FRANCIS CARDINAL SPELLMAN, Roman Catholic Cardinal and self-loathing theocrat born (d: 1967); Francis Cardinal Spellman, the late Prince of the Church known as "Franny" to assorted Broadway chorus boys and others, who was New York’s prelate from 1939 until his death in 1967. And we, for a long time, we couldn’t – or is that didn’t? -- talk about him, did we?

Spellman was the epitome of the self-loathing, closeted, evil queen, working with his good friend, the equally closeted homosexual McCarthy henchman Roy Cohn, to undermine liberalism in America during the 1950s’ communist and homosexual witch hunts. He, in many ways, is almost single-handedly responsible for ushering in the American Catholic church’s more punitive, authoritarian stances and reactions to the sexual revolution, feminism and Gay rights. [You got that Archbishop Dolan? Better change the sheets.]

Gore Vidal long alluded to Spellman’s, homosexuality, once commenting that, "the serious crimes of Spellman were not sexual,” implying of course that the most serious crime was the arrogant and reckless hypocrisy, just as in the case of Monsignor Clark, who was Spellman’s right-hand man during the years he was getting some on the side, obviously teaching Clark a thing or two.

The original bound galleys of former Wall Street Journal reporter John Cooney’s Spellman biography, The American Pope -- published in 1984 by Times Books, which was then owned by The New York Times Company -- included four pages on Spellman’s homosexuality. (In a hideous example of the church’s power and The New York Times’ fears in those days, these pages were removed, the details of which are recounted in the piece in Hitting Hard).

Cooney had included interviews with several notable individuals who knew Spellman as a closeted homosexual (we reserve the honorific “Gay” for individuals who have come out proudly.). Among Cooney’s interview subjects was C.A. Tripp, the noted researcher affiliated with Dr. Alfred C. Kinsey of the Institute for Sex Research – and author of the controversial book published recently, The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln, which brought forth evidence of the former president’s same sex relationships.

Tripp, who died in May of 2003 gave a telephone interview to Michelangelo Signorile a year before his death. Tripp told Signorile that his information about Spellman came from a Broadway dancer in the show One Touch of Venus who had a relationship with Spellman back in the 1940s; the prelate would have his limousine pick up the dancer several nights a week and bring him back to his place. Tripp related that when the dancer once asked Spellman how he could get away with this, Spellman answered, "Who would believe that?"

The anecdote is also recounted in John Loughery’s history of Gay life in the 20th century, The Other Side of Silence. "In New York’s clerical circles, Spellman’s sex life was a source of profound embarrassment and shame to many priests," Cooney had written in the original manuscript of his book. The archdiocese exploded after it got wind of the information, and became determined to stop it from being published.

ROGER REES, British-born actor, born (d: 2015); A Welsh born American actor, Rees created the title role in the original production of the play The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, winning both an Olivier and Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1982 for it.

He also starred in the original production of The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard in London in 1984. Rees became an American citizen in 1989, and in the 1990s, continued his work in the theatre, both as an actor and a director. He did some television work in the 1970s and began his film career in the 1980s.

From 1989 to 1993, he appeared intermittently on the long-running American TV series Cheers as the dashing, feckless English tycoon “Robin Colcord." He then played an antagonist to a different Robin as the Sheriff of Rottingham, in Mel Brooks’ 1993 film, Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Later television appearances include My So Called Life as substitute teacher "Mr. Racine" and British Ambassador Lord John Marbury on The West Wing. He was awarded an OBIA for his 1992 performance in the off-Broadway play The End of the Day, and in 1995, he was nominated for a Tony for Best Actor in a Play for his role in Indiscretions.

In November 2004, Rees was named artistic director of the Williamstown Theater Festival in Williamstown, Massachusetts, only the fourth person to hold the post in its half century.

Rees married his partner of thirty-three years, playwright Rick Elice, in 2011. Rees and Elice also collaborated professionally, including as co-playwrights of the comedic thriller Double Double. Elice co-wrote (with Marshall Brickman) the libretto for The Addams Family musical, the cast of which Rees had joined in March 2011. In 2012, Elice and Rees received Tony Award nominations for Elice's stage adaptation and Rees' co-direction of Peter and The Starcatcher.

After a diagnosis of brain cancer in October 2014, Rees focused his energy on his commitment to playing opposite Chita Rivera on Broadway in The Visit, the final musical written by John Kander and Fred Ebb. While undergoing two brain surgeries, two courses of radiation and ongoing chemotherapy, Rees managed to rehearse, preview and open in The Visit in April 2015. By the middle of May, it had become too difficult for him to speak, and he left the show. Rees died of brain cancer at age 71 at his home in New York on July 10, 2015. On Wednesday, July 15, 2015, the marquee lights at all the theatres on Broadway were dimmed in his honor.

Pop-artist, muralist and graffiti genius KEITH HARING was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, Haring studied graphic art in Pittsburgh. After coming out, he moved to New York where he became influenced by graffiti art. With his distinctive style, he quickly moved from the streets to international art galleries.

His work is part of the iconography of the 1980s. He was a tireless AIDS campaigner and, tragically, succumbed to the disease himself in 1990 at the age of thirty-one. Shortly before he died, he established the Keith Haring Foundation to maintain and enhance his legacy of supporting children's and AIDS organizations.

LANCE BASS, American singer (N’Sync), born: American pop singer, actor, film and television producer, and author. He grew up in Mississippi and rose to fame as the bass singer for the American pop boy-band 'N Sync. 'N Sync's success led Bass to experiment with film and television, primarily as an actor and a producer. Bass' acting career is most noted for his starring role in the 2001 film On The Line, which his company, Bacon & Eggs, also produced.

Bass later formed a second production company, Lance Bass Productions, as well as a now-defunct music management company, Free Lance Entertainment, a joint venture with Mercury Records. In July 2006, Bass revealed that he was gay in a cover story for People magazine. In keeping with HRCs ongoing "Suck Up to Celebrity" campaign, Bass was awarded the Human Rights Campaign Visibility Award in October 2006, and released an autobiography, Out of Sync, in October 2007, which debuted on The New York Times Best Seller list.

Bass married actor Michael Turchin in 2014.

OSBERT SITWELL, English writer died (b. 1892); An English writer, Sitwell’s elder sister was Dame Edith Louise Sitwell and his younger brother was Sir Sacherverell Sitwell; like them he devoted his life to art and literature. In the mid-1920s he met David Horner who was his lover and companion for most of his life.

American Civil Rights movement: The "Freedom Riders" begin a bus trip through the South.