Holding the Man captured the impact of HIV/AIDS in Australia and remains one of the country’s most significant works of queer literature.
On this day in 1994, actor and writer Timothy Conigrave died from AIDS-related illnesses, less than four months before his acclaimed memoir, Holding the Man, was published.
The memoir has been widely celebrated as a landmark work of queer literature since its publication in 1995. At its centre is the love story between Tim Conigrave and John Caleo.
Conigrave and Caleo met as students at Xavier College, an all-boys school in Melbourne. Caleo was captain of the football team, inspiring the book’s title. In Australian Rules football, “holding the man” is a free-kick offence. Despite youthful experimentation, geographical separation and parental opposition, the pair maintained their relationship. Their romance was ultimately cut short after both men were diagnosed with HIV in 1985.
The memoir has become renowned for its frank portrayal of same-sex love and the devastating impact of HIV at a time when discrimination remained widespread and the disease was highly stigmatized and poorly understood.
Conigrave was an actor and theatre-maker who trained at the National Institute of Dramatic Art. He toured Australia performing in Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs, and his memoir includes a section recalling a visit to Perth’s Connections Nightclub, walking up the stairs to the iconic venue.
As a playwright, he created several works, including Thieving Boy, Like Stars in Your Hands and The Blitz Kids.
Holding the Man has been published around the world. It won the 1995 United Nations Human Rights Award for Non-Fiction and was named one of the Australian Society of Authors’ 100 Favourite Australian Books in 2003.
The book was adapted into a stage play by Tommy Murphy. Its debut with Sydney’s Griffin Theatre Company in 2006 received widespread critical acclaim and became the highest-grossing production in the company’s 30-year history.
Since then, the play has been performed around Australia and internationally, including productions in Los Angeles, San Francisco and London’s West End. The London production starred Australian actors Jane Turner and Simon Burke.
In 2015 the film version of Holding the Man was released. It starred Ryan Corr and Craig Stott as Tim and John, and was directed by Neil Armfield. The documentary Remembering the Man, which came out the following year, told more of Tim and John’s story.
Conigrave did not live to see the success of his memoir, dying before its publication. John Caleo died on 26 January 1992, aged 31. Timothy Conigrave died on 18 October 1994, aged 34.
Martina Navratilova celebrates her birthday
ennis champion Martina Navratilova celebrates her birthday today.
Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1956, Navratilova is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time. During her career she won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, 31 major women’s doubles titles and 10 major mixed doubles titles. She also won a record nine Wimbledon women’s singles championships.
In 1975, at the age of 18, she sought political asylum in the United States from communist Czechoslovakia. She became a US citizen in 1981. In 2008 she regained her Czech citizenship but said she had no plans to renounce her American citizenship.
In 1981, during an interview with the New York Daily News, she spoke about her bisexuality and revealed she had been in a relationship with author Rita Mae Brown. Navratilova had asked the journalist not to publish the information until she publicly came out, but the newspaper printed the story against her wishes.
Navratilova later described herself as a lesbian. In September 2014, at the US Open, she proposed to her longtime partner Julia Lemigova. The couple married later that year.
Navratilova has been an outspoken advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights, animal welfare and support for disadvantaged children. In recent years she has also attracted criticism for her views on transgender women’s participation in sport, and for her opposition to drag performances.
In 2010 the sports star was treated for breast cancer. In January 2023 she had a second bout with cancer and was treated for a reoccurrence of breast cancer and throat cancer as well. As of March 2023 she announced she had been declared cancer free for a second time.
In 1990 three men were convicted of a plot to blow up a gay disco in Idaho
In 1990 three white supremacists were convicted of plotting to blow up Neighbourhood Disco, a gay venue in Boise, Idaho.
Robert John Winslow, Stephen Nelson, and Procter Baker were all members of the Church of Jesus Christ Christian-Aryan Nations based in Hayden Lakes, North Idaho.
A jury found all three guilty of conspiracy and manufacturing and possessing pipe bombs. While Nelson and Winslow were convicted of additional charges of using interstate commerce in a conspiracy and possessing firearms in commission of a violent crime.
Their plot was uncovered by an FBI informant who had been paid to infiltrate the group.
In January 1991 U.S. District Judge Harold Ryan ordered Winslow, 29, to nine years and a $3,500 fine, Nelson, 35, to eight years and 150 hours of community service, and Baker, 58, to two years, 150 hours of community service and a $7,500 fine.
Tyler Posey was born on this day in 1991
Star of the TV series Teen Wolf, actor Tyler Posey was born on this day in 1991.
After making appearances in many TV shows including Without a Trace, Smallville, Brothers & Sisters, Posey got his big break with the TV adaptation of Teen Wolf in 2011. The show ran for six seasons before wrapping up in 2017. In interviews Posey has described himself as queer and sexually fluid.
Graeme Watson, Sophie Joske
