Queers in History

Tuesday, 14 May 2013

May 14th in Queer History

Born this day

Magnus Hirschfeld (1868 – 1935) German
Physician and sexologist, who was an outspoken advocate for sexual minorities. Hirschfeld founded the Scientific Humanitarian Committee, which Dustin Goltz called "the first advocacy for homosexual and transgender rights."

William Alexander Percy (1885 - 1942 ) US
Lawyer / Poet

Lou Harrison (1917 - 2003 ) US

Composer, particularly noted for incorporating elements of the music of non-Western cultures into his work, and one of the most prominent composers to have worked with microtones. Harrison lived for many years with Bill Colvig in Aptos, California.

Richard Deacon (1921 – 1984)  US
Actor / Presenter

Rolf Gindorf (1939 – )  German
Sexologist / Author

Martin Webster (1943 – )  UK
Politician

Ulrike Folkerts (1961 – ) German
Actress

Charlie Vazquez (1971 – )  US
Artist / Author / Musician / Publisher

Clare Teal (1973 – ) UK
Singer

Died this day

Magnus Hirschfeld  (1868 –   1935) German
Physician and sexologist

Ray Stricklyn  (1928 - 2002) US
Actor / Publicist

Pepper LaBeija (1948 - 2003)  US
Entertainer – Born 5th November

Sodomy in history, May 14

1718 — New Hampshire amends its sodomy law, adopting the 1697 Massachusetts law verbatim.
1915 — Pennsylvania excludes sodomy from the list of crimes for which the defendant is entitled to a preliminary hearing.
1918 — A Delaware appellate court rules that solicitation to commit sodomy does not constitute an attempt to commit it.
1928 — The Nazi Party in Germany responds to a Gay rights questionnaire with a statement of opposition to legalizing same-sex sexual relations.
1931 — North Carolina is the third state to permit a divorce if one spouse is convicted of the "crime against nature.

Sources:

Monday, 13 May 2013

May 13th in Queer History

Events this day in Queer History

2009 – Uruguay legally accepts gays in the military

Born this day

Modest Tchaikovsky (1850 – 1916) Russian
Playwright, brother of the composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

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.

Killer Karl Krupp (1934 – 1995 )  Dutch / US
Wrestler

Bruce Chatwin (1940 - 1989 ) UK
Journalist / Author

Armistead Maupin (1944 – )  US
Author, best known for the popular "Tales of the City" series, set in San Francisco

Jacob Dahlin (1952 –  1991) Swedish
Presenter

Alan Ball (1957 – )   US
Screenwriter / Producer / Director / Actor

Real Menard (1962 – ) Canadian
Politician

Cheryl Dunye (1966 – )  Liberian /US
Film director, producer, screenwriter, editor and actress, whose work often concerns themes of race, sexuality and gender, particularly issues relating to black lesbians.

Alison Goldfrapp (1966 – )  UK Singer / Songwriter

Died this day

Sir William Dobell (1899 - 1970 ) Australian
Sculptor / Painter

Rebecca Wight (1959 - 1988) US
Hate Crime Victim

Myron Brinig (1896 – 1991) US

Jewish-American author who wrote twenty-one novels from 1929 to 1958. Brinig's novels often dealt with homosexuality. According to the Gay & Lesbian Literary Heritage, Brinig was the "first American Jewish novelist to write in any significant way about the gay experience."

Paul Bartel (1938 - 2000 ) US
Actor / Director / Screenwriter

Larry McKeon (1944 - 2008) US
Politician

Sodomy in history, May 13

1660 — In New Netherland Colony, J.Q. van der Linde, a married man, is tied into a sack and drowned for sodomy with an adolescent male. Three years later his widow files for bankruptcy.

1892 — The Michigan Supreme Court rules that sodomy convictions can be based on unverified information.

1909 — Connecticut reduces the penalty for sodomy from a compulsory life sentence to a maximum of 30 years in prison.

1965 — The Washington Supreme Court upholds a sodomy conviction over the defendant’s contention that the prosecutor’s closing remarks to the jury constituted misconduct. The defendant didn’t provide text of the remarks, so the Court couldn’t rule on them.

Sources:

Sunday, 12 May 2013

May 12th in Queer History

Events this day in Queer History

2009 – New York marriage bill passed the Assembly, but later defeated in the Senate before final passage in 2011.

Born this day

Bruce Voeller (1934 - 1994 ) US
Biologist

Gerry Studds (1937 – 2006)  US
Politician

Joan Nestle (1940 – )  US
Author / Editor / Activist

Pam St Clement (1942 – )  UK
Actress

Linda Ketner (1950 – ) US
Business Consultant and politician, who was a Congressional candidate for the Democratic Party in South Carolina, 2008

Deborah Warner (1959 – )  UK
Director

Jared Polis (1975 – ) US
IT entrepreneur and Democrat Colorado politician, who was elected to Congress in 2008.

Charlie Herschel (1979 –  )US
Reality TV [Survivor]

Died this day

Amy Lowell (1874 - 1925) US
Poet

Robert Reed (1932 - 1992) US
Actor, best known for "The Brady Bunch". Married and publicly closeted, he was nevertheless well-known as gay to colleagues on the series. He was HIV positive at the time of his death in 1992

Simon Raven (1927 – 2001) UK

Novelist, essayist, dramatist and raconteur who, in a writing career of forty years, caused controversy, amusement and offence. Among the many things said about him, perhaps the most quoted was that he had "the mind of a cad and the pen of an angel". E W Swanton called Raven's cricket memoir Shadows in the Grass "the filthiest cricket book ever written"

Roberto Duncanson (1987 - 2007) US
Hate Crime Victim

Robert Rauschenberg (1925 - 2008) US

Robert Rauschenberg was an American artist who came to prominence in the 1950s transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. Rauschenberg is well-known for his "Combines" of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were employed in innovative combinations. Rauschenberg was both a painter and a sculptor and the "Combines" are a combination of both. Rauschenberg's approach was sometimes called 'Neo-Dada', a label he shared with the painter Jasper Johns , with whom he had a long artistic and personal relationship.

Sodomy in history, May 12

1921 — California changes the penalty for sodomy to 1-10 years.

1961 — A Georgia appellate court rules that the age of a sodomy partner is irrelevant and that the defendant’s homosexuality is irrelevant.

1975 — California repeals its consenting adult laws, including the laws against sodomy and oral copulation.

1976 — A federal court in Virginia suggests that the state’s sodomy law does not apply to married couples, assuming that no third party is present, even though there is no statutory exemption for them.

1977 — A Georgia appellate court upholds a conviction for solicitation for sodomy for offering an undercover police officer a blowjob.

Sources:

Friday, 10 May 2013

May 10th in Queer History

Born this day

Leon Bakst (1866 – 1924) Russian
Painter / Costume Designer

Max Lorenz (1901 – 1975)  German
Singer

Frieda Belinfante (1904 – 1995) Dutch
Cellist / Conductor

Ton Vorstenbosch (1947 –  ) Dutch
Playwright / Screenwriter

Steve Gunderson (1951 – )  US
Politician

Robert Triptow (1952 – )  US
Journalist / Comic Book Artist

Blyth Tait (1961 – )  New Zealand
Equestrian

Scott Brison (1967 –) Canadian
Politician

Michele van Gorp (1977 – )  US
Basketball

Todd Gloria (1978 – )  US
Politician / Activist

Died this day

John Wayne Gacy (1942 - 1994) US
Serial Killer

Kiyoshi Kuromiya (1943 – 2000) US
Activist

James Kirkup (1918 – 2009) UK
Poet / Translator / Travel Writer

Sodomy in history, May 10

1909 — Pennsylvania prohibits probation for anyone convicted of sodomy.

1954 — The Missouri Supreme Court upholds a life sentence for sodomy.

1962 — The California Supreme Court overturns the sodomy conviction of a man caught by police in a public restroom by use of a peephole drilled into the roof.

1984 — A Louisiana appellate court upholds a sentence of 4 years at hard labor for a man who solicited an undercover police officer and for having previous convictions for the same thing.
2007 – Police in Esfahan, Iran raid a birthday party and arrest 87 people including 80 suspected gay men. All but 17 released. These 17 were believed to have been wearing women’s clothing.

Sources:

Thursday, 9 May 2013

May 9th in Queer History

Events this day in Queer History

2007 – Oregon bans discrimination based on sexual orientation (including gender identity) in the private sector

Born this day

Per Imerslund (1912 – 1943) Norwegian
Author

Denham Fouts (1914 –  1948 )  US
Prostitute / Muse – Died 16th December

Alan Bennett (1934 – ) UK
Actor / Playwright / Author

Emile Ardolino (1943 –1993 )  US
Director / Producer

Kiyoshi Kuromiya (1943 – 2000)    US
Activist

Justin Bond (1963 – ) US
Drag Queen / Actor /Singer / Songwriter / Performance Artist

David Bull (1969 – ) UK
Presenter / Politician

Michael Lowenthal (1969 – ) US
Author

Tristan Taormino (1971 – )  US
Author / Director / Actress / Columnist / Editor

Marieke Wijsman (1975 – )  Dutch
Speed Skater

Ragan Fox (1976 – )  US
Poet / Performance Artist

Died this day

Mercedes De Acosta (1893 – 1968 )Cuban / US
Poet / Playwright

Margaret Lindsay (1910 –1981) US
Actress

Brenda Fassie (1964 – 2004) South African
Singer

Nuala O’Faolain (1940 – 2008) Irish
Journalist / Author – Born 1st March

Pascal Sevran (1945 – 2008 ) French
Presenter / Author / Singer / Songwriter

Sodomy in history, May 9

1908 — Ohio prohibits probation for anyone convicted of sodomy.

1916 — The Idaho Supreme Court rules that fellatio is a "crime against nature."

1969 — West Germany repeals its sodomy law.

1974 — The District of Columbia Court of Appeals strikes down a law prohibiting commission of a "lewd, obscene and indecent act" in a case brought by Gay men who were arrested and had their employers notified by police.

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