Queers in History

Wednesday, 6 June 2012

June 6th in Queer History

Born this day

1869 – Siegfried Wagner – German Composer – Died 4th August 1930
1894 – Violet Trefusis – UK Author – Died 29th February 1972
1948 – Al McAffrey – US Politician / Funeral Director
1949 – Holly Near – US Singer / Actress / Author
1952 – Harvey Fierstein – US Actor / Playwright
1955 – Sandra Bernhard – US Singer / Actress / Comedian
1959 – Marcel Musters – Dutch Actor / Singer
1965 – Mark Lund – US Author / Publisher / Producer / Presenter
1970 – JC Adams – US Author / Editor / Journalist / Director
1977 – Matt Heinz – US Doctor / Politician
1981 – TJ Jourian – Lebanon / Armenia / Cyprus – Reality TV [Transgeneration] / Activist

Died this day

1993 – James Bridges – US Screenwriter / Director – Born 3rd February 1936

Sodomy in history, June 6

1671 — Plymouth Colony exempts males under 14 and forced parties from the death penalty for sodomy.

1940 — Congress amends the Assimilative Crimes Act to absorb state laws enacted through February 1, 1940. The first revision since 1933, this makes oral sex on federal property in three additional states.

1950 — The New Hampshire Supreme Court rejects the contention that the 1949 "psychopathic offender" law repealed the state’s sodomy law.

1979 — The Ohio Supreme Court upholds the state’s law prohibiting the "offensive" solicitation of a person of the same sex. The Court says that homosexuality was accepted in the Dark Ages and Victorian times, but not in the modern, sexually liberated world.

1986 — Hawaii revises the conflict in its age of consent law by lowering the age for all activity to 14.

2001 — Estonia equalizes the age of consent for homosexual and heterosexual sex.

Sources:

Tuesday, 5 June 2012

June 5th in Queer History

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Monday, 4 June 2012

June 4th in Queer History

Events this day in Queer History

1998 – Rainbow Alley founded in Denver, Colorado, USA

Born this day

1943 – Sandra Haynie – US Golf
1955 – Val McDermid – UK Author
1961 – Sam Harris – US Singer / Actor / Producer / Director
1971 – Peter Joback – Swedish Singer / Actor

Died this day

1585 – Marc-Antoine Muret – French Poet – Born 12th April 1526
1967 – JR Ackerley – UK Author / Editor – Born 4th November 1896
1996 – Leen Jongewaard – Dutch Actor / Singer / Comedian – Born 30th March 1927
1998 – Josephine Hutchinson – US Actress – Born 12th October 1903
2005 – Jean O’Leary – US Politician / Activist / Nun – Born 4th March 1948

Sodomy in history, June 4

1812 — The Organic Act for the Missouri Territory receives the 1805 Louisiana sodomy statute, with a compulsory sentence of life imprisonment at hard labor.

1894 — The Georgia Supreme Court reverses the sodomy conviction of a boy "under 14" due to questionable evidence. It does not challenge the right of the state to prosecute those of his age as adults.

1908 — The Iowa Supreme Court upholds a sodomy conviction against a challenge that one of the jurors on the case on his own visited the toilet where the crime was alleged to have occurred.

1936 — The Michigan Supreme Court rules that fellatio can not be prosecuted under the state’s "crime against nature" law with a 15-year maximum penalty, but must be prosecuted under the "gross indecency" law with a 5-year maximum penalty.

1954 — The Massachusetts Supreme Court upholds the state’s "unnatural and lascivious acts" law.

1979 — North Carolina changes the fine for the "crime against nature" from unspecified to $5,000.

1980 — Puerto Rico amends its "crime against nature" law to set a 6-year fixed penalty, but to allow a range of 20-99 years if a habitual felon. The range is set at 4-10 years for unspecified mitigating or aggravating factors.

1981 — A Michigan appellate court overturns restroom sex convictions on privacy grounds.

Sources:

Friday, 1 June 2012

June 1st in Queer History

Events this day in Queer History

2007 – Registered partnerships begin in South Australia
2009 – Nevada approve domestic partnerships (effective 1st October 2009) 2009 – “Everything but marriage” domestic partnership bill effective this date in Washington State, USA

Born this day

1897 – Lionel Pries – US Artist / Architect – Died 7th April 1968
1903 – Peggy Fears – US Actress – Died 24th August 1994
1947 - Ashok Row Kavi – Indian Journalist 1950 – Tom Robinson – UK Singer / Musician
1951 – Teresa Gutierrez – US Activist / Politician (or 6th January 1951)
1952 – Ferron – Canadian Singer / Musician / Songwriter / Poet
1953 – Ken Kostick – Canadian Chef / Presenter – Died 21st April 2011
1981 – Brandi Carlile – US Singer / Songwriter / Musician

Died this day

1941 – Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole – UK Author – Born 13th March 1884
1968 – Witter Bynner – US Poet / Author – Born 10th August 1881
2008 – Yves Saint-Laurent – French Fashion Designer – Born 1st August 1936

Sodomy in history, June

June 1

1792 — Kentucky becomes a state and receives all laws of Virginia, which includes the reception of the English buggery statute with a penalty of death.

1880 — The U.S. Census reports that 63 prisoners are imprisoned for "crimes against nature," 56% in the South, 25% in the East, 13% in the Midwest, and 6% in the West.

1890 — The U.S. census reveals that 224 people are in prison for sodomy, up from 63 in the 1880 census.

1915 — California outlaws oral sex. Its unique statute actually uses the words "fellatio" and "cunnilingus."

1949 — A Georgia appellate court overturns a sodomy conviction because the indictment did not specify how the defendant was alleged to have committed the act.

1959 — The Louisiana Supreme Court upholds a sodomy conviction even though one trial juror violated a court order and discussed the case with a witness.

1961 — The Second Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a deportation order against an alien for loitering for solicitation for sodomy. It says that "simple assault" would not make him eligible for deportation.

1972 — The Maryland Commission on Criminal Law publishes a proposed criminal code that recommends decriminalization of consensual sodomy with an age of consent of 19. The commission’s comments demonstrate that they believe sodomy is something only Gay men ever commit.

1977 — Nebraska passes a new criminal code over the veto of the Governor that includes repeal of the state’s sodomy law.

1993 — A federal judge in Pennsylvania overturns the lewdness conviction of a man for soliciting an undercover federal agent in a national park, saying the agent led him on.

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