Queers in History

Today in Gay History, Blue Pride

On This Gay Day

Calendar of Sodomy, November

Thursday, 22 November 2012

November 22nd in Queer History

Born this day

Andre Gide (1869 – 1951), French. Author

French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1947. Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the symbolist movement, to the advent of anticolonialism between the two World Wars.

In 1893 and 1894, Gide traveled in Northern Africa, and it was there that he came to accept his attraction to boys.He befriended Oscar Wilde in Paris, and in 1895 Gide and Wilde met in Algiers. There, Wilde had the impression that he had introduced Gide to homosexuality, but, in fact, Gide had already discovered this on his own.

Benjamin Britten (1913 – 1976), UK. Composer.

English composer, conductor, and pianist, and probably the most important English composer of the twentieth century (certainly of opera). He first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work "A Boy Was Born" in 1934, and continued to produce important works for four decades. Having previously declined a knighthood, Britten accepted a life peerage in 1976 as Baron Britten, of Aldeburgh, a few months before his death.
He and his partner the tenor Sir Peter Pears, are one of the best known gay couples in music. Their two graves lie side by side in Aldeburgh.

James Gleeson (1915 – 2008), Australian. Artist, Poet, Author, Critic

Australia's foremost artist. He was also a poet, critic, writer and curator. He played a significant role in the Australian art scene, including serving on the board of the National Gallery of Australia. Gleeson's themes generally delved into the subconscious using literary, mythological or religious subject matter. He was particularly interested in Jung's archetypes of the collective unconscious.
Gleeson died in Sydney in 2008, aged 92. His life partner was Frank O'Keefe, who had died the previous year.

Nicholas Dante (1941 – 1991), US. Dancer, Author

American dancer and writer, best known for the musical A Chorus Line, which earned him the 1976 Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for Best Book of a Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The story of Paul, the homosexual Puerto Rican dancer whose early career consisted of working in a drag show, was based primarily on Dante himelf.

Peter Adair (1943 – 1996) US. Director / Artist

Filmmaker and artist, best known for his pioneering documentary, Word Is Out. The film, the first of its kind to present gays and lesbians in a positive light, was a critical hit nationwide. It was as much a vital part of his own coming out process as it was an attempt to show gays and lesbians in a very human and non-sensational manner.

Billy Jean King (1943 – ) US. Tennis

Life Magazine named Billie Jean King one of the "100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century." A tennis champion and an outspoken advocate for gender equality in sports, King has become an icon and legend for her contributions to the advancement of women's sports.
An outspoken advocate against sexism in sports, King hoped "to use sports for social change." In 1973, King became the first woman to defeat a former male Wimbledon Champion in "The Battle of the Sexes." The Women's Tennis Association named King its first president that same year.
She was married for 22 years and struggled for a long time with her sexuality. Since coming out in 1988, she has helped further the visibility and inclusion of the GLBT community.

Art Sullivan (1950 – ), Belgian. Singer

Belgian singer.He was successful in many countries, including Belgium, France, Portugal and Germany.

Horse McDonald (1958 – ), UK. Singer, Musician

Scottish female singer-songwriter. She has a wide following in the United Kingdom, including many lesbian fans, has toured with Tina Turner and secured several record chart hits in Europe.

Christopher Ciccone (1960 – ), US. Artist,Screenwriter, Director

Artist, film director, artistic director, dancer, best selling author, and interior and furniture designer. He is the younger brother of Madonna.

Stephen Hough (1961 – ), UK / Australian. Pianist, Composer, Author

British-born classical pianist, composer and writer. Hough performs as a recitalist and chamber musician, and has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras around the world. In addition to his career as a performer, he is also a music teacher and a composes.

He joined the Roman Catholic Church when he was 19. He has written about his homosexuality and its relationship with both his music-making and his religion.

Rickard Engfors (1976 – ), Swedish. Drag Queen, Model, Entertainer

Swedish drag queen, model, and stylist.

His career began in 1996 as an artist in Swedish drag troupe After Dark and he was quickly appointed to "Christer Lindarws crown prince" and was also known as "Sweden's best looking girl". He has performed for royalty, won awards for his artistic efforts and shared the stage with many of Sweden's most beloved artists.

In 2004 the Swedish fashion house Panos Emporio chose Rickard as its house model for a swimwear range, which caused so much controversy that it was re-shot using a Greek model called Aleka

Yves Steinhauer (1976 – ), Canadian, Luxembourg. Singer

Lead singer for "Marilyn's Boys", the first openly gay boy band in Germany. Born in Luxembourg, he later lived in the US, and Canada, then Germany.

Lucian Dunareanu (1977 – ), Romanian. Activist, Editor

Romanian gay rights activist and the executive director of Be An Angel Romania, an LGBT rights organisation based in Cluj-Napoca.Dunareanu is the owner of the Toxice musical group, which is the first professional drag queen band in Romania

Alasdair Duncan (1982 – ), Australian. Author, Journalist

Author and journalist, based in Brisbane on the east coast of Australia. He is a section editor at weekly music magazine Rave.

Pedro Marin (1961 – ) Spanish

Singer / Actor / Presenter

Died this day

Friedrich Alfred Krupp (1854 - 1902), German. Businessman

German industrialist, of the Krupp steel manufacturering 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.

Rose Cleveland (1846 - 1918 ) US. First Lady

First Lady during the first of her brother, U.S. President Grover Cleveland's two administrations. She was the sister (not the wife) of President Cleveland. When her elder brother won the presidency, she became first lady and lived in the White House for two years.
When President Cleveland married Frances Folsom, Rose resigned and began a career in education. At age 44, she started a lesbian relationship with a wealthy widow, Evangeline Simpson, with explicitly erotic correspondence. However things cooled off when Evangeline married an Episcopal Bishop of Minnesota, Henry Benjamin Whipple. By 1910, he died and the two women rekindled their relationship and eventually moved to Bagni di Lucca, Italy to live there together.

Lorenz Hart (1895 - 1943), US. Lyricist

Lyricist half of the famed Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart. He "had a remarkable talent for polysyllabic and internal rhymes", and his lyrics have often been praised for their wit and technical sophistication.
For years Hart was a bachelor and lived with his widowed mother. He suffered from alcoholism. He would sometimes disappear for weeks at a time on alcoholic binges. Hart died in New York City of pneumonia from exposure on November 22, 1943, after drinking heavily.

Sources

Today in Gay History, Blue Pride
On This Gay Day

Wikipedia
Today in Gay History, Blue Pride
On This Gay Day

Wednesday, 21 November 2012

November 21st in Queer History

Events this day in Queer History

1981 - Sergeant Charles Cochrane testified before a New York City Council hearing on a gay rights bill, that Following on the testimony of a Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association Vice President who denounced the “I am very proud of being a New York City Police Officer, and I am equally proud of being gay.” This testimony lent significantly toward the official formation of the Gay Officers Action League, Inc which became the first official police fraternal society in the world to represent LGBT professionals within the criminal justice system.

1997 - The University of California Board of Regents voted to extend domestic partner benefits to partners of lesbian and gay employees.

Born this day

Francis Leon (1844 – ?), US.

Blackface minstrel performer, best known for his work as a female impersonator. He was largely responsible for making the prima donna a fixture of blackface minstrelsy.

Harold Nicholson ( 1886 – 1968)
Diplomat, author, diarist and politician, the husband of writer Vita Sackville-West. Their unusual relationship being described in their son's book, Portrait of a Marriage. Nicolson and his wife practiced what today would be called an open marriage. They each had a number of same-sex affairs, and once Harold had to follow Vita to France, where she had "eloped" with Violet Trefusis, to try to win her back. However, they remained happy together.

Laurier LaPierre (1929 – ). Canadian. Politician, Presenter, Author, Journalist

Retired Liberal Party Senator and former broadcaster, journalist and author. Canada's first openly gay senator, he has been an activist with EGALE, a lobby group for gay and lesbian rights, since coming out as gay in the late 1980s.

Malcolm Williamson (1931 – 2003), Australian.

Composer, who was the Master of the Queen's Music from 1975 until his death. In 1960, he married Doris Daniel, but later "became a homosexual", and had a series of one-night stands, before setting up home with ex-Jesuit, Simon Campion.

Robert Drivas (1938 – 1986), US.

Born Robert Choromokos, Robert Drivas was an American actor and theatre director. He died in 1986 of AIDS-related complications, at age 47.

Nickolas Grace (1947 – ), UK.

British actor known for his roles on television, including Anthony Blanche in the acclaimed ITV adaptation of Brideshead Revisited and the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1980s series Robin of Sherwood. In the biography of the actor Alan Bates, "Otherwise Engaged" Grace is quoted describing his "intense affair" with Bates.

Corny Littman (1952 – ), German.

Football Club President, Entrepreneur, entertainer, theater owner (Schmidt Theater) and former President of the club FC St. Pauli.

Littmann toured throughout Germany for years with the "Familie Schmidt" theatre group before setting up the "Schmidt Theater" in Hamburg's St. Pauli in 1988. He is the managing director of two theatres – with the opening of the "Schmidt's Tivoli" theatre in 1991. In 1999 he was named "Hamburg Entrepreneur of the Year". Littmann was from 2002 between 19 May 2010 the president of the German football club FC St. Pauli.

He came out as gay in the 1970's, soon after dropping out of university.

Cherry Jones (1956 – ), US.

American actress and recipient of the 2009 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series and the 2005 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play.

Throughout her acting career, she has never hidden her sexuality. In 1995, when accepting a Tony award, she openly acknowledged her then lovers, architect Mary O'Connor. In 2005, she did the same, acknowledging and kissing her then lover, actress Sarah Paulson.

Christine Vachon (1962 – ), US.

American film producer active in the American independent film sector. Her first feature "Poison" won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1991.

Vachon and her partner, artist Marlene McCarty, live in the East Village of New York with their daughter Guthrie.

Moises Kaufman (1963 – ), Venezuelan.

Playwright, director and founder of Tectonic Theater Project,with whom he wrote "The Laramie Project".

Died this day

Quentin Crisp (1908 - 1999 ) UK.

Born Denis Charles Pratt, Crisp was an English writer and raconteur. He shot to prominence and became a gay icon in the 1970s after publication of his memoir, The Naked Civil Servant. (The title comes from his time working as a model for an art school life drawing class. Working in education, he claims he was a civil servant - and worked naked).

Vanessa Facen (?? - 2005 ) US. .

Pre-op transsexual, who was taken into police custody, bleeding profusely, after smashing through a plate glass window in an attempted burglary at a neighbour's home. She became enraged while en route to hospital, and again later in the intake area to the jail - possibly because the police were treating her as male. In the police attempts to subdue her, she suffered severe injuries, which led to her death.

Sodomy laws in history, November 21

1922 — The Iowa Supreme Court upholds a sodomy conviction even though it felt trial questions were leading.

1984 — The Minnesota Supreme Court rules that cunnilingus violates the state’s sodomy law.

1987 - In a series of raids on gay bars, the Los Angeles Police Department closed down the One Way for fire ordinance violations. The LAPD came to the conclusion that the manpower necessary to close the One Way would be ten police cars and several fire trucks and various other city vehicles.

1995 — The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals upholds the solicitation conviction of a man, partially because he was of the same sex as the solicited undercover officer.

2000 — The Virginia Court of Appeals upholds the solicitation convictions of 10 men for soliciting or fondling undercover police officers while seeking sex in a public park.

Sources:

Wikipedia
Today in Gay History, Blue Pride
On This Gay Day

Friday, 16 November 2012

November 16th in Queer History

Events in LGBT history:

1989 - The Center for Homosexual Lifestyles was established in Berlin. It was the first time in Germany that a public office was established specifically to deal with the concerns of lesbians and gay men.

1995 - A directive was issued by the Canadian Government allowing workers in same-sex relationships to take time off in the event of a partner's illness or death.

2009 – David Atlanta, Southern Voice & Washington Blade all cease publication (USA)

Born this day:

Morton Beiser (1936 – ) Canadian
Professor / Psychiatrist

Paula Vogel (1951 – ), US.
Playwright

Glenn Burke (1952 – 1995), US.
Baseball

Anne Holt (1958 – ), Norwegian.
Author, Politician, Lawyer

Waheed Alli (1964 – ) UK.
Politician

Gerard Duphiney (1966 – ) US.
Reality TV [Amazing Race 3]

Jamie Babbit (1970 – ), US.
Director, Producer, Screenwriter

Gus Carr (1983 – ), US
Actor, Dancer, Singer, Songwriter

Ukea Davis (1983 – 2002), US
Hate Crime Victim

Died this day

Russ Conway (1925 - 2000 ), UK.
Pianist

Sodomy laws in history, November 16

1880 — The Ohio Supreme Court affirms its 1876 decision that a man accused of sodomy by another can not sue for slander, but asks the legislature to change that by either outlawing sodomy or making its accusation actionable.

1889 — The Cleveland Street Scandal in England breaks. The Cleveland Street brothel provides teenage boys for many prominent and affluent London men.

1897 — The District of Columbia Court of Appeals rules that common-law crimes are recognized in the District, even without a statute receiving them. This effectively reinstates sodomy as a crime, since there is no sodomy statute under District law, and makes sodomy a crime throughout the United States.

1938 — The Montana Supreme Court overturns a sodomy conviction based on the fact that a young man and his alleged lover live near each other (and move to stay close when the other moves), hang around together, and are found by police sleeping in the same bedroom—in separate beds. The Court warns of the dangers of basing convictions on such circumstantial evidence.

1944 — The Washington Supreme Court overturns a sodomy conviction because the state was able to prove only an attempt.

1955 — A Pennsylvania appellate court upholds the sodomy conviction of a man after prejudicial remarks were made by the prosecutor to the jury.

1967 — A Michigan appellate court rejects the contention of a man and woman that the "crime against nature" can be committed only by people of the same sex.

1977 — The Texas Court of Appeals overturns the public lewdness conviction of a Gay man, because his acts never were specified.

1999 — The Rhode Island Supreme Court rules that all pending consensual sodomy prosecutions at the time of the 1998 legislative repeal must be abandoned.

Sources:

Wikipedia
Today in Gay History, Blue Pride
On This Gay Day

Thursday, 15 November 2012

November 15th in Queer History

Events this Day in Queer History

1980 - Michael Harcourt, an alderman consistently supportive of the gay community, is elected mayor of Vancouver.

1989 - Massachusetts passed a statewide gay rights law

1992 - Thirty-five members of The Cathedral Project, a gay Roman Catholic group, demonstrated at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York City to protest a Vatican directive urging bishops to oppose laws banning anti-gay bias.

Born this day

Sara Josephine Baker (1873 – 1945), US.
Author

Georgia O'Keefe (1887 - 1986), US.
Bisexual artist

Paul Moore (1919 – 2003) US.
Marine, Bishop

Bishop of the Episcopal Church and served as the 13th Bishop of New York. During his lifetime, he was perhaps the best known Episcopal clergyman in the United States, and among the best known Christian clergy in any denomination.

Although twice married and the father of nine children, he was bisexual. This was firmly revealed after his death. Honor Moore, the oldest of his revealed that her father was bisexual with a history of gay affairs in a story she wrote about him in The New Yorker and in the book The Bishop's Daughter: A Memoir.

Fred Richmond  ( 1923 – ),  US.
Navy, Politician, Pianist

Patricia Marion Fogarty(1940 - )
Illustrator and photographer, lover of filmmaker Jayne Parker.

Dawn Airey  (1960 – ) UK
Television Executive [Five]

Judy Gold (1962 – ), US
Comedian / Actress , Author, Producer

Jeroen Willems (1962 – ),  Dutch.
Actor, Singer, Director

Evan Adams (1966 –  ), Canadian.
Actor, Playwright, Doctor

Francois Ozon (1967 –  ), French.
Director, Screenwriter

Todd Klinck (1974 – ), Canadian. Author / Director / Producer

Stephanie Thomas (1982 –  ), US .  2002 Hate Crime Victim

Died this day

Annemarie Schwarzenbach (1908 - 1942) Swiss.
Author, Journalist –

Margaret Mead (1901 - 1978 ),  US.
Anthropologist

Robert McCall (1958 - 1991),  Canadian.
Figure Skater

Jacques Morali (1947 -1991),  French.
Music Producer

Mary Meigs (1917 - 2002 ),  US.
Painter , Author

Hanne Haller (1950 - 2005),  German.
Singer, Composer, Author, Producer, Sound Engineer

Donathyn J Rodgers (? - 2005),  US.
Murder Victim

Fred Goldhaber (1947– ) US

Teacher

Griffith Vaughan Williams ( 1940– 2010 ) UK

Activist

Sodomy laws in history, November 15

1636 Plymouth colony outlaws consensual sodomy with a penalty of death.

1912 Portland newspapers report what becomes known as the "Vice Clique Scandal." Some 68 men are involved in prosecutions for private, consensual sexual relations.

1935 Oregon adopts a new sterilization law and requires names of all known "sexual perverts" in the state to be turned over to the Board of Eugenics.

1941- Heinrich Himmler announced a decree that any member of the Nazi SS or the police who had sex with another man would be put to death.

1950 The Puerto Rico Supreme Court rules that emission is not necessary for a conviction of sodomy.

Sources:

Wikipedia
Today in Gay History, Blue Pride
On This Gay Day

Wednesday, 14 November 2012

November 14th in Queer History

Events in LGBT history:

2001, Egypt. 21 of those arrested on “The Queen Boat” in Cairo, convicted of “habitual practice of debauchery,” 1 for “contempt of religion,” & 1 for both. A 53rd man (a teenager) tried in juvenile court and sentenced to 3 years prison and 3 years probation

Vatican, 2006 – “Ministry to persons with a homosexual inclination” document issued by the Roman Catholic Church

Born this day

Adolf Brand (1874 – 1945), German. Author, Anarchist, Activist

German writer, individualist anarchist and pioneering campaigner for the acceptance of male bisexuality and homosexuality.

Eugene O’Brien (1880 – 1966), US. Actor

Silent film star and stage actor.

Aaron Copland (1900 – 1990), US. Composer, Conductor

American composer,teacher, writer, and conductor,often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers". His best known works are the ballets Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid, Rodeo and his Fanfare for the Common Man, and the Clarinet Concerto.

Louise Brooks (1906 – 1985 ) US
Dancer / Model / Actress

Albrecht Becker (1906 – 2002), German. Actor, Photographer, Production Designer

Production designer, photographer, and actor, who was imprisoned by the Nazi regime for the charge of homosexuality.

Joseph McCarthy ( 1908 - 1957 ) The red baiting homophobe was actually a closet gay. The number of American lives destroyed in the '50s by his "outing Communists" numbered in the tens of thousands in America.

Pierre Berge (1930 – ), French. Businessman

French industrialist and patron. He is perhaps best known as the co-founder of Yves Saint Laurent Couture House and former partner of fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.

Jack Smith (1932 –1989), US. Actor, Playwright, Director, Photographer

American filmmaker, actor, and pioneer of underground cinema. He is generally acclaimed as a founding father of American performance art, and has been critically recognized as a master photographer, though his photographic works are rare and remain largely unknown.

Wendy Carlos (1939 - ), US. Composer / Musician / Photographer

American composer and electronic musician. Carlos first came to notice in the late 1960s with recordings made on the Moog synthesizer. Born Walter Carlos, she underwent sex reassignment surgery in 1972 after living as a woman beginning in May 1968.

Tom Judson [Gus Mattox] (1960 – ), US. Actor, Porn, Composer

American musical theatre actor and composer, particularly for off-Broadway and Broadway plays, and a former porn actor.

Stefano Gabbana (1962 – ), Italian. Fashion Designer

Co-founder of the Dolce & Gabbana fashion house.

Petra Rossner (1966 – ), German. Cyclist

German cyclist, who won the gold medal in 3 km pursuit track cycling at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. In the same event she won the 1991 World Championships and finished second in 1989.
Since 1996 she has been living in Leipzig with her partner Judith Arndt. In 2006 the couple announced that they want to adopt a child.

Svetlana Surganova (1968 – ) Russian Musician / Singer / Poet

Russian rock musician, singer and poet. She was a founding member of the popular Russian rock band "Nochnye Snaipery" (Night Snipers), vocalling and playing violin. She and another member of Night Snipers are considered Russian lesbian icons: many of their songs hint of intimacy between women and are considered lesbian and feminist anthems of Russophone world.

Russell Tovey (1981 – ), UK. Actor

English actor with numerous television, film and stage credits. Tovey is best known for playing the role of werewolf George Sands on BBC Three's supernatural drama Being Human

Saints' Day

St John of the Cross , Mystic, and composer of homoerotic mystical verse.

Died This Day

William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp (1938 – 1872), UK. Politician

British Liberal politician. He was Governor of New South Wales, a member of the Liberal administrations of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and H. H. Asquith and leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Lords between 1924 and 1931. When political enemies threatened to make public his homosexuality he resigned from office to go into exile.

Adrian Lee Kellard (1991 – 1959), US. Artist

American artist known for his woodcuts and sculptures of religious and often homoerotic imagery.

Tony Richardson (1928 – 1991 ) UK

Director / Producer – Born 5^th June

Humphrey Berkeley (1926– 1994) UK

Politician

Tom Villard (1953– 1994 ) US

Actor

Peter Wildeblood (1923– 1999) UK / Canadian

Journalist / Author / Playwright / Activist

Lateisha Green (1985/6 – 2008 ) US Hate Crime Victim

Sources:

Tuesday, 13 November 2012

November 13th in Queer History

Events in LGBT history:

1933 Top - level members of the Third Reich advised the Head of Police to deliver homosexuals and transvestites to concentration camp Fuhlsbuttel, which had just established homosexuals as a new category.

1979 - San Francisco swore in its first openly gay and lesbian police officers.

1985 - Manchester, England elected Margaret Roff as mayor, making her the first openly lesbian mayor elected in Britain.

1989 - A federal court ruled that the Armstrong amendment, which would have cut off Washington DC's entire 1989 budget unless the city council exempted religious educational institutions from the gay rights provisions of the city's human rights law, was unconstitutional. William Armstrong introduced the measure after the DC Court of Appeals ruled that Georgetown University was not exempt from the gay rights law and ordered the University to provide facilities to gay & lesbian student organizations that are equal to those provided to other student groups.

1995 - A group of lesbians protested an appearance by Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe at a meeting of Commonwealth heads of government in Auckland New Zealand. He had told a group of journalists that homosexuals are trying to destroy society.

2009 – Argentina. Buenos Aires judge allows first same-sex marriage in Argentina and Latin America.

Born this day

Nico (Niek) Engelschman (1913 – 1988),  Dutch.
Actor, Activist

John La Touche (1914 – 1956), US.
Musician, Author

Dack Rambo (1941 –  1994), US.
Actor

Anna Livia Julian Brawn   (1955 –  2007), Irish.
Author

Rosie Jones (1959 - ), US.
Golf

Claus Larsen  (1967 – ). Danish
Musician

Died this day

Saki [Hector Hugh Munro] ( 1870 - 1916 ),  UK.
Author

Manoly Lascaris  (1912 -2003)  Egyptian / Australian.
Lover of Patrick White

John Balance (1962 - 2004 ), UK.
Musician

John Paul Kelso  (? - 2006), US. Businessman
Murder Victim

Sodomy laws in history, November 13

1759 — In the Netherlands, minister Andreas Klink is banished for life for having committed sodomy. He defends his attractions as natural.

1912 — The North Carolina Supreme Court upholds the right of juries to return verdicts of attempt to commit sodomy rather than for the completed act.

1914 — A California appellate court reverses a sodomy conviction for having "carnal knowledge" of Frank Love. It says that the term "carnal knowledge" can exist only between people of the opposite sex.

1954 — The Kansas Supreme Court rules that solicitation to commit sodomy is not an attempt to commit it.

1957 — A Texas appellate court upholds a sodomy conviction even though the facts of the case show that the arresting officer could not have seen what he claimed to see in the dark from a great distance.

Sources:

Wikipedia
Today in Gay History, Blue Pride
On This Gay Day

Thursday, 8 November 2012

November 8th in Queer History

Events this day in queer history:

1977 - Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, making him the first openly gay man to be elected in a major US city. Dan White, who would murder Harvey Milk just over a year later, was also elected.

1988 - Oregon voters repealed an executive order which prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation among state government employees.

1992 - The East Nashville Cooperative Ministry denied membership to Dayspring Christian Fellowship, a mostly gay and lesbian congregation.

1995 - In Zimbabwe, Tribal Chief Norbert Makoni addressed Parliament, saying gays and lesbians should be sentenced to whipping.

1995 - Representatives of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) approached television stations in four US cities to buy advertising time for two ads, one on the prevention of suicide among gay and lesbian youth and one about gay bashing. All stations refused to air the suicide ad, and only two cable stations and one network affiliate station would air the gay-bashing ad. They were told the ads offended community standards.

1996 - Transgender activists protested outside the offices of the American Psychiatric Association in Washington DC.

Born this day

Anne Seymour Damer (1748 - 1828) UK. Sculptor

English sculptor.

Charles Demuth (1883 – 1935) US. Painter

American watercolorist who turned to oils late in his career, developing a style of painting known as Precisionism. One of America's first modernist painters, he was also one of the earliest artists in the USA to expose his gay identity through forthright, positive depictions of homosexual desire.

Gerald Chapman (1949 – 1987) UK. Theatrical director.

English theatre director and educator who in 1974, at a time when Gay Liberation was just beginning in the UK, joined other gay activists and playwrights to set up one of the first Gay Theatre seasons in the UK.

Roy Simmons (1956 – ) US. American Football

American football player who played for the National Football League. In 1992, he came out of the closet as gay on the Phil Donahue Show.

Chi Chi LaRue (1959 – ) US. Porn Director

American film director of gay, bisexual and straight pornography. He is best known in his drag persona as Chi Chi LaRue and has also directed under the names Lawrence David and Taylor Hudson

Megan Cavanagh (1960 – ) US. Actress

American actress who portrayed the roles of Marla Hooch in A League of Their Own(1992), Broomhilde in Robin Hood: Men in Tights, and Essie in Dracula: Dead and Loving It. Openly lesbian,Cavanagh stars in Exes & Ohs, a lesbian comedy on Logo TV.

Craig Chester (1965 – ) US. Actor / Screenwriter

American actor and screenwriter, best known for his performances in independent films in the 1990s. Openly gay himself, he agrees that being open and honest can be harmful to an actor's career. In his 2002 autobiography, "Why the Long Face? The Adventures of a Truly Independent Actor", he chronicles the lost battles of being an openly gay actor, concluding that "being in the closet is good for business."

Sam Sparro (1982 – ) Australian. Singer / Music Producer

Australian singer-songwriter, music producer, and former child actor. Sparro is openly gay. He did an interview for Attitude magazine and was featured on the front cover.

Died this day

George Quaintance (1902/3 - 1957 ) US. Artist / Photographer

American artist famous for his "idealized, strongly homoerotic" depictions of men in physique magazines.

Gottfried von Cramm (1909 - 1976 ) German. Tennis

German amateur tennis champion and twice French Open champion. In 1938, von Cramm was arrested by the German government, tried for homosexuality, and sentenced to 1 year imprisonment. This criminal conviction later caused several problems in his tennis career, and also led to his dismissal from military service in 1942 - even though he had already been awarded an Iron Cross for action on the Eastern Front.

After his death, Von Cramm was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island in 1977. Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter and great player himself, included Gottfried von Cramm in his list of the 21 greatest players of all time.

Warren Casey (1935 - 1988 ) US. Composer, Lyricist, Author.

American theatre composer, lyricist, writer, and actor. He is best known for being the writer and composer, with Jim Jacobs of the stage and film musical Grease. Casey was gay, and he died of AIDS-related complications in Chicago at the age of 53.

Frances Faye (1912 - 1991) US. Singer, Actress

American cabaret and show tune singer and pianist. She was married twice in the 1940s. In the late 1950s, a woman named Teri Shepherd became her manager and lifelong partner

Larry Levan (1954 - 1992). US DJ

DJ best known for his decade-long residency at the New York City night club Paradise Garage, which has been described as the prototype of the modern dance club. Levan was openly gay and got his start alongside DJ Frankie Knuckles at the Continental Baths. In September 2004, Levan was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame for his outstanding achievement as a DJ.

Jean Marais (1913 - 1998 ). French Actor

Jean-Alfred Villain-Marais was a French actor and director, who starred in several movies directed by Jean Cocteau (who was for a time his lover), most famously Beauty and the Beast and Orphée

Sodomy laws in history, November 8

1912 — The Michigan Supreme Court upholds a sodomy conviction despite possible prejudice against the defendant.

1944 — The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals reverses a lower court and orders an investigation of an Indiana man’s claim of false imprisonment on sodomy charges.

1961 — The North Carolina Supreme Court rules that penetration must be proven to convict for sodomy.

Sources:

Friday, 2 November 2012

November 2nd in Queer History

Events in LGBT History:

1969 - A nationwide poll of US doctors revealed 67% were in favor of the repeal of sodomy laws.
1989 – LGBT Youth Scotland founded
1999 - A United Methodist Church committee found that operators of a church campground in Des Plaines, Illinois discriminated when they refused to rent a cabin to a gay couple.

2007 – Minneapolis Mayhem RFC founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

2008 – In Newsweekly (later New England Blade) newspaper ceases publication

2008 – Queer Liberacion founded in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas .

Saints' Day

All Souls Day

Born this day

Luchino Visconti (1906 – 1976) Italian Italian Director

Italian theatre, opera and cinema director, as well as a screenwriter. He is notably known for his films The Leopard (1963) and Death in Venice (1971).

Visconti made no secret of his homosexuality. His last partner was the Austrian actor Helmut Berger, who played Martin in Visconti's film The Damned. Berger also appeared in Visconti's Ludwig in 1972 and Conversation Piece in 1974 along with Burt Lancaster. Other lovers included Franco Zeffirelli, who also worked as part of the crew (i.e. production design, assistant director, etc.) in a number of Visconti's films and theatrical productions.

John Burnside ( 1916 – 2008) US Inventor

The inventor of the teleidoscope, the darkfield kaleidoscope and the Symmetricon. Because he rediscovered the math behind kaleidoscope optics, for decades, every maker of optically correct kaleidoscopes sold in the US paid him royalties. He was the partner of Harry Hay for 40 years, from 1962 until Hay's death in 2002.

Casey Donovan (1943 – 1987) US Porn

American male pornographic actor of the 1970s and 1980s, appearing primarily in adult films and videos catering to gay male audiences.

Michelle Cliff (1946 – ) Jamaican / US Author / Poet / Literary Critic

Jamaican-American author whose notable works include No Telephone to Heaven, Abeng and Free Enterprise. As of 1999, Cliff was living with her partner, poet Adrienne Rich. The two have been partnered since 1976.

Michelle Carter (1948 - ) US
African American lesbian activist, who has won the prestigious Stonewall Award for her work.

KD Lang (1961 – ) Canadian Canadian Singer / Musician

Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Lang has won both Juno Awards and Grammy Awards for her musical performances; hits include "Constant Craving" and "Miss Chatelaine".

Lang, who came out as a lesbian in a 1992 article of the LGBT-related news magazine The Advocate, has actively championed gay rights causes. She has performed and supported many causes over the years, including HIV/AIDS care and research.

David Brock (1962 – )US Journalist / Author

American journalist and author, the founder of the media watchdog group, Media Matters for America. Once a highly paid conservative political journalist, Brock later took a sharp turn to the left and became am "ex-conservative", and a Democratic political operative.

Jonas Gardell (1963 – ) Swedish Author / Playwright / Screenwriter / Comedian

Swedish novelist, playwright, screenwriter and comedian. More than 20 years after his first novel was published, Gardell is one of Sweden's most famous stand-up comedians and probably the country's most well-known gay man. His partner is the Finnish-Swedish-American writer and TV presenter Mark Levengood.

Tim Kirkman (1966 – ) US Author / Director

Randy Harrison (1977 – ) US Actor

American actor best known for his portrayal of Justin Taylor on the Showtime drama Queer as Folk. Harrison, who is openly gay, dated Advertising Age columnist Simon Dumenco from 2002 to 2008

Died this day

Dimitri Mitropoulos 1896 - 1960 Greek

Greek conductor, pianist, and composer. Mitropoulos was noted as a champion of modern music, such as that by the members of the Second Viennese School. He wrote a number of pieces for orchestra and solo works for piano, and also arranged some of Johann Sebastian Bach's organ works for orchestra. In addition he was very influential in encouraging Leonard Bernstein's interest in conducting performances of Mahler's symphonic works. He also premiered and recorded a piano concerto of Ernst Krenek as soloist (available on CD), and works by composers in the U.S. such as Roger Sessions and Peter Mennin. In 1952 he commissioned American composer Philip Bezanson to write a piano concerto, which he premiered the following year.

Mitropoulos never married. He was "quietly known to be homosexual" and "felt no need for a cosmetic marriage". Among his relationships reportedly was one with Leonard Bernstein.

Pier Paolo Pasolini 1922 - 1975 Italian Film Director, Cultural Icon - and Murder Victim

Italian film director, poet, writer, and intellectual. He demonstrated a unique and extraordinary cultural versatility, but is best known for his work in film.

While openly gay from the very start of his career, Pasolini rarely dealt with homosexuality in his movies. Pasolini never saw himself as a "gay artist." Indeed, he explicitly rejected the assimilated gay middle-class he saw emerging just prior to his murder, apparently by a hustler.

in 1975.

Henry Willson 1911 - 1978 US Actors’ Agent

American Hollywood talent agent who played a large role in popularizing the beefcake craze of the 1950s. He was known for his stable of young, attractive clients, including Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, Robert Wagner, Nick Adams, Guy Madison, Troy Donahue, Rory Calhoun, Clint Walker, Doug McClure, Ty Hardin, and Chad Everett.

David B Feinberg 1956 - 1994 US Author, AIDS Activist

American writer and AIDS activist. In the early 1980s, he joined a gay men's writing group, eventually creating the character B. J. Rosenthal, a young gay man, much like Feinberg himself, who became the central character in virtually all of Feinberg's later writing. The novel Eighty-Sixed (1989) won Feinberg the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Men's Fiction and the American Library Association Gay/Lesbian Award for Fiction.

Feinberg tested positive for HIV in 1987, and joined the activist organization ACT UP. In July 1994, however, failing health led him to take disability leave. That fall, he was admitted to St. Vincent's Hospital[disambiguation needed], where he died early in November at the age of 37.

Sodomy laws in history, November 2

1909 — The District of Columbia Court of Appeals reverses the vagrancy conviction of a man who had solicited a police officer for oral sex. It says a single immoral act does not constitute vagrancy.

1947 — In Chicago, the Humboldt Elementary School is investigated for widespread sodomy among the students.

1966 — The North Carolina Supreme Court rules that the state’s 1965 sodomy law revision that stated no penalty is controlled by another state law setting a maximum penalty of 10 years for crimes for which no penalty is set.

Sources:

The Calendar of Sodomy, November

WEDNESDAY, 2 NOVEMBER 2011 2nd November . LGBT People Born 2nd November: 1906 – 1948 – Mandy Carter – US Activist 1 1978 – Henry Willson – US Actors’ Agent – Born 31st July 1911 1994 – David B Feinberg – US Author / Activist – Died 25th November 1956

Labels: T

Thursday, 1 November 2012

1st November in Queer History

Events in LGBT History, 1st November:

1971 – The Body Politic magazine first published (Canada)

1995 – Kings Cross Steelers, the world’s first gay rugby club, founded in Central Station bar Kings Cross, London .

1999 - Nancy Katz became Illinois's first openly lesbian judge when she was sworn in as a Cook County associate judge.

Events in LGBT History, Unknown Dates in November:

1989 – LGBT Youth Scotland founded

2007 – Minneapolis Mayhem RFC founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

2008 – In Newsweekly (later New England Blade) newspaper ceases publication

2008 – Queer Liberacion founded in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas .

Born this day

Hannah Hoch ( 1889 – 1978 ) German

Artist

Max Adrian ( 1903 – 1973) UK

Actor / Singer

NA Diaman ( 1936 – ) US

Author / Artist

Tom Waddell ( 1937 – 1987 ) US

Decathlete / Founder of the Gay Games

Bob Hattoy ( 1950 – 2007 ) US

Activist

Tim Cook ( 1960 – ) US

Businessman

Adolfo Constanzo ( 1962 – 1989 ) Mexican

Serial Killer

Sophie B Hawkins ( 1967 – ) US

Singer

Saints' Day

All (Gay) Saints

The saints and martyrs of the Christian churches include numerous examples who could be described (in modern terminology) as LGBTQ. Some are officially recognized, some could be considered as saints by popular acclaim - and some have been martyred by the church, persecuted for their honesty in speaking the truth on sexuality and gender identity.

Died this day

Pierre Fitch (1981 – ) Canadian

Porn / Producer

And Those Who Died:

Alfred Jarry ( 1873 – 1907 ) French

Author

Elsa Maxwell ( 1883 – 1963 ) US

Author / Presenter / Columnist

Aladar Marberger ( 1947 – 1988 ) US

Activist / Gallery Manager

Florence Klotz ( 1920 – 2006 ) US

Costume Designer – Born 28th October

Died On Unknown Dates in November:

Lisbetha Olsdotter ( ???? – 1679 ) Swedish

Soldier

Griffith Vaughan Williams ( 1940– 2010 ) UK Activist – Born 9th November

Sodomy in history, Nov 1st:

1890 — Mississippi adopts a new constitution which permits the exclusion of the public from trials of those accused of the "crime against nature."

1897 — The Illinois Supreme Court is the first to rule that fellatio constitutes the "crime against nature."

1937 — The Mississippi Supreme Court rules that cunnilingus does not violate the state’s "crime against nature" law.

1974 — The Massachusetts Supreme Court strikes down as unconstitutional the state’s unnatural and lascivious acts law. It says that the law can not be applied to private, non-commercial sexual activity between adults.

Sources: