On this date the lionized French playwright MOLIERE was born. Considered the greatest writer of French comedy, Moliere is known for his plays Les Femmes Savantes, The Imaginary Invalid, Sganarelle, ou le Cocu Imaginaire, Tartuffe and many other masterpieces of Commedia dell'arte.

Martin Greif writes that when Moliere was in his late forties he fell in love with Michel Baron and brought him home to live with him. When the playwright's wife protested Baron moved out till Moliere ordered him back. When his wife made an ultimatum that the playwright choose between her or Baron, Moliere chose. Three years later in 1673, when Moliere died, it was Michel Baron was at his side.

English stage and film actor ERNEST THESIGER, CBE was born (d. 1961). Born Ernest Frederic Graham Thesiger, he is is best known for his performance as Dr. Septimus Pretorius in JAMES WHALE's film Bride of Frankenstein (1935). In 1917, he married Janette Mary Fernie Ranken, sister of his close friend and fellow Slade graduate William Ranken. In her biography of Thesiger's friend, Ivy Compton-Burnett, Hilary Spurling suggests that Thesiger and Janette wed largely out of their mutual adoration of William, who shaved his head when he learned of the engagement. Another source states more explicitly that Thesiger made no secret of his homosexuality.

Thesiger moved in several artistic, literary and theatrical circles. At various times, he frequented the studio of JOHN SINGER SARGENT, befriended Mrs. Patrick Campbell, visited and corresponded with PERCY GRAINGER and worked closely with George Bernard Shaw, who wrote the role of the Dauphin in Saint Joan for him. SOMERSET MAUGHAM, on the other hand, responded to Thesiger's inquiry about why he wrote no parts for him with the quip "But I am always writing parts for you, Ernest. The trouble is that somebody called Gladys Cooper will insist on playing them."

Thesiger's film debut was in 1916 in The Real Thing at Last, a spoof presenting Macbeth as it might be done by an American company, in which he did a drag turn as one of the Witches. Thesiger also played the First Witch in a 1941 production of Macbeth directed by JOHN GIELGUD. He did a few smaller roles in movies during the silent era, but worked mainly on the stage.

In 1919 he appeared in a Christmas production of The Merry Wives of Windsor, during which he met and befriended JAMES WHALE. In 1925, Thesiger appeared in NOËL COWARD'S On With the Dance, again in drag, and later played the Dauphin in Shaw's Saint Joan. He wrote an autobiography Practically True, published in 1927, which covers his stage career. An unpublished memoir written near the end of his life is housed in the Ernest Thesiger Collection at the University of Bristol.

Originally cast to play the luddite sculptor Theotocopolous in H.G. Wells's Things to Come, Thesiger's performance was deemed unsuitable by the author and so was replaced by Cedric Hardwicke, although he was retained on the parallel production of Wells's The Man Who Could Work Miracles.

The remainder of Thesiger's career was centered around the theater and around supporting roles in films produced in Britain, prominent among which is The Man in the White Suit which starred ALEC GUINNESS. He plays "Sir John," the most powerful, the richest, and the oldest of the industrialists (jointly with the trade unions) trying to suppress Guinness's invention of a fabric that never wears out and never gets dirty.

Thesiger made several appearances on Broadway, notably as Jacques to Katharine Hepburn's Rosalind in the longest-running production of As You Like It to ever be produced on the Great White Way. Later films included The Horse's Mouth with Alec Guinness, Sons and Lovers, and The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, with Vivien Leigh and Warren Beatty. That same year he made his final stage appearance—a mere week before his death - in The Last Joke, with John Gielgud and RALPH RICHARDSON.

His other artistic pursuits included painting and that manliest of all arts, needlework. Thesiger even published a book about needlework in 1945, Adventures in Embroidery. Sadly the book didn't share details of his numerous visits to the Royal Family.

Thesinger regaled his costars with stories about his numerous visits to the castle where he and Queen Mary would partake in their shared hobby of embroidery. During World War I he enlisted as a private and went on to found the Disabled Soldiers' Embroidery Industry. Alec Guinness recalled the time that Thesinger was mocked for stitching in public.  "He didn't turn a hair--just said, 'In Chelsea I'm known as the stitching bitch--now buzz off.' And they did, of course."

In 1960, Thesiger was granted the order of Commander of the British Empire (CBE). His last film appearance was a small role in Invitation to Murder (1962), which was released the year after his death. He died in his sleep shortly after completing it, from natural causes, on the eve of his 82nd birthday, and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.

1893 - On this date British musical comedy performer IVOR NOVELLO was born in Cardiff Wales. It seems everyone except the millions of women of swooned over the star knew he was Gay. Novello wrote the famous World War I song "Keep the home fires Burning," but it is not clear which soldier he was keeping them burning for. Novello was well known for some of his more glamorous Gay affairs. For thirty-five years, he was the lover of the British actor Bobbie Andrews, and he had an affair with the British poet and writer Siegfried Sassoon. No less than Winston Churchill has admitted having a one-night stand with Novello. When asked how it was, Churchill is said to have reported, “Musical!”

 On this date The Rev. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR was born in Atlanta, Georgia. As an African American civil rights leader he spoke eloquently and stressed nonviolent methods to achieve equality. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. He was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. In 1983, the third Monday in January was designated a legal holiday in the U.S. to celebrate his birthday. King's message was a catalyst for many in the gay rights movement and continues to be an inspiration for the GLBT community today.

On this date LANCE LOUD came out on the PBS "series" An American Family. He bears the distinction of being the first person to come out on US national television. It was an ground-shaking coming out story at the time.

Loud's fame came with a documentary of his family's life, which was broadcast in the U.S. on PBS in 1973, drawing 10 million viewers and causing considerable controversy. The show was based in Santa Barbara, California.

After the series, Loud moved to New York City, driven by his obsession with The Velvet Underground and the Warhol scene. He became a regular at Max’s Kansas City and attended Charles Ludlam productions at La Mama, with Warhol luminaries such as Jackie Curtis (who later became a close Loud family friend) and Holly Woodlawn. Shortly after the series ended, Loud appeared on The Dick Cavett Show, performing with a working version of what would later become the band "Mumps" (which at that point included his siblings Delilah, Michelle and Kevin in the line-up), under the name "Loud". He stated at the time that he thought the filmmakers had intentionally edited the series to make him seem obnoxious and grating.

Loud became a gay icon by having his homosexuality revealed to a national audience during the course of the documentary. His sexual orientation became a topic of national controversy and media scrutiny after several appearances on Dick Cavett and other talk shows, but the positive and grateful feedback from the Gay community led Loud to embrace this role with passion and flamboyant, often self-deprecating wit.

In 2001, Loud entered hospice inLos Angeles, suffering from HIV and Hepatitis C. Realizing he was dying, Loud called the Raymonds back to film again, expressing dissatisfaction with the way An American Family ended and how the family members were portrayed in it. His wish was that the Louds be portrayed as the family Loud knew them to be. While in hospice care, he wrote his final article, "Musings on Mortality". On December 22, 2001, Lance Loud died of liver failure as a result of hepatitis C and a co-infection with HIV. He was 50 years old

AFTER DARK magazine announced it will no longer allow the word "Gay" to be included in advertisements. Although popular with gay men for its art photographs of nude males (although no crotch was ever shown) at a time when there was no gay porn the magazine never admitted it was targeting a Gay market. It used the subtle phrase, "The Magazine You Can Leave On Your Coffee Table When Your Mother Visits" to get the point across. Coincidentally, this was the same year this writer appeared in the pages of the same magazine in a double page photo accompanying a poem about a street hustler. Gwen Verdon was on the cover as Roxy Hart.

On this date The Vatican released its "Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics" which includes a definition of homosexuality as "a serious depravity."

And speaking of depravity…cases of child sexual abuse by Catholic priests and nuns and members of religious orders, and subsequent cover-ups, in the 20^th and 21^st centuries have led to numerous allegations, investigations, trials and convictions. The abused include boys and girls, some as young as 3-years old, with the majority between the ages of eleven and fourteen. 

The accusations began to receive isolated, sporadic publicity in the late 1980s. Many of these involved cases in which a figure was accused of abuse for decades; such allegations were frequently made by adults or older youths years after the abuse occurred. Cases have also been brought against members of the Catholic hierarchy who covered up sex abuse allegations and moved abusive priests to other parishes where abuse continued.

By the 1990s, the cases began to receive significant media and public attention in some countries, especially in Ireland, Canada, Australia and the United States and were widespread by the 2000s. Members of the Church's hierarchy have argued that media coverage was excessive and disproportionate, and they have also argued that such abuse also takes place in other religions and institutions (also known as the “everyone is doing it” argument). 

A series of television documentaries in the 1990s, such as "Suffer the Children" (UTV, 1994), brought the issue to national attention in Ireland. A critical investigation by The Boston Globe in 2002 led to widespread media coverage of the issue in the United States, which was later dramatized in Tom McCarthy’s's award-winning film Spotlight in 2015. By 2010, much of the reporting focused on abuse in Europe and Australia.

From 2001 to 2010 the Holy See, the central governing body of the Catholic Church, considered sex abuse allegations involving about 3,000 priests dating back fifty years. Cases reflect worldwide patterns of long-term abuse as well as the church hierarchy's pattern of regularly covering up reports of alleged abuse.^{[note 1]} Diocesan officials and academics knowledgeable about the Roman Catholic Church say that sexual abuse by clergy is generally not discussed, and thus is difficult to measure.

Some studies claim that priests in the Catholic Church may not be any more likely than other men to commit abuse. In addition, the studies claim that the rate of abuse by priests had fallen sharply in the last twenty to thirty years, and that some 75% of the allegations in the United States were of abuse between 1960 and 1984. 

However, the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse found that the average time it took between a victim of Catholic sexual abuse being abused and reporting it, or seeking redress, is 33 years. For this reason there is insufficient data to be able to accurately ascertain current rates of child sex abuse, or to claim that abuse in the Catholic Church has fallen in recent decades. The Commission revealed 7% of Australian priests between 1950–2009 were accused of abusing children, and that one Catholic order had 40.4% of their non-ordained members with allegations against them in this period

So…one is forced to ask: what moral authority does the Roman Catholic Church have that makes them think we give a rat’s ass what they think of us?

DENISE SIMMONS became the first openly Lesbian African-American woman to be mayor of an American city after her election by the city council of Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Also on this date The Supreme Court of California struck down PROPOSITION 8, which established state law allowing marriage only to occur between a man and a woman, making it possible for California to become the second state in the United States (after Massachusetts) to legalize same-sex marriage. The ruling would be overturned ten months later with the passage of Proposition 8.  Of course, subsequently the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Marriage Equality in all the United States. Nevertheless, this, and other gains for the LGBT community remain under sttack by the Radical Right.

You Can Look It Up: Today is National Hat Day.