This Weekend In Gay History FRIDAY, JUNE 14

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This Weekend In Gay History

FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 2013

c. 427 BCE – on this date PLATO was born (d: 347 BCE). This is hardly the place to summarize the teachings of one of antiquity's greatest thinkers. Suffice it to say that Plato, through his famous Symposium, has given his name to the love that dare not speaks its name nor show its little faerie wings in public, even though Platonic love has come to mean lately a kind of sexless friendship. That Platonic love before Freud was clearly Gay love is evident in Patience, Gilbert and Sullivan's devastating satire on the aesthetic movement, in which the effeminate poet Bunthorne sings about "an attachment a la Plato for a bashful young potato and not too French, French bean!" Plato was born with the name Aristocles. He was surnamed Plato because of his exceptionally well-developed broad shoulders.

1961 - on this date BOY GEORGE, the British singer (Culture Club) was born George Dowd. He grew up in a large, working-class Irish family. Boy George was part of the English New Romantic movement which emerged in the early 1980s. Boy George helped give this androgyny an international stage with the success of Culture Club during the 1980s. Musically speaking, he is often classified as blue-eyed soul, having been heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and reggae. His later solo work touches on glam influences, particularly David Bowie and Iggy Pop. When George was with Culture Club, much was made of his androgynous appearance, and there was speculation about his sexuality. When asked the question in interviews, George gave various answers. At times he suggested he was Bisexual. He gave a famous, often quoted response to an interviewer that "I prefer a nice cup of tea to sex". In Take It Like A Man, George told his side of his relationship with Culture Club drummer Jon Moss (also Kirk Brandon). He said many of the songs he wrote for Culture Club were directed at Moss.

1972 - In Montreal, Canada on this date Gay rights group FLH opens new Gay center with a dance. Police raid it and charge forty people for being found in an establishment selling liquor without permit. The charges were later dropped, but attendance falls at center. Organization folds within a few months.

2004 - on this date Gay activists sailed to Australia's uninhabited Coral Sea Islands Territory and raised the Gay flag, proclaiming the territory independent of Australia, calling it the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands. 

The micronation established as a symbolic political protest by a group of Gay rights activists based in southeast Queensland Australia. It is an expression of Queer nationalism. On June 14, 2004, the group claimed the Coral Sea Island Territory and seceded from Australia after sailing to the largest island in the group and raising the rainbow flag there. One of the group's members, Dale Parker Anderson, was declared Emperor, as Dale I. The "secession" was staged in protest at a decision to ban same-sex marriage made by the Australian federal parliament.

The kingdom's claims are not recognised by any state, and as no permanent settlement has been established, the Coral Sea Islands remain uninhabited. The kingdom claims to have begun operating a mail service on January 1, 2006. It is presumed this service operates between the Coral Sea Islands and Queensland, however as of July 2006 there is no independent verification of its precise nature and frequency. The kingdom issued its first stamps in July 2006, and intends to issue stamps conservatively "with the aim of creating a high and distinctive reputation amongst the philatelic fraternity." The kingdom's website asserts that tourism, fishing and philatelic sales are its only economic activities.

2007 - On this date Congresswoman TAMMY BALDWIN (D-WI) and Congressman BARNEY FRANK (D- MA) wrote a public letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urging the State Department to investigate reports of violent persecution of homosexual Iraqis by Islamic groups and militias. According to Iraqi LGBT, a London-based human rights group working to support the human rights of Gay Iraqis, twenty-six of its members have been killed since 2003, including the murder of two minors - eleven-year-old Ameer and fourteen-year-old Ahmed who were forced into child prostitution--in 2006. In addition, a mass kidnapping of five Gay men from the Shaab area of Iraq took place during the first week of December 2006. All are now presumed dead.

SATURDAY, JUNE 15, 2013

1835 – the American actress, painter and poet ADAH ISAACS MENKEN was born on this date in New Orleans (d: 1868). Menken was a flamboyant performer got around. She was reputed to be only slightly less man-hungry than the legendary Cleopatra, who, nicknamed "Thick Lips," is said to have blown 100 Roman soldiers in a single night. Her reputation notwithstanding, Menken was the author of Infelicia, a collection of Sapphic poems, that clearly reveals her delight in women. She was, for a time, the lover of novelist George Sand (the pseudonym of Amandine Aurore Lucile Dupin).

1843 - the Norwegian composer EDVARD GRIEG was born today (d. 1907). Edvard Grief? That sweet little guy, the one whose "Anitra's Dance" is always played in third grade music appreciation class? What's he doing here?  In old age he was completely taken with the boyish charms of curly-haired, blond Percy Grainger, whose "Country Gardens" is inflicted on the same third-grade class of audiophiles. "I love him," Grieg declared, I love him like I love a young woman." That's odd. That's exactly what Vachel Lindsay said about the same guy!  So listen to Grieg's Morning Mood or better yet track down Eva Knardahl's recordings of Grieg's folksongs on Piano.  You'll be completely taken.

1887 – on this date the American sculptor MALVINA HOFFMAN was born (d: 1966). The sculptor, who traveled around the world to model the heads of every racial type, is included here on the most tentative "evidence." Since there is no modern biography, and we have only Hoffman's not-too-candid 1930 autobiography to go on, the slender thread is Mercedes de Acosta's account of her many loves, Here Lies the Heart,  in which Hoffman is one of the players. Since none of the cast of characters, including Garbo and Dietrich, uttered a public peep when the book was published, we can only assume that the book was either too silly to refute, or true.

1949 - today is the birthday of the British actor, author and biographer SIMON CALLOW.

Callow is one of the most prominent Gay actors in Britain.  He is perhaps better known on this side of the Atlantic for his role in romantic comedy "Four Weddings in a Funeral" where he played one half of "the" Gay couple -- he's the one who dies and has the titular funeral in which his widow (played by John Hannah) recites W.H. Auden's stunning "Funeral Blues" poem ("Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone/Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,..).  The depiction presented one of the most moving and believable Gay couples in film.  The friends being surprised by the depths revealed.

Callow has found great success as a director and writer.  He's written extensively about Charles Dickens, has even played Dickens on the BBC science fiction series "Doctor Who."  In 2008 he appeared at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada in a one man show There Reigns Love, a play about the poetry of William Shakespeare and also in 2008,appeared at the Edinburgh Festival giving a recital, directed by Patrick Garland, of two stories by Charles Dickens.  He has also written two critically lauded biographies of Orson Welles and Charles Laughton.

Callow's last partner was director Daniel Kramer. They shared a house in Camden, North London, but have now ended their relationship. In 1999 he was awarded the CBE for his services to acting.

1973 - today is the birthday of the American Golden Globe and Emmy-nominated actor and singer NEIL PATRICK HARRIS. The Albuquerque, New Mexico native is known for many roles in his career including the title character of Doogie Howser, M.D., the womanizing Barney Stinson in "How I Met Your Mother", Col. Carl Jenkins in Starship Troopers, Dr. Horrible of the very funny web series "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog", and as a fictionalized version of himself in "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" and its sequel "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay."

In November 2006, after a report about Harris' romantic relationship with actor David Burtka surfaced on www.Canada.com, Harris came out publicly in People. He had been openly Gay in his personal life and in the theater community, but stated, "[T]he public eye has always been kind to me, and until recently I have been able to live a pretty normal life. Now it seems there is speculation and interest in my private life and relationships. So, rather than ignore those who choose to publish their opinions without actually talking to me, I am happy to dispel any rumors or misconceptions and am quite proud to say that I am a very content Gay man living my life to the fullest and feel most fortunate to be working with wonderful people in the business I love." Harris and Burtka attended the Emmy awards in September 2007 as an openly acknowledged Gay couple for the first time, an appearance which Harris discussed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and which was reported in various media outlets. Neil and David have been together since 2004. Harris refers to Burtka as "My better half" and an "amazing chef."  Harris also has been a strong advocate for Marriage Equality.

In 2009 he served as host for the Tony Awards and in 2010 hosted the Oscars.  Both times Harris was lauded for being entertaining, and witty.

2010 -  on this date the Spanish daily newspaper El Pais reported that the Catalan government was investigating a Barcelona clinic for performing "gay cures."  If found guilty the Catalan government would impose fines against the Policlinica Tibidabo for offering pills and psychiatric "treatment" to convert homosexuals.  "An investigation has been opened into this clinic," a spokeswoman for the regional government's health department told AFP. "We do not consider homosexuality as an illness, far from it." She said the clinic could face fines if the month-long probe concludes that such treatments are being carried out. A gays and lesbian rights association in Catalonia, the CGL, hailed the decision of the regional authorities. "It is totally unacceptable, in the 21st century, that health professionals are trying to treat homosexuality," CGL secretary general Antonio Guirado said in a statement. "You cannot treat something that is not an illness."

SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 2013

1858 - KING GUSTAV V of Sweden was born on this date (d. 1950).  Before the game became as bloody as a chain-saw murder drive-in movie, tennis was a bit of a joke to red-blooded, beer-swilling manly men. The very mention of the phrase, "tennis anyone?" in a play or a film telegraphed that the chap in white was as queer as an arrangement of pansies in an English drawing room. Gustav V was tall and thin, wore pince-nez eyeglasses and sported a pointed goatee and mustache for most of his teen years. . Gustav V was a devoted tennis player, appearing under the pseudonym Mr G. As a player and promoter of the sport, Gustav was elected in to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1980. Gustaf, as he was called by his adoring subjects, is said to have taken up the game to be near the willowy blonds who specialized in knowing how to serve. The king was accused of being homosexual by a man named Kurt Haijby and the royal court paid Haijby a substantial sum of money for his silence, this came to public notice through the Haijby affair. For more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haijby_affair

1949 - today is the birthday of the brilliant Gay, Colombian-American author, poet, and journalist JAIME MANRIQUE. His first poetry volume won Colombia's National Poetry Award. Additionally, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship to write his memoirs and has contributed to Shade (1996), a Gay, black fiction anthology. He has also produced the non-fictional book, Eminent Maricones which explores the works of Reinaldo Arenas, Manuel Puig, and Federico García Lorca. He is currently a professor in the M.F.A. program at Columbia University.

1961 - on this date the ballet dancer RUDOLF NUREYEV defected from the Soviet Union at Le Bourget airport in Paris.  It all became possible when the Kirov's leading male dancer, Konstantin Sergeyev, was injured, and Nureyev was chosen to replace him on the Kirov's European tour. In Paris, his performances electrified audiences and critics, but he broke the rules about mingling with foreigners, which alarmed the Kirov's management. The KGB wanted to send him back to the Soviet Union immediately. As a subterfuge, they told him that he would not travel with the company to London to continue the tour because he was needed to dance at a special performance in the Kremlin.  He believed that if he returned to the U.S.S.R., he would likely be imprisoned, because KGB agents had been investigating him.  So he defected on this date in 1961 at the Le Bourget Airport in Paris.  Within a week, he was signed up by the Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas and was performing The Sleeping Beauty with Nina Vyroubova. On a tour of Denmark he met Erik Bruhn, a dancer who became his lover, his closest friend and his protector for many years.

1975 - In Houston, Texas a protest demonstration of 6,000 Gays, Lesbians and supporters marched through downtown when the anti-Gay rights and former beauty queen ANITA BRYANT arrived to entertain at a banquet.  (Sort of good to be reminded that Carrie Prejean as an anti-Gay beauty queen wasn't even a novelty.)

1979 - the great American filmmaker NICHOLAS RAY died of lung cancer on this date.

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