Queers in History

Monday, 22 April 2013

April 22nd in Queer History

Nearchos (and Polyeuct)

Two Roman soldiers, lovers and martyrs. Nearchos' day is today, Polyeuct on February 13th

Born this day

Laura Gilpin (1891- 1979) US

Photographer,known for her photographs of Native Americans, particularly the Navajo and Pueblo, and her Southwestern landscapes. She frequently photographed her partner, Elizabeth (Betsy) Forster during the more than fifty years they were together, sometimes placing her in scenes with other people as though she were part of a tableau she happened to come upon. In 1974 the governor of New Mexico awarded her one of the first Annual Awards for Excellence in the Arts.

Leo Abse (1917 –2008 ) UK
Politician / Lawyer / Activist

Emile Norman (1918 – 2009 ) US
Artist

John Waters (1946 – )  US
Director / Screenwriter / Actor

Diana Nyad  (1949 – ) US
Long Distance Swimmer / Presenter

Phill Wilson (1956 – ) US
Activist

Ruslan Sharipov (1961 – )  Uzbek
Journalist / Activist

Estelle Asmodelle (1964 – ) Australian
Model / Belly Dancer / Screenwriter / Musician / Actress

Krystian Legierski (1978 – )  German
Politician / Activist

Andrea Gabrielle Gibson (1985 – )  US
Reality TV [Transgeneration]

Amber Heard (1986 – ) US
Actress / Model

Died this day

Colin MacInnes (1914 – 1976) UK
Author

Will Geer (1902- 1978) US
Actor / Singer

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

Christopher Price (1967– 2002) UK
Presenter

Patrick Trevor-Roper (1916 – 2004) UK
Surgeon / Activist – Born 7th June

George C Rawlings (1921 – 2009) US.

American politician, a former member of the Democratic National Committee, and a member of the Virginia House of Delegates. Rawlings was married and had two sons, but in 1975 he and Rosalie divorced after he determined to live openly as a gay man.

Sodomy in history,
April 22

1794 — Pennsylvania enacts a law to fine sheriffs for failure to conduct convicted sodomites to prison.

Sources:

Sunday, 21 April 2013

April 21st in Queer History

Born this day

Stephen Tennant (1906 – 1987) UK
Aristocrat

Ronald Magill (1920 –  2007) UK
Actor

Ronnie Tober (1945 – ) Dutch
Singer

Murathan Mungan (1955 – )  Turkish
Poet / Author / Playwright

Viola Canales (1957 – )  US
Author

Peter Bacanovic (1962 – )  US
Stockbroker

John Cameron Mitchell (1963 – )  US
Actor / Director / Screenwriter / Author

Alice Wu (1970 – ) US
Director / Screenwriter

Chagmion Antoine (1982 – ) US
Presenter / Journalist

Saint's Day

St Anselm of Canterbury ( - 1109) UK
English Archbishop, whose letters to his circle of close male friends read like homoerotic love letters. He is also notable for dismissing a resolution from the Council of London in 1102 for harsh penalties for men guilty of sodomy, declaring that homosexuality was widespread and few men were embarrassed by it or had even been aware it was a serious matter.

Died this day

Eleonora Duse (1858 - 1924) Italian
Actress

John Maynard Keynes (1883 – 1946) UK
Economist / Mathematician – Born 5th June

Edmund Lowe (1890 – 1971 )US
Actor

Rudi Gernreich (1922– 1985) Austrian
Fashion Designer / Activist / Dancer

James Kirkwood Jr (1924 - 1989) US
Author / Playwright

Frank C Moore (1953 – 2002 ) US
Painter

Sodomy in history,
April 21

1806 — English sailor James Jones receives 24 lashes for sex with another sailor. One month earlier, he had received 18 for a similar offense.

1916 — The Georgia Supreme Court rules that both parties in an act of fellatio are principals.

1965 — The Oregon Court of Appeals rules that consent to sodomy while in a drunken stupor is no consent.

1967 — The Maryland Court of Appeals overturns a sodomy conviction because the arresting police testified that the defendant had a "sex problem."

1976 — The Florida Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of the "unnatural and lascivious act" law without hearing arguments in the case.

1992 — Estonia repeals its sodomy law.

Sources:

Saturday, 20 April 2013

April 20th in Queer History

Events this day in Queer History

2009 – Registered Partnership Bill passed in Hungary [becoming effective 1st July 2009]

Born this day

Pietro Aretino  (1492 – 1556) Italian
Author, playwright, poet and satirist who wielded immense influence on contemporary art and politics and invented modern literate pornography.

Herman Bang  (1857 – 1912)  Danish
Author, one of the men of the "Modern Breakthrough". His homosexuality contributed to his isolation in the cultural life of Denmark and made him the victim of smear campaigns. He lived most of his life with his sister but found happiness for a few years with the German actor Max Eisfeld (1863–1935), with whom he lived in Prague in 1885-86.

Warren Casey (1935 – 1988) US
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 died of AIDS-related complications in Chicago at the age of 53.

George Takei  (1937 – )  US
Actor, best known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the USS Enterprise in the television series Star Trek. He is a proponent of gay rights and active in state and local politics as well as continuing his acting career.

(1939 – )  Canadian
Author

Jamie Gillis (1943 -  2010)  US
Porn actor, director and member of the AVN Hall of Fame.

Andrew Tobias (1947 – )  US
Journalist / Author / Columnist

Toller Cranston (1949 – )  Canadian
Figure skater and painter. He is the 1971-1976 Canadian national champion, the 1974 World bronze medalist, and the 1976 Olympic bronze medalist. Cranston is credited by many with bringing a new level of artistry to men's figure skating.

Luther Vandross (1951 – 2005)  US
Singer-songwriter and record producer. During his career, Vandross sold over twenty-five million albums and won eight Grammy Awards.

Richenel (1957 - ) Dutch
Singer/performer, born as Hubertus Richenel Baars.

Mathias Holmgren (1974 – )  Swedish
Singer, who from 2006-2010 was married to singer-songwriter Johan Thorsell .

Vibeke Skofterud (1980 – )  Norwegian
Cross country skier who has been competing since 1999. She won gold in the 4 x 5 km relay at Vancouver in 2010. She confirmed in June 2008 that she is in a committed relationship with a woman,[1] even though she had male companions in the past.

Marco Jaye Sabba (1983 – ) UK
Reality TV [Big Brother]

Saint's Day

St Hildegonde of Neuss (? - 1188) Germany

Biologically female, who dressed as a boy as a child, and lived as a man as an adult, before entering a male monastery, successfully concealing his birth gender until his death.

Died this day

Tony Jackson (1876 - 1921) US
pianist, singer, and composer.In September 2011, The Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame announced that Jackson would be inducted into the hall in recognition of his musical contributions and for living "as an openly gay man when that was rare"

Dennis Cleveland Stewart (1947 - 1994) US
Actor and dancer

Sodomy in history,
April 20

1836 — The organic law for the Wisconsin Territory adopts all laws of Michigan, thus setting the penalty for sodomy at a maximum of 3 years at solitary and hard labor.

1909 — Minnesota increases the penalty for the crime against nature to a maximum of 20 years and permits conviction upon proof of penetration only.

1923 — Michigan eliminates the need to prove emission in sodomy cases.

1949 — The Georgia Attorney General issues an opinion that the reduction in maximum sentence for sodomy earlier that year was not retroactive.

1972 — Tennessee eliminates the voting disability of those convicted of sodomy.

1979 — The Virginia Supreme Court affirms the solicitation conviction of a man entrapped by the Richmond police "Selective Enforcement Unit."

Sources:

Friday, 19 April 2013

19th April in Queer History

Born this day

Prince Edmond de Polignac  (1834 – 1901)  French
Composer

Dick Sargent (1930 – ) US
Actor, notable as the second actor to portray Darrin Stephens on the television series "Bewitched". In 1991, Sargent publicly declared his homosexuality and supported gay rights issues. He had long hidden his sexual orientation, appearing with lesbian actress Fannie Flagg on Tattletales as a couple. He lived with his domestic partner, Albert Williams, until his death in 1994.

Steve Antin (1958 – )  US
Actor, stunt man, screenwriter, producer, and director.

Tzipora Obziler (1973 – )  Israeli
Former professional tennis player.

Died this day

Portrait by
Sébastien_Bourdon

Christina of Sweden (1626 –1689)

Queen regnant of Swedes, Goths and Vandals, Grand Princess of Finland, and Duchess of Ingria, Estonia, Livonia and Karelia, from 1633 to 1654. She was the only surviving legitimate child of King Gustav II Adolph and his wife Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg. As the heiress presumptive, at the age of six she succeeded her father on the throne of Sweden upon his death at the Battle of Lützen. Being the daughter of a Protestant champion in the Thirty Years' War, she caused a scandal when she abdicated her throne and converted to Catholicism in 1654. She spent her later years in Rome, becoming a leader of the theatrical and musical life there. As a queen without a country, she protected many artists and projects. She is one of the few women buried in the Vatican grotto.

Lord George Byron (1788 - 1824)  UK
Poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement. Among Byron's best-known works are the brief poems She Walks in Beauty, When We Two Parted, and So, we'll go no more a roving, in addition to the narrative poems Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and Don Juan. He is regarded as one of the greatest British poets and remains widely read and influential.
Byron was celebrated in life for aristocratic excesses including huge debts and numerous love affairs,with both sexes.

John Addington Symonds (1840  – 1893) UK
English poet and literary critic. Although he married and had a family, he was an early advocate of male love (homosexuality), which he believed could include pederastic as well as egalitarian relationships. He referred to it as l'amour de l'impossible (love of the impossible). A cultural historian, he was known for his work on the Renaissance, as well as numerous biographies about writers and artists. He also wrote much poetry inspired by his homosexual affairs.
Because of homosexuality's official "unspeakableness" in his time, Symonds's plainest homosexual work had to remain private, and within that realm he produced some pioneering work. He wrote some of the frankest homoerotic poetry of his day (which was not greatly distinguished as literature), but is best remembered for "A Problem in Greek Ethics", "A Problem in Modern Ethics", two defences of homosexual love and his "Memoirs", the first self-conscious homosexual autobiography known to us now.

Gerald Tyrwhitt-Wilson Berners (1883 - 1950) UK
British composer of classical music, novelist, painter and aesthete. He is usually referred to as Lord Berners.

Jerzy Andrzejewski (1909 -1983)  Polish
A prolific Polish author, who was frequently considered to be a front-runner for the Nobel Prize for Literature. His novels, Ashes and Diamonds (about the immediate post-war situation in Poland), and Holy Week (dealing with the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising), have been made into film adaptations by the Oscar-winning Polish director Andrzej Wajda. Holy Week and Ashes and Diamonds have both been translated into English.

Daphne du Maurier (1907 – 1989) UK
British author and playwright. Many of her works have been adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca (which won the Best Picture Oscar in 1941) and Jamaica Inn and the short stories "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now". The first three were directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
After her death in 1989, numerous references were made to her secret bisexuality; an affair with Gertrude Lawrence, as well as her attraction for Ellen Doubleday, the wife of her American publisher, were cited.[16] Du Maurier stated in her memoirs that her father had wanted a son; and, being a tomboy, she had naturally wished to have been born a boy.

Frankie Howerd (1917 –  1992) UK
English comedian and comic actor whose career spanned six decades. Throughout his career, Howerd hid his potentially career-destroying homosexuality (acts between consenting males being illegal in England and Wales until 1967 and illegal in Scotland until 1981) from both his audience and his mother, Edith. In 1955, he met waiter Dennis Heymer, who later became his manager. Heymer was with Howerd for more than thirty years as lighting operator, manager and lover, until Howerd died. Backstage, Howerd was notoriously bold in his advances, and was known for his promiscuity.

Tharon Musser  (1925– 2009) US
Lighting designer who worked on more than 150 Broadway productions. Known as the "Dean of American Lighting Designers" and considered one of the pioneers in her field, she was best known for her work on the musicals "A Chorus Line" and "Dreamgirls".

Sodomy in history,

April 19

1890 — A sodomy case in Pennsylvania is reported officially in a daily newspaper, rather than in a law reporter.

1900 — The North Dakota Supreme Court upholds the right of the state to prosecute attempts to commit sodomy under the general attempts statute.

1913 — The Illinois Supreme Court rules that cunnilingus is not a "crime against nature" under that’s state’s sodomy law, even though the Court had ruled fellatio to be one due to the state’s unusually broad language.

1933 — Alabama enacts a unique law that outlaws "conspiracy to commit the crime against nature."

1991 — An Ohio trial court dismisses an importuning charge because the undercover police officer led the defendant on.

1995 — Arizona revises its sex offender registration law to remove sodomy from the list of compulsory registration categories, but permits judges to order registration if the defendant committed sodomy for "sexual motivation."

Sources:

Christina of Sweden (1626 –1689)

b. 18 December 1626
d. 19 April 1689

Portrait by
Sébastien_Bourdon

Queen regnant of Swedes, Goths and Vandals, Grand Princess of Finland, and Duchess of Ingria, Estonia, Livonia and Karelia, from 1633 to 1654, Christina was the only surviving legitimate child of King Gustav II Adolph and his wife Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg. As the heiress presumptive, at the age of six she succeeded her father on the throne of Sweden upon his death at the Battle of Lützen. Being the daughter of a Protestant champion in the Thirty Years' War, she caused a scandal when she abdicated her throne and converted to Catholicism in 1654. She spent her later years in Rome, becoming a leader of the theatrical and musical life there. As a queen without a country, she protected many artists and projects. She is one of the few women buried in the Vatican grotto.

From the moment of her birth, Christina confounded sexual and gender stereotypes. Her parents had been anxious for a male royal heir, and astrologers had confidently predicted a boy would be born. When the robust baby arrived, it was first thought to be a boy, on account of a hairy body and strong voice. After it had been recognized that she was in fact a girl, her father the king was undeterred, and proceeded to raise her as the boy she had been expected to be: with an education education of a prince. Thus, her lessons included languages, political and military science, riding, and shooting- all of which suited her much better than women's traditional activities such as needlework, for which she claimed to have no aptitude whatsoever.

After her father's death, she was proclaimed "king" by the Swedish parliament - not queen. During the regency until she began to rule in her own right, she continued to receive an excellent education.

As an adult, she continued to resist all gender conformity. She showed no interest at all in fashion and adopted mannish styles of dress. She ignored traditionally approved "feminine" interests, and instead continued to pursue and promote her love of scholarship, books and culture. She also resisted marrying, and rejected several proposals. Immediately after abdicating in favour of her cousin Gustav, she left Sweden for Rome, dressed as a man.

Details of her sexual relationships, if any are not known conclusively, but she did have close personal friendships with both men and women. Some frank letters to her lady-in-waiting Ebba Sparre suggest that their relationship may have been sexual. The question of her biological sex is also unclear. In addition to the confusion around the matter at birth, other physical details suggest that she may have been intersex. However, it has not been possible to confirm this, in the absence of soft tissue remains.

What is clear, from the evidence of her rejection of marriage and feminine pastimes, ambiguous love relationships and cross-dressing, that in modern terms she should be thought of as either lesbian or trans.

Thursday, 18 April 2013

April 18th in Queer History

Events this day

2007 – Erin Davis’ VW Beetle found vandalised sparking her Fagbug tour and video project

Born this day

Kathy Acker (1947 - 1997 ) US

An experimental novelist, punk poet, playwright, essayist, postmodernist and sex-positive feminist writer, Acker was strongly influenced by the Black Mountain School, William S. Burroughs, David Antin, French critical theory, philosophy, and pornography.

Acker's radical experiments with the postmodern novel have attracted considerable notoriety. Some critics praise her technical skill, but she has drawn mixed reactions to the incorporation of graphic sex acts and violence in her fiction. A subversive literary inventor and a defiant voice against patriarchal society, Acker exerted an important influence on postmodern fiction and contemporary feminist discourse.

C Dale Young (1969 – )   US
poet and writer, physician, editor and educator.

Roeland Fernhout (1972 – )  Dutch
Actor and television presenter. After roles in theatre and television, he became known to a wider audience in the film "Sister". In 2007, "as a joke", he formed a boyband, Bearforce 1, which became unexpectedly popular, thanks to a Youtube video.

Louise Pratt (1972 – )  Australian
Politician, and a Labor member of the Australian Senate for Western Australia. She was the second open lesbian to be elected to an Australian parliament, and the first to have a transsexual man as a partner.

Gavin Creel (1976 – )  US
Actor, singer and song writer.

Died this day

Rob Touber (1936 - 1975), Dutch
Television director.

Vincent Hanley ((1954 -1987) Irish

A pioneering Irish radio DJ and television presenter, nicknamed "Fab Vinny". He worked mainly for Radio Telefís Éireann, and was the first Irish celebrity to die from an AIDS-related illness.

In life, Hanley denied that his illness was AIDS related, reflecting reflected the stigma then associated with the disease and with homosexuality in Ireland, which was not decriminalised until 1993. In 2000, Hanley's friend and colleague Bill Hughes, who had himself come out in the 1990s, agreed that Hanley had in fact died of an AIDS-related illness.The same year, the Sunday Tribune newspaper placed Hanley at the top of a list of Irish gay icons.

Alexander Stephanovich(? - 2001) Belarussian
Hate Crime Victim

Yankel Feather (1920 - 2009) UK
Painter, a member of the Liverpool Academy of Arts and Newlyn Society of Artists.
Openly gay, but never camp, Feather found love with two long term partners late in life, Bill King whilst living in Cornwall and Terry Arbuckle who shared his studio home together at Hove in Brighton.

Sodomy in history,

April 18

1892 — New York amends its sodomy law. The five-year minimum penalty is eliminated and the intention of the legislature is more clear, covering all forms of anal and oral sex, but not covering things like mutual masturbation or frottage, which may have been covered under the 1886 law.

1916 — Maryland outlaws oral sex, although its statute is so broadly worded that probably any form of erotic activity is criminalized. This is in reaction to the 1915 state vice commission report.

1930 — New Jersey prohibits solicitation for lewdness.

1967 — A federal judge in Wisconsin overturns the state courts’ decisions against a man who had spent more than ten years in institutions for a sodomy conviction. He had no assistance of counsel at the original proceedings.

1973 — The Minnesota House of Representatives defeats a bill to repeal the state’s sodomy law.

1983 — Kansas passes a new sodomy law that makes sodomy for hire a less serious crime that not for hire.

Sources: