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Thursday 31 May 2012

May 31st in Queer History

Born this day

1819 – Walt Whitman – US Poet / Author / Journalist – Died 26th March 1892
1922 – Denholm Elliott – UK Actor – Died 6th October 1992
1945 – Rainer Werner Fassbinder – German Director / Playwright / Composer / Actor – Died 10th June 1982
1953 – Louise Frevert – Danish Politician
1954 – Lissy Groner – German Politician
1965 – Todd McKenney – Australian Entertainer

Died this day


1963 – Edith Hamilton – German / US Author – Born 12th August 1867
1967 – Billy Strayhorn – US Composer / Pianist / Arranger – Born 29thNovember 1915
1978 – Hannah Hoch – German Artist – Born 1st November 1889
1991 – Sir Angus Wilson – UK Author / Journalist / Playwright – Born 11thAugust 1913
1993 – Anji Xtravaganza – US Entertainer – Born 1966
2009 – Danny LaRue – Irish Female Impersonator / Singer – Born 26th July 1927
2010 – Donald Windham – US Author / Playwright – Born 2nd July 1920

Sodomy in history, May 

1718 — Pennsylvania reinstates the death penalty for sodomy.
1852 — Indiana abrogates common-law crimes, thus legalizing sodomy in the state.
1879 — Missouri permits anyone accused of committing the "infamous crime against nature" to sue for slander.
1901 — Sixteen-year-old Joseph Flaherty is committed to an insane asylum in Utah for engaging in sodomy. He is released after eight months.
1951 — The Universal Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) becomes effective and includes a sodomy provision for all members of the military.
1960 — The Colorado Supreme Court overturns the sodomy conviction of two men, saying that there was no evidence the crime actually occurred. It uses the euphemistic term "statutory offense" to describe their crime.
1977 — Arizona passes a new criminal code that abrogates common-law crimes and reduces the penalty for sodomy from a felony to a misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of 60 days in jail and/or a $250 fine.
1990 — The Arizona Court of Appeals, in dictum, contradicts the 1976 Arizona Supreme Court ruling and holds that sodomy between married couples is not covered by the sodomy law.Sources:

Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892) U.S.A. Poet

b. May 31, 1819
d. March 26, 1892



Walt Whitman is best known for his controversial book, Leaves of Grass, a collection of lusty, lyrical poems. Whitman was, in one sense, the first modern gay author. He was certainly the first major poet to speak with a truly American voice; "readings of his poems convey their exuberance, poignancy, and sheer power." His sources were eclectic, ranging "from Emerson and the King James Bible to opera and political oratory." Whitman had a ten-year relationship with streetcar conductor, one Peter Doyle.



 A few quotations from Whitman, for whom "the love of comrades" perhaps stands as the most intimate part of his message to the world - "Here the frailest leaves of me and yet my strongest lasting." Whitman, by his great power, originality and initiative, as well as by his deep insight and wide vision, is in many ways the inaugurator of a new era to mankind; and it is especially interesting to find that this idea of comradeship, and of its establishment as a social institution, plays so important a part with him. We know that in the Greek age, and more or less generally in the ancient and pagan world, comradeship was an institution; we know that in Christian and modern times, though existent, it was socially denied and ignored, and indeed to a great extent fell under a kind of ban; but now Whitman's attitude towards it suggests to us that it really is destined to pass into its third stage, to arise again, and become a recognized factor of modern life, and even in a more extended and perfect form than at first.

"It is to the development, identification, and general prevalence of that fervid comradeship (the adhesive love, at least rivalling the amative love hitherto possessing imaginative literature, if not going beyond it), that I look for the counterbalance and offset of our materialistic and vulgar American Democracy, and for the spiritualization thereof. Many will say it is a dream, and will not follow my inferences; but I confidently expect a time when there will be seen, running like a half-hid warp through all the myriad audible and visible worldly interests of America, threads of manly friendship, fond and loving, pure and sweet, strong and lifelong, carried to degrees hitherto unknown-not only giving tone to individual character, and making it unprecedently emotional, muscular, heroic, and refined, but having deepest relations to general politics. I say Democracy infers such loving comradeship, as its most inevitable twin or counterpart, without which it will be incomplete, in vain, and incapable of perpetuating itself."
Democratic Vistas, note


The three following poems are taken from Leaves of Grass:

"Recorders ages hence,
Come, I will take you down underneath this impassive exterior, I will tell you what to say of me,
Publish my name and hang up my picture as that of the tenderest lover,
The friend the lover's portrait, of whom his friend his lover was fondest,
Who was not proud of his songs, but of the measureless ocean of love within him, and freely pour'd it forth,
Who often walk'd lonesome walks thinking of his dear friends, his lovers,
Who pensive away from one he lov'd often lay sleepless and dissatisfied at night,
Who knew too well the sick, sick dread lest the one he lov'd might secretly be indifferent to him,
Whose happiest days were far away through fields, in woods, on hills, he and another wan dering hand in hand, they twain apart from other men,
Who oft as he saunter'd the streets curv'd with his arm the shoulder of his friend, while the arm of his friend rested upon him also."
Leaves of Grass, 1891, 2 edn., p. 102

"When I heard at the close of the day how my name had been receiv'd with plaudits in the capitol, still it was not a happy night for me that follow'd,
And else when I carous'd, or when my plans were accomplish'd, still I was not happy,
But the day when I rose at dawn from the bed of perfect health, refresh'd, singing, inhaling the ripe breath of autumn,
When I saw the full moon in the west grow pale and disappear in the morning light,
When I wander'd alone over the beach, and undressing bathed, laughing with the cool waters, and saw the sun rise,
And when I thought how my dear friend my lover was on his way coming, O then I was happy,
O then each breath tasted sweeter, and all that day my food nourish'd me more, and the beautiful day pass'd well,
And the next came with equal joy, and with the next at evening came my friend, and that night while all was still I heard the waters roll slowly continuously up the shores,
I heard the hissing rustle of the liquid and sands as directed to me whispering to congratulate me,
For the one I love most lay sleeping by me under the same cover in the cool night,
In the stillness in the autumn moonbeams his face was inclined toward me,
And his arm lay lightly around my breast-and that night I was happy."
Ibid, p. 103

"I hear it was charged against me that I sought to destroy institutions,
But really I am neither for nor against institutions,
(What indeed have I in common with them? or what with the destruction of them?)
Only I will establish in the Mannahatta and in every city of these States inland and seaboard,
And in the fields and woods, and above every keel little or large that dents the water,
Without edifices or rules or trustees or any argument,
The institution of the dear love of comrades."
lbid, p. 107

Wednesday 30 May 2012

May 30th in Queer History

Born this day

1910 – Inge Meysel – German Actress – Died 10th July 2004
1926 – Christine Jorgensen – US first widely known sex-reassignment recipient– Died 3rd May 1989
1928 – Joan Chalmers – Canadian Philanthropist
1950 – Bertrand Delanoe – French Politician
1955 – Colm Toibin – Irish Author / Critic
1960 – Micah Barnes – Canadian Singer
1964 – Oscar van den Boogaard – Dutch Author
1967 – Allison Adler – US Producer / Screenwriter
1974 – Luis – US Musician

Died this day


1593 – Christopher Marlowe – UK Poet / Playwright – Born 26th February 1564
1995 – Glenn Burke – US Baseball – Born 16th November 1952
1986 – Perry Ellis – US Fashion Designer – Born 3rd March 1940
2007 – Jean-Claude Brialy – French Actor / Director – Born 30th March 1933
2010 – Peter Orlovsky – US Poet – Born 8th July

Sodomy in history, May 

1668 — New Jersey passes its own sodomy law, separate from that of New York, mandating the death penalty, and applicable only to males.
1854 — Congress creates the Kansas and Nebraska Territories and makes no provision for criminal laws therein. Therefore, sodomy is legal in them.
1973 — The Florida Supreme Court upholds the state’s "unnatural and lascivious acts" law, declaring that the words "unnatural and lascivious" are not vague or overbroad. Just 17 months earlier, the same court struck down the "crime against nature" law as too vague.
1975 — The District of Columbia Court of Appeals rules that a Gay bath house is a public place and any sex occurring therein is in a public place.
1980 — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court strikes down the state’s "voluntary deviate sexual conduct" law because it is discriminatory against persons not married to each other.


Sources:

Tuesday 29 May 2012

May 29th in Queer History

Born this day

1906 – T.H. White – UK Author – Died 17th January 1964
1944 – Helmut Berger – Austrian Actor
1947 – Gene Robinson – US Bishop
1959 – Rupert Everett – UK Actor / Singer
1960 – Mike Freer – UK Politician
1961 – Melissa Etheridge – US Singer / Songwriter / Musician
1962 – [or ?? June 1962] Michael Clark – UK Dancer / Choreographer / Actor
1969 – Eric Hanson – US Porn / Model
1975 – Melanie Brown – UK Singer / Actress
1975 – David Burtka – US Actor / Chef
1980 – Mark Feehily – Irish Singer

Died this day


1927 – Georges Eekhoud – Belgian Author – Born 27th May 1854
1957 – James Whale – UK Director / Actor – Born 22nd July 1889
1991 – Coral Browne – Australian Actress – Born 23rd July 1913
2004 – Zebedy Colt – US Actor / Musician – Born 20th December 1929
2008 – Paula Gunn Allen – US Poet / Literary Critic / Activist / Author – Born 24th October 1939
2008 – Steven Parrish – US Hate Crime Victim – Born 1989/90

Sodomy in history, May 29th 

1918 — Massachusetts reduces the maximum penalty for oral sex from 3 years to 2½ years in the house of correction, but still permits 5 years in the local jail.
1953 — The District of Columbia Court of Appeals upholds an "assault" conviction of a man for placing his hands on the private parts of an undercover police officer.
1967 — The U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear a challenge to the Florida sodomy law.


Sources:

Monday 28 May 2012

May 28th in Queer History

Born this day

Richard Cawley (1947 - ), UK
English food writer, chef and fashion designer.


Steve Strange (1959 - ) UK
Welsh pop singer, best known as the lead singer and frontman of the 1980s pop group Visage

Sodomy in history, May 28th 

1917 — Florida passes a law, separate from its "crime against nature" law, to outlaw "unnatural and lascivious acts." The penalty for it is a misdemeanor.
1962 — The U.S. Supreme Court reverses a lower court ruling that had overturned the sodomy conviction of a military officer caught in a public restroom.
1968 — The Nevada Supreme Court upholds the state’s "crime against nature" law against a vagueness challenge.
1976 — The Nevada Supreme Court upholds the right of the state to introduce into evidence in "crime against nature" trials evidence of the defendant’s masturbation in front of witnesses and possession of a pornographic film.

Sources:

Sunday 27 May 2012

May 27th in Queer History

Born this day

1854 – Georges Eekhoud – Belgian Author – Died 29th May 1927
1877 – Isadora Duncan – US Dancer – Died 14th September 1927
1912 – John Cheever – US Author – Died 18th June 1982
1917 – Martha Rofheart – UK / US Author / Actress / Nurse – Died 19th June 1990
1923 – Nicole Stephane – French Actress – Died 13th March 2007
1927 – Marijane Meaker – US Author
1935 – Karen-Christine Friele – Norwegian Activist
1973 – Cyd Zeigler Jr. – US Author / Commentator
1976 – Anita Blond – Hungarian Porn / Model
1990 – Chris Colfer – US Actor / Singer

Died this day


1987 – Richard Bruce Nugent – US Author / Painter –Born 2nd July 1906
2001 – Bram van Leeuwen – Dutch Journalist – Born 18th July 1918
2007 – Sam Garrison – US Lawyer / Activist – Born 21st February 1942

Sodomy in history, May 27th 

1891 — A jury in Utah acquits two men of sodomy with each other despite the testimony of numerous eye witnesses.
1946 — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturns the conviction for sodomy of a man with his 8-year-old son because of vacillating testimony and evidence of malice of a former housekeeper who wanted the man to have sex with her and he refused.
1963 — The U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear a challenge to the Rhode Island sodomy law.
1977 — Wyoming’s new sexual assault law, including repeal of its consensual sodomy law, takes effect.

Sources:

Saturday 26 May 2012

May 26th in Queer History

Born this day

1799 – August Kopisch – German Poet / Painter – Died 6th February 1853
1918 - John Dall – US Actor – Died 15th January 1971
1925 – Alec McCowen – UK Actor
1941 – Reg Bundy – UK Drag Queen [Regina Fong] / Dancer / Actor / Presenter – Died 15th April 2003
1954 – Alan Hollinghurst – UK Author / Poet
1957 – Ulrike Lunacek – Austrian Journalist / Politician
1964 – Caitlin R Kiernan – Irish Author
1978 – John Andrew Quale – US Singer / Songwriter [Prince Poppycock]
1979 – Karolien de Becker – Belgian Presenter
1982 – Cristy Road – US Illustrator
1987 – Sakia Gunn – US Hate Crime Victim – Died 11th May 2003

Died this day


1926 – Lord Arthur Somerset – UK Aristocrat / Royal Horse Guards Major – Born 17th November 1851
1991 – Tom Eyen – US Playwright / Lyricist / Screenwriter / Director – Born 14th August 1940
1995 – Tony Azito – US Dancer / Actor – Born 18th July 1948
2006 – Sudha – Indian Hate Crime Victim – Born ????

Sodomy in history, May 26th 

1864 — Congress creates the Montana Territory and makes no provision for criminal laws, so that sodomy is legal.
1939 — Michigan extends its "gross indecency" law of 1903 to cover sex between two women or between a man and a woman.


Sources:

Friday 25 May 2012

May 25th in Queer History

Events this day in Queer History

2007 – Colorado & Iowa ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in the private sector

Born this day

1869 – Robbie Ross – Canadian Journalist / Art Critic – Died 5th October 1918
1913 – Donald McLean – UK Diplomat / Spy – Died 6th March 1983
1914 – Douglas LePan – Canadian Diplomat / Poet / Author / Professor – Died 27th November 1998 1938 – Arturo Islas – US Author – Died 15th February 1991
1939 – Sir Ian McKellan – UK Actor
1953 – Eve Ensler – US Playwright / Activist
1953 – Alexander Wilson – US / Canadian Author / Horticulturist / Activist – Died 26th October 1993 1959 – Julian Clary – UK Comedian / Presenter / Author / Actor
1969 – Anne Heche – US Actress
1981 – Anette Trettebergstuen – Norwegian Politician
1987 - Tye Olson – US Actor

Died this day

:1899 – Rosa Bonheur – French Artist – Born 16th March 1822
1913 – Alfred Redl – Austrian Soldier – Born 14th March 1864
2005 – Ismael Merchant – Indian Director – Born 25th December 1936
2006 – Kari S Tikka – Finnish Scholar / Murder Victim – Born 21st August 1944
2007 – Charles Nelson Reilly – US Actor / Director – Born 13th January 1931

Sodomy in history, May 25th 

1925 — The Arkansas Supreme Court rules that fellatio is outlawed by the "crime against nature" law.
1943 — Massachusetts requires bail for either the "crime against nature" or "unnatural and lascivious acts" to be prefaced by a mental health report.
1955 — The American Law Institute publishes its model penal code recommending the repeal of consensual sodomy laws.
1994 — Bermuda repeals its consensual sodomy law.

Sources:

Thursday 24 May 2012

May 24th in Queer History


Events this day in Queer History


1988 – Section 28 is enacted in the UK
2007 – Jenny Bailey becomes the UK’s first transsexual mayor

Born this day

1883 – Elsa Maxwell – US Author / Presenter / Columnist –Died 1st November 1963
1967 – Kelli Carpenter-O’Donnell – US Businesswoman
1972 – Greg Berlanti – US Author / Producer / Director

Died this day


1996 – Norman Rene – US Director / Producer – Born 1951
2006 – Fritz Klein – US Psychiatrist / Activist / Author – Born 27th December 1932

Sodomy in history, May 24th

1610 — Virginia colony, via a military regulation, outlaws sodomy with a penalty of death.
1915 — In Ohio, a man enters the State Reformatory for sodomy after allowing himself to be masturbated by another, even though the Ohio sodomy law does not contemplate masturbation.
1963 — A California appellate court upholds the oral copulation conviction of a man after officers listened through his door and heard his bed moving.
1972 — The District of Columbia government announces that it will not prosecute private, consensual sodomy.

Sources:

Wednesday 23 May 2012

May 23rd in Queer History

Born this day

1904 – Libby Holman – US Singer / Actress – Died 18th June 1971
1908 – Annemarie Schwarzenbach – Swiss Author / Journalist – Died 15thNovember 1942
1914 – Leo Lerman – US Author – Died 22nd August 1994
1958 – Lea DeLaria – US Comedian / Actress / Musician
1961 – Norrie May-Welby – UK / Australian Blogger / 1st person to be declared gender neutral
1968 – Guinevere Turner – US Actress / Director / Screenwriter
1978 – Katie Reider – US Singer / Songwriter – Died 14th July 2008
1979 – Chris Morris – UK Author / Activist
1985 – Maya Keyes – US Activist

Died this day

1942 – Charles Robert Ashbee – UK Designer / Entrepreneur – Born 17th May 1863
1975 – Jackie “Moms” Mabley – US Comedian – Born 19th March 1894
1990 – Ted Tinling – UK Tennis / Fashion Design / Spy / Actor – Born 23rd June 1910
1996 – Patrick Cargill – UK Author – Born 3rd June 1918
2006 – Alfred Dibble – US Murder Victim – Born ????

Sodomy in history, May 23rd 

1925 — The Nebraska Supreme Court upholds the sodomy conviction of a doctor who engaged in sexual relations with both male and female patients.
1973 — The New Mexico Court of Appeals upholds the state’s "crime against nature" law. Judge Lewis Sutin pleads with the legislature to repeal it.
1977 — Tennessee enacts a new sexual assault law without repealing consenting adult laws.


Sources:

Tuesday 22 May 2012

May 22nd in Queer History

Events this day in Queer History


2007 – Vermont bans gender identity discrimination in the private sector
2010 – Inaugural Harvey Milk Day, USA [annually thereafter]
2011 – Grand Opening of the Harvey Milk Call Center, San Francisco, USA

Born this day

1870 – Eva Gore-Booth – Irish Poet / Playwright / Suffragette – Died 30th June 1926
1879 – [or 3rd June 1879] Alla Nazimova – Russian Actress / Producer – Died 13th July 1945
1905 – Tom Driberg, Baron Bradwell – UK Journalist – Died 12th August 1976
1930 – Harvey Milk – US Politician – Died 27th November 1978
1931 – Henrietta Moraes – UK Socialite / Artist’s Muse – Died 6th January 1999
1939 – Paul Winfield – US Actor – Died 7th March 2004
1942 – Rev Peter Gomes, Black Republican Baptist Clergyman
1955 – Dale Winton – UK Presenter
1956 – Dirk Tanghe – Belgian Actor / Director
1970 – Mark Bingham – US PR Executive / 9/11 Hero – Died 11th September 2001
1983 – Natasha Kai – US Footballer
1985 – Chris Salvatore – US Actor / Singer

Died this day

1939 – Willem de Merode – Dutch Poet – Born 2nd September 1887
1948 – Claude McKay – Jamaican / US Author / Poet – Born 15th September 1889
1967 – Langston Hughes – US Author / Poet – Born 1st February 1902
1971 – A.H. Nijhoff-Wind – Dutch Author – Born 9th June 1897
1989 – Karen Ulane – US Airline Pilot – Born 1949
2003 – Elula Perrin – Vietnamese / French Author – Born 1929
2005 – Bertha Harris – US Author – Born 17th December 1937
2008 – Paul Patrick – UK Teacher / Activist – Born 23rd July 1950

Sodomy in history, May 22nd 

1677 — In Connecticut, Nicholas Sension is convicted of sodomy and sentenced only to good behavior for the rest of his life. He has had a 30-year career of solicitations of other men, finally being brought to trial when he outrages sensibilities one too many times.
1900 — The Louisiana Supreme Court upholds a conviction under the 1896 oral sex clause. The Court quotes the father of the "victim" as saying that the defendant "sucked the cock of my son Ned until he has lost his mind."
1905 — A California appeals court overturns a sodomy conviction because the information did not make clear that the partner, Frank Derby, was a male. It says that Frank is a common name for women, also. 1923 — New York amends its disorderly conduct law to include any male who "frequents or loiters about a public place soliciting men for the purpose of committing the crime against nature."
1957 — A California appellate court upholds a conviction for attempted sodomy of two prisoners seen kissing.
1970 — The Minnesota Supreme Court overturns the sodomy conviction of a man after restroom surveillance from above.
1995 — The Louisiana Supreme Court overturns a trial court’s finding that the state’s sodomy law is unconstitutional.

Sources:

Monday 21 May 2012

May 21st in Queer History

Events this day in Queer History


2009 – Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signs a bill providing health insurance & more entitlements for state workers that include unmarried couples including same-sex

Born this day

1885 – Fred Barnes – UK Entertainer – Died 23rd October 1938
1917 – Raymond Burr – US Actor – Died 12th September 1993
1925 – Franklin E Kameny – US Politician / Activist - died October 11, 2011
1951 – Arthur Russell – US Cellist / Composer / Singer – Died 4th April 1992
1952 – Mario Mieli – Italian Activist – Died 12th March 1983
1958 – Nicky Crane – UK Former Neo-Nazi – Died 8th December 1993
1960 – Jeffrey Dahmer – US Serial Killer – Died 28th November 1994
1973 – Sabine Junger – German Politician
1974 – Adriano Cintra – Brazilian Musician
1975 – Bret Wolfe – US Porn / Actor [or 20th May 1975]
1976 – Nishit Saran – Indian Director / Activist – Died 24th April 2002
1978/9 – Briana Banks – German / US Porn / Model
1980 – Anika Moa – New Zealand Singer

Died this day


1926 – Ronald Firbank – UK Author – Born 17th January 1886
1949 – Klaus Mann – German Author – Born 18th November 1906
1991 – Lino Brocka – Filipino Director – Born 3rd April 1939
1991 – Nicholas Dante – US Dancer / Author – Born 22nd November 1941
1993 – Cliff Tucker – UK Politician – Born 18th December 1912
2000 – Sir John Gielgud – UK Actor – Born 14th April


Sodomy in history, May 


May 21 1930 — A California appellate court upholds the oral copulation convictions of three men in Palm Springs after an investigation into "activities" there. The court would not permit the three to withdraw their guilty pleas. 1962 — A New York appellate court decides that the oral sex provision of the sodomy law can not be enforced against both partners. This decision is reversed by the State Court of Appeals.
Sources:

Sunday 20 May 2012

May 20th in Queer History

Events this day in Queer History


2007 – Minneapolis AIDS Walk,  AIDS Walk New York, USA
2009 – Nevada passes Domestic Partnership Responsibilities Act 2009, vetoed by Governor Jim Gibbon a week later
2009 – New Jersey introduce marriage bill

Born this day

LGBT people born 20th May:
1906 – Valentine Ackland – UK Poet – Died 9th November 1969
1922/4 – Walter Dempster Jr [aka Walterina Markova] – Filipino Drag Queen / WWII Sex-Slave – Died 24th June 2005
1965 – Ted Allen – US Presenter / Author
1969 – Joop Wijn – Dutch Politician
1972 – Andreas Lundstedt – Swedish Singer
1975 – Drew Pritt – US Politician
1977 – Tiger Tyson – US Porn / Director / Model

Died this day


1849 – Marie Dorval – French Actress – Born 6th January 1798
1974 – Leontine Sagan – Austrian Actress / Director – Born 13th February 1889
2008 – Ronald Dixon – UK Hate Crime Victim – Born ????
2009 – Arthur Erickson – Canadian Architect – Born 14th June 1924

Sodomy in history, May 20th 

1884 — The Rhode Island Supreme Court rules that repeal of a statute in derogation of the common law revives the common-law provision. Since the state recognizes common-law crimes, this means that repeal of the sodomy law will not legalize consensual sodomy.
1940 — The Mississippi Supreme Court rules that repeal of a statute in derogation of the common law revives the common-law provision. Since the state recognizes common-law crimes, this means that repeal of the sodomy law will not legalize consensual sodomy.
1954 — A California appellate court upholds the conviction of a man for oral copulation that is based only on police testimony.
1977 — Nevada passes a new criminal code that changes the sodomy law to be applicable only to people of the same sex. It is retained as a felony with a 1-6 year penalty.

Sources:

Saturday 19 May 2012

May 19th in Queer History

Events this day in Queer History


2007 – Equality Parade in Warsaw, Poland
2008 – Australian Capital Territory legalises civil partnerships from this date
2009 – Washington Governor Chris Gregoire signs “everything but marriage” bill into law [effective 1st June 2009]
2011 – Ben Cohen’s Acceptance Tour of the USA begins [runs until 29th May 2011]

Born this day

1904 – Daniel Guerin – French Anarchist / Author – Died 14th April 1988
1923 – Peter Wildeblood – UK / Canadian Journalist / Author / Playwright / Activist – Died 14th November 1999
1930 – Lorraine Hansberry – US Author / Playwright – Died 12th January 1965
1954 – Peter Elliott – Canadian Rector 1962 – Gina Guidi – US Boxer
1965 – Maile Flanagan – US Actress
1978 – Kim Zolciak – US Singer / Reality TV [The Real Housewives of Atlanta]

Died this day


804 – Alcuin of York – English Monk / Poet – Born 735
1999 – Dudley Cave – UK Activist – Born 19th February 1921

Sodomy in history, May 19th 

1894 — Ohio repeals its "sex toys" law and expands the ban on any instrument of an "immoral or indecent nature."
1947 — The Colorado Supreme Court upholds the sodomy conviction of a man whose love letters to another were admitted into evidence against him.
1965 — North Carolina changes the penalty for sodomy from 5-60 years to a sentence "in the discretion of the court." The following year the North Carolina Supreme Court determines that, due to another law regarding unspecified penalties, the maximum that can be handed down is 10 years.
1976 — The Iowa Supreme Court rules that the state’s sodomy law does not apply to married couples, even though there is no statutory exemption for them.
1981 — Iowa repeals its law requiring a coroner’s investigation of deaths resulting from "unnatural sex" relations.

Sources:

Friday 18 May 2012

May 18th in Queer History

Born this day

1913 – Charles Trenet – French Singer / Author – Died 19th February 2001
1914 – Pierre Balmain – French Fashion Designer – Died 29th June 1982
1921 – Patrick Dennis – US Author – Died 6th November 1976
1925 – Robin Blaser – US / Canadian Author / poet – Died 7th May 2009
1926 – Bob Benny – Belgian Singer [or 28th May 1926] – 29th March 2011
1934 – Don Bachardy – US Artist
1938 – Lori Shannon – US Drag Queen / Columnist – Died 11th February 1984
1941 – Miriam Margolyes – UK Actress
1967 – Alonso Duralde – US Author / Film Critic
1968 – Breck Stewart – Canadian Porn / Singer / Actor / Director
1978 – Danny Leary – US Comedian
1980 – Felicia Pearson – US Actress / Author / Rapper

Died this day

1988 – Anthony Forwood – UK Actor / Actor’s Manager – Born 3rd October 1915
2000 – Wim Ibo, Dutch cabaret historian, b. April 10

Sodomy in history, May 18th 

1846 — Michigan raises the maximum penalty for sodomy from 3 years to 15 years and repeals the 1841 law allowing prosecution on proof of penetration only.
1943 — The Michigan Supreme Court overturns a trial court’s action in denying a Gay man convicted of gross indecency a jury trial to determine if he had recovered from his "psychopathy." The Court points out that the jury trial was required by law.
1979 — Massachusetts bans those convicted of sodomy from being school bus drivers.
1983 — An Ohio trial court dismisses an importuning charge against a man who had been blatantly solicited by an undercover police officer and responded to the solicitation.
1990 — Kansas attempts to overrule the 1989 decision of the state’s Supreme Court that cunnilingus wasn’t a violation of the state’s sodomy law by passing a law that covers only heterosexual cunnilingus.

Sources:

Thursday 17 May 2012

May 17th in Queer History

Events this day in Queer History

1992 – World Health Organisation removes homosexuality from the International Classification of Diseases
2004 – Same-sex marriage licences issued in Massachusetts, USA
2007 – Ohio state governor issues executive order banning discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in the public sector
2008 – gays.com launched
2010 – Same-sex marriage legalised in Portugal

Born this day

LGBT people born 17th May:
1863 – Charles Robert Ashbee – UK Designer / Entrepreneur – Died 23rd May 1942
1931 – Marshall Herff Applewhite – US Cult Leader – Died 26th March 1997
1950 – Howard Ashman – US Playwright / Songwriter / Director / Producer – Died 14th March 1991
1951 – Simon Hughes – UK Politician
1956 – Annise Parker – US Politician
1960 – Mark de Solla Price – US Author / Journalist / Activist
1969 – Thom Filicia – US Presenter
1981 – R.J. Helton – US Singer / Reality TV [American Idol]
1989 – Tully Satre – US Author / Activist

Died this day

1999 – James Broughton – US Poet / Director – Born 10th November 1913
2003 – C.A. Tripp – US Psychologist / Author / Activist – Born 4th October 1919
2006 – John Marsden – Australian Lawyer / Activist – Born 3rd January 1942
2009 – Octavia St Laurent – US Entertainer – Born 1st May 1970

Sodomy in history, May 17th 

1820 — Michigan passes a new criminal code. The sodomy provision lowers the penalty to a maximum of three years at solitary and hard labor and a fine up to $300.
1884 — Congress passes a law extending all laws of Oregon to the Alaska Territory, including Oregon’s sodomy law. For the preceding 22 years, Alaska had no criminal laws whatsoever.
1963 — Minnesota passes a new criminal code, but does not deal with the sexual offenses section, claiming that it is too controversial to handle.
1967 — Minnesota enacts a new sex offenses law, keeping all consenting adult laws, but reducing their penalty from felony to misdemeanor.
1976 — Maryland passes a new sexual offenses law, but fails to repeal its felony sodomy law. The repeal passed the Senate, but could not get through the conservative House Judiciary Committee. All other consenting adult laws are repealed.
1978 — The Iowa Supreme Court rules that the state’s repealed sodomy law would have been constitutional as applied to consensual same-sex acts.
1979 — Nevada prohibits solicitation of a minor for the crime against nature.

Sources:

Wednesday 16 May 2012

May 16th in Queer History

Born this day

Tamara de Lempicka  (1898 – 1980)   Polish
Artist

Liberace  (1919 - 1987 ) US
Musician

Adrienne Rich  (1929 – )  US
Poet / Author

Bianca Hagenbeek  (1967 – )  Dutch
Reality TV [Big Brother]

Truus Druyts  (1970 – )  Belgian
Actress / Singer / Presenter

Megan Fox  (1986 – ) US
Actress / Model

Died this day

John Henry MacKay  (1864– 1933) UK
Author / Anarchist

Frances Benjamin Johnston  (1864 - 1952)  US
Photographer / Photojournalist

Marion Dickerman  (1890 - 1983)  US
Suffragette

Julio Argueta  (????–2005) El Salvador
Murder Victim – Born

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

Terry Ryan (1946– 2007) US
Author

Sodomy in history, May 16 

1913 — Arizona passes a new criminal code and extends its sodomy law to cover fellatio, but not cunnilingus. The code also permits a wife to testify at her discretion either for or against her husband if he is on trial for the "crime against nature." It also reduces the penalty to a maximum of 5 years in prison.
1953 — The Georgia Court of Appeals rejects a civil suit by a mother against a theatre for employing a man who had sex with her son.
1957 — The Virgin Islands outlaws oral sex.
1977 — Alabama passes a new criminal code that abrogates common-law crimes and reduces the penalty for sodomy from a felony to a misdemeanor, with a penalty of up to one year in jail. Married couples are exempted from its coverage.
2000 — The Louisiana Supreme Court strikes down the state’s law against "obscene devices," finding a constitutional right to them.

Sources:

Friday 4 May 2012

Gay Murder in the Swiss Guards?

On the night of Monday, May 4, 1998, Swiss Guard Lance Corporate Cedric Tornay, 23, killed  Lt. Col. Alois Estermann, 43, and his Venezuelan wife, Gladys Meza Romero, 49.   After they were dead, Tornay knelt,  put his service revolver in his mouth and pulled the trigger.  




 The Vatican handled the autopsy and investigation of the crime by itself, without asking for help from Italian officials. They considered the case clear-cut. “It was a fit of madness in a person with very peculiar psychological characteristics,” papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the day after the killings. ”That is the only hypothesis,” a Vatican official confirmed. “There is no reason to advance any alternative.”


Estermann and his wife were given a splendid funeral, concelebrated by 16 cardinals and 30 bishops. Before the service, Pope John Paul II made a point of praying at all three caskets, which were displayed, side by side, for viewing. Tornay was given a separate funeral in a chapel in the small church of St. Anne’s.