973/75 – ) US
Porn

John Tartaglia  (1978 –  ) US
Actor / Puppeteer / Singer

Cameron Jackson  (1986 – ) Czech
Porn

Died this day

Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden (1856 - 1931)  German
Photographer

Keith Haring  (1958 - 1990 )  US
Artist and social activist whose work responded to the New York City street culture of the 1980s.

Karlien Carstens  (? - 2005 )Namibian
Murder Victim

Aycan Yener (?? – 2010 )Turkish
Hate Crime Victim

Sodomy in history, February 16th

1843 — The Iowa Territory passes its own criminal code and makes no reference to sodomy or common-law crimes, keeping it legal.

1923 — The Wisconsin Attorney General issues an opinion that any person convicted of sodomy can have a professional license taken away.

1945 — The District of Columbia Court of Appeals upholds an "indecent assault" conviction in a case of consensual sex in the absence of a sodomy law.

1951 — The District of Columbia Court of Appeals upholds a solicitation conviction and rejects the argument that the defendant could not be guilty because of his honorable discharge from the military.

1968 — The Maine Supreme Court upholds a sodomy conviction even though there are doubts as to the truthfulness of the accusations.

1972 — The Maryland Court of Special Appeals rules that the state’s sodomy law applies to married couples.

Sources:

Wednesday, 15 February 2012

February 15th in Queer History

Born this day

Cesar Romero (1907 –  1994) US
Film and television actor who was active in film, radio, and television for almost sixty years. His wide range of screen roles included Latin lovers, historical figures in costume dramas, characters in light domestic comedies, and as The Joker in television's Batman series.

Herman Meijer  (1947 –  ) Dutch
Fprmer politician for the Dutch Greens, he is a graduate architect and urban planner. He has been active politically for the student movement, as a gay activist, and for peace - and anti- racism committees. He was also one of the founders of the movement Christians for Socialism .

Bill T Jones (1952 – ) US
Artistic director, choreographer and dancer. who has twice won Tony awards for best choreogaphy: in 2007 for "Spring Awakening", and in 2010 for Fela!

Ernesto Scorsone  (1952 – ) US
Politician, lawyer, and judge from Kentucky. A Democrat, he was appointed to the Fayette County Circuit Court in 2008 by Governor Steve Beshear, and later elected to a six-year term on the court. Previously, he had been a member of the Kentucky State Senate

Edwin Cameron (1953 – ) South African
Judge, serving on South Africa's Constitutional Court. Cameron served as a Supreme Court of Appeal judge from 2000 to 2008. He was the first senior South African official to state publicly that he was living with HIV/AIDS. Before his appointment to the bench, he practiced as a human rights lawyer, and has been prominently involved in numerous important court cases affecting LGBT rights and equality, and has won numerous awards, in South African and internationally.
Cameron has also co-authored a number of books, including "Defiant Desire – Gay and Lesbian Lives in South Africa" (with Mark Gevisser).

Mikey Craig (1960 – ) UK
Former DJ who became the bassist with Culture Club, one of the most popular bands of the 1980s.

Titti de Simone (1970 – ) Italian
Journalist and politician, who was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies (the lower house of the Italian parliament) in 2001, and in 2006 was elected secretary to the President of the Chamber.

She is president of the Sicily Queer Filmfest.

Miranda July (1974 – ) US
Performance artist, writer, actress and film director. Born Miranda Jennifer Grossinger,[1] she works under the surname of "July,"

Died this day

Henry Brandon (1912 - 1990 ) German / US
A character actor in over 100 films, famous for playing Indian, Arab, Persian, Turkish, Native American and East Asian roles, usually villains.

Frans Kellendonk (1951 – 1990) Dutch

Professor of English language and literature in the Netherlands. He was also a novelist, who won the Ferdinand Bordewijk Prijs in 1987 for his novel Mystiek lichaam. This work attracted criticism in gay circles for its alleged homophobia, but Kellendonk was himself gay, and died of complications following AIDS a month after his 39th birthday

Arturo Islas (1938 - 1991) US
Professor of English and a novelist, writing about the experience of Chicano cultural duality. Islas died on February 15, 1991 from complications related to AIDS.

Victor Kovyl (???? - 2002 ) Belarusian
Hate Crime Victim. On 15 February 2002 34 year old accountant Victor Kovyl was found dead in his parents’ flat. He was openly gay both at work and in public. The police refused to give the details of the murder to Kovyl’s partner Alexander and one of the members of the police said to him: “It serves you right, sodomites (faggots)!”.

Yardena Marsh (?? - 2006) Israeli
Transgender Murder Victim

Sodomy in history, February

1839 — Mississippi passes a sodomy law, doing away with its reliance on the common law to prosecute it. The penalty is set at a maximum of 10 years in prison.

1858 — A proposed new criminal code for the District of Columbia, which includes a sodomy law with a penalty of 2-10 years, is defeated 73%-27% by District voters.

1893 — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, in the first such case in the United States, rules that fellatio is not a "crime against nature."

1913 — The Idaho Supreme Court rules that the state’s sodomy law, with no maximum penalty established, permits a sentence of life imprisonment.

1967 — The District of Columbia Court of Appeals rules that police do not have to detain potential defense witnesses in public restrooms when they arrest people for solicitation therein.

Sources:

Tuesday, 14 February 2012

February 14th in Queer History

Valentine's Day

Some Same-Sex Lovers in Church History.

Born this day

Kevyn Aucoin (1962 – 2002) US
Make-up artist and photographer. As a child, he used to frequently did his sisters' makeup and photographed the results. After dropping out of high school as a result of continuous bullying, he enrolled in beauty school, hoping to learn more about applying make-up - but ended up teaching the class instead.
He later moved to New York, where he was did several photo shoots and covers for Vogue and Cosmopolitan, and then worked for Revlon and the Japanese cosmetics giant Shiseido.

Karen Dior (1967 – 2004) US
Transgender adult film performer, director, and singer, best known as a pioneer in popularizing adult films involving transsexual people.

M. C. Brennan (1969 – ) US
Rock vocalist, screenwriter and filmmaker.

Angela Robinson (1971 – ) US
Film and television director, screenwriter and producer. She is married to fellow television writer and director Alexandra Kondracke

Lisa-Marie Vizaniari (1971 – ) Australian
Retired Australian discus thrower, who competed in the Olympics in 1996 and 2000, in the World Championships in 1997 and in the Commonwealth Games in 1990,1994, 1998

Rie Rasmussen (1978 – ) Danish
Actress, film director, writer, and photographer.

Seany O’Kane (1982 – ) UK
Reality TV [Big Brother]

Milo & Elijah Peters (1990 – ) Czech
Porn twins

Died this day

Tony Holiday (1951 - 1990 ) German
Pop singer and songwriter. He led a clandestine homosexual lifestyle,and died on Valentines Day, 1990 of AIDS at the age 38

Dick Martin (1927 - 1990 ) US
Artist who illustrated a number of books related to The Oz books series.In addition to books, he designed greeting cards, post cards, and posters.

Don Slater (1923 - 1997 ) US
An early leader in the struggle for glbtq rights. He was the founder of the early gay magazine ONE,and also an activist for several gay causes in Los Angeles.

Joel Dorius (1919 - 2006 ) US
One of three gay professors of literature caught in a pornography scandal and forced out by Smith College in 1960 only to be exonerated in a celebrated case of sexual McCarthyism

Sodomy in history, February 14th

1635 — Two men are charged with sodomy in New Hampshire, but are not prosecuted, because it was not thought "fit" to try them there.

1787 — New York, which has been operating under the English sodomy statute for nearly a century, passes its own law, retaining the death penalty.

1902 — A New York appellate court overturns the sodomy conviction of a man for sex with a teenager of limited mentality whose father coached him in what to say in trial.

1963 — The Washington Supreme Court upholds a sodomy conviction after the "victim" was asked leading questions in the trial.

1973 — An Oklahoma appellate court upholds a sentence of 15 years in prison for consensual sodomy.

1975 — Virginia passes a new criminal code, keeps consensual sodomy as a felony, and increases the maximum penalty from three to five years.

Sources:

Monday, 13 February 2012

February 13th in Queer History

Born this day

Leontine Sagan (1889 – 1974) Austrian
Actress / Director

Bibiana Fernandez (1954 – ) Spanish
Actress / Model

Pia Sundhage (1960 – ) Swedish
Footballer / Coach

Mark Patton (1964 – ) US
Actor

Nick Verreos (1967 – ) US
Reality TV [Project: Runway] / Fashion Designer

Billy Masters (1969 – ) US
Gossip Columnist

Joe Phillips (1969 – ) US
Comic Book Artist & Writer

Saint's Day:

Polyeuct (and Nearchus)

Both were Roman soldiers and lovers, honoured by the Christian Church as saints and martyrs, under the Diocletian persecution of Christians. Nearchos was Christian, Polyeuct was not. When it became clear that Nearchos would be executed for his beliefs, Polyeuct insisted on converting so that he too, could be martyred, and so would not be separated from his lover in the afterlife.

Died this day

Benvenuto Cellini (1500 - 1571) Italian
Painter / Sculptor / Soldier / Musician / Author

Bruce Voeller (1934 - 1994 ) US Biologist

Lawrence “Larry” King (1993 - 2008) US
Hate Crime Victim

Sodomy in history, February

1812 — The U.S. Supreme Court rules that there are no common-law crimes against the federal government. Since there is no federal sodomy law, this guarantees that there can be no federal sodomy prosecutions.

1953 — The New Mexico Supreme Court rules that the state’s "crime against nature" law does not prohibit fellatio, which it calls "baser than the practices of pagans." In its opinion, the Court drafts a model law to cover such practices, recommending its adoption by the state legislature.

Sources:

Sunday, 12 February 2012

February 12th in Queer Hisory

Events this day in Queer History

1999 – First National Freedom to Marry Day in the USA (then held annually on this date)
2009 – Hungarian government approve a new registered partnership bill giving the same rights as marriage except in adoption and taking the same surname
2009 – Civil Union Bill passed in Hawaii, USA

Born this day

Philip, Prince of Eulenburg (1847 – 1921) German
Politician

Robert Boothby, Baron Boothby (1900 – 1986) UK
Politician

Franco Zeffirelli (1923 – ) Italian
Director

Andy Milligan (1929 – 1991) US
Playwright / Screenwriter / Actor / Editor / Producer / Director

Paul Shenar (1936 – 1989) US
Actor

John Blankenstein (? - 2006) Dutch
Football Referee

Patrick Quinn  (1950 –   2006) US
Actor

Frans Mulder (1953 – )  Dutch
Actor / Singer / Comedian

Chad Johnson  (1960/2 – )US
Porn / Hairdresser

Lourdes Perez  (1961 –  ) Puerto Rican
Singer / Songwriter / Musician / Composer / Poet

Jacqueline Woodson  (1963/4 –  ) US
Author

Saint's Day:

St Mary /Marinos of Alexandria (? - July 19th 508), Lebanon / Egypt
Ttransman, monk and Christian saint.

Died this day

Olive Custance (1874 - 1944 ) UK
Poet

Sal Mineo (1939 - 1976 ) US
Actor / Murder Victim

Muriel Rukeyser (1913 - 1980) US
Poet and political activist, best known for her poems about equality, feminism, social justice, and Judaism. Her poetry, which breaks the silence of many aspects of female experience, has been enormously important to many feminist and lesbian readers.

Details of Rukeyser's personal life remain a matter of speculation. However, in 1978, she accepted an invitation to participate in a Lesbian Poetry Reading at the annual conference of the Modern Language Association

Peggy Gilbert (1905 - 2007) US
Musician / Band Leader

Randy Stone (1958 - 2007) US
Actor / Casting Director / Producer

Sodomy in history, February

1951 — The Missouri Supreme Court rules that consent is no defense to a charge of sodomy.

1992 — The Oregon Court of Appeals rules that the state’s public indecency law preempts local ones and that, under the controlling state law, public nudity must be for purposes of sexual gratification in order to trigger a violation.

1999 — The Montana House defeats a bill to remove the invalidated sodomy law from the books on a 50-50 tie.

Sources:

Saturday, 11 February 2012

February 11th in Queer History

Born this day

John Wallowitch  (1926 –  2007) US
Singer

Pratibha Parmar  (1955 –  ) UK
Director / Producer / Author

Tammy Baldwin  (1962 –  )
US Politician

Aubrey O’Day (1984 –  ) US
Reality TV [Making the Band]/ Singer / Actress / Songwriter / Fashion Designer

Died this day

Lori Shannon (1938 - 1984 )US
Drag Queen

George Hopkins (1896 - 1985 ) US
Set Designer

Mark Ashton (1961 - 1987) UK
Activist

Bernard Price (1925 - 2000) UK
Actor

Alexander McQueen (1969 - 2010 ) UK
Fashion Designer

Sodomy in history, February 11th

1779 — Vermont adopts English common law, making sodomy a capital crime.

1860 — Texas passes a sodomy law, going off the common-law crimes statute. The new penalty is 2-15 years.

1958 — A New York appellate court overturns the disorderly conduct conviction of a man because there was absolutely no proof that he had loitered or solicited.

1963 — Colorado restores the "crime against nature" law to its indeterminate sentencing law.

1974 — The District of Columbia Court of Appeals rules that Gay bath houses are public nuisances per se.

Sources:

Friday, 10 February 2012

February 10 th in Queer History

Born this day

Bill Tilden  (1893 –  1953) US
Tennis

Charles Henri Ford  (1913 –  2002) US
Author / Poet / Director / Photographer / Artist / Editor

John Gilpin  (1930 –  1983) UK
Ballet / Actor

Michael Bishop  (1942 –  ) UK
Businessman UK Businessman

Peter Allen  (1944 –  1992) Australian
Singer / Songwriter / Entertainer

Jean-Daniel Cadinot ( - 2008) French
Director

Ellen Marie Barret (1946 - ) US
The first openly lesbian priest ordained by the American Episcopal Church

Conrad Cummings  (1948 – ) US
Composer

Jeffrey John  (1953 –  ) UK
Anglican priest, and Dean of St Alban's Cathedral. He has been twice nominated as bishop, and twice passed over on account of his sexuality and civil partnership.

John Berry (1954 - ) US
Government Official

Anne Kaiser  (1968 –  ) US
Politician

Nichcalo Dion Crayton [Jazzmun]  (1969 –  ) US
Drag Queen / Actor / Entertainer

Ivri Lider  (1974 – ) Israeli
Singer / Musician

Brent Everett (1984– ) Canadian
Porn / Director / Actor

Died this day

Paul Monette (1945 - 1995 ) US
Author / Activist / Poet

Edgar de Evia (1910 - 2003 ) Mexican / US
Photograper

Gary Frisch (1969 - 2007 ) UK ,
Businessman

Sodomy in history, February 10th

1798 — Kentucky passes its own sodomy law after six years of living with the law of Virginia.

1831 — A new criminal code in Indiana repeals the state’s sodomy law, but retains the common-law crimes reception statute. This makes sodomy a capital offense again.

1832 — Florida gives juries total discretion to sentence a sodomy (via the common-law reception law) defendant to the penitentiary or to a fine.

1872 — South Carolina passes a new criminal code, setting the penalty at five years in prison. The code retains the term "buggery."

1887 — Idaho eliminates the specific reference to life imprisonment for sodomy, but states no maximum.

1911 — In Germany, the League for the Protection of Mothers endorses repeal of the German sodomy law and opposes its extension to cover women, calling it "a serious mistake."

1950 — A Pennsylvania court convicts a man of sodomy as an accessory before the fact for driving two teenagers to a friends house and watching them have sex.

Sources: