On this date LORENZ HART, lyricist half of famed Rodgers & Hart team was born (d: 1943); Hart struggled with his homosexuality, which was a carefully guarded secret for most of his life. But what he left us was the most amazingly witty, lyrics in songwriting. His lyrics include the classics "Blue Moon", "Isn't It Romantic?", "The Lady is a Tramp", "Manhattan", "Thou Swell", "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered", and "My Funny Valentine" and one of my favorites, the lyrical tongue-twister of a treat, "I Wish I Were in Love Again."

The go-to pediatrician BENJAMIN SPOCK was born (d: 1998). Before there was Vulcan "Spock" there was Dr. Spock. His book, Baby and Child Care, published in 1946, is one of the biggest best-sellers of all time. Its revolutionary message to mothers was that "you know more than you think you do."

Spock was an early advocate for the rights of LGBT people. He was also the People's Party candidate in the 1972 United States presidential election on a platform which called for free medical care, the repeal of "victimless crime" laws, including the legalization of abortion, homosexuality, and marijuana, a guaranteed minimum income for families and the immediate withdrawal of all American troops from foreign countries. He died in 1998.

1960s teen pop singer LESLEY GORE was born on this date (d: 2015). Known for her hit song "It's My Party and I'll Cry If I Want To" Gore came out as a Lesbian in 2005. She provided musical aid for the 1996 film "Grace of My Heart," which featured a character (played by Bridget Fonda) whose struggles over her sexual orientation were similar to Gore's.

Gore composed songs for the soundtrack of the 1980 film Fame, for which she received an Academy Award nomination for "Out Here on My Own", written with her brother Michael. Beginning in 2004, Gore could be seen hosting the PBS television series, In the Life, which focused on LGBT issues. Gore lived with Lois Sasson, for more than twenty-three years.

She died on February 16, 2015 in New York City of lung cancer. Following her death Neil Sedaka commented that she was "a phenomenal talent" and "a great songwriter in her own right".

The Gay English movie director and producer STEPHEN DALDRY was born. Among his films are the tale of a young boy who wants to be a dancer, Billy Elliot and the adaptation of the Michael Cunningham novel The Hours.

The great Renaissance polymath LEONARDO DA VINCI died on this date (b: 1452). As scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer he is the archetype of the "renaissance man." When he was twenty-four years old, Leonardo was arrested, along with several young companions, on the charge of sodomy.

Leonardo's most intimate relationships were perhaps with his pupils Salai and Melzi, Melzi writing that Leonardo's feelings for him were both loving and passionate. It has been claimed since the 16th century that these relationships were of an erotic nature. Since that date much has been written about his presumed homosexuality and its role in his art, particularly in the androgyny and eroticism manifested in "John the Baptist" and "Bacchus" and more explicitly in a number of drawings.

FBI Director, black-mailer, keeper of secret files and let’s just say it, an all-round loathsome human being, J. EDGAR HOOVER finally dies and leaves the bulk of his estate to Clyde Tolson, his "companion" of over forty years.

Hoover described Tolson as his alter ego: the men not only worked closely together during the day, but also took meals, went to night clubs and vacationed together. Tolson inherited Hoover's estate worth approximately $551,000 and moved into his home, having also accepted the American flag that draped Hoover's casket. Tolson is buried a few yards away from Hoover in the Congressional Cemetery.

Project Runway's Tim Gunn, whose father was Hoover's ghost writer,  tells this story: "One thing happened that made me wonder if maybe [my father] did know something about Hoover's supposed love of dresses and wigs. My sister and I used to take the FBI tour once a year. It was a big deal in D.C., and we never missed it.

"One year, 1961, when I was eight, I was on the tour and my father asked me if I'd like to meet Vivian Vance. According to Helen Gandy, Hoover's secretary, Vance was visiting Hoover, and she said she'd be happy to meet us.

"Ethel Mertz is here?" I screamed. My father smiled and took my sister and me into Hoovers' office, where I shook Vivian Vance's hand and chatted with her. I was thrilled. Years later, I was reminiscing with my sister about the meeting, and suddenly I realized something. "Does it seem odd to you," I asked her, "that when we met Vivian Vance in Hoover's office, Hoover wasn't there?

"I've called some Vivian Vance experts, including Rob Edelman and Audrey Kupferberg, who wrote Meet the Mertzes: The Life Stories of I Love Lucy's Other Couple; none of them knew of any meeting between Vance and Hoover. Neither is there any record at the FBI of Mertz ever being there. I'm not saying at the age eight I definitely met J. Edgar Hoover at his office in the FBI wearing a dress and makeup, only that I strongly suspect it. My mother says I'm crazy, but she wasn't there."

On this date TENNESSEE WILLIAMS won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." It was Williams' second Pulitzer after his first for "A Streetcar Named Desire."

On this date the first-ever Deaf Lesbian & Gay Awareness Week took place in San Francisco, California.

On this date I (Bo Young) married my sweet husband Bill Foote, with whom I have lived for seventeen years, in our meadow behind our house, with friends and dogs in attendance in the countryside that Grandma Moses painted. We cooked for them and then we ate a great repast with delicious food and wonderful wines. Most times he is the love of my life and my best friend. Sometimes I would smother him in his sleep. But I would marry him all over again in a heartbeat. Just the way it should be.