1979-05-29

LOS ANGELES outlaws discrimination against homosexuals in private sector employment and in patronizing business establishments in the city on this date. Mayor Thomas Bradley signs bills into effect July 2.

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Gay Wisdom – Today in Gay History

Noteworthy

1692 -

On this day the Court of Oyer and Terminer convened in Salem Town, Massachusetts, beginning what would become known as the Salem Witch Trials. The hysteria had begun in Salem Village (now Danvers, Massachusetts) in January of that year; a few preteen and teenage girls, including the daughter of Samuel Parris, the village's minister, began acting strangely and having fits, insisting that they were being poked and pinched. The local doctor was at a loss to explain the behavior, and concluded that they must be bewitched.

When the girls were pressured to name their tormentors, they blamed Tituba, the Parrises' Caribbean slave, and two eccentric social outcasts, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne. Paranoia mounted, with more teenage girls suddenly joining the ranks of the afflicted; they were no longer expected to be "seen and not heard," but were now the center of attention, even crying out and disrupting church meetings without being punished. They began accusing reputable churchgoers, often people their parents had feuded with for years.

Alibis were useless because the afflicted girls would say that the accused had sent her specter to torment them, and anyone who spoke out against the proceedings soon found the accusing fingers pointing at them.

And if you think this is just a quaint piece of ancient history, there are modern "pastors" who will fill your head with stories of Gay demonic possession. They're idiot fantasists, too.

Born

1907 -

JOHN LEHMANN, British editor, born (d. 1987); The editor responsible for first publishing in England such authors as George Orwell, Stephen Spender, Christopher Isherwood, Jean-Paul Sartre, C. Day Lewis (Daniel's father), Boris Pasternak, Louis MacNiece, Bertolt Brecht, Lawrence Durrell, Edith Sitwell, and Theodore Roethke, was by no means the most distinguished member of his family. His sister Beatrix was one of the great English actresses, and his sister Rosamund an outstanding writer, whose first novel, A Dusty Answer, incidentally, is not without its relevance to this almanac.

Their father, Rudolph Lehmann, wrote for Punch for thirty years and regularly included his children’s writings, misspellings and all, in his column. Having grown up surrounded by books, it is hardly a surprise that John Lehmann became one of the most influential editors and publishers of modern literature.

A list of some of the American authors that he introduced to England is instructive: Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, Gore Vidal, Carson McCullers, Paul Bowles, the very best post-war Gay writers. Lehmann’s poetry, much of it quite beautiful, is sometimes unabashedly Gay. Some of it appears, with the author’s permission, in Ian Young’s pioneering Gay anthology, The Male Muse.

1943 -

CRAWFORD BARTON was an American photographer born on this date (d: 1993); His work is known for documenting the blooming of the openly gay culture in San Francisco from the late 1960s into the 1980s.

Many of Barton's images documenting long-haired freaks dancing in the street, love-ins in the park, "dykes on bikes," cross-dressers in the Castro, and leather men prowling at night have become classics of the gay world. He photographed some of the first Gay Pride parades and protests; Harvey Milk campaigning in San Francisco; and celebrities including poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti and actors Sal Mineo and Paul Winfield.

It was his circle of friends and acquaintances that inspired his most intimate erotic photography, especially his lover, Larry Lara. Barton described Lara as the “perfect specimen, as crazy and wonderful and spontaneous and free as Kerouac, so I’m never bored and never tired of looking at him.” Considered as a single body of work, his photographs of Lara dancing in the hallway of their flat on Dorland Street, a bearded hippie in the door of a cabin in Marin, a sensual nude in the hills of Land's End, suggest the fullness, richness and complexity of the man he loved most.

Born and raised in a fundamentalist community in rural Georgia, Barton was a shy, introspective boy. His artistic interests and fear of sports alienated him from his father, a struggling farmer. He escaped family tensions by creating a world of his own imagination, which eventually led him to receive a small art scholarship at the University of Georgia.

It was there that Barton fell in love with a man for the first time. His feelings weren't reciprocated and, after one semester, he dropped out and returned to the farm.

Barton moved to California in the late 1960s to pursue his art and life as an openly gay man. By the early 1970s he was established as a leading photographer of the “golden age of gay awakening” in San Francisco. He was as much a participant as a chronicler of this extraordinary time and place. “I tried to serve as a chronicler, as a watcher of beautiful people — to feed back an image of a positive, likable lifestyle — to offer pleasure as well as pride,” he explained.

By the early 1980s this period was over. San Francisco and the gay community were devastated by the onset of the AIDS epidemic. Barton's lover of 22 years, Larry Lara, died of complications from AIDS before Barton himself succumbed at the age of 50 in 1993.

A book of Barton's work, Beautiful Men, was published in 1976. In addition, his photographs were used to illustrate a collection of short stories of Malcolm Boyd.

Crawford Barton, Days of Hope was published posthumously in 1994 by Editions Aubrey Walter. The book features more than 60 of Barton's black and white photographs that capture the look and optimistic spirit of '70s gay San Francisco: the freedom and joy of the sexual revolution (pre-AIDS), the intimate bonds of lesbian and gay couples, and like Beautiful Men, homoerotic portraits of men.

The GLBT Historical Society, an archives, research center and museum in San Francisco, holds the complete personal and professional papers and studio archives of Crawford Barton; in addition, the society owns the copyrights to Barton's work, which were transferred to the institution by the Barton estate.

In 1974, the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum featured Barton's prints in a show entitled "New Photography: San Francisco and the Bay Area." His work was praised by The New York Times reviewer. Other critics labeled it “shocking” and “vulgar.”

Barton's photography has continued appearing periodically in exhibitions since his death, notably in one-artist shows at the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco and the San Francisco LGBT Community Center in 2004 and at the Magnet men's health center in the city's Castro District in 2005. Barton's photographs of Harvey Milk also were featured in a historical exhibition cosponsored by the GLBT Historical Society at the Nouveau Latina Cinema in Paris in 2009 in conjunction with the French release of Gus Van Sant's Milk.

1948 -

Teacher, activist, philanthropist and Radical Faerie ROBERT CROONQUIST was born on this date. Originally from Minnesota, Croonquist graduated from Stanford University and taught world literature in the New York City School system until his retirement and continues his work as a LGBT Rights and anti-nuclear activist.

He founded The Hibakusha Stories project, collecting the stories of and working with the survivors of the nuclear attacks in Hiroshima and Nagasake (the "hibakusha") to educate high school students about nuclear weapons and proliferation and what they can do to create peace in the world. The Hibakusha Story project is part of the larger NGO organization that was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017.

1949 -

FRANK RICH, American theater critic, political columnist, LGBT ally, was born; From 1980 to 1993, Rich was the New York Times' chief theater critic. He was sometimes known as "the Butcher of Broadway," not only for the perceived frequency and acerbity of his negative reviews, but also for the supposed influence that those reviews carried in determining whether or not a producer would close a show. He is married to Alex Witchel, who also writes for the Times, and has two sons. He has consistently championed LGBT civil rights, even when the issue hasn’t been particularly in the news or topical.

As a political commentator, Rich is openly critical of Fox News Channel, accusing it of having a conservative bias. Bill O'Reilly cites Rich's 2007 award from GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) as proof of his bias. On his radio broadcast of April 16, 2007, O'Reilly called Rich a hypocrite for having accused Mel Gibson of anti-semitism (in reference to Gibson's movie, The Passion of the Christ), while maintaining a more friendly attitude toward controversial commentator Don Imus, who had called New York City based sportscaster Len Berman "Lenny the Jew" on a 60 Minutes broadcast in 1998.

The October 14, 2007 Times featured Stephen Colbert guest-writing most of Maureen Dowd's column. In that article, Colbert satirically wrote: "Bad things are happening in countries you shouldn’t have to think about. It’s all George Bush’s fault, the vice president is Satan, and God is gay. There. Now I’ve written Frank Rich’s column too."

1950 -

BRENT HAWKES, CM ONB born; Hawkes is a Canadian clergyman and Gay Rights activist.

He was appointed as senior pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto, a church openly affirming for LGBT parishioners, in 1978 to succeed Bob Wolfe.

Hawkes has served on the advisory committee of PrideVision TV, and served on the board of directors for advocacy group Egale Canada. In addition to his advocacy work on LGBT issues, he has supported anti-racist initiatives, drawn attention to poverty and poor housing, and advocated the ordination of female priests.

On January 14, 2001, Hawkes gained national attention by performing a wedding ceremony for two same-sex couples at the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto. Although city clerks would not issue marriage licenses for same-sex marriages at this time, Hawkes employed the alternative provided in Ontario law for regular church attendees to publish official banns for three consecutive weeks, and thereby conducted a legal marriage without requiring prior government permission.

In the spirit of the banns as a public opportunity for interested parties to raise legal objections, the church also issued a press release in late 2000 announcing its intentions. The government of Jean Chretien did not endorse the marriages, although Governonr General Adrienne Clarkson sent a personal letter of support. The city clerk refused to register the record of marriage, leading to a court battle. The church sued the city, the province and the federal government. On July 12, 2002, the Ontario Superior Court Justice ruled that the marriages performed by Hawkes in January 2001 were legal, but stayed its decision pending a possible appeal, and on June 10, 2003, the Court of Appeals for Ontario declared the common law definition of marriage as "invalid to the extent that it refers to “one man and one woman” in the ruling of Halpern v Canada, immediately striking down all barriers against same-sex marriage in the province. It also made those two marriages the first in the modern world.

He retired as pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church in fall 2017, and was succeeded by Jeff Rock. Hawkes lives in Toronto with John Sproule, his partner of more than thirty years. They married on March 7, 2006.

1951 -

GILBERT BAKER was an American artist, Gay Rights activist and one of the designers of of the rainbow flag born on this date (d: 2017). Baker is often credited with being the sole designer of the iconic rainsbow flag. Many people were actually involved in its development. The flag became widely associated with LGBT Rights causes, a symbol of Gay pride that became ubiquitous in the decades since its debut. California state senator Scott Wiener said Baker "helped define the modern LGBT movement". There was, in fact, a collective that had been working on developing a rainbow banner. And some dispute the sole credit going to Baker.

Nevertheless, in 2015, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City ranked the rainbow flag as an internationally recognized symbol as important as the recycling symbol.

Baker died in his sleep of a heart attack in March of 2017. We pay tribute to the rainbow and Baker with the rainbow of colors in Daily GayWisdom every day.

Died

1962 -

VITA SACKVILLE-WEST, English writer, and gardener, died (b. 1892); The same-sex relationship that had the deepest and most lasting effect on Sackville-West's personal life was that with novelist Violet Trefusis, daughter to courtesan Alice Keppel. They met when Sackville-West was age twelve and Trefusis ten, and attended school together for a number of years. A relationship started while both were in their teens. Both married, but by the time both of Sackville-West's sons were no longer toddlers, she and Trefusis had eloped several times from 1918 on, mostly to France, where Sackville-West would dress as a young man when they went out. The affair eventually ended badly, with Trefusis pursuing Sackville-West to great lengths, until Sackville-West's affairs with other women finally took their toll, but Trefusis refused to give up.

Also, the two women had made a bond to remain exclusive to one another, meaning that although both women were married, neither could engage in sexual relations with her own husband. Sackville-West received allegations that Trefusis had been involved sexually with her own husband, indicating she had broken their bond, prompting her to end the affair. By all accounts, Sackville-West was by that time looking for a reason, and used that as justification. Despite the poor ending, the two women were devoted to one another, and deeply in love, and continued occasional liaisons for a number of years afterward, but never rekindled the affair.

Vita's novel Challenge also bears witness to this affair: Sackville-West and Trefusis had started writing this book as a collaborative endeavor, the male character's name, Julian, being Sackville-West's nickname while passing as a man. Her mother, Lady Sackville, found the portrayal obvious enough to insist the novel not be published in England; her son Nigel, however, praises her: "She fought for the right to love, men and women, rejecting the conventions that marriage demands exclusive love, and that women should love only men, and men only women. For this she was prepared to give up everything… How could she regret that the knowledge of it should now reach the ears of a new generation, one so infinitely more compassionate than her own?"

The affair for which Sackville-West is most remembered was with the prominent writer Virginia Woolf in the late 1920s. Woolf wrote one of her most famous novels, Orlando, described by Sackville-West's son Nigel Nicolson as "the longest and most charming love-letter in literature", as a result of this affair. Unusually, Orlando's moment of conception was documented: Woolf writes in her diary on October 5th 1927: "And instantly the usual exciting devices enter my mind: a biography beginning in the year 1500 and continuing to the present day, called Orlando: Vita; only with a change about from one sex to the other" (posthumous excerpt from her diary by husband Leonard Woolf).

Born

1968 -

ANDY COHEN is an American radio and television talk show host, producer, and writer born on this date.

Cohen is the host and executive producer of Bravo's late night talk show, Watch What Happens Live!He also has a pop culture channel on Sirius XM named Radio Andy. He hosts a two-hour live show with co-host John Hill twice a week. Cohen served as Bravo's executive vice president of Development and Talent until 2013. He was responsible for creating original content, developing innovative formats, and identifying new talent. Cohen also served as executive producer on the Emmy- and James Beard award–winning reality cooking competition television show, Top Chef. He continues to serve as an executive producer of the Real Housewives franchise, host of Watch What Happens Live on Bravo, host of Andy Cohen Live on SiriusXM, and hosted the revival of the television dating show Love Connection.

Cohen began his career in television as an intern at CBS News. He spent 10 years at the network, eventually serving as senior producer of The Early Show, a producer for 48 Hours, and a producer for CBS This Morning. He joined the television network Trio in 2000, later becoming vice president of original programming at Bravo in 2004, when the network purchased Trio.

Cohen and close friend Anderson Cooper -- with whom he also hosts New Years's Even celebrations in Times Square -- announced that they would be going on a national tour to perform their conversational stage show AC2 beginning in March 2015. The tour opened in Boston, followed by Miami Beach, Chicago and Atlanta. The idea for the show came about after Cooper interviewed Cohen about his then-latest book, The Andy Cohen Diaries, at an event at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. Since then, the two-man show has continued to tour reaching over 50 cities as of October 2018.

Cohen is the first out gay host of an American late-night talk show. In December 2018, he announced he would become a father in 2019 with the help of a surrogate. His son, Ben, was born February 2019. His daughter, Lucy, was born April 2022.

1972 -

WENTWORTH MILLER III is a British-American actor and screenwriter. He rose to prominence following his starring role as "Michael Scofield" in the Fox series Prison Break, for which he received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Television Series Drama in 2005. He made his screenwriting debut with the 2013 thriller film Stoker. In 2014, he began playing "Leonard Snart/Captain Cold" in a recurring role on The CW series The Flash before becoming a series regular on the spin-off, Legends of Tomorrow.

Miller was born in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England, to American parents. His mother, Roxann (née Palm), is a special education teacher, and his father, Wentworth E. Miller II, is a lawyer and teacher, who was studying at the University of Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship at the time of Miller's birth. Miller said in 2003 that his father is black and his mother is white. His father is of African-American, Jamaican, German, and English ancestry; his mother is of Russian, Swedish, French, Dutch, Syrian, and Lebanese ancestry.

Miller's family moved to Park Slope, Brooklyn, when he was a year old. He attended Midwood High School in Brooklyn, and graduated from Princeton, Universtiy in 1995 with a BA in English literature.

Miller lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. He has two sisters, Leigh and Gillian. He holds dual British and US citizenship by virtue of his birth in the United Kingdom to American parents.

In 2007, Miller denied to InStyle magazine that he was gay. However, he came out in August 2013, when he posted a letter on GLAAD's website declining an invitation to attend the Saint Petersburg International Film Festival because he felt "deeply troubled" by the Russian government's treatment of its gay citizens (referring to the Russian LGBT Propaganda law, enacted the previous June, which banned "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations"). Miller wrote that he "cannot in good conscience participate in a celebratory occasion hosted by a country where people like myself are being systematically denied their basic right to live and love openly".

At the 2013 Human Rights Campaign Dinner Dinner in Seattle Washington, Miller said he had attempted suicide multiple times as a teenager before coming out as gay. He stated: "When someone asked me if that was a cry for help, I said no, because I told no one. You only cry for help if you believe there's help to cry for." He discussed struggling in Hollywood as a closeted actor, and talked about how his involvement in the ManKind Project helped him learn about brotherhood, sisterhood, and being part of a community.

1977 -

ZACHARY QUINTO is an American actor and film producer born on this date. He is known for his roles as "Sylar" on the science fiction drama series Heroes (2006–2010), "Spock" in the reboot Star Trek (2009) and its sequels, as well as his Emmy-nominated performance in American Horror Story: Asylum.. He has appeared on stage in Angels in America, The Glass Menagerie, Smokefall and Boys in the Band.

Quinto publicly came out in October 2011. He explained that, after the suicide of gay teenager Jamey Rodemeyer, he realized "that living a gay life without publicly acknowledging it is simply not enough to make any significant contribution to the immense work that lies ahead on the road to complete equality." Prior to his coming out, Quinto had long been an active supporter of gay rights and organizations, including the Trevor Project. In 2009, he appeared in the one-night production Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays, a benefit stage reading in response to the passing of anti-marriage equality measure Proposition 8, as well as in the play The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, about the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard. In 2010, Quinto contributed a video to the It Gets Better Project, an Internet-based campaign that aims to prevent suicide among LGBTQAI+ youth. In 2012 Quinto campaigned extensively on behalf of Barack Obama, including appearing in the video Obama Pride: LGBT Americans For Obama.

Quinto began dating model and musician Mies McMillan in the summer of 2013. In early 2015, the couple moved into a NoHo apartment they purchased together. In November 2015 Vogue magazine called them "a power couple whose domain extends across the film, fashion, and art scene." The two ended their relationship in early 2019.