Tuesday, 6 November 2012

November 6th in Queer History


Events in Queer History

1971- An anti-Vietnam march in New York included a gay contingent. The Student Mobilization Committee's Gay Task Force joined the protest to draw attention to parallels between America's oppression of gays and the racism of Vietnam.


1975 - A Special Joint Committee on Canada's Immigration Policy recommends that homosexuals no longer be prohibited from entering Canada under revised Immigration Act.



1990 -San Francisco voters approved a domestic partners referendum and elected two lesbian women to the Board of Supervisors.


1990-Deborah Glick becomes the first open lesbian elected to the New York state legislature.

Born this day

Jeanette Schmid 1924 – 2005 ) Czech 

Born Rudolf Schmid, Schmid began to dress in feminine clothing at a young age and loved singing and dancing. After WWII, he began a career in Munich as a female impersonator, gaining  fame for his talent, bawdy material, and slinky outfits. He later toured the world as a cross-dressing whistler. 
In 1964, Schmid underwent sex reassignment surgery and changed his name to Jeanette. Schmid continued to tour the world under the stage name Baroness Lips von Lipstrill

Jackie Forster (1926 – 1998 ) UK  Presenter / Reporter / Actress / Activist

Married her novelist husband, Peter Forster in 1958 but divorced him in 1962 when she realised her true sexual identity. She is noted for being an Actress, a TV Personality, a Feminist and a Lesbian campaigner.

Arthur Bell ( 1939 – 1984 ) US

Journalist, author and LGBT rights activist, Bell was an early member of the Gay Liberation Front and a founding member of the Gay Activists Alliance in New York City. He wrote two books. Dancing the Gay Lib Blues and Kings Don't Mean a Thing. He wrote his first piece for the Village Voice in 1969, an account of the Stonewall riots, and later became a regular columnist
with "Bell Tells".

Brad Davis (1949 –  1991) US  Actor

Boyishly handsome Brad Davis rose to fame for his starring role in Midnight Express (1978). Although newspaper reports after his death described him as "the first heterosexual actor to die of AIDS," his bisexuality was well known to people in the entertainment industry.

Torben Lund  1950 –  ) Danish 
Politician

Michael Cunningham (1952 – ) US  Author

American writer, best known for his 1998 novel The Hours, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1999.

Jim Neal (1956 –  ) US  Politician, Businessman, Investment Banker

North Carolina Democrat and a business executive and investment banker who was a candidate in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate in 2008. At the time, it was widely reported that he was openly gay, but he did not think this would be a factor in the election. When in fact he lost the primary, there was no indication that sexuality had come into it.

Cam Clarke  1957 – US 
Actor

Frank DeCaro ( 1962 –  ) US  Presenter / Comedian / Author

Author of The Dead Celebrity Cookbook, Frank DeCaro has found success both in serious journalism as a fashion writer and editor and in comedy as a writer, performer, and radio talk show host. DeCaro has been a lifelong gay rights activist and splits his time between Manhattan and Little Falls, New Jersey, with his husband, Jim Colucci whom he married live during the August 16, 2011 broadcast of his radio show.

Georg Uecker (1962 –  ) German  Actor / Author

German actor and LGBT-activist

Stephen Gilbert (1976 – ) UK Politician

British Liberal Democrat politician, MP for St Austell and Newquay since the 2010 general election, is one of 22 openly gay MPs in the House of Commons (as at 2011).

Died this day

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893) Russian.
One of the most popular composers in history. His best-known works include the ballets "Swan Lake," "The Sleeping Beauty," and "The Nutcracker";  the operas "The Queen of Spades" and "Eugene Onegin"; and the widely recognized Fantasy Overture “Romeo and Juliet" and "1812 Overture."

Despite his career success, Tchaikovsky’s personal life was filled with crises and bouts of depression. After receiving letters of admiration from a former student, Tchaikovsky married her. Historians speculate the marriage took place to dispel rumors that Tchaikovsky was gay. The marriage was a disaster and Tchaikovsky left his wife after nine days.



Patrick Dennis (1921 - 1976) US  Author

American author. His novel "Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade" (1955) was one of the bestselling American books of the 20th century, was adapted for the Broadway play, a screen adaptation, and the popular Broadway musical,"Mame".
Throughout his life, Dennis struggled with his bisexuality, later becoming a well-known participant in Greenwich Village's gay scene.

Arthur Bell (1939 - 1984) journalist and activist, one of the founding members of the Gay Activists Alliance is born.

Joel Crothers (1941 - 1985) US  Actor

American actor with a strongly physical resemblance to Tom Selleck, with credits primarily on stage and television, especially soap operas.

Although he was openly gay among friends and family, he was publicly closeted, and at the time of his death from lymphoma in 1986, he was engaged to be married.


 Phil Reed (1949 - 2008) US  Politician

New York City Council Member from 1998 to 2005, when term limits forced him out of office. He was the first openly gay African-American New York City Council Member.


Sodomy laws in history, November 6

1658 - Mexico. Fourteen men were burned to death and one given 200 lashes after having been convicted of sodomy.

1829 Florida reinstates common-law crimes, but with a set penalty of up to one year in prison and a $500 fine.

1967 — The Indiana Supreme Court upholds a sodomy conviction while conceding that the prosecutor was "overenthusiastic" and "overzealous."

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