1921-05-16

On this date the writer who created Auntie Mame was born in Chicago. PATRICK DENNIS was almost as camp as his heroine and is the only author to have had three novels on the New York Times best-seller list at the same time (for 8 weeks in 1956).

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Gay Wisdom – Today in Gay History

Born

1561 -

On this date the English statesmen, essayist and philosopher SIR FRANCIS BACON was born in London. He is best known for his philosophical works concerning the acquisition of knowledge and the general "scientific method." Bacon's writings are said to have had great influence on modern science, law and society. There is also a school of thought that credits him with some or all of the works of William Shakespeare, though that idea has largely been discredited.

He was also extremely fond of men. As the British scholar Rictor Norton points out that Bacon did not marry until the late age of forty-eight, and that contemporary figures, such as John Aubrey, related that Bacon was by preference homosexual. He was known for his preference for the "young Welsh serving-men" who were in his employ and who Bacon became a patron to. Rictor points out most a "young Tobie Matthew, who was left only a ring to the value of £30, but who had become Sir Tobie through Bacon's efforts, and who was well able to care for himself. Tobie was the inspiration for one of Bacon's most famous essays, "Of Friendship."

Indeed evidence of Bacon's fondness for "red-cheeked lads from Wales" survives in the form of a letter written by Bacon's own mother, in which she complains about the long list of "servants and envoys" who find their way to his bed. She refers to a gay Spanish envoy as "that bloody Perez and bed companion of my son."

1788 -

Romantic poet LORD BYRON was born in London. It's funny how Byron comes down to us as the über-heterosexual romantic, but the evidence of his deep same-sex love is very clear (if still denied by homophobic historians).

While a student at Trinity College, Byron fell deeply in love with a fifteen year old choirboy by the name of John Edleston. About his "protégé" Byron wrote, "He has been my almost constant associate since October, 1805, when I entered Trinity College. His voice first attracted my attention, his countenance fixed it, and his manners attached me to him for ever."

Many years later, upon learning of his friend's death, Byron wrote, "I have heard of a death the other day that shocked me more than any, of one whom I loved more than any, of one whom I loved more than I ever loved a living thing, and one who, I believe, loved me to the last."

In his memory Byron composed "Thyrza," a series of elegies, in which he changed the pronouns from masculine to feminine so as not to offend sensibilities. From 1809 to 1811, Byron went on the Grand Tour then customary for a young nobleman.

The Napoleonic Wars forced him to avoid most of Europe, and he instead turned to the Mediterranean. Correspondence among his circle of Cambridge friends also makes clear that a key motive was the hope of homosexual experience. He was successful in this motive, as evidenced by the subject matter of poems like "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" and other writings from this period. Ultimately he was to live abroad to escape the censure of British society, where men could be forgiven for sexual misbehavior only up to a point, one which Byron far surpassed.

1893 -

German actor CONRAD VEIDT was born in Berlin. Best known for his roles in Casablanca and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Veidt also holds the distinction of starring in the first motion picture on the subject of homosexuality; 1919's Anders als die Anderen (Different from the Others) which was written and produced by German sexologist and early Gay Rights champion Magnus Hirschfeld. Veidt also appears in Christopher Isherwood's "Berlin Stories." "Anders als die Anderen" was released in a DVD format a few years back and provides an amazing historical document of the times.

1920 -

Restaurant critic, bon vivant, food writer and former food editor for the New York Times, CRAIG CLAIBORNE was born in Sunflower, Mississippi. Claiborne authored numerous cookbooks and an autobiography, "A Feast Made for Laughter," in which he wrote about his being gay. Claiborne made many contributions to gastronomy and food writing over the course of his career. He helped popularize many ethnic, and at the time bizarre sounding, schools of cooking. He lived through a real revolution in culinary culture in the United States. As he explained in the preface to the revised 1980s edition of his bestselling "New York Times Cookbook."

Italian was a strange and foreign form of cooking in the 1960s when the first volume came out and access to things as foreign sounding (in the 1960s) as “pasta” was difficult. Claiborne also helped popularize great chefs like Paul Prudhomme as few people outside the Deep South at the time had any awareness of Louisiana's Cajun culture or its unique culinary traditions. Along with Julia Child, Claiborne has been credited with making the often intimidating world of French and other ethnic cuisine accessible to an American audience and American tastes. Claiborne authored or edited over 20 cookbooks on a wide range of foods and culinary styles.

One of the most famous (or infamous depending on your point of view) episodes in Claiborne's career occurred in 1975 when he placed a $300 winning bid at a charity auction for a no price-limit dinner for two at any restaurant of the winner's choice, sponsored by the American Express company. Selecting his friend Pierre Franey as his dining companion, the two settled on the prestigious Parisian restaurant Chez Denis where they racked up a $4,000 tab on a five-hour, 31-course meal of foie gras, truffles, lobster, caviar and rare wines.

When Claiborne later wrote about the experience in his "Times" column, the paper received a deluge of reader mail expressing outrage at such an extravagance at a time when so many in the world went without. Even the Vatican and Pope Paul VI criticized it, calling it "scandalous." Despite its scale and expense, Claiborne gave the meal a mixed review, noting that several dishes fell short in terms of conception, presentation or quality. Claiborne died at age 79 in 2000. He bequeathed his estate to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.

1922 -

Poet, dramatist, critic and longtime New Yorker poetry editor HOWARD MOSS was born in New York City. Moss was editor at the New Yorker from 1948 until his death in 1987. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1971 and the National Book Award in 1972 for "Selected Poems". His last book of poems, "New Selected Poems" (1986) won the Lenore Marshall-National Prize for Poetry.

He is credited with discovering a number of major American poets, including Anne Sexton and Amy Clampitt. ''He was a tremendous force for poetry in this country,'' said Galway Kinnell. Many prominent poets published their early work with Mr. Moss, including Kinnell, James Dickey, Anne Sexton, Theodore Roethke, Richard Wilbur, Sylvia Plath and Mark Strand.

W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman co-wrote a famously concise clerihew in Howard's honor:

TO THE POETRY EDITOR OF THE NEW YORKER

Is Robert Lowell

Better than

Noel Coward,

Howard?

1942 -

Today is the birthday of Mexican director, screenwriter and editor JAIME HUMBERTO HERMOSILLO. Often compared to Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, Hermosillo's films often explore the hypocrisy of middle-class Mexican values. He is also openly Gay and has explored such themes in his work. His films include Esmeralda Comes by Night, Forbidden Homework, El Misterio de Los Almendros, and the Gay classic Dona Herlinda and Her Son.

Died

2003 -

American journalist, editor and co-founder of OUT Magazine SARAH PETTIT died of lymphoma. She was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and raised in Paris, London and Bad Homburg (Germany). In 1988 she graduated from Yale University. In 1999 she became arts and entertainment editor for Newsweek Magazine and went on to found OUT Magazine.

Noteworthy

2009 -

On this date a sociologist at an Iranian university presented a study showing high levels of homosexual experiences among the country's population. Iran has strict laws against sex outside marriage and other sexual acts such as masturbation. Adultery and same-sex acts are punishable by death. Startling new research from sociologist Parvaneh Abdul Maleki found that 24% of Iranian women and 16% of Iranian men have had at least one homosexual experience. 73% of men and 26% of women surveyed said they had masturbated.

Ms. Maleki presented her findings at the Third Conference on Well-being in the Family and the story was reported in the Iranian press, albeit as a report on sexual deviance in need of treatment. The report also revealed that more than 75% of those who grew up in a conservative religious environment have watched pornography, 86% have had a heterosexual relationship outside of marriage and just over 4% have had Gay or Lesbian relationships. Since Iran's Islamic revolution in 1979, human rights groups claim that between 3,000 and 4,000 people have been executed under Sharia law for the crime of homosexuality. The President of Iran admitted in an interview that there may be "a few" gay people in his country, but attacked homosexuality as destructive to society.

In an interview with U.S. current affairs TV program Democracy Now, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also rejected criticism of the execution of children in Iran. During a visit to the U.S. in 2007 he said in reply to a question posed about homosexuality during his speech at New York's Columbia University: "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country… In Iran we do not have this phenomenon, I don't know who has told you that we have it." In his TV interview he condemned American acceptance of gay people. "It should be of no pride to American society to say they defend something like this," President Ahmadinejad said. "Just because some people want to get votes, they are willing to overlook every morality."

White Crane Institute

1921-05-16

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