Events this day in Queer History
2008 – Washington State, USA, expands domestic partnership legislation to give over 150 additional rights to same-sex couples
Born this day
Eric Stenbock (1860 – 1895) German
Baltic German poet and writer of macabre fantastic fiction.
Vaslav Nijinsky (1890 – 1950) Polish/ Russian
Russian danseur and choreographer of Polish descent, cited as the greatest male dancer of the early 20th century.
Jack Kerouac (1922 – 1969) US
Novelist and poet, considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Bisexual, he omitted references to his homosexuality from his otherwise autobiographical works.
Edward Albee (1928 – ) US
Playwright who is best known for The Zoo Story, The Sandbox, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Younger American playwrights, such as Paula Vogel, credit Albee's daring mix of theatricalism and biting dialogue with helping to reinvent the post-war American theatre in the early 1960s. Albee continues to experiment in new works, such as The Goat: or, Who Is Sylvia?
Albee is openly gay and states that he first knew he was gay at age 12 and a half. He has insisted, however, that he does not want to be known as a "gay writer," stating in his acceptance speech for the 2011 Lambda Literary Foundation's Pioneer Award for Lifetime Achievement: "A writer who happens to be gay or lesbian must be able to transcend self. I am not a gay writer. I am a writer who happens to be gay."
James Clark (1963 – ) UK
British diplomat. He is currently Consul General at Chicago, and was previously British Ambassador to Luxembourg. Clark's appointment as British Ambassador to Luxembourg in March 2004 was heralded with some small controversy, due largely to his being openly gay.
On 30 March 2004, he and his partner Anthony Stewart made history by becoming the first officially recognised gay couple to have an audience with Queen Elizabeth II.
Randall Kenan (1963 – ) US
Author of both fiction and nonfiction. Raised in a rural community in North Carolina, Kenan has focused his fiction on what it means to be black and gay in the southern United States.
David Daniels (1966 – ) US
Singer (countertenor, who has played the traditional operatic baroque roles for countertenor, and also modern roles and art songs.
A leading figure in the Italian gay movement of the 1970s. He combined a radical theoretical perspective with a provocative public persona. His sometimes outrageous public behavior made him a controversial figure, but he was nonetheless respected as one of the movement's most important intellectuals. He’s best known among English speakers for Towards a Gay Communism, a political pamphlet excerpted from his major theoretical work Homosexuality and Liberation: Elements of a Gay Critique.
Maurice Evans (1901 - 1989) UK
English actor noted for his interpretations of Shakespearean characters. In terms of his screen roles, he is probably best known as Dr. Zaius in Planet of the Apes and as Samantha Stephens' father Maurice in Bewitched.
Paul Abels (1937 - 1992), US
Clergyman
Lonnie Frisbee (1949 - 1993) US
Pentecostal evangelist and self-described "seeing prophet" and mystic in the late 1960s and 1970s, who says he "struggled" with homosexuality. He had notable success as a minister and evangelist especially in the signs and wonders faith movement of the 1970s and 1980s. Frisbee functioned both as an evangelical preacher and also privately socialized as a gay man before and during his evangelism career.
Baltic German poet and writer of macabre fantastic fiction.
Vaslav Nijinsky (1890 – 1950) Polish/ Russian
Russian danseur and choreographer of Polish descent, cited as the greatest male dancer of the early 20th century.
Jack Kerouac (1922 – 1969) US
Novelist and poet, considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Bisexual, he omitted references to his homosexuality from his otherwise autobiographical works.
Edward Albee (1928 – ) US
Younger American playwrights, such as Paula Vogel, credit Albee's daring mix of theatricalism and biting dialogue with helping to reinvent the post-war American theatre in the early 1960s. Albee continues to experiment in new works, such as The Goat: or, Who Is Sylvia?
Albee is openly gay and states that he first knew he was gay at age 12 and a half. He has insisted, however, that he does not want to be known as a "gay writer," stating in his acceptance speech for the 2011 Lambda Literary Foundation's Pioneer Award for Lifetime Achievement: "A writer who happens to be gay or lesbian must be able to transcend self. I am not a gay writer. I am a writer who happens to be gay."
James Clark (1963 – ) UK
British diplomat. He is currently Consul General at Chicago, and was previously British Ambassador to Luxembourg. Clark's appointment as British Ambassador to Luxembourg in March 2004 was heralded with some small controversy, due largely to his being openly gay.
On 30 March 2004, he and his partner Anthony Stewart made history by becoming the first officially recognised gay couple to have an audience with Queen Elizabeth II.
Randall Kenan (1963 – ) US
Author of both fiction and nonfiction. Raised in a rural community in North Carolina, Kenan has focused his fiction on what it means to be black and gay in the southern United States.
David Daniels (1966 – ) US
Singer (countertenor, who has played the traditional operatic baroque roles for countertenor, and also modern roles and art songs.
Died this day
Mario Mieli (1952 - 1983) ItalianA leading figure in the Italian gay movement of the 1970s. He combined a radical theoretical perspective with a provocative public persona. His sometimes outrageous public behavior made him a controversial figure, but he was nonetheless respected as one of the movement's most important intellectuals. He’s best known among English speakers for Towards a Gay Communism, a political pamphlet excerpted from his major theoretical work Homosexuality and Liberation: Elements of a Gay Critique.
Maurice Evans (1901 - 1989) UK
English actor noted for his interpretations of Shakespearean characters. In terms of his screen roles, he is probably best known as Dr. Zaius in Planet of the Apes and as Samantha Stephens' father Maurice in Bewitched.
Paul Abels (1937 - 1992), US
Clergyman
Lonnie Frisbee (1949 - 1993) US
Pentecostal evangelist and self-described "seeing prophet" and mystic in the late 1960s and 1970s, who says he "struggled" with homosexuality. He had notable success as a minister and evangelist especially in the signs and wonders faith movement of the 1970s and 1980s. Frisbee functioned both as an evangelical preacher and also privately socialized as a gay man before and during his evangelism career.
Sodomy in history, March 12th
1890 — An Ohio newspaper publicizes the suicide of a married man who had taken another man he met in a bar back to his hotel room. A letter in his pocket from his wife complains that she hadn’t heard from him.
1965 — The Minnesota Supreme Court rejects intoxication as a sodomy defense.
1976 — The Wisconsin Supreme Court rules that the state’s sodomy law does not apply to married couples, even though there is no statutory exemption for them.
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