Guido Gezelle (1830-1899): Flemish priest, teacher, and poet

b. 1st May 1830
d. 27th November 1899

Belgian priest and poet, born in Brugge as Guido Pieter Theodorus Josephus Gezelle. He is considered by the Belgians as one of their greatest poets.

About Gazelle's sexuality, not much is certain. Typically for a priest, there is no clear evidence that he ever gave physical expression to his sexual yearnings, whatever they may have been, About the nature of those feelings, and what we today would call his "orientation", there are some strong clues:

Forget Maurice Maeterlinck, Herman de Coninck, Hugo Claus. The Belgian poet you want to read is Guido Gezelle (1830-1899). Writing in the popular idiom of the West Flemish region, this poet-priest caused a revolution in the rhythm, sound, and soul of Belgian poetry, and can be counted among the world’s greatest poets.

In Gezelle’s work, God and Nature are the key words. Admiring the beauty of God’s creation, the poet is reminded of the grandeur of the Creator Himself. To express these feelings into writing, Gezelle refuses to imprison them into the straight-jacket of age-old conventional forms, but allows them to play freely in a refreshing, new use of rhyme patterns, original images, free verse, and prose poetry.

- Unibooks

(He) also voiced strong feelings for some of his pupils. Gezelle expressed the "spiritual twofoldness" between master and student in some of his best poems.

Gezelle's homoerotic feelings may have been platonic. Certainly, some of his admirers resist any suggestion that his feelings for his pupils were sexual.Nevertheless, his relationship with Eugène van Oye, whom he admired for his "angelic innocence" and whom he tried to comfort in his loneliness in the seminary, was deep indeed. It struck him as a tragedy when van Oye left the seminary in Roeselare in 1859. In his lamentation "To an Absent Friend," published in 1862, he called his loss greater than that of a mother missing her child.

Tom Villard (1953 – 1994), US. Actor

b. November 19, 1953
d. November 14, 1994

American actor, best known for his leading role in the 1980s series "We Got it Made" as Jay Bostwick, as well as roles in feature films "One Crazy Summer", "Heartbreak Ridge", "My Girl", and "Popcorn".

Born Thomas Louis Villard in Waipahu Ewa, Hawaii, he grew up in Spencerport, New York. He has two brothers and one sister. After high school Tom attended Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania for two years. After college he moved to New York City. There he attended the Lee Strasburg Acting Studio and The American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Although his name wasn't instantly recognizable, Tom Villard's face was, as he appeared throughout his career on television, in feature films, and on stage around the country. He was featured in situation comedies, episodic tv series', and had leading roles in lower and mid-range budgeted features. At the peak of his career Villard was given featured supporting roles in big-budget studio fare, (such as Heartbreak Ridge, and My Girl). Toward the end of his life he had a recurring supporting role on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and portrayed multiple characters in the tv episodics The Golden Girls and Baywatch.

Toward the end of his life, Tom Villard became one of the few actors in Hollywood in the early 1990s who chose to be open about his homosexuality, and the challenge of living with HIV and AIDS. In February 1994 Villard made an unprecedented appearance on the CBS tabloid-style news show Entertainment Tonight, admitting to "...more than 13 million viewers that he was gay, that he had AIDS, and that he needed some help."

Tom moved to Los Angeles in 1980. During Tom's film career he landed roles in numerous films and television shows. Tom passed away from AIDS related pneumonia, in Los Angeles, California.

Morris Kight (1919 – 2003), US. Labor and Gay Rights Activist

b. November 19, 1919
d. January 19, 2003

Born in Comanche County, Texas, but later based in Los Angeles, Kight was active in many political, civil rights, and labor rights groups. He is considered one of the original founders of the gay and lesbian civil rights movement in the United States.

Even in high school in the 1930's Texas he recognized his sexual orientation, and then as a student at Texas Christian he was "somewhat" sexually active, although social opportunities for gay men were limited.  After graduation, he moved to New Mexico, where he found gay bars and a gay community. Even so, he married in 1950, and remained married until 1955.

After he moved to Los Angeles in 1958, where he found a much more active gay community,Kight became involved, opening his house for meetings to foster gay identity and pride, and helping arrested gay men secure lawyers so that they could get out of jail.

He is considered one of the original founders of the gay and lesbian civil rights movement in the United States.
He was a pioneering leader in Southern California's gay rights movement - former owner of a hotel chain, activist and health worker; co-founder of the Gay Liberation Front, 1969; co-founder of the Los Angeles Gay Community Services Center; co-founder of the Van Ness Recovery House, an addiction treatment centre for gay people. A key figure in the West Coast fight to end discrimination against homosexuals, who founded the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, he led the 1970 demonstration outside Barney's Beanery, the well-known West Hollywood bar, which had a bar sign reading "Faggots Stay Out!"

His activism was not limited to gay issues. He had been involved in union organising in the 1940's, and was later a prominent peace activist during the Vietnam war.

In 2003 the City of Los Angeles dedicated the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and McCadden Place, in Hollywood, California as "Morris Kight Square."

Morris died of liver cancer and pneumonia at age 83.

Related articles

• Pioneering Gay Activist and Advocate Co-Founder Aristide 'AJ' Laurent Dies at 70 (towleroad.com)

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.

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.

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.

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

English theatre and film director and producer. Richardson was married to actress Vanessa Redgrave from 1962 until they divorced in 1967.
Richardson was bisexual, but never acknowledged it publicly until after he contracted AIDS. He died of complications from AIDS in 1991.

Humphrey Berkeley  (1926  -1994),  UK.  Politician

British politician noted for his many changes of parties and his efforts to effect homosexual law reform

Tom Villard (1953 -1994 ), US. Actor

American actor. He is best known for his leading role in the 1980s series We Got it Made as Jay Bostwick, as well as roles in feature films One Crazy Summer, Heartbreak Ridge, My Girl, and Popcorn.
Toward the end of his life, Tom Villard became one of the few actors in Hollywood in the early 1990s who chose to be open about his homosexuality, and the challenge of living with HIV and AIDS. In February 1994 Villard made an unprecedented appearance on the CBS tabloid-style news show Entertainment Tonight, admitting to "...more than 13 million viewers that he was gay, that he had AIDS, and that he needed some help."

Peter Wildeblood (1923  - 1999), UK / Canadian.  Journalist, Author, Playwright, Activist

Lateisha Green (? -  2008 –  ), US.  Hate Crime Victim
New York trans woman who was shot dead by Dwight DeLee,found guilty of first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime against gays.

Sodomy laws in history, November 14

1910 — The Louisiana Supreme Court rules that the "crime against nature" and "sodomy" are synonymous terms.

1917 — A Georgia appellate court rules that cunnilingus performed by a male violates the state’s sodomy law.

1934 — A California appellate court upholds an oral copulation conviction over the defendant’s contention of "inherent improbability" of the trial testimony.

1955 — The U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear a challenge to the Ohio sodomy law.

1957 — The Church of England Assembly endorses the Wolfenden Report that recommended decriminalizing consensual sodomy.

1960 — A California appellate court upholds the oral copulation conviction of two men in a restroom stall. A busybody looked under the door.

1966 — The Maine Supreme Court upholds a sodomy conviction, despite the admission of conflicting testimony, and after admission of "pornographic" photos owned by the defendant.

1995 — The Austrian Parliament defeats a bill to lower the age of consent for homosexual sex to the same as heterosexual sex.

Sources:

Wikipedia

glbtq emcyclopedia

Gay History Wiki