#glbt history museum

[camisoledadparis]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … November 5

1698 – England: William Minton, a 19 year old servant, is used as bait to entrap Capt. Edward Rigby, the first homosexual victim of entrapment by the Society for the Reformation of Manners. He was tried for sodomy. These Societies were formed in tower hamlets, London, in 1690, with their primary object being the suppression of bawdy houses and profanity. A network of moral guardians was set up, with four stewards in each ward of the City of London, two for each parish, and a committee, whose business it was to gather the names and addresses of offenders against morality, and to keep minutes of their misdeeds. By 1699 there were nine such societies, and by 1701 there were nearly 20 in London, plus others in the provinces, all corresponding with one another and gathering information and arranging for prosecutions.

1884 – Born: James Elroy Flecker (d.1915); English poet, novelist and playwright. Born in London, and educated at Dean Close School, Cheltenham, where his father was headmaster, and Uppingham School, he studied at Trinity College, Oxford, and Caius College, Cambridge. While at Oxford he was greatly influenced by the last flowering of the Aesthetic movement there, under John Addington Symonds.

He died of tuberculosis in Davos, Switzerland. His death at the age of thirty was described at the time as "unquestionably the greatest premature loss that English literature has suffered since the death of Keats".

His Collected Poems (1916) were published the year after he died at age 30. His poetry shares one trait in common with that of his contemporary, Rupert Brooke: the sexuality is ambiguous. There is no question, however, that Flecker was Gay. His lover was the classicist J.D. Beazley, one of the world's great authorities on Greek vases.

His most widely known poem is "To A Poet A Thousand Years Hence". The most enduring testimony to his work is perhaps an excerpt from "The Golden Journey to Samarkand" inscribed on the clock tower of the barracks of the British Army's 22nd Special Air Service regiment in Hereford.

Bryan Lourd (R) and husband Bruce Bozzi

1960 – Bryan Lourd is an American talent agent. He has been partner, managing director and co-chairman of Creative Artists Agency (CAA) since October 1995.

Lourd was born in New Iberia, Louisiana. His brother, Blaine Lourd, is an investment advisor. He attended New Iberia Senior High School, where he played the lead in several high school musicals. He earned a degree from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism in 1982.

Lourd and actress Carrie Fisher were together from 1991 to 1994. They have one daughter, actress Billie, born in 1992. Lourd married Bruce Bozzi, the co-owner of The Palm, on October 12, 2016, and Lourd legally adopted Bozzi's daughter, Ava. They divide their time between a penthouse apartment in the West Village, in Lower Manhattan, New York City and a house in Beverly Hills, California.

Lourd was elected to the board of trustees of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2011. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. He was appointed to the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities in 2009 by President Barack Obama and to the board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2015.

Lourd 's clients include George Clooney, Robert De Niro, Brad Pitt, Robert Downey, Jr., Drew Barrymore, Jimmy Fallon, Matthew McConaughey, Sean Penn, Madonna, Naomi Watts, Natalie Portman, Robin Williams, Arnold Schwarzenegger, David Duchovny, Helen Hunt, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, Taraji P. Henson, and Peter Jöback.

1969 – The Homosexual Information Center protested at the offices of the Los Angeles Times to protest the newspaper's refusal to print the word "homosexual" in ads after it refused to print an ad announcing a group discussion on homosexuality.

1979 – Leonardo Nam is an Australian actor. He made his breakthrough as Roy in The Perfect Score (2004), and gained further recognition for his roles as Morimoto in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) and Brian McBrian in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (2008). In 2016, Nam began starring as Felix Lutz in Westworld (2016–present) which brought him widespread recognition.

Nam was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to South Korean immigrant parents. At the age of six, he moved to Sydney, Australia. Nam attended Sydney Technical High School and studied architecture at the University of New South Wales. Nam left Sydney to follow his dreams of an acting career in New York City, United States, at the age of 19. He studied with several acting teachers in New York, including Austin Pendleton and William Carden at HB Studio.

Before his Hollywood success, Nam travelled to New York City to pursue his acting career. His first few nights he slept in Central Park and then found jobs working as a waiter and bartender. His breakthrough role came in his performance of Roy in The Perfect Score (2004).

He had a small role in the 2005 film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants as Brian McBrian, a hardcore gamer. He played Brian again in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2; in the sequel, his character has a larger role. In 2016, he joined the cast of the HBO series Westworld. In 2018 he was featured in the music video "Waste It on Me" by Steve Aoki featuring BTS.

Nam is married to Michael Dodge. They have twin sons (born 2017) together. The family lives in San Diego.

1983 – Andrew Hayden-Smith, born Andrew John Smith, is a British actor and television presenter best known for his work with CBBC.

Auditions for popular CBBC children's serial drama Byker Grove were held at his school and he won the part of Ben Carter, making his first appearance in the eighth series of the show in 1995.

Initially just using the name Andrew Smith, he appeared as a guest on Saturday morning CBBC show Live & Kicking with several other characters from the show. Smith soon became a regular guest on the show. This led to appearances on other shows and also in teen-magazines, as well as two pantomime appearances. In 2001 he applied for Equity membership and was accepted under the name Andrew Hayden-Smith (Hayden being another surname in his family), as the name Andrew Smith was already taken.

In 2004, the ex-Byker Grove actor and CBBC presenter Andrew did the unthinkable for a young man on kids' TV - he told the world he was gay. At the risk of being outed by a newspaper, he beat the tabloids to the punch and did an interview with Attitude magazine:

"Coming out is pretty scary. It's bad enough when you're almost certain that the majority of people around you will be totally cool with it. I was 21 and presenting kids TV at the time and was commended for what everyone kept saying was such a brave step."

It did his career no harm, and he's proved an inspiration - and eye candy - for young gay men across the country.

Andrew has since appeared regularly on stage and in Doctor Who. Hayden-Smith appeared in the episodes "Rise of the Cybermen", "The Age of Steel" and "Doomsday" as Jake Simmonds in the 2006 series of Doctor Who. He returned to CBBC having completed the filming, but decided that he wished to concentrate on acting. His final day of presenting was on 7 July 2006, the day before his third and final Doctor Who appearance.

[gayest-historian]

Rainbow Flag Creation

Sorry for disapearing for a bit but I'm back again!

Today I'll be talking about the history of the rainbow flag as a symbol for queer people. It all started with Gillbert Baker, an artist, gay man and drag queen. After an honorable discharge from the military he taught himself to sew to pass the time. He later met Harvey Milk, an extremely influential figure that will get his own post, in 1974. Milk challenged him to create a flag for the queer community which would later be used in the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade on June 25 of 1978. When speaking about his choice to create a flag in an interview he said the following:

"Our job as gay people was to come out, to be visible, to live in the truth, as I say, to get out of the lie. A flag really fit that mission, because that’s a way of proclaiming your visibility or saying, ‘This is who I am!’"

- Gillbert Baker

The original pride flag had 8 stripes, each with their own meanings: Pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, teal for magic indigo for serenity and violet for spirit. This flag has been criticized, as many are, for having arbitrary colour meanings but that's a discussion for another day.

Later on, the pink stripe was removed due to difficulty with finding dyes for it so it could be more widely produced. The teal was also removed so that the flag would have an even number of stripes.

A portion of the first rainbow pride flag (pictured below) now lives in the GLBT Historical Society Museum and Archives in San Fransisco. It seems to be the only surviving remnant of the once 30ft by 60ft flag.

Eventually I plan to go more in-depth on the life of Gillbert Baker himself but for now this will do. I hope this taught you something new!

Edits: Originally said teal stripe was taken out due to dye difficulties like pink

[jamisonwieser]

I'm getting new neighbors. GLBT Historical Society is moving out of a tiny space off Castro Street, and moving into a huge 11,000 square feet space at my corner.

Ending a two-decades-long search for a suitable site, city officials have landed on a massive two-story shopping center in San Francisco's Castro district as the permanent home for a LGBTQ history museum and archival center. The Board of Supervisors is expected to approve the $11.6 million purchase of the property in the coming weeks. It will pave the way for the GLBT Historical Society to move into the vacant second floor of the Market & Noe Center at 2280 Market Street, likely sometime in 2025. The nonprofit currently rents a jewel box of a gallery space on 18th Street in the heart of the city's LGBTQ neighborhood and leases space for its archives and offices in a downtown office building.

For all the doom, gloom, and empty storefronts, this was the last vacancy on my block to be filled.

[meteorica]

The very first pride flag made by Gilbert Baker in 1978. You can see it at the GLBT History Museum in San Francisco.

[aromantisk-fagforening]

Some queer archives and stuff I found. It's a mix of libraries, museums and art galleries. Most if not all have some stuff digitally and some stuff in-person.

US:

one archives foundation

Arizona Queer Archives

National Archives

GLBT historical society

Gerber/Hart library and archives (Chicago)

Fordham University Queer Studies

University of Minnesota, Jean-Nickolaus Tretter

Leslie-Loham Musem of Gay and Lesbian Art (New York)

Leather archives & museum (Chicago)

The National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame (Chicago)

indypride (Indianapolis)

Other:

Bishopgate Institute (UK)

Pride Library (UK)

British library LGBTQ+ histories

Australian Queer archives

Schwules museum (Germany) (warning for eyestrain/moving lights)

the Arquives (Canada)

Skeivt Arkiv (Norway)

Gale (international)

IHLIA LGBT Heritage (Netherlands)

We need a digital archive of LGBTQ+ works of art, science, and every other conceivable work we can share between each other because we are beyond the genocide warning level in most countries in the west and they're already trying to purge us from libraries.

[researchbuzz]

AI Apps, Queer Jewish History, US Census Bureau, More: Sunday ResearchBuzz, June 25, 2023

NEW RESOURCES Thanks to my friend Diane R. for sending this my way: a directory of AI apps/sites. You can go through a big list, search, browse by topic, or look at recently-added resources. There are about 3100 listings here. Jewish News of Northern California: From personal to profound, new digital archive traces queer Jewish history. “A project of the GLBT Historical Society Museum and…

[pingouinwrites]

“if a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door in the country.” and it was here that I cried... 

Harvey Milk Plaza / rainbow escalator leading up into Castro Street / artifacts including the suit he was wearing when he was murdered, housed in the GLBT History Museum.

thank you to https://queerasfact.tumblr.com/ @queerasfact for teaching me all about Harvey Milk and queer history everywhere! 

[uplift-daily]

Once Lost, One of Original Two Pride Flags Has been Recovered

[image: On the left, is an archived image of two rainbow flags flying in San Francisco. On the right, is an image from the GLBT Historical Society of the recovered flag remnant. The remnant is a slice of the stripes, cut down the short end of the flag.]

In 1978, the two original pride flags, designed by Gilbert Baker and handsewn by volunteers, were flown in the Gay Freedom Day Parade in San Francisco. After the event, one of the flags was presumed stolen and lost. The other was taken home by Baker, but also considered lost.

After Gilbert Baker’s death in 2017, the Gilbert Baker Foundation asked to borrow the flags he’d owned, not knowing that one was the original pride flag. The flag was identified in February 2020.

On June 4th, 2021, the GLBT History Society Museum in San Francisco unveiled the flag to the public.

Read the full story at LGBTQNation!

[creekfiend]

just fyi, the post you reblogged purporting to show the original pride flag actually doesn’t—there’s a reblog talking about it (and linking to a post from the glbt history museum showing an actual piece of the original flag!)

ALAS. thank u for the info

[camisoledadparis]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … November 8

30 A.D. – Nerva, Roman Emperor born (d.98); Although much of his life remains obscure, Nerva was considered a wise and moderate emperor by ancient histories, a view which was later popularized by the 18th century scholar Edward Gibbon, who termed the rule of Nerva and his four successors as that of the Five Good Emperors. By adopting Trajan as his heir, Nerva is said to have established a tradition of succession through adoption among the emperors which followed.

Like many others of his times he enjoyed both women and his boys. Contemporary gossip records that his most celebrated liaison was with this imperial predecessor, Domitian. It appears that Domitian, while a student, had the same problem most modern students have – a shortage of funds. So he did what some enterprising young scholars continue to do today: he turned a few tricks, one of whom was the Roman senator, and later Emperor, Nerva.

1883 – Charles Demuth was born on this date (d. 1935). He was an American Precisionist painter. Demuth was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and studied at Philadelphia's Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. While he was a student there he met William Carlos Williams at his boarding house. The two were fast friends and remained close for the rest of their lives.

He later studied at Académie Colarossi and Académie Julian in Paris, where he became a part of the avant garde art scene. The Parisian artistic community was accepting of Demuth's homosexuality.

While he was in Paris he met Marsden Hartley by walking up to a table of American artists and asking if he could join them. He had a great sense of humour, rich in double entendres and they asked him to be a regular member of their group. Through Hartley he met Alfred Stieglitz and became a member of the Stieglitz group. In 1926, he had a one-man show at the Anderson Galleries and Intimate Gallery, the New York gallery run by Stieglitz.

Charles Demuth used the Lafayette Baths as his favourite haunt. His 1918 homoerotic self-portrait set in a Turkish Bathhouse is likely to be set there.

Turkish Bath with Self-portrait

His most famous painting, The Figure 5 in Gold (1928) (also sometimes called I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold), was inspired by his friend William Carlos Williams's poem The Great Figure. This is one of nine poster portraits Demuth created to honour his creative friends. He painted poster portraits for artists Georgia O'Keeffe, Arthur Dove, Charles Duncan, Marsden Hartley, John Marin and for the writers Gertrude Stein, Eugene O'Neill, Wallace Stevens and Williams.

Three Sailors

Demuth's will left many of his paintings to his friend Georgia O'Keeffe. Her strategic decisions regarding which museums received these works cemented his reputation as a major painter of the Precisionist school.

Demuth suffered either an injury when he was four years old or may have had polio or tuberculosis of the hip that left him with a marked limp and required him to use a cane. He later developed diabetes and was one of the first people in the United States to receive insulin. He spent most of his life in frail health, and he died in Lancaster at the age 51 of complications from diabetes.

1935 – Alain Delon (d.2024) was a French actor and businessman, with French-Swiss dual citizenship since 1999.

Delon acquired Swiss citizenship on September 23, 1999, and the company managing products sold under his name is based in Geneva. He is a citizen of the community of Chêne-Bougeries in the canton of Geneva.

At 14, Delon left school, and worked for a brief time at his stepfather's butcher shop. He enlisted in the French Navy three years later, and in 1953-54 he served as a fusilier marin in the First Indochina War. Delon has said that out of his four years of military service he spent 11 months in prison for being "undisciplined". In 1956, after being dishonorably discharged from the military, he returned to France. He had little money, and got by on whatever employment he could find. He spent time working as a waiter, a porter, a secretary and a sales clerk. During this time he became friends with the actress Brigitte Auber, and joined her on a trip to the Cannes Film Festival, where his film career would begin.

At Cannes, Delon was seen by a talent scout for David O. Selznick. After a screen test Selznick offered him a contract, provided he learn English. Delon returned to Paris to study the language, but when he met French director Yves Allégret, he was convinced that he should stay in France to begin his career. Selznick allowed Delon to cancel his contract, and Allégret gave him his debut in the film Quand la Femme s'en Mêle (When the Woman Butts In). Delon then appeared in the film Faibles Femmes (Weak Women/Three Murderesses). This was also the very first of his films to be seen in America, where it became a huge success.

In 1960, Delon appeared in René Clément's Purple Noon, which was based on the Patricia Highsmith novel The Talented Mr. Ripley. He played protagonist Tom Ripley to critical acclaim; Highsmith herself was also a fan of his portrayal. He then appeared in Luchino Visconti's Rocco and His Brothers. Critic Bosley Crowther of the New York Times said Delon's work was "touchingly pliant and expressive."

He rose quickly to stardom, and by the age of 23 was already being compared with French actors such as Gérard Philipe and Jean Marais, as well as American actor James Dean. He was even called the male Brigitte Bardot. Over the course of his career, Delon has worked with many well-known directors, including Luchino Visconti, Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Melville, Michelangelo Antonioni and Louis Malle.

He continued to make successful films through the 60s and 70s. Then followed a string of box office failures in the late 1980s and 1990s. One notable film during this time was Jean-Luc Godard's Nouvelle Vague in 1990, in which Delon played twins. Delon's last major role was in Patrice Leconte's Une chance sur deux in 1998, another box office disappointment.

On 20 March 1959, Delon was engaged to actress Romy Schneider, whom he met when they co-starred in the film Christine (1958). During their relationship, he had an affair with German actress, singer and model Nico. On 11 August 1962, Nico gave birth to a son, Christian Aaron "Ari", fathered by Delon. The child was raised mostly by Delon's parents.

In December 1963, Schneider and Delon decided to break the engagement. On 13 August 1964, Delon married Nathalie Barthélemy. Their son, Anthony Delon, was born in September. The couple divorced on 14 February 1969.

In 1969, Delon and his wife found themselves at the center of a massive scandal when their bodyguard was found shot to death, his body left in a garbage dump. The subsequent investigation into his killing threatened to implicate many of France's most prominent celebrities and politicians in a sordid web of murder, drugs, and sex. Many predicted the demise of Delon's career, but he spun the tabloid headlines to his favor. In the eyes of many filmgoers, his myriad portrayals of gangsters, killers, and sexual deviants suddenly took on new reality in light of the similar exploits he experienced in his offscreen life.

A notorious television interview in which he admitted to past homosexual liaisons – as well as many other seamy adventures – tantalized audiences even more.

Delon announced his decision to give up acting in 1997, although he still occasionally accepted roles. After the formation of a perfume label in his name, Delon has had a variety of products sold under his name including wristwatches, clothing, eyewear, stationery and cigarettes.

He had been in poor health in the 2020s and had become a virtual recluse. He died in 2024, and was eulogised by such luminaries as Brigitte Bardot and French president Emmanuael Macron

1949 – Gerald Chapman (d.1987) was an English theatre director and educator who was best known for his work with the Royal Court Theatre, London, Gay Sweatshop, the New York City Young Playwrights Festival, the American Repertory Theatre, the Circle Repertory Company, and the Double Image Theatre.

Chapman was born in Torquay, England, the younger son of hotelier Peter Chapman, whose father had been manager of the Savoy Hotel, London in the early 1900s. He spent his early years at the Castle Hotel, Taunton, Somerset, where his father was manager, and which is now owned by his elder brother, Christopher (Kit) Chapman. His mother was of Greek origin, and his summers were spent with his mother's family in Thessalonica.

In 1974, at a time when Gay Liberation was just beginning in the UK, Chapman joined other gay activists and playwrights to set up one of the first Gay Theatre seasons in the UK. The intention of the group was to counteract the prevailing conception in mainstream theatre of what homosexuals were like, therefore providing a more realistic image for the public. They realised that a great deal of hard work was required and came up with the name The Gay Sweatshop. This later became one of the best known gay theatre companies in the UK, with former members including Antony Sher, Simon Callow, Tom Robinson and Miriam Margolyes.

In the mid 1970s Chapman was appointed to the Royal Court Theatre, London in charge of the Young People's Theatre Scheme. This had originally been set up in 1966 to develop and produce the best new writing by young people under 25, encouraging writers from all sections of society to find their voice. In 1976, as part of a drive to invigorate the group,

Chapman developed the YPTS idea and held a competition to give the group a shorter and snappier name. The winning name chosen was 'The Activists'; the logo of which was the letter 'A' formed of nails, to signifying the driving edge and hard grittiness that typified the group's work.

This group had two main branches of activity - the first was a mainstream group that worked with influential writers and directors such as Edward Bond, John Schlesinger, Max Stafford Clark and many others. The second group was formed as part of an off shoot of the radical theatre company Gay Sweatshop, with which Chapman had worked previously.

Together with South African writer David Lan, workshop sessions were held with a group of gay teenagers to develop a play that would eventually became a touring production called 'Not In Norwich' This highly controversial show (for the time) aroused deep press hostility, which resulted in a front page story in the London Evening Standard "London Children in Sex Play". In contrast to the sensationalist press stories (the play actually contained no sexual scenes whatsoever, and the so called 'children' were all, at the time, actors in their late teens), the play itself was constructed from the real life personal experiences of young British gay teenagers, containing as it did, examples of the difficulties, prejudice and considerable humour of those that took part.

The Royal Court, through Chapman and then director Ann Jenkins, fought against a largely hostile press to maintain the integrity of the production, which successfully played at the Royal Court as well as on tours to regional theatres and schools. It was pioneering work of this kind that became a hallmark of Chapman's career, before it was cut so tragically short in 1987. He also taught school, ran workshops, and organized the highly successful Young Playwrights' annual festival.

In 1980 Stephen Sondheim invited Chapman to New York to start a similar project in the United States. Chapman founded and directed the acclaimed New York Young Playwrights Festival, which won a Drama Critics Circle Award in 1983.

Gerald Chapman died of AIDS on 25 September 1987 at the Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, USA. His life partner, Ivan Chatman, was by his side.

1956 – Roy Simmons (d.2014) was a former American football player who played for the National Football League. He played offensive lineman for the New York Giants and then with the Washington Redskins during Super Bowl XVIII in 1984.

In 1992, he came out of the closet as gay on the Phil Donahue Show, then promptly disappeared. No more stories would appear about Simmons for the next 12 years. Simmons, by now 47, broke his silence in an interview in the New York Times (strangely, the story ran in the Style section, not Sports) and his story is a compelling tale of a star athlete who hit rock bottom and is trying to get back up.The Times story, revealed this about Simmons:

He is HIV positive

He was raped by a neighbor when he was 11

He was in drug rehab twice, and at the time of the article was sober two years

He came close to jumping off the Golden Gate bridge

He had been homeless for a short time

The article details the shame and isolation Simmons felt about being attracted to men and the central role the rape had. "Years later as an adult, he tortured himself wondering—often while drunk or high on drugs—if he would have been straight if he had not been assaulted," reporter Maureen Orth writes. "He blamed himself and suffered from a diminished sense of self-worth and confusion over his sexual identity. 'I think all my life it affected me,' he said. 'The acting out—the sex with the boys, the girls — the drinking.' "

The article also weaves in the difficulty of being black and gay—the "Down Low" concept where black men live a deeply closeted gay or bisexual life. It also delves into the familiar territory of how hard it is to be a gay professional athlete. "The N.F.L. has a reputation," Simmons said, "and it's not even a verbal thing—it's just known. You are gladiators; you are male; you kick butt."

An interesting aside comes from Butch Woolfolk, a former teammate of Simmons: "I played with four gay guys. Roy is the only one I didn't know about."

Simmons, who works as a supervisor in a Long Island drug halfway house, joins David Kopay, Wade Davis, and Esera Tuaolo as the only NFL players who have publicly declared they are gay.

In his autobiography, Out of Bounds (written with Damon DiMarco), he speaks of his drug addiction, prostitution, and promiscuity. Around 1997, he learned that he was HIV-positive.

Later in life, he became more open about his sexuality, and did drag while in San Francisco. But in 2005, he made an about face when he appeared on TV evangelist Pat Robertson's program and said homosexuality was "against God's will."

He died 20114. Friend James Hester told the Daily he found Simmons' body in a chair in his rented room in the Bronx. He also said the athlete had been fighting pneumonia.

1959 – Born: Chi Chi LaRue (né Larry David Paciotti) is an American film director of gay, bisexual and straight pornography. He is best known in his drag persona as Chi Chi LaRue and has also directed under the names Lawrence David and Taylor Hudson.

Director, DJ and drag diva, Chi Chi LaRue is one of the most recognizable names and faces in the history of adult film, his fame far surpassing that of most superstars he created over the past decades. LaRue's drag persona began upon moving to the Twin Cities area where Chi Chi began performing in drag as one-half of "The Weather Gals", a "hag drag" revue. He later moved to California with a friend and was hired by Catalina Video because of his knowledge of porn and the workings of the porn industry. LaRue worked at Catalina in the late 1980s, when many of the producers and directors in the gay porn industry were falling ill or dying. Beginning in the press department for Catalina Video, a label he now owns under his company Channel 1 Releasing, it wasn't long before Chi Chi LaRue's creative spark set afire. He was soon directing some of the highest selling releases of all time. LaRue has directed hundreds of gay porn films since 1986.

In 2001 LaRue made a Cameo appearance in the U.S. independent film The Fluffer, a triangular story of obsessive love set against the backdrop of the adult film industry.

Multi-award winning and an GayVN Award Hall of Fame inductee, Chi Chi has branded his name and image creating everything from sex toys to candles to Chi Chi LaRue water, all sold at his adult boutique, Chi Chi LaRue's, on Santa Monica Blvd. in the heart of West Hollywood.

In 2005, Chi Chi LaRue became a DJ and now tours with porn stars from his movies, selling out nights in clubs all over the world. In 2007 LaRue was chosen as one of Out (magazine)'s Top 50 most influential people in the GLBT community.

1965 – Craig Chester, born in West Covina, California, is an American actor and screenwriter.

He is best known for his performances in independent films in the 1990s, starting with his debut in Swoon (1992), which earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination. After appearing in several more independent films, he took a break from acting and wrote the autobiographical Why the Long Face?: The Adventures of a Truly Independent Actor (2003). The title refers to the congenital disorder long face syndrome, which Craig was diagnosed with when he was eleven years old and required years of surgery to correct.

Chester's most recent projects are the 2007 film Save Me, for which he co-wrote the screenplay, and the 2005 film Adam & Steve, which he directed, wrote, and co-starred in. Adam & Steve has since developed a cult following. Craig is openly gay.

1969 – Jonathan Slavin is an American actor. Slavin may be best known for his portrayal of illustrator Byron Togler on the Fox network's sitcom Andy Richter Controls the Universe, Ogo from the CGI animated show Robot and Monster, and as scientist Phil Myman on ABC's sitcom Better Off Ted.

He has also had guest starring roles on such shows as Castle, Grey's Anatomy, My Name Is Earl, Summerland, Friends, Weeds, Wings, ER, Chicago Hope, Ugly Betty, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Bones, Better With You, Legit, Raising Hope, The Finder and Friends with Better Lives.

He has performed in a few films as well, including Free Enterprise, Race To Witch Mountain, Backwoods, A Cinderella Story, Hard Pill and Dirty Girl.

Slavin was raised in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.He is Jewish, openly gay and has lived with his partner Michael for 20 years as of April 2014. Slavin is also a vegan and animal rights activist, with a large menagerie of pets.

1973 – David Muir is an American journalist and the anchor of ABC World News Tonight and co-anchor of the ABC News magazine 20/20, part of the news department of the ABC broadcast-television network, based in New York City. Muir previously served as the weekend anchor and primary substitute anchor on ABC's World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer, subsequently succeeding her on September 1, 2014. At ABC News, Muir has won multiple Emmy and Edward R. Murrow awards for his national and international journalism.

When the bits of gossip claiming David Muir to be involved with ABC  field reporter Gio Benitez began, David was co-facilitating 20/20, and Gio was a standard journalist for the show. They were seen together on different evenings out, and individuals rushed to conjecture.

By 2016, Gio got hitched to Tommy DiDario which closed down the gossip for a while. David is most often seen roaming around with a man who press sources identify as his "boyfriend Sean." It is speculated that he has already married to his partner Sean and is living happy life with him. 

1982 – Samuel Falson, better known by his stage name Sam Sparro, is an Australian singer, songwriter and record producer. He was signed to the British record label Island Records. Sparro is best known for his 2008 single "Black and Gold".

Sam Sparro was born and raised in Sydney, Australia. Sparro's father, Chris Falson is a gospel minister and recording artist of Maltese descent who has written music for Star Trek and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Sparro's mother, Karyn Falson (née Frankland) is from Australia. His brother plays guitar professionally while his mother plays organ at a Baptist church.

The family relocated to Los Angeles when Sparro was ten years old. His father had signed a deal there and was recording a soul album, he took Sparro to a church in Tujunga to hear some of the genre's singers. Fellow church goers, were the McCrary family. Chaka Khan became one of his early admirers after hearing Sparro's singing through knowing the McCrarys.

His first role as a child actor was in a McDonald's commercial. His stage name was derived from a family nickname, which in turn was inspired by the Sydney radio announcer Gary O'Callaghan's on-air character "Sammy Sparrow".

Sparro left Los Angeles and returned to Sydney, where he lived with his grandparents and worked for a public relations company, before travelling to the UK, immersing himself in the music scene in London. He returned to Los Angeles in 2002, where he took a job in a coffee shop. It was during this time that he wrote his single, "Black and Gold" with his producer, Jesse Rogg.

When growing up, Sparro regularly performed backing vocals at his father's concerts and on his music releases. He states "I'm a spiritual person, but … not into any religion. I was always kind of a non-denominational Christian" and "a bit of a gypsy".

Sparro is openly gay. He did an interview for Attitude magazine and was featured on the front cover. Sparro married his boyfriend DJ Zion Lennox in a private ceremony in California on 21 September 2018.

============================================

1990 – Liam Davis is an English semi-professional footballer who played for Cleethorpes City.

Liam began his career in the youngsters' teams of his home town club, Grimsby City, wherein he failed to achieve the first crew. After leaving Grimsby, Liam went onto play for Selby City, Brigg metropolis, Gainsborough Trinity, and most recently, Cleethorpe, which he represented in the 2017 FA Cup at Wembley.

In January 2014, Davis grew to be the U.K.'s highest-profile overtly gay footballer.

In December 2017, Davis publicly criticized feedback made by FA chairman Greg Clarke, who said "players who out themselves as gay would be taking a chance." Davis advised other homosexual football players to come out publicly and not worry about a backlash.

The 27-year-old has spoken out, encouraging male gay footballers not to fear coming out, sharing their very own stories as a part of Uefa’s same game marketing campaign, to foster extra inclusion and variety in the sport.

The midfielder admitted receiving abuse from some quarters, but insists football’s attitudes towards homosexuality are increasingly improving.

============================================

1995 – Representatives of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays approached television stations in four US cities to buy advertising time for two ads, one on the prevention of suicide among gay and lesbian youth and one about gay bashing. All stations refused to air the suicide ad, and only two cable stations and one network affiliate station would air the gay-bashing ad. They were told the ads offended community standards.

=================================================

2003 – The first gay character comes out on Degrassi: The Next Generation. Marco, played by Adamo Ruggiero, comes out in the two-part episode titled "Pride."

[sanfranciscoblog]

In a surprise announcement as part of her balanced budget proposal she introduced Tuesday, San Francisco Mayor London Breed said she is seeking funds to acquire a site in the city to build the first large-scale, freestanding LGBTQ history museum.

San Francisco is already home to a many fantastic world-class museums, but the current GLBT Historical Society location in the Castro District is a modest storefront on 18th Street.

Calling out gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who represents the Castro and has been working with the GLBT Historical Society and the mayor on the museum project, Breed said she was requesting the funds "so we finally have a home for all those who fought for LGBT equity and inclusion in our city."

The mayor did not mention a dollar figure, but according to Clair Farley, a transgender woman who is a mayoral adviser and executive director of the city's Office of Transgender Initiatives, the amount is $10 million toward the acquisition of a site. The city would issue a request for proposals for use of the money, noted Farley.

"We are still working out the details," said Farley.

At present, this would be the first full-scale museum dedicated to LQBTQ history and culture anywhere in the United States.

[queerasfact]

Hello friends! We know some of our listeners are in isolation right now, so here are a few fun ways to pass the time:

Listen to Queer as Fact - these are trying times so we recommend you check out some more wholesome and lighthearted episodes like the story of Sally Ride, the first American woman in space; the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the oldest pieces of literature in the world; or the life of gun-toting drag king and activist Stormé DeLarverie.

Take up a queer craft project - cross-stitch your favourite queer quote from history! Draw your favourite queer figure! Share you results with us!

Visit Open Library - the wonderful source of much of our podcast research, Open Library is home to a myriad of e-books, and you can sign-up and download them for free.

Listen to History is Gay - our fellow queer historians, producing excellent queer history content if Queer as Fact doesn’t provide enough of a fix.

Check out some online queer museums - San Francisco’s GLBT Historical Society has parts of their collection online, and the Digital Transgender Archive is, as the name suggests, entirely digital.

Listen to Making Gay History - Eric Marcus has done a huge amount of work conducting and sourcing interviews with queer activists and figures from America’s queer rights movement, including everyone from Marsha P. Johnson to Ellen DeGeneres to Bayard Rustin. They are all available for free online via his podcast.

We hope you are all staying safe, and if you have your own ideas for how to pass the time in isolation, please share them. <3

[historyisgaypodcast]

Episode 29: Beyond the Rainbow: Building Queer Symbologies Before & After Gilbert Baker

For this very first solo episode, we’re bringing you a whole bunch of history at once, for everyone’s quarantined entertainment! Presented live on Zoom, we revisited a presentation that Leigh originally gave at the GLBT Historical Society Museum about the history of queer symbols before and after the creation of the rainbow flag, and sharing some stories from folks who participated in a flag-making workshop! From 600 B.C. to right now, queer people have used hundreds of symbols to refer to themselves, find community, and create shared language. Learn about just some of them in this episode, and tell us your favorites! What symbols are your favorites? If you were to create a new queer symbol or flag, what would you do?

Outline 0:00 – Introduction 3:42 – Main presentation: Beyond the Rainbow 57:31 – Interviews with flag workshop participants 1:09:57 – Closing Announcements and Where to Find us Online

Want to help us continue to make the show? Support us on Patreon and get awesome goodies, behind-the-scenes access, special minisodes, and more! You can get super cool merch in our store! Shirts, hoodies, totes, and other neat things.

If you’d like to help us transcribe the show for our d/Deaf and hard of hearing fans, please head on over to www.historyisgaypodcast.com/transcribe to join the team of volunteers!Find our full list of sources and bonus content at www.historyisgaypodcast.com. Get at us on twitter @historyisgaypod, tumblr at historyisgaypodcast, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts! Don't forget to rate and review so more folks can see the show!

Newest episode of History is Gay for your queer ears to enjoy!

[ixalit]

Hey gorgeous Max!! I'm here for the ask game - how about... Stones & Smithsonian (coz I can't never just ask one 😂 I want to know everything {insert evil laugh here})

Hey Kel! Thanks for stopping by 😘

(You can always send multiples <3)

Stones - would you rather travel to the future or the past?

Ooh good question... As much as I love history, I think I’m gonna go with the future. Truth is, the past was shitty in a lot of ways (and I have endg*me trauma about traveling to the past). The future will probably be shitty too but at least there would (hopefully) be cool sci-fi inventions 😆

Also could ask about any problems they’ve solved and what the solutions ended up being so we can fast track that. World hunger, global warming, peace treaties, that kinda thing.

Smithsonian - do you like museums? what’s your favourite exhibition you’ve visited?

Oh god I love museums. All kinds, really, but especially natural history and special interest ones (like the spy museum in DC).

In terms of favorite exhibits... there’s probably too many to count but I’ll list a few.

A children’s museum near my house that has attain exhibit with all the mechanics and everything - I’ve always loved that.

Also idk if this counts as a museum, per sé, but Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, NM will always be in my top museum experiences.

Expedition Health at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. THIS ONE IS SO COOL!!! Definitely one of my all time faves

Human Origins at American Museum of Natural History. I’m such a nerd for human origins I think I’ve spent like 100 hours in this exhibit

Fox Games exhibit at Denver Art Museum. One of the first ones I remember liking at the art museum. Look it up. Very cool

Through The African American Lens at National Museum of African American History and Culture. I loved this whole museum, but this exhibit was especially cool

The Mayor of Folsom Street: Life and Legacy of Alan Selby at the GLBT Historical Society Museum in San Francisco, CA. Two words: leather. history.

Ask me something from this list!

[pigeonwithaknife]

Virtual Museum tours!

The Louvre

The Guggenheim

The National Gallery of Art

The British Museum

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dali Theatre-Museum

NASA

The Vatican Museums

National Women’s History Museum

Google Art Project  

AIDS Memorial Quilt Panels (The NAMES Project) 

The American Museum of Photography

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 

Berlin-Bode Museum

Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia at Ferris State University

(trigger warning for violent and harmful imagery)

GLBT Historical Society 

Online Exhibits at the UC Berkeley Library

Free Metropolitan Opera Performances the Week of March 16-22

National Gallery of Modern Art (India)

Museums of India - Virtual Exhibitions

Virtual Museum of Images and Sounds (India)

My professor sent this to my class and thought it might be good to spread right now, feel free to add onto this!

[pingouinwrites]

various other artifacts from the GLBT History Museum off Castro Street in San Francisco https://www.glbthistory.org/museum including designs by Gilbert Baker based on the clothing queer people were forced to wear in the Holocaust, outfit worn by activist and drag queen José Sarria, ACT UP paraphernalia from the AIDs crisis, and matchbooks for gay bars. 

@queerasfact