French writer Colette was born in 1873 French writer Colette was born on this day in 1873 in Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye in France. She was a writer, mime, actress and journalist. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature and is best known for her novella Gigi which was published in 1948. The novels tells the story of a […]
Holocaust Remembrance Day On this day in 1945 the remaining prisoners at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp were liberated. Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. On January 27th 1945 the Red Army liberated the camp where 7,000 prisoners remained. Most of the other 60,000 prisoners at the camp had been sent on a death march to relocate […]
President Obama mentions LGBTI people in inauguration speech US President Barack Obama was inaugurated as the President of the United States for the second time on this day in 2013. During his speech the President spoke to the need to respect the civil rights of LGBT people, the first time any reference had been made […]
Melissa Etheridge comes out In 1993, on January 20th, Melissa Etheridge let the world know that she was a lesbian by coming out at the Triangle Ball, an LGBTI focussed celebration of US President Bill Clinton’s inauguration. Standing alongside singer K.D. Lang, Etheridge said Lang, who had come out on the cover of The Advocate the previous […]
Queensland Decriminalises Homosexuality in 1991 On this day in 1991 Queensland became the seventh Australian state or territory to decriminalise homosexuality, leaving Tasmania as the last remaining region where same-sex male relationships remained illegal. Decriminalisation of homosexuality in Australia was spread over several decades. Britain decriminalise homosexuality in 1967, but similar laws remained in Australia. […]
In 2015 Irish politician Leo Varadkar publicly announced he is gay In 2015 on this day Irish politician Leo Varadkar publicly announced he was gay during a radio interview. The politician shared the information about his sexuality as the country headed towards a national referendum on same-sex marriage. Varadkar made the announcement on his 36th […]
On This Gay Day: Merle Miller published ‘What it means to be a homosexual’ On this day in 1971 novelist and essayist Merle Miller came out when he published an article in the New York Times magazine titled What it means to be a homosexual. His article received a record breaking number of letters to the newspaper, and […]
NYC Politician Murray Hall Dies in 1901 Murray Hall was a NYC politician who died on this day in 1901 after battling cancer. Hall was known as a whiskey drinking, poker playing man about town. The coroner was surprised to discover he was biologically female. The news came as a surprise to his daughter. Born […]
The play ‘Torch Song Trilogy’ made its mark on this day in 1982 Harvey Fierstein’s acclaimed work Torch Song Trilogy opened off Broadway at The Actor’s Playhouse in Greenwich Village. The collection of three short plays, which are performed in succession, runs for over four hours and tells the story of Arnold Beckoff, a gay Jewish drag queen […]
Sir Cecil Beaton was born on this day in 1904, the famous photographer died aged 76 in 1980 on 18th January. Born in London he found success as photographer in America in the 1920’s where he took photographs for publisher Conde Nast including their popular magazines Vogue and Vanity Fair. Beaton became well known for his celebrity […]
