November 20th in Queer History

Events in queer history:

1999 – First Transgender Day of Remembrance held in the USA

Born this day

Grace Darmond(1898 – 1963) Canadian / US  Actress

American actress from the early 20th century, active onscreen between 1914 and 1927.

Although performing in a substantial number of films over roughly 13 years, she was best known in Hollywood's inner circle as the lesbian lover to actress Jean Acker, the first wife to actor Rudolph Valentino. Darmond and Acker reportedly remained lovers through most of the 1920s.

Genevieve Pastre (1924 – ) French  Author

One of France's leading lesbian theorists and political activists, was a respected French poet and academic in her fifties when she came out as a lesbian and made radical lesbian feminism the root of her political and literary work. Pastre has become a major influence within the French lesbian and gay movement. She became an advocate of lesbian autonomy and gay rights in her own work, and created her own publishing house to ensure that radical queer voices could be heard. In addition, she has worked to place gay and lesbian concerns on the French national agenda by helping to found the Parti des Mauves (Lavender Party).

Esquerita (Eskew Reeder Jr) ( 1935 – 1986) US  Singer / Songwriter / Musician

Esquerita was the stage name of singer, songwriter and pianist Eskew Reeder Jr,He is credited with influencing rock and roll pioneer Little Richard, though the extent and nature of Reeder's influence or vice-versa is uncertain.
He died in Harlem, New York on October 23, 1986, of AIDS.

Oliver Sipple (1941 – 1989) US  Soldier

Oliver "Billy" W. Sipple was a decorated US Marine and Vietnam War veteran widely known for saving the life of US President Gerald Ford during an assassination attempt in San Francisco on September 22, 1975. The subsequent public revelation that Sipple was gay turned the news story into a cause célèbre for gay activists.
Though he was known to be gay among members of the gay community, and had even participated in Gay Pride events, Sipple's sexual orientation was a secret from his family. He asked the press to keep his sexuality off the record, making it clear that neither his mother nor his employer knew he was gay. Even so, Harvey Milk reportedly outed Sipple as a "gay hero" to San Francisco Chronicle's columnist Herb Caen in hopes to "break the stereotype of homosexuals" of being "timid, weak and unheroic figures". Sipple later unsuccesfully sued the Chronicle and other papers for invasion of privacy.

Meredith Monk (1942 – ) US  Composer / Musician / Director / Singer / Choreographer

Meredith Jane Monk (born November 20, 1942 in Lima, Peru) is an American composer, performer, director, vocalist, filmmaker, and choreographer. Since the 1960s, Monk has created multi-disciplinary works which combine music, theatre, and dance.
Her partner was the Dutch-born choreographer Mieke van Hoek, who died in 2002.

Benno Thoma, Wet 01

Benno Thoma (1956 – ) Dutch  Photographer

Dutch photographer Benno Thoma regularly travels the world and the seven seas to capture lighting on his subjects, either architecture, landscapes or models. His book "Around the Globe" filled with rather sumptuous images of the men of Bel Ami. For his published work see Amazon.com. See a selection of his male photography work on his website: Benno Thoma

Eric de la Cruz (1981 – ) Filipino  Actor

Filipino theater actor. He was born Eric Villanueva dela Cruz in Manila. His film debut was in a digital film titled "La Funeraria Toti" which was produced with a tie up with the AIDS Society of the Philippines for the benefit of people living with AIDS, and was endorsed by the Mowelfund to the Philippine Pink Festival.

Died this day

Katharine Anthony (1877 - 1965),  US. Author

US biographer best known for The Lambs (1945), a controversial study of the British writers Charles and Mary Lamb. She became a public school teacher by 1910, working in Arkansas. By 1920 she was living in Manhattan with her life-partner Elisabeth Irwin (1880–1942), the founder of the Little Red School House, with whom she raised several adopted children

Emile Ardolino (1943 - 1993 ) US  Director / Producer

He began his career as an actor in off-Broadway productions, but soon moved to the production side of the business. In 1967, he founded Compton-Ardolino Films with Gardner Compton. In the 1970s and 1980s Ardolino worked for PBS; his profiles of dancers and choreographers for their Dance in America and Live from Lincoln Center series won him a total of 17 Emmy Award nominations. He actually won the Emmy three times.

Ardolino won an Academy Award for Best Documentary for the 1983 movie He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin'. He found commercial success with the 1987 sleeper hit Dirty Dancing, and went on to make several other mainstream films.

Ardolino, who lived openly gay, died in 1993 of complications from AIDS.

Steven Powsner (? - 1995 ) US  Activist
Founder and former president of the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center in Greenwich Village.

Sadao Hasegawa (1945? - 1999) Japanese  Artist

Among the many later gay artists influenced by Tom of Finland's work is the prominent Japanese painter, Sadao Hasegawa. In such works as Lion Dance (1982) and Secret Ritual (1987), Hasegawa successfully sought to incorporate Tom's hyper-masculinity and exuberant sexuality into innovative depictions of themes ultimately inspired by the spiritual traditions of Buddhism and Hinduism.
His work is notable for superb technical skills, elaborate fantastic settings (occasionally reminiscent of William Blake), and for incorporating Japanese, Indian, South-East Asian and African mythology. While focusing on depictions of muscular male physique, Hasegawa often turns to extreme sexual situations, bondage and SM themes, which, in the context of his stylized fantasy world, attain a nearly sacral intensity.
Hasegawa and ended his life by committing suicide on November 20, 1999 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Dirk Dirksen (1937 – 2006) US  Music Promoter

Born in Germany and emigrated to the US in 1948,Dirksen was a music promoter and emcee of the San Francisco punk rock clubs Mabuhay Gardens and On Broadway, in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Dirksen was nicknamed the "Pope of Punk".

Sodomy laws in history, November 20

1940 — The Maryland Attorney General issues another opinion backing up the 1918 opinion that sodomy is an "infamous crime" that would bar someone from military service.

1951 — The Georgia Attorney General lists sodomy as an "offense against the family."

1973 — A California appellate court upholds the dismissal of a teacher acquitted of oral copulation. Both the California and United States Supreme Courts refuse to review the decision.

Source: Calendar of Sodomy, November

Related articles

• Queering 9/11: Gay Heroes Exist In Real Life, Why Not In The Movies? (queerty.com)
• Today Is Billy Sipple Day: Honoring Gay Ex-Marine Who Saved Gerald Ford's Life (blogs.sfweekly.com)

November 19th in Queer History

Born this day

Clifton Webb (1889 –  1966), US. Actor,  Dancer, Singer

American actor, dancer, and singer known for his Oscar-nominated roles in film,and in the theatrical world for his appearances in the plays of Noël Coward.

Webb, who never married, lived with his mother until her death at age ninety-one in 1960. Actor Robert Wagner, who co-starred with Webb in the movies Stars and Stripes Forever and Titanic stated in his memoirs that "Clifton Webb was gay, of course, but he never made a pass at me, not that he would have."

Anton Walbrook (1896 –1967), Austrian. Actor
Austrian actor who settled in the United Kingdom, making a speciality of playing continental Europeans.


Nathan Leopold (1904 –  1971), US.  Murderer

Leopold and his partner Richard Loeb were highly educated young men from Chicago who saw themselves as Nietzchean supermen who were entitled to ignore the moral codes that bind lesser men. Beginning with minor delinquency, they embarked on a deliberate life of crime, leading up to the murder of a 14 year old boy, with the sole motive of committing the perfect crime.

Allegations that there was a sexual element in the boy's abduction and murder have not been proven, but their own relationship was sexual.

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

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

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."

Timothy Conigrave ( 1959 – 1994), Australian.  Actor, Playwright, Activist

Australian actor, writer, and activist. His major work is the autobiographical Holding the Man (1995), the story of his 15-year love affair with John Caleo. They met at Xavier when John was captain of the football team and Tim wanted to be an actor. Conigrave finished the book shortly before dying of an AIDS-related illness.

Jodie Foster (1962 – ),  US. Actress, Director.

American actress, film director, and producer, the winner of two Acadamy Awards for best actress.

Foster is intensely private about certain aspects of her personal life, notably her sexual orientation, which has been the subject of speculation. However, in 1997 her brother Bud wrote a book titled Foster Child in which he stated "I have always assumed Jodie was gay or bisexual." In December 2007, Foster made headlines when, during an acceptance speech. she paid tribute to film producer Cydney Bernard,[58] referring to her as "my beautiful Cydney, who sticks with me through the rotten and the bliss." Some media interpreted this as Foster coming out.

Klaus Bondam (1963 – ), Danish.  Actor, Politician

Danish actor and politician. who got his breakthrough in the movie Festen and has starred in the series Langt fra Las Vegas as the sexually driven boss Buckingham. He stopped his acting career in 2003.

Died this day

Hans Heinrich von Twardowski (1898 - 1958),  German / US.  Actor

Twardowski appeared in numerous films from the 1920's to 1944, first in Germany, later in Hollywood. Thereafter, he continued to write and direct for the stage.

He was homosexual, and left Germany in 1933 to escape the Nazi regime.

Louise Fitzhugh (1928 - 1974), US.  Author, Illustrator

American author and illustrator of young adult and children's literature. Her work includes Harriet the Spy, its sequels The Long Secret and Sport, and Nobody's Family is Going to Change.

Sodomy laws in history, November 19

1925 — The Nebraska Supreme Court reverses the sodomy conviction of a man that was based solely on the deathbed declaration of a syphilis victim that he got syphilis from the defendant.

1959 — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit votes 3-0 to order the District of Columbia Court of Appeals to furnish an attorney to a man charged with solicitation and appealing his conviction.

Source: Calendar of Sodomy, November

November 18th in Queer History

Born this day

Sir Edward Marsh (1872 – 1953), UK. Translator

British polymath, translator, arts patron and civil servant. He was the sponsor of the Georgian school of poets and a friend to many poets, including Rupert Brooke and Siegfried Sassoon. In his career as a civil servant he worked as Private Secretary to a succession of Great Britain's most powerful ministers, particularly Winston Churchill. He was a discreet but influential figure within Britain's homosexual community.

Klaus Mann (1906 –  1949), German.   Author

German writer, the son of Thomas Mann. His most famous novel, Mephisto, was a thinly-disguised portrait of his former brother-in-law, the actor Gustaf Gründgens.

In early life, His homosexuality often made him the target of bigotry. Later, he moved to the United States, where he met his partner Thomas Quinn Curtiss.

Jackie Goldberg (1944 – ),  US.   Politician, Teacher

American politician and teacher, and a member of the Democratic Party. She is a former member of the California State Assembly. Goldberg is openly lesbian and was a founder member of the California Legislative LGBT Caucus. She married longtime partner Sharon Stricker in 2008.

Wolfgang Joop (1944 –  ), German.  Fashion Designer

The man behind the now defunct JOOP! label of the 80s and 90s has recently made a critically acclaimed comeback with his Wunderkind line, founded together with his long-term boyfriend and former PR manager Edwin Lemberg.

Christian Siriano (1985 – ),  US.  Reality TV [Project: Runway], Fashion Designer

American fashion designer. Siriano first gained attention after winning the fourth season of American reality show Project Runway, becoming the series' youngest winner. Shortly after winning Runway, Siriano launched his fashion line, Christian Siriano, which as of 2010 has brought in revenue of over $1.2 million.

Siriano is openly gay and lives in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City with longtime boyfriend, singer-songwriter Brad Walsh.

Died this day

Renee Vivien (1877 - 1909), UK.  Poet

British poet who wrote in the French language. She took to heart all the mannerisms of Symbolism, as one of the last poets to claim allegiance to the school. She lived lavishly, as an open lesbian, and carried on a well-known affair with American heiress and writer Natalie Clifford Barney.

Marcel Proust (1871 - 1922), French.   Author, Critic

French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time; earlier translated as Remembrance of Things Past).

Mauritz Stiller (1883 - 1928), Finnish.  Director, Screenwriter

Swedish film director Maurtiz Stiller's principal claim to fame is his discovery of an unknown actress, Greta Gustafsson, whom he renamed Greta Garbo. However, this flamboyant gay Svengali to a legendary lesbian star also deserves recognition as a key figure in forging a national cinema that was eventually to become notable for its progressive treatment of sexuality and desire

Mike Connolly (1914 - 1966),  US.  Reporter, Columnist

American magazine reporter and primarily a Hollywood columnist. Connolly was also known for his 1937–38 crusade against prostitution in Champaign, Illinois, and later for his battle against communism in Hollywood. According to his biographer, Val Holley, these campaigns were attempts by Connolly, who was gay, to feel part of the mainstream. His sexual preference was not made public until thirty-seven years after his death.

Gia Carangi (1960 - 1986), US.  Model

American fashion model during the late 1970s and early 1980s,considered by some to be the first supermodel. Carangi and her "bi-try Bowie-mad" friends hung out in Philadelphia’s gay clubs and bars. She was beginning to settle into a lesbian identity, but did not want to take up "the accepted lesbian style".Since Carangi's death, she has been considered a lesbian supermodel and icon and is said to have epitomized "lesbian chic" more than a decade before the term was coined.

William John Christopher Vassall (1924 -1996),  UK.   RAF / Spy

British civil servant who, under pressure of blackmail, spied for the Soviet Union.

In 1952, he was posted to the staff of the Naval Attaché at the British embassy in Moscow. In 1954, he was invited to a party (arranged, unbeknown to him, by the KGB), where he was encouraged to become extremely drunk, and where he was photographed in a compromising position with several men. The KGB used these photographs to blackmail Vassall into working for them as a spy. In 1962 he was arrested and charged with spying, for which he served ten years.

Paul Bowles (1910 - 1999), US.   Author, Composer, Translator,  Photographer

Gay American expatriate composer, writer, and translator Paul Bowles liked to examine sexuality from a dispassionate perspective for its psychological suggestiveness. Bowles's literary reputation rests on his novels, but until he was thirty-five he showed more interest in musical composition and poetry.

Horst P Horst (1906 - 1999), German / US.  Photographer

Horst Paul Albert Bohrmann (August 14, 1906 – November 18, 1999) who chose to be known as Horst P. Horst was a German-American fashion photographer. He and Valentine Lawford, a British diplomat, lived together as a couple from 1938 until Lawford's death in 1991. They adopted and raised a son, Richard J. Horst, together.

Ralph Pomeroy (1926 - 1999),  US. Poet

At eighteen he had already published poems in "Poetry", then pursued painting in Paris, and later worked as an editor, art critic, curator and exhibiting artist in New York City. Many years later, he was stabbed in the chest by a "fag basher", and also suffered a broken wrist while engaged in what a friend described as "S&M games with a trick."

Sodomy laws in history, November 18

1910 — The South Dakota Supreme Court rules that the state’s "crime against nature" law outlaws fellatio.

1919 — A California appellate court upholds the sodomy conviction of a man and rejects his contention that his partner’s incestuous relationship with his brother should have been raised to impeach his credibility.

1925 — A California appellate court upholds the sodomy conviction of a man after photos and condoms found in his home were admitted into evidence against him.

1932 — A California appellate court rules that a trial judge need not visit the scene of the alleged act of sodomy.

1953 — The Illinois Supreme Court upholds a conviction for keeping a house of ill fame—a Gay bath house.

Source: Calendar of Sodomy, November

November 17th in Queer History

Born this day

Lord Arthur Somerset (1926 - 1851),  UK.  Aristocrat / Major

Rock Hudson  (1985 - 1925), US.  Actor

Daniel O’Donnell (1960 – ) US.  Politician

RuPaul (1960 – ), US.  Drag Queen, Singer, Actor, Model

Jose Villarrubia  (1961 – ) Spanish.  Comic Book Artist

Rebecca Walker (1969 –  ), US. Author

Brad Star (1983 –  ), US.  Navy / Porn

Shay Jordan (1985 – ), Filipino / US.  Porn

Died this day

Audre Lorde (1934 - 1992), US.  Author, Poet, Activist

Kurt von Ruffin (1901 - 1996 ), German.  Actor, Singer

Aaron Webster (1959 - 2001), Canadian.  Hate Crime Victim

John Craxton (1918 / 1922 – 2009), UK. Painter



Sodomy laws in history, November 17

1715 — North Carolina adopts all laws of England, making the buggery statute operative.

1960 — A county bar association in Ohio files charges against an attorney for misrepresenting a client arrested for sodomy. The Ohio Supreme Court disbars the attorney and refuses to reinstate him in 1967.

1975 — The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the Tennessee "crime against nature" law.

1980 — The Rhode Island Supreme Court affirms that cunnilingus is a "crime against nature."

Sources:

Wikipedia

glbtq emcyclopedia

Gay History Wiki

November 16th in Queer History

Events in LGBT history:

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

Zsolt Kopazs (1974/6),  Hungarian.  Porn

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

glbtq emcyclopedia

Gay History Wiki

November 15th in Queer History

Born this day

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

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

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

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.

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

Sources:

Wikipedia

glbtq emcyclopedia

Gay History Wiki

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