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presents THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more …
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1804 – Benjamin Disraeli (d.1881) was a British Conservative politician, writer and aristocrat who twice served as Prime Minister. He played a central role in the creation of the modern Conservative Party, defining its policies and its broad outreach. Disraeli is remembered for his influential voice in world affairs, his political battles with the Liberal leader William Gladstone, and his one nation conservatism or "Tory democracy". He made the Conservatives the party most identified with the glory and power of the British Empire. He is, as of 2015, the only British Prime Minister of Jewish birth. Disraeli was born in London. His father left Judaism after a dispute at his synagogue; young Benjamin became an Anglican at age 12. Together with his sister's fiancé, William Meredith, Disraeli travelled widely in southern Europe and beyond in 1830–31. The trip was financed partly by a novel, The Young Duke, written by Disraeli in 1829–30. The tour was cut short suddenly by Meredith's death from smallpox in Cairo in July 1831. Despite this tragedy, and the need for treatment for a sexually transmitted disease on his return, Disraeli felt enriched by his experiences. He became aware of values that seemed denied to his insular countrymen. The journey encouraged his self-consciousness, his moral relativism, and his interest in Eastern racial and religious attitudes. After several unsuccessful attempts in which his opposition accused Disraeli of practicing "Eastern love", i.e. homosexuality, Disraeli entered the House of Commons in 1837. When the Conservatives gained power in 1841, Disraeli was given no office by the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel. In 1846, Peel split the party over his proposal to repeal the Corn Laws, which imposed a tariff on imported grain. Disraeli clashed with Peel in the Commons. The Conservatives who split from Peel had few who were adept in Parliament, and Disraeli became a major figure in the party, though many in it did not favor him. When Lord Derby, the party leader, thrice formed governments in the 1850s and 1860s, Disraeli served as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons. He also forged a bitter rivalry with the Liberal Party’s William Gladstone. Upon Derby's retirement in 1868, Disraeli became Prime Minister briefly before losing that year's election. He returned to opposition, before leading the party to a majority in the 1874 election. He maintained a close friendship with Queen Victoria, who in 1876 created him Earl of Beaconsfield. Disraeli's second term was dominated by the Eastern Question—the slow decay of the Ottoman Empire and the desire of other European powers, such as Russia, to gain at its expense. Disraeli arranged for the British to purchase a major interest in the Suez Canal Company (in Ottoman-controlled Egypt). In 1878, faced with Russian victories against the Ottomans, he worked at the Congress of Berlin to obtain peace in the Balkans at terms favourable to Britain and unfavourable to Russia, its longstanding enemy. This diplomatic victory over Russia established Disraeli as one of Europe's leading statesmen. World events thereafter moved against the Conservatives. Controversial wars in Afghanistan and South Africa undermined his public support. He angered British farmers by refusing to reinstitute the Corn Laws in response to poor harvests and cheap imported grain. With Gladstone conducting a massive speaking campaign, his Liberals bested Disraeli's Conservatives in the 1880 election. In his final months, Disraeli led the Conservatives in opposition. He had throughout his career written novels, beginning in 1826, and he published his last completed novel, Endymion, shortly before he died at the age of 76.
1836 – Texas adopts the common law of England, making sodomy a capital offense.
1888 – California Gov. Robert Waterman commutes the sentence of Lucilius Miller who had been convicted of sodomy in 1884. He had been sentenced to 12 years in prison.
1917 – In Russia, the Bolsheviks nullified many laws including the one making sex between men a criminal act. Seventeen years later Article 121 would re-criminalize it, carrying a sentence up to five years "deprivation of freedom."
Spencer was born in Stockton, Missouri, United States, in 1942. He worked in Kansas City, Missouri, for Hallmark Cards after graduating from Sheldon High School. He left Hallmark after eight years, and in 1967 worked as a farm hand. He moved to Canada in 1974, after responding to a request to come to Saskatchewan as a church planner for the Regina, Saskatchewan, area. He established Discovery Baptist Church in Regina in 1978 and now assists at Calvary Baptist Church in Moose Jaw, SK where he now resides. He was first elected as candidate of Canadian Alliance in the 2000 federal election. He was appointed family issues critic for the CA caucus, but was later suspended from the caucus for his controversial remarks. When the CA merged into the new Conservative Party of Canada, he did not join the caucus of the new party, and thus became an independent. He sought re-election in the 2004 federal election as an independent conservative, but lost. In late November 2003, Spencer caused controversy in Canada when Vancouver Sun writer Peter O'Neil reported that Spencer said he would support any initiative to outlaw homosexuality. Spencer stated that in the 1960s, a "well-orchestrated" conspiracy began and led to recent successes in the gay rights movement. This conspiracy, he further said, included seducing and recruiting young boys in playgrounds and locker rooms, and deliberately infiltrating North America's schools, judiciaries, entertainment industries, and religious communities. According to him, this conspiracy started with a speech given by a U.S. gay rights activist in the 1960s whose name he could not remember. Spencer stated: His quote went something like this ... "We will seduce your sons in the locker rooms, in the gymnasiums, in the hallways, in the playgrounds, and on and on, in this land." It was quite a long quote stating what was going to happen to the young boys of North America. Spencer further blamed former Canadian prime-minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau for the "movement" gaining public acceptance since he legalized homosexuality in Canada in 1969. He mentioned that although no government would have the courage to strike down these laws, that he would support any initiative that advocated such a move. He also feared that "Polygamy is next on the list. More than one [spouse]... We'll see that within the next very, very few years. Pedophilia is being pursued as we speak... Some will say down to an eight-year-old, they think it's OK." He believed that practicing homosexuals can rid themselves of homosexuality if they put their minds to it. As a result of his comments, Spencer was stripped of his job as family issues critic by Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper on November 27, 2003. He also temporarily removed himself from the party's caucus, and apologized "completely and without reservation" for his remarks.
1944 – Michael Tilson Thomas, the American conductor, was born today. A conductor, pianist, composer and director of the San Francisco Symphony, Thomas has become in a relatively short time one of the most prominent American conductors of his generation. Perhaps most significantly, he is the first Gay conductor to achieve such prominence without masking or hiding his sexuality. Tilson Thomas does not discuss his sexuality or his personal life with the public, but his dedication to creating and presenting music that explores the Gay experience confirms his importance as a Gay conductor. Not only has he impressed audiences with his musical vision, talented conducting, and prolific number of recordings, but he has also used his position to commission works by Gay composers that use the medium of classical music to represent Gay life and Gay history. To this end, he organized the American Mavericks music festival in San Francisco in June 2000. The festival highlighted the works of such composers as Lou Harrison, Lukas Foss, Earle Brown, Steve Reich, David Del Tredici, and Meredith Monk. Tilson Thomas has similarly pushed audiences to rethink the relationship between classical music and homosexuality by celebrating openly Gay composers such as Harrison and by commissioning works from Del Tredici and others that explicitly explore the experiences of Gay men and Lesbians. Although Gay men and Lesbians have long been present in the world of classical music, both as performers and as audience members, they have often remained invisible. Tilson Thomas has taken bold steps to change this. In May 2001, Tilson Thomas conducted the premiere of Del Tredici's Gay Life, a series of pieces he commissioned that are based on poems by Allen Ginsberg, Thom Gunn, and Paul Monette. The work both explores the experiences of Gay men in America and also delves into the challenges that Gay men have faced in their struggle to survive the AIDS epidemic. In addition, two of Tilson Thomas' own compositions have added to the small but growing classical music repertoire focused on Gay subjects. Three Poems by Walt Whitman, written for baritone and orchestra, and We Two Boys Together Clinging, for baritone and piano, use Whitman's poetry to explore intimacy between men.
1947 – Dr. Steven Watson, born on this date, is a cultural historian who is particularly interested in the dynamics of the twentieth century American avant-garde. His 1991 book Strange Bedfellows: The First American Avant-Garde was called "a chapter in our national biography" by Stefan Kanfer for the Los Angeles Times and "a marvelous group portrait of a band of cultural renegades" by Publishers Weekly. Watson has written five books about 20th century American avant-garde and counterculture movements, curated two exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery ("Group Portrait, The First American Avant-Garde" and "Rebels: Painters and Poets of the 1950's"), and served as consultant curator for the Whitney Museum exhibition "Beat Culture and the New America". Watson grew up in the suburbs of Minneapolis, Minnesota and graduated from Mound High School. He majored in English at Stanford University and participated in anti-Vietnam War protests, including a guerrilla theater piece called Alice in ROTC-Land, co-starring with Sigourney Weaver. After graduation, he founded an alternative elementary school called KNOW School in Auburn, California. He studied psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he received his Ph.D. in 1976, and he worked for nineteen years as the staff psychologist of the Putnam County Community Mental Health Clinic. In 1976, Watson also began writing articles for the Village Voice, New York Newsday, Soho Weekly News, and Gaysweek. His work on gay culture included the first major article about Marsha P. Johnson, an early extended interview with Sylvia Rivera, and a book about the transgender figure, Minette. At the same time, he began writing books about key circles of the twentieth century. He currently lives in New York City.
Unknown to friends and relatives, Larry Eyler was a young man at war within himself, struggling to cope with homosexual tendencies which simultaneously fascinated and repelled him. Like John Gacy and a host of others, he would learn to take his sex where he could find it, forcefully, and then eliminate the evidence of his abiding shame. Finding a series of bodies in similar circumstances in several states, an intense investigation was launched by local and federal authorities. Eyler was almost captured in September 30, 1983, when an Indiana highway patrolman spotted a pickup truck parked along Interstate 65, with two men moving toward a nearby stand of trees. One appeared to be bound, and the officer went to investigate, identifying Larry Eyler as the owner of the truck. His young companion accused Eyler of making homosexual propositions, then asking permission to tie him up, which he had given. There was apparently no crime committed, so Eyler was free to go. After the series of sex-slayings of young men, with an investigation closing in on him, clues left in the murder of Danny Bridges, 15, a homosexual hustler whose dismembered body had been neatly bagged for disposal, linked Eyler to that and previous killings. After being charged with murder, Eyler confessed to Indianapolis authorities in a plea bargain. The book Freed to Kill, which mentioned that Eyler was connected to multiple murders, resulted in investigations being reopened. He was convicted of the Bridges slaying on July 9, 1986; Eyler was sentenced to die. By that time, Mother Nature had already passed her own death sentence on Eyler: he was infected with AIDS. Eyler was described by some Indianapolis gay community members as a good looking person with a "hot temper", who "projected violence during sex acts". After Eyler's death, his attorney gave the names of 17 people who were murdered by Eyler and 4 who were murdered by an unidentified accomplice, later revealed to be one of his college professors, Robert David Little. According to Eyler's defense attorney, the list was apparently made by Eyler around three years before his death, in order to obtain a plea bargain. The prosecutors did not agree to the plea bargain. Later, Eyler allowed his lawyer to release the list.
1958 – Andrew Lear is a Classicist and scholar of gender history and the history of sexuality. His research focuses on concepts of gender and sexuality in ancient Greek poetry and art. His book on male-male erotic scenes in ancient Athenian vase-painting Images of Ancient Greek Pederasty: Boys Were Their Gods, was positively reviewed: it greatly expanded the number of known scenes and proposed a sophisticated framework for their interpretation. He has written articles on topics including gender ideals in the work of Greek poets Anacreon and Theognis, as well as book reviews for Classical World. Lear is seen as an expert on the comparison between ancient and modern views and practices of gender and sexuality. His poems and translations have appeared in such journals as Persephone, the Southern Humanities Review, and Literary Imagination. He has taught at Harvard, Columbia, Pomona College, and NYU. In addition to his academic career, Lear designs and leads educational tours on topics related to his research. In 2013, he founded Oscar Wilde Tours, the first tour company focused on LGBT history. Oscar Wilde Tours gives "gay secrets" museum tours that illuminate the history of homosexuality hidden in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, and London's National Portrait Gallery. It also offers multi-day tours in Europe focused on gay history and art. Oscar Wilde Tours won the Travvy silver prize in 2016 for best LGBT tour operator. In 2016, Lear expanded this line by founding Shady Ladies Tours, a tour company focused on women’s history. Their Shady Ladies tour of the Metropolitan Museum presents depictions of royal mistresses and courtesans in the collection, and the Nasty Women tour is about pathbreaking women from Pharaoh Hatshepsut to Gertrude Stein.
1961 – Gordon D Fox, openly gay US Politician from Providence, Rhode Island and the Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives. Fox came out publicly in 2004 and is in a long-term relationship with Marcus LaFond. He is one of four openly gay members of the Rhode Island General Assembly. He was also the first openly gay house speaker in the United States. Although Assemblyman John Pérez was elected to the speakership of the California State Assembly several weeks before Fox. Pérez was not sworn in as speaker until March 1, 2010, whereas Fox took office almost three weeks earlier on February 11.
1965 – Andy Dick is an American comedian, actor, musician and television/film producer. He is best known as a comic but is also known for his eccentric and controversial behavior. His first regular television role was on the short-lived but influential Ben Stiller Show. In the mid-1990s, he had a long-running stint on NBC's NewsRadio and was a supporting character on Less than Perfect. He briefly had his own program, The Andy Dick Show on MTV, and he is also noted for his outlandish behavior from a number of Comedy Central Roasts. He also landed in 7th place on the 16th season of Dancing with the Stars. Dick was born in Charleston, South Carolina and he was adopted at birth. Dick appeared in numerous theater productions during his high school years and was elected homecoming king his senior year in 1983. While in high school, Dick tended to use his name as a joke; and one day, he dressed in a homemade superhero costume and presented himself at school as "Super Dick". Dick graduated from Joliet West High School in 1984, and is a close friend of actor Anthony Rapp, whom he had known since childhood.After graduating from high school, Dick joined Chicago's Second City. Dick was married to Ivone Kowalczyk from 1986 to 1990, with whom he has a son, Lucas (b. 1988). He also has a son and a daughter with Lena Sved. !n 2005, Dick stirred controversy in Edmonton, Alberta, at Yuk Yuk's comedy club when he dropped his pants and exposed his genitals to the audience. Amid the uproar, he was ushered off the stage and the second night was cancelled. In a 2006 interview with the Washington Post, he stated that he was bisexual. On January 23, 2010, Dick was arrested about 4 a.m. at a bar in Huntington, West Virginia, on charges of sexual abuse after reportedly groping a bartender, and a male patron. He was released from jail after pleading not guilty and posting $60,000 bail. On June 29, 2011, Dick was formally indicted by a Cabell County Grand Jury for two counts of first degree sexual abuse. Dick pleaded not guilty during a formal arraignment in Cabell County Circuit Court in Huntington on July 29, 2011. After receiving the not guilty plea, the judge set a trial date of January 17, 2012. After several delays, on May 21, 2012, Dick was given a six-month pre-trial diversion. An assistant prosecutor has said that the agreement states if Dick stays out of legal trouble for six months, the criminal charges would be dismissed.In January 2012, the two alleged victims filed a civil suit against Dick for unspecified damages.
1966 – Today's the birthday of the British actress Sophie Ward. Her films include The Lords of Discipline (1983), The Hunger (1983), and Return to Oz (1985). Ward has a degree in Literature and Philosophy from The Open University. She has two sons by her former husband, Paul Hobson, a veterinary surgeon: their marriage broke down in 1996 and she became involved with Rena Brannan, a female Korean-American writer. The previous year, Ward had appeared in the television film A Village Affair, in which she played a bored housewife who leaves her husband for another woman. Ward was quoted as saying that her experience making A Village Affair helped clarify her own feelings regarding her sexuality, but also delayed her decision to come out, as she did not want it to appear as if she were jumping on the bandwagon of the film's theme. In August 2000, Ward and Brannan were married in a well-publicized ceremony held in London, before same-sex civil partnerships were legalized in Britain. The couple and Ward's children live near Stroud, Gloucestershire.
1969 – Jack Noseworthy Jr. is an American actor, whose most visible movie roles were in Event Horizon, U-571, Barb Wire and Killing Kennedy. He was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, and graduated from Lynn English High School in 1982 and attended Boston Conservatory, where he earned a BFA. He appeared in Bon Jovi's music video "Always", with Carla Gugino and Keri Russell. He co-starred with Meryl Streep in the Public Theater's 2006 production of Mother Courage and Her Children. He starred in a short-lived MTV drama series, Dead at 21. In December 2005, he originated the role of Armand in the musical Lestat during its pre-Broadway run at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, but left the production during its first week of previews. He is also the only male actor to play Peter Pan on Broadway, in the revue Jerome Robbins' Broadway. Noseworthy made his debut as a nightclub performer in September 2006 at the Metropolitan Room in New York City in "You Don't Know Jack!". In 2013, Noseworthy played Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy in Killing Kennedy, a made-for-television movie aired on National Geographic Channel. In 2018, Noseworthy joined the Canadian production of Come from Away, in the role of Kevin T. and others. Noseworthy has been in a relationship with Tony-winning choreographer Sergio Trujillo since 1990. They married in 2011. Noseworthy and Trujillo have a son born in 2018.
1969 – Gay Liberation Front members Jim Owles and Marty Robinson and about twelve people met in Arthur Bell’s Manhattan apartment and founded The Gay Activists Alliance (GAA). Author Arthur Evans wrote the group’s statement of purpose and much of its constitution. Acting on the principle that the personal is the political, GAA held homophobes who were in positions of authority personally accountable for the consequences of their public policies. Accordingly, Robinson, Evans, and Owles developed the tactic of “zaps.” These were militant (but non-violent) face-to-face confrontations with outspoken homophobes in government, business, and the media. Evans was often arrested in such actions, participating in disruptions of local business offices, political headquarters, local TV shows, and the Metropolitan Opera. In effect, GAA created a new model of gay activism, highly theatrical while also eminently practical and focused. It forced the media and the political establishment to take Gay concerns seriously as a struggle for justice. Previously the media treated Gay life as a peripheral freak show. The new Gay activism inspired Gay people to act unapologetically from a position of Gay Pride. This new model inspired other Gay groups across the county, eventually triggering revolutionary improvements in Gay life that continue to this day. In November 1970, Robinson and Evans, along with Dick Leitsch of the Mattachine Society, appeared on the Dick Cavett Show. They were among the first openly Gay activists to be prominently featured as guests on a national TV program.
1973 – A bulletin was issued by a US federal judge stating that a person's sexual orientation may not be sole cause for termination of Federal employment in the U.S.
1981 – Time and Newsweek run their first major stories about AIDS.
1988 – The Chicago City Council voted 28-17 to approve a bill banning discrimination based on sexual orientation.
1988 – The Oregon Court of Appeals reverses two public indecency convictions of men looking for sex in restrooms, finding a right to sexual privacy even outside of enclosed stalls.
1990 – An MTV poll reported that 92% of America's teenagers say it would make no difference to them if their favorite rock star came out as gay or lesbian.
1996 – Jimmy McGuire, 33, and James Williams, 27, were found shot to death in their home. They were among five gay black men murdered in Washington DC in a three month period.
2006 – New Jersey governor Jon Corzine signs the bill establishing civil unions in the state. The first civil union licenses become available on February 20, 2007.
2007 – Nepal Supreme Court orders the end of anti-LGBTQ laws and creates new laws that safeguard LGBTQ people.
2009 – Mexico City legalises same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples (effective March 2010)
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1941 – Larry Spencer is a Baptist pastor in Canada, and former Member of Parliament (MP) for the Saskatchewan riding of Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre. He later served as interim national president of the Christian Heritage Party of Canada.
