Hollywood leading man Gary Cooper was born on this date (d: 1961);  Cooper was born Frank James Cooper in Helena, Montana, in 1901. If you’ve never been to Helena, here’s what you need to understand. It’s the capital of Montana, which makes it a big deal in a big state with few people. Cooper’s father went from being a farmer to being a lawyer to being a supreme court judge, demonstrating the sort of upward mobility that now seems a distinct relic of the 20th century. Cooper rode horses and had impeccable manners, which meant that he had none of the problems usually associated with “low class,” ethnic stardom (see especially: the case of Clara Bow). Imagine him not unlike Brad Pitt’s character early in A River Runs Through It, full of potential, swagger, and perfectly sun-kissed, golden shoulders.

Let’s talk straight: there was no cowboy handsomer than Gary Cooper. John Wayne had the sneer, and Gene Autry had the voice, but no one smoldered quite like Cooper. In his early films, he was glamour on a horse: his eyes lined, his face powdered, yet somehow right at home in the saddle — in part because unlike so many city-boys-turned-screen-cowboys, he grew up in Montana, one of the last veritable frontiers of the early 20th century. Over his 30 years in Hollywood, he would play variations on the cowboy — the cowboy goes to war, the cowboy goes to the city — but in each turn, he not only won the girl but did so righteously. Unlike other major stars, who allowed for and even reveled in the opportunity to play against type, Cooper kept things simple. He played slight variations on the same character, but their moral center remained constant: as he once told a screenwriter attempting to fine-tune his character, “just make me the hero.”

Cooper became a hero to many, even as he developed a reputation as one of the most notorious philanderers in Hollywood. He had stiff competition — Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, the list goes on  — but Cooper may or may not have slept with EVERY. SINGLE. CO-STAR. No matter his age, no matter their age, he was insatiable, before and during his marriage. How to reconcile his moral righteousness onscreen with his philandering off screen?

That, of course, was the work of Fixers, gossip magazines, and the studio system at large, which ensured that Cooper was never caught, never denounced, and held up as a paragon of American values. Of course, the way he looked in pants didn’t hurt. And while Kim Carnes recorded a smash hit, "Bette Davis Eyes", she could just have easily sung "Gary Cooper Eyes". I mean, really...look at that picture and tell me I'm wrong.

Ever helpful Lupe Velez purportedly claimed that Cooper “has the biggest organ in Hollywood but not the ass to push it in well.” Cooper carried on with Velez  for a good long while — he wanted to marry her, but Cooper’s mom (she was right there in L.A. with her boy) thought her too “vulgar” and “tasteless.” We might attribute her verdict to good ol’ fashioned racism, but truthfully, Lupe really was a bit of a hot mess. Or at least that’s how the press chose to portray her, most likely in keeping with her onscreen image as a fiery Latina.

She loved acting “low-class,” and threw parties with cock fights and “stag films,” a.k.a. thinly veiled porn. She got in fights, especially over men, and was prone to extreme jealousy. To wit: angry over Cooper’s close friendship with Anderson Lawler, known, in the time’s parlance, as a “swisher,” or flamboyant homosexual, Velez supposedly “unzipped Cooper’s fly at a social gathering and started sniffing his crotch, claiming to smell Lawler’s cologne.”

I can't even.

Poet and Carl Sandburg Prize winner, RANE RAMÓN ARROYO died (b: 1954);Arroyo was an American poet, playwright, and scholar of Puerto Rican heritage descent who wrote numerous books and received many literary awards. He was a professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Toledo in Ohio. His work deals extensively with issues of immigration, Latino culture and homosexuality. Arroyo was out Gay and frequently wrote self-reflexive, autobiographical texts. He was the long-term partner of the American poet Glenn Sheldon.

He published ten books of poems, a book of short stories, and a collection of selected plays. Arroyo said, quote: “No one is more surprised than I at being read in my lifetime.” Arroyo’s most recent books include “The Buried Sea: New & Selected Poems” (2008, The University of Arizona Press), and “The Sky’s Weight” (November 2009, WordTech/Turning Point.) “Midwest Challenge” was nominated by the journal for a 2009 Pushcart Prize.

Gay activist MARK SEGAL interrupted a taping of the Mike Douglas Show, which had recently cancelled two appearances with Rev. Troy Perry, founder of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches. It was his second arrest.

Segal has been a life-long gay activist. He is currently the president of the National Gay Newspaper Guild and is sometimes called as "the dean of gay American journalism". He is credited with popularizing the “zap” protest. He is the founder of Gay Raiders, a Philadelphia based activism group, and the Philadelphia Gay News. In 1975 he went on a hunger strike on behalf of the passage of a law to guarantee equal rights for homosexuals. In 1988 he had a televised debate with a Philadelphia city councilman, Frances Rafferty about Gay Pride Month.

Toronto Morality Squad officers appeared at THE BODY POLITIC office with search warrant, but leave empty-handed after a brief search. The Body Politic was a Canadian monthly magazine published from 1971 to 1987. It was one of Canada's first significant Gay publications, and played a prominent role in the development of the LGBT community in Canada.

The magazine was first published on November 1, 1971 by an informal collective, operating out of the home of Glad Day Bookstore owner Jearld Moldenhauer. The collective was incorporated as Pink Triangle Press in 1975.

Writers associated with the magazine included Gerald Hannon, Stan Persky, Michael Lynch, Stephen O. Murray, John Greyson, David Rayside, Sue Goldring, Richard Summerbell and Gary Kinsman.

The Body Politic was twice charged with publishing obscene material, in 1977 for Hannon's article "Men Loving Boys Loving Men", and in 1982 for "Lust with a Very Proper Stranger", an article on fisting. The magazine was acquitted in both trials. Materials seized by police in the Hannon trial were not returned to the magazine until 1985.

The magazine ceased publication in 1987, following PTP's launch of the tabloid Xtra in 1984. In 2008, it was ranked as the 17th most influential magazine in Canadian publishing history by Masthead, the trade magazine of the Canadian magazine publishing industry. The magazine also created the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives in 1973.

The HAWAII SUPREME COURT rules that the state must prove a “compelling interest” for denying same-sex partners a marriage license.

The Boulder Colorado city council voted unanimously to approve a domestic partner registry.

A jury finds The Jenny Jones Show and Warner Bros. liable in the shooting death of SCOTT AMEDURE, after the show purposely deceived Jonathan Schmitz to appear on a secret same-sex crush episode. Schmitz later killed Amedure and the jury awarded Amedure’s family US $25 million.

Out gay Dutch politician PIM FORTUYN is assassinated by Volkert van der Graaf.