Stephen Sondheim celebrates his 90th birthday Composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim is celebrating his birthday, he was born 90 years ago in New York. Sondheim’s Broadway career kicked off in 1957 when he provided the lyrics for West Side Story, while Leonard Bernstein composed the musical score. Sondheim would go on to write many successful Broadway shows […]
Joel Grey turns 88 Actor Joel Grey turns 88 years old today. The actor is best known for his role as the Emcee in the stage and movie version of the film Cabaret. Grey has been the original actor in many well known musicals, he was the first person to play the Wizard of Oz […]
In 1987 ACT UP is formed in NYC The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) was formed on this day back in 1987. Two days earlier activist Larry Kramer gave a speech at the NYC Gay and Lesbian Centre as part of a rotating series of speakers. He spoke about his frustration with the […]
The release of the 1930s screwball comedy ‘Bringing Up Baby’ is an important moment in queer history. Bringing Up Baby was the first of four films Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant made together. While it’s considered a classic film of the 1930’s it didn’t do well at the box office when it first released. The film […]
Author Randy Shilts was known as the first openly gay journalist Randy Shilts died on this day in 1994, the author is best known for his 1987 book And The Band Played On which documented the early days of the AIDS epidemic. Shilts studied journalism and the University of Oregon and came out while he working on […]
The film ‘Making Love’ was groundbreaking when it was first released Actor Harry Hamlin recently reflected on the 1982 film Making Love, noting that his decision to play a gay man who has an affair with a closeted married man, pretty much killed off his career in film. Hamlin had gotten film directors attention when he was […]
Remembering Mark Ashton Mark Ashton was only 27 years old when he died in 1987, but he’s been remembered in many different ways. After his passing British band The Communards wrote the ballad For a Friend. The activist from Northern Ireland had been a close friend of band members Jimmy Somerville and Richard Coles. Greek filmmaker […]
Remembering the life and work of Bill Sherwood Film director Bill Sherwood only made a series of short film and one feature before his life was cut short by an AIDS related death. His feature film Parting Glances was the first substantial role for actor Steve Buscemi (pictured above) and one of the first films to […]
Religious leader Jerry Falwell declares Tinky Winky is gay American religious leader Jerry Falwell declared on this day in 1999 that children’s television character Tinky Winky was gay. Falwell claimed there were many signs that the purple Teletubby was a homosexual. The British TV series had taken the world by storm in the late 1990’s […]
Judas Priest singer Rob Halford’s coming out was a big deal Nowadays celebrities declaring they are same-sex attracted isn’t such a big deal but back in 1998 when former Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford came out it was a groundbreaking announcement. Halford was a performer in one of the most masculine genre’s of music – […]
