Author James Baldwin was born in 1924 James Baldwin was born on this day in 1924 in Harlem New York City. Baldwin would become a celebrated author whose characters often sought acceptance into society. He included gay and bisexual men as characters in many of this works. Baldwin wrote essays, plays and novels and his […]
Poet Walt Whitman was born in 1819 Poet Walt Whitman was born on this day in 1819, described as the father of free verse his poetry was controversial in it’s day for its over sexuality and he often wrote about love between men. His most acclaimed work is Leaves of Grass a collection of poems […]
Transgender trailblazer Christine Jorgensen was born in 1926 Christine Jorgensen was born on this day, she was the first American to undergo gender reassignment surgery. After being drafted into the military and serving in World War II Jorgensen heard news about the new medical procedures of gender reassignment surgery. She traveled to Europe and in Copenhagen, Denmark, […]
Author Alan Hollinghurst celebrates his birthday Author Alan Hollinghurst celebrates his 67th birthday today. The author won the 2004 Man Booker Prize for his novel In The Line of Beauty which told the story of a young gay man and his contemporaries from university against the backdrop of Margaret Thatcher’s Britain in the 1980s. The book was […]
Josephine Baker was so much more than a performer with bananas The iconic image of Josephine Baker is of her performing in a Paris club in the 1920’s wearing only a skirt made of artificial bananas and a necklace. Her 1927 performance at the Folles Bergère in the revue Un vent de folie encapsulated the new found […]
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 […]
Dynasty premiered in 1981 with a gay character TV series Dynasty premiered on this day in 1981. The show followed the trials and tribulations of the rich Carrington family. In the debut episode it was revealed that son Steven Carrington, played by Al Corley (pictured left), was gay. At the time there few LGBTIQ characters on television, […]
Celebrities criticise Derek Jarman’s comments about Sir Ian McKellen On this day in 1991 a public disagreement broke out between many LGBTIQ celebrities and filmmaker Derek Jarman. Actor Ian McKellen had been granted a knighthood in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours. Jarman publicly chastised McKellen for accepting the honour from the UK’s conservative government arguing […]
The formation of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis Inc. It was on this day, January 4th, in 1982 that the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Inc. was formed in New York. It was the first community organisation created to tackle the emergence of what would later be identified as HIV. Reports of a ‘gay cancer’ began […]
The birth of Ethel Richardson Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson was born on this day in 1870 in East Melbourne. She would become one of Australia’s most celebrated writers under the pseudonym Henry Handel Richardson. Her father died when she was young, and her mother became the Post Mistress in the Victorian Country town of Maldoon. Ethel […]
