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Sinead’s Hand

September 2, 2009 Editors Leave a comment

With thanks to Franklin Abbott, a perfectly concise picture of marriage equality, from Ireland.

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Gay Wisdom – Today in Gay History

Born

1901 -

GAVIN ARTHUR, American writer, grandson of President Chester A. Arthur (d: 1972); Grandson and namesake of U.S. President Chester Alan Arthur, he was Alan Watts' father-in-law. An adventurous soul, he worked his way around the world as a merchant seaman. He has been described as "an Ivy League dropout, an Irish Republican Army activist, an experimental-film actor, a commune leader, a gold prospector, a teacher at San Quentin, and a bisexual sexologist/astrologer. An early Gay Rights activist and a practical prototype for the hippies."

In 1962, Arthur published The Circle of Sex, a book that analyzed human sexuality through the lens of astrology. Rather than the linear scale developed by Alfred Kinsey, Arthur envisioned sexuality as a wheel with twelve orientations. The twelve types corresponded to the zodiac and Arthur illustrated each with an historical archetype (e.g., Don Juan, Sappho, Lady C). He appears in James Broughton's film The Bed as the man receiving last rites from Alan Watts

Arthur, bisexual himself, was said to have been intimate with Edward Carpenter and Neal Cassady. Arthur was also a friend to many of the beat generation, including Allen Ginsberg and Alan Watts, and was active in the early Gay Liberation movement movement.

Arthur married for the third time in 1965 to Ellen Jansen. He wrote an enlarged edition of The Circle of Sex the following year. He used astrology to determine the date to hold the Human Be-in in 1967. In 1968, he debated fellow astrologer Dane Rudhyar on the topic of the Age of Aquarius. In 1972, Arthur died in San Francisco. Having no children himself, he was the last living descendant of his grandfather, President Chester A. Arthur. His papers, including many family papers, were donated to the Library of Congress.

1929 -

BYRON WHITING (aka "Be" and "Bundle Be") was born on this date (d: 2019); Be was a beloved actor, director and puppeteer. From 1964 to 1974 he was a member of the famous Bil Baird Marionette Theater, based in New York City. He performed with the Bairds in their huge show in the Chrysler Pavilion at the 1964 World's Fair, and toured with them for ten years and joined them frequently on their television appearances, including a Muppet Christmas special and the Bairds puppets reenactment of the moon landing.

Be loved to regale friends with his fabulous memory of the opening night of the Baird's Wizard of Oz puppet show. Be had been chosen to play the Wicked Witch and, as it happened, Margaret Hamilton herself was in the audience that night. She sought him out after the show to tell him, "Your witch was just marvelous. The torch is passed!" In telling the story, Be said, "I've lived on that, as almost all my friends can tell you, for the rest of my life. Actors don't get that kind of accolade all that often!"

Be was one of several hundred people whose lives were changed by attending the Second Annual Spiritual Gathering of Radical Faeries in 1980. He brought his infections enthusiasm to the first Beltaine Gathering of Short Mountain in 1981, and from then on was an unmissable presence among the Faeries, and an inspiration to many. Be was known for his sunny personality, his charismatic style, his knowledge of Radical Faerie culture, his erudite and wild sense of humor, as well as his freely-shared wisdom accumulated over 90 years of life. He was admired for his unique outfits and over-the-top fabulosity.

Shortly after discovering the Faeries -- and realizing he was one -- Byron became known as B. Years later he changed the spelling to "Be". He was named the bundle-keeper for the Tennessee Naraya/Dance for all Peoples in 2005. He was very serious about his ceremonial role of keeping people's prayers alive and vibrant. He became known as "Bundle Be".

For years, until his health began to decline in 2018, he drove across the country, annually, to attend Naraya ceremonies in Utah, Montana, Oregon, and elsewhere. To enjoy his long-distance driving safely, he praised the combination of "weak coffee and marijuana."

1930 -

JAMES COCO, American actor (d. 1987); Coco's first collaboration with gay American playwright Terrence McNally was an off-Broadway double-bill of one-act plays entitled Sweet Eros/Witness (1968), followed by Here’s Where I Belong, a disastrous Broadway musical adaptation of Steinbeck’s East of Eden that closed on opening night.

They had far greater success with their next project, Next, which ran for more than 700 performances and won Coco the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance. Sixteen years later, the two would reunite for the Manhattan Theatre Club production of It's Only a Play. Coco also achieved success with Neil Simon, who wrote The Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1969) specifically for him. It won him a Tony Award nomination as Best Actor in a Play. The two later joined forces for a Broadway revival of the musical Little Me and the films Murder By Death, The Cheap Detective, and Only When I Laugh, for which he was Oscar nominated.

1962 -

ROSIE O’DONNELL, American comedian, actress, talk show host, and publisher, born; An 11-time Emmy Award-winning American comedian, TV talk show host, author and film and television actress, O’Donnell has also been magazine editor and continues to be a celebrity blogger, and, it must be said, a somewhat reluctant LGBT civil rights activist.

In her January 2002 appearance on the sitcom Will & Grace, she played a Lesbian mom. A month later as part of her act at the Ovarian Cancer Research benefit at Caroline’s Comedy Club O'Donnell came out as a Lesbian, announcing "I'm a dyke!" "I don't know why people make such a big deal about the Gay thing. ... People are confused, they're shocked, like this is a big revelation to somebody." The announcement came two months before the end of the hosting of her talk show.

Although she also cited the need to put a face to Gays and Lesbians her primary reason was to bring attention to the Gay adoption issue. O'Donnell also is a foster — and adoptive — mother. She protested against adoption agencies, particularly in Florida, that refused adoptive rights to Gay and Lesbian parents.

Diane Sawyer interviewed O'Donnell in an episode of PrimeTime Thursday, she told USA Today she chose to talk to Sawyer because she wanted an investigative piece on Florida's ban on Gay adoption. She told Sawyer if that was done, "I would like to talk about my life and how (the case) pertains to me." She spoke about the two Gay men in Florida who face having a foster child they raised removed from their home. State law won't let them adopt because Florida bans Gay or bisexual people from adopting.

O’Donnell returned to the television talk show The View, but announced after only eight months that she was leaving to spend more time with her children and because she and her wife were divorcing.

O’Donnell was the focus of the late of the White House who never seemed to tire of making offensive and insulting comments about her. O’Donnell, perfectly capable of giving as good as she gets, often returned the favor. There was a great deal of excitement that Rosie might appear on Saturday Night Live as White House resident Nazi Steve Bannon. We lived in hope.

Died

2005 -

BOBBY SHORT, American singer died (b. 1924); an American cabaret singer known for his interpretation of songs by 20^th century composers such as Rodgers and Hart, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, Vernon Duke and George Gershwin. He also championed African-American composers of the same period such as Eubie Blake, James P. Johnson, Randy Razaf, Fats Waller and Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, presenting their work not in a polemical way, but as simply the obvious equal of that of their paler contemporaries. His dedication to his great love – what he called the "Great American Song" – left him equally adept at performing the witty lyrics of Bessie Smith's "Gimme a Pigfoot" or Gershwin and Duke's I Can't Get Started with You.

Noteworthy

2022 -

THE VERNAL EQUINOX -- also known as The March equinox – marks the beginning of the spring season in the Northern Hemisphere and the autumn season in the Southern Hemisphere. The March 2023 equinox arrived yesterday, March 20 at 10:37 UTC or 5:37 a.m. Central Daylight Time.

On the dates of the equinox, the sun rises due east and sets due west as it crosses the celestial equator. If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, start watching the sun this month, and watch every night as the sun sets just a bit farther north on the horizon each evening until the summer solstice.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the March equinox will bring earlier sunrises, later sunsets, softer winds, sprouting plants. Meanwhile, you’ll find the opposite season – later sunrises, earlier sunsets, chillier winds, dry and falling leaves – south of the equator.

The equinoxes and solstices are caused by Earth’s tilt on its axis and ceaseless motion in orbit. You can think of an equinox as happening on the imaginary dome of our sky, or as an event that happens in Earth’s orbit around the sun.

Owing to the pandemic, and in the interests of public health, there was no Spring Equinox gathering at Stonehenge last year. People wanting to watch the sunrise to mark the first day of spring were told not to travel to Stonehenge. English Heritage maintains it cannot host the usual celebrations at the prehistoric monument due to safety concerns.

White Crane Institute

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