Queers in History

Saturday, 16 February 2013

February 16th in Queer History

Born this day

Katharine Cornell (1893 –  1974) US
Actress

John Schlesinger (1926 –   2003)
US Actor / Director

Paul Bailey  (1937 –  ) UK
Author

John Corigliano (1938 –  ) US
Composer

Steve Kmetko  (1953 – ) US
Presenter

John Balance  (1962 – ) UK
Musician

Truong Tan  (1963 – ) Vietnamese
Artist

Michele Clarke  (1973 – ) Trinidad & Tobago / Canadian
Director / Author

Aaron Tanner  (1973/75 – ) US
Porn

John Tartaglia  (1978 –  ) US
Actor / Puppeteer / Singer

Cameron Jackson  (1986 – ) Czech
Porn

Died this day

Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden  (1856 - 1931)  German
Photographer

Keith Haring  (1958 - 1990 )  US
Artist and social activist whose work responded to the New York City street culture of the 1980s.

Karlien Carstens  (? - 2005 )Namibian
Murder Victim

Aycan Yener (?? – 2010 )Turkish
Hate Crime Victim

Sodomy in history, February 16th

1843 — The Iowa Territory passes its own criminal code and makes no reference to sodomy or common-law crimes, keeping it legal.

1923 — The Wisconsin Attorney General issues an opinion that any person convicted of sodomy can have a professional license taken away.

1945 — The District of Columbia Court of Appeals upholds an "indecent assault" conviction in a case of consensual sex in the absence of a sodomy law.

1951 — The District of Columbia Court of Appeals upholds a solicitation conviction and rejects the argument that the defendant could not be guilty because of his honorable discharge from the military.

1968 — The Maine Supreme Court upholds a sodomy conviction even though there are doubts as to the truthfulness of the accusations.

1972 — The Maryland Court of Special Appeals rules that the state’s sodomy law applies to married couples.

Sources:

Friday, 15 February 2013

February 15th in Queer History

Born this day

Cesar Romero  (1907 –  1994) US
Film and television actor who was active in film, radio, and television for almost sixty years. His wide range of screen roles included Latin lovers, historical figures in costume dramas, characters in light domestic comedies, and as The Joker in television's Batman series.

Herman Meijer  (1947 –  ) Dutch
Fprmer politician for the Dutch Greens, he is a graduate architect and urban planner. He has been active politically for the student movement, as a gay activist, and for peace - and anti- racism committees. He was also one of the founders of the movement Christians for Socialism .

Bill T Jones (1952 – ) US
Artistic director, choreographer and dancer. who has twice won Tony awards for best choreogaphy: in 2007 for "Spring Awakening", and in 2010 for Fela!

Ernesto Scorsone  (1952 – ) US
Politician, lawyer, and judge from Kentucky. A Democrat, he was appointed to the Fayette County Circuit Court in 2008 by Governor Steve Beshear, and later elected to a six-year term on the court. Previously, he had been a member of the Kentucky State Senate

Edwin Cameron (1953 – ) South African
Judge, serving on South Africa's Constitutional Court. Cameron served as a Supreme Court of Appeal judge from 2000 to 2008. He was the first senior South African official to state publicly that he was living with HIV/AIDS. Before his appointment to the bench, he practiced as a human rights lawyer, and has been prominently involved in numerous important court cases affecting LGBT rights and equality, and has won numerous awards, in South African and internationally.
Cameron has also co-authored a number of books, including "Defiant Desire – Gay and Lesbian Lives in South Africa" (with Mark Gevisser).

Mikey Craig (1960 – ) UK
Former DJ who became the bassist with Culture Club, one of the most popular bands of the 1980s.

Titti de Simone (1970 – ) Italian
Journalist and politician, who was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies (the lower house of the Italian parliament) in 2001, and in 2006 was elected secretary to the President of the Chamber.

She is president of the Sicily Queer Filmfest.

Miranda July (1974 – ) US
Performance artist, writer, actress and film director. Born Miranda Jennifer Grossinger,[1] she works under the surname of "July,"

Died this day

Henry Brandon (1912 - 1990 ) German / US
A character actor in over 100 films, famous for playing Indian, Arab, Persian, Turkish, Native American and East Asian roles, usually villains.

Frans Kellendonk (1951 – 1990) Dutch

Professor of English language and literature in the Netherlands. He was also a novelist, who won the Ferdinand Bordewijk Prijs in 1987 for his novel Mystiek lichaam. This work attracted criticism in gay circles for its alleged homophobia, but Kellendonk was himself gay, and died of complications following AIDS a month after his 39th birthday

Arturo Islas (1938 - 1991) US
Professor of English and a novelist, writing about the experience of Chicano cultural duality. Islas died on February 15, 1991 from complications related to AIDS.

Victor Kovyl (???? - 2002 ) Belarusian
Hate Crime Victim. On 15 February 2002 34 year old accountant Victor Kovyl was found dead in his parents’ flat. He was openly gay both at work and in public. The police refused to give the details of the murder to Kovyl’s partner Alexander and one of the members of the police said to him: “It serves you right, sodomites (faggots)!”.

Yardena Marsh (?? - 2006) Israeli
Transgender Murder Victim

Sodomy in history, February

1839 — Mississippi passes a sodomy law, doing away with its reliance on the common law to prosecute it. The penalty is set at a maximum of 10 years in prison.

1858 — A proposed new criminal code for the District of Columbia, which includes a sodomy law with a penalty of 2-10 years, is defeated 73%-27% by District voters.

1893 — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, in the first such case in the United States, rules that fellatio is not a "crime against nature."

1913 — The Idaho Supreme Court rules that the state’s sodomy law, with no maximum penalty established, permits a sentence of life imprisonment.

1967 — The District of Columbia Court of Appeals rules that police do not have to detain potential defense witnesses in public restrooms when they arrest people for solicitation therein.

Sources:

Thursday, 14 February 2013

February 14th in Queer History

Valentine's Day

Some Same-Sex Lovers in Church History.

Born this day

Kevyn Aucoin (1962 – 2002) US
Make-up artist and photographer. As a child, he used to frequently did his sisters' makeup and photographed the results. After dropping out of high school as a result of continuous bullying, he enrolled in beauty school, hoping to learn more about applying make-up - but ended up teaching the class instead.
He later moved to New York, where he was did several photo shoots and covers for Vogue and Cosmopolitan, and then worked for Revlon and the Japanese cosmetics giant Shiseido.

Karen Dior (1967 – 2004) US
Transgender adult film performer, director, and singer, best known as a pioneer in popularizing adult films involving transsexual people.

M. C. Brennan (1969 – ) US
Rock vocalist, screenwriter and filmmaker.

Angela Robinson (1971 – ) US
Film and television director, screenwriter and producer. She is married to fellow television writer and director Alexandra Kondracke

Lisa-Marie Vizaniari (1971 – ) Australian
Retired Australian discus thrower, who competed in the Olympics in 1996 and 2000, in the World Championships in 1997 and in the Commonwealth Games in 1990,1994, 1998

Rie Rasmussen (1978 – ) Danish
Actress, film director, writer, and photographer.

Seany O’Kane (1982 – ) UK
Reality TV [Big Brother]

Milo & Elijah Peters (1990 – ) Czech
Porn twins

Died this day

Tony Holiday (1951 - 1990 ) German
Pop singer and songwriter. He led a clandestine homosexual lifestyle,and died on Valentines Day, 1990 of AIDS at the age 38

Dick Martin (1927 - 1990 ) US
Artist who illustrated a number of books related to The Oz books series.In addition to books, he designed greeting cards, post cards, and posters.

Don Slater (1923 - 1997 ) US
An early leader in the struggle for glbtq rights. He was the founder of the early gay magazine ONE,and also an activist for several gay causes in Los Angeles.

Joel Dorius (1919 - 2006 ) US
One of three gay professors of literature caught in a pornography scandal and forced out by Smith College in 1960 only to be exonerated in a celebrated case of sexual McCarthyism

Sodomy in history, February 14th

1635 — Two men are charged with sodomy in New Hampshire, but are not prosecuted, because it was not thought "fit" to try them there.

1787 — New York, which has been operating under the English sodomy statute for nearly a century, passes its own law, retaining the death penalty.

1902 — A New York appellate court overturns the sodomy conviction of a man for sex with a teenager of limited mentality whose father coached him in what to say in trial.

1963 — The Washington Supreme Court upholds a sodomy conviction after the "victim" was asked leading questions in the trial.

1973 — An Oklahoma appellate court upholds a sentence of 15 years in prison for consensual sodomy.

1975 — Virginia passes a new criminal code, keeps consensual sodomy as a felony, and increases the maximum penalty from three to five years.

Sources:

Wednesday, 13 February 2013

February 13th in Queer History

Born this day

Leontine Sagan (1889 – 1974) Austrian
Actress / Director

Bibiana Fernandez (1954 – ) Spanish
Actress / Model

Pia Sundhage (1960 – ) Swedish
Footballer / Coach

Mark Patton (1964 – ) US
Actor

Nick Verreos (1967 – ) US
Reality TV [Project: Runway] / Fashion Designer

Billy Masters (1969 – ) US
Gossip Columnist

Joe Phillips (1969 – ) US
Comic Book Artist & Writer

Saint's Day:

Polyeuct (and Nearchus)

Both were Roman soldiers and lovers, honoured by the Christian Church as saints and martyrs, under the Diocletian persecution of Christians. Nearchos was Christian, Polyeuct was not. When it became clear that Nearchos would be executed for his beliefs, Polyeuct insisted on converting so that he too, could be martyred, and so would not be separated from his lover in the afterlife.

Died this day

Benvenuto Cellini (1500 - 1571) Italian
Painter / Sculptor / Soldier / Musician / Author

Bruce Voeller (1934 - 1994 ) US Biologist

Lawrence “Larry” King (1993 - 2008) US
Hate Crime Victim

Sodomy in history, February

1812 — The U.S. Supreme Court rules that there are no common-law crimes against the federal government. Since there is no federal sodomy law, this guarantees that there can be no federal sodomy prosecutions.

1953 — The New Mexico Supreme Court rules that the state’s "crime against nature" law does not prohibit fellatio, which it calls "baser than the practices of pagans." In its opinion, the Court drafts a model law to cover such practices, recommending its adoption by the state legislature.

Sources:

February 13th in Queer History

Born this day

Saint's Day:

Polyeuct (and Nearchus)

Died this day

Sodomy in history, February

Sources:

Tuesday, 12 February 2013

February 12th in Queer History

Events this day in Queer History

1999 – First National Freedom to Marry Day in the USA (then held annually on this date)
2009 – Hungarian government approve a new registered partnership bill giving the same rights as marriage except in adoption and taking the same surname
2009 – Civil Union Bill passed in Hawaii, USA

Born this day

Philip, Prince of Eulenburg (1847 – 1921) German
Politician

Robert Boothby, Baron Boothby (1900 – 1986) UK
Politician

Franco Zeffirelli (1923 – ) Italian
Director

Andy Milligan (1929 – 1991) US
Playwright / Screenwriter / Actor / Editor / Producer / Director

Paul Shenar (1936 – 1989) US
Actor

John Blankenstein (? - 2006) Dutch
Football Referee

Patrick Quinn  (1950 –   2006) US
Actor

Frans Mulder (1953 – )  Dutch
Actor / Singer / Comedian

Chad Johnson  (1960/2 – )US
Porn / Hairdresser

Lourdes Perez  (1961 –  ) Puerto Rican
Singer / Songwriter / Musician / Composer / Poet

Jacqueline Woodson  (1963/4 –  ) US
Author

Saint's Day:

St Mary /Marinos of Alexandria (? - July 19th 508), Lebanon / Egypt
Ttransman, monk and Christian saint.

Died this day

Olive Custance (1874 - 1944 ) UK
Poet

Sal Mineo (1939 - 1976 ) US
Actor / Murder Victim

Muriel Rukeyser (1913 - 1980) US
Poet and political activist, best known for her poems about equality, feminism, social justice, and Judaism. Her poetry, which breaks the silence of many aspects of female experience, has been enormously important to many feminist and lesbian readers.

Details of Rukeyser's personal life remain a matter of speculation. However, in 1978, she accepted an invitation to participate in a Lesbian Poetry Reading at the annual conference of the Modern Language Association

Peggy Gilbert (1905 - 2007) US
Musician / Band Leader

Randy Stone (1958 - 2007) US
Actor / Casting Director / Producer

Sodomy in history, February

1951 — The Missouri Supreme Court rules that consent is no defense to a charge of sodomy.

1992 — The Oregon Court of Appeals rules that the state’s public indecency law preempts local ones and that, under the controlling state law, public nudity must be for purposes of sexual gratification in order to trigger a violation.

1999 — The Montana House defeats a bill to remove the invalidated sodomy law from the books on a 50-50 tie.

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