April 8th in Queer History

Born this day

Sonja Sekula   (1918 –  1963) Swiss / US
Artist

Robin Tyler  (1942 – ) Canadian
Comedian / Singer

Michael Bennett  (1943 –  1987)  US
Dancer / Choreographer

Theresa Sparks  (1949 – ) US
Police / Activist / Businesswoman

John Sex  (1956 –  1990)  US
Entertainer / Performance Artist

Richard Hatch  (1961 – ) US
Reality TV [Survivor] / Actor

Evan Davis  (1962 – )  UK
Journalist / Presenter

Nicky Nicole  (1969 – ) Dutch
Drag Queen / Presenter

Clint Catalyst  (1971 – )  US
Author

Erika Holst  (1979 – ) Swedish
Ice Hockey

Sean William Kennedy  (1987 – 2007) US
Hate Crime Victim

Died this day

Charles Griffes  (1884 - 1920)   US
Composer / Pianist

Vaslav Nijinsky   (1890 –  1950) Polish/ Russian

Russian danseur and choreographer of Polish descent, cited as the greatest male dancer of the early 20th century.

Tommy Abbott  (1934 - 1987) US
Actor / Dancer / Choreographer

Gerard Reve (1923 –  2006) Dutch 

Gerard Kornelis van het Reve was a Dutch writer who adopted a shortened version of his name, Gerard Reve in 1973.Together with Willem Frederik Hermans and Harry Mulisch, he is considered one of the "Great Three" of Dutch post-war literature. His 1981 novel De vierde man was the basis for Paul Verhoeven's 1983 film.

Reve was one of the first homosexuals to come out in the Netherlands.He often wrote explicitly about erotic attraction, sexual relations and intercourse between men,which he did in an ironic, humorous and recognizable way, and which contributed to making homosexuality acceptable for many of his readers.

2009 – Tam Paton – UK Artists’ Manager – Born 10th August 1938

Sodomy in history,

April 8

1835 — John Smith and James Pratt are hanged in London for "unnatural crime."

1876 — Ohio outlaws the sale of sex toys.

1913 — Nebraska amends its sodomy law apparently to outlaw fellatio, but not cunnilingus, using the same wording as Ohio and Iowa. This is three years after the Nebraska Supreme Court decided that "crime against nature" did not cover fellatio.

1943 — Texas amends its sodomy law to include fellatio.

1970 — Iowa requires a coroner’s inquest into deaths caused by "crimes against nature."

1975 — Nebraska enacts a new sexual assault law after deleting repeal of the consensual sodomy law from it.

Sources:

Wikipedia

glbtq emcyclopedia

On this gay day

Calendar of Sodomy, April