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 […]
Author who challenged Playboy’s audience on their attitudes towards homosexuality was born on this day. On this day in 1929 author Charles Beaumont was born, and while he was not (as far as we know) LGBTIQ+, he wrote a story that had an significant effect on the fight for gay liberation. Born Charles Nutt in […]
E.M. Foster was born on this day in 1879 Writer Edward Morgan Foster was born on January 1st, 1879. He would go on to write many best selling novels that often explored themes of class difference and hypocrisy. His best known works include A Room with a View (1908), Howards End (1910) and A Passage to India (1924). He was nominated for […]
Tony Abbott puts forward the idea of a plebiscite for marriage equality On August 11th 2015, division within the Coalition over the issue of marriage equality came to a head. The Abbott government’s policy was that marriage would strictly only be between a man and a woman, but as country after country around the globe […]
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 […]
