Repost: LGBT History Month: Harvey Fierstein*

*originally posted October 29, 2009

Harvey Fierstein is a lot of things; he's been a drag performer, a stage actor, film actor, cartoon character, musical performer, gay rights activist, and playwright. His life is as unconventional as any you might find, as is his success. He's made a career of turning unconventional stories into Broadway sensations. 

In the 1980s, his play Torch Song Trilogy won him two Tony Awards, for Best Actor and for Best Play. In it, Harvey plays a drag queen--a breakthrough piece because it proved that a gay–themed show could turn a profit on Broadway--and in 2002 Harvey Fierstein won another Tony Award for Best Actor, by playing a woman, Edna Turnblad in the musical Hairspray. In between he won a Tony for Best Book of a Musical, for La Cage Aux Folles, giving him the distinction of being only the second person in history to earn four Tony Awards in different categories.

Harvey wanted to be a writer, even way back in high school, and he took every creative writing course he could find. Trouble was, he wasn't so good at it, so he switched to something he knew better: drag. As a 270–pound teenager, Fierstein specialized in impersonations of brassy–voiced Broadway star Ethel Merman, and became a hit in some of New York's lesser–known clubs. he also created his own characters, Virginia Hamm, Kitty Litter, and Bertha Venation, which he took to the clubs. he was doing all this while still in school.

Despite the demands of his busy life, Fierstein gained the attention of Andy Warhol, who cast him in Pork, one of Warhol's few theater productions. The play, in which Harvey played an asthmatic lesbian, had its debut at New York's La Mama Experimental Theater Club in 1971. Soon, Fierstein was writing his own plays, inspired by other La Mama actors who wrote plays for him to perform; Harvey returned the favor by writing his colleagues into his plays, the first of which, International Stud, debuted in 1972. The gay community loved it, but no one, least of all Harvey Fierstein, ever thought his brand of theater would ever make it to Broadway.

A critic dubbed Harvey "the devil come to earth for writing such a horrible thing," and, never one to be stifled by criticism, Harvey continued writing, though, to appease his parents who wished he would earn a steady income, he enrolled at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn to study art education, earning a BFA in 1973. Fierstein taught briefly, but he couldn't stay out of the theater, and continued working on his plays, writing and staring in his one-act productions. Two of those plays, Fugue in a Nursery and Children First, would be combined with International Stud to form Torch Song Trilogy.

The main character in Torch Song Trilogy is Arnold Beckoff, a drag queen who yearns for an ordinary life, who wants nothing more than to settle down, adopt a child, and live happily ever after. Arnold sees no reason his sexual orientation should hinder that goal. Fierstein based the character on his own experiences as a gay man who wanted to marry his lover, who left him for a woman, who watched his friends be gay bashed, who longed to have a child. The play was hit because everyone, gay and straight, could identify with Arnold, who wanted out of life what most people want.

With his newfound success, Fierstein next took on a musical adaptation of La Cage Aux Folles, writing most of the book on the subway, to and from his appearances in Torch Song. La Cage Aux Folles opened at the Palace Theater in August of 1983 and ran for 1,761 performances. Other plays followed, Spookhouse, Forget Him, and Safe Sex; none as successful as his previous works.

Over the next several years, Fierstein appeared in more than 30 films; he even reprised the role of Arnold in the film version "Torch Song Trilogy." He appeared on television in everything from, yes, "Murder She Wrote" to "Cheers," and voiced the character of Homer Simpson's gay secretary in "The Simpsons." In 2002, he was back on Broadway as Edna Turnblad  in Hairspray.

But Harvey isn't all drag queen and playwright. he's also an outspoken advocate for the LGBT community. He purposely only takes roles that he believes will influence people's opinions about gay people:

"There are times when I don't take roles because I don't want to be perceived a certain way. For example, I was offered the role as the monster in Stephen King's It —a clown who ate children. I wouldn't do it. Even though it was a great role, I felt that I didn't want to be perceived in that way because of the horrible lie that gay people want children. I wasn't even going to put that in the back of people's minds."

Over the years, Fierstein has been a vocal gay–rights activist, speaking out for gay people, queer theater, and AIDS causes. He has been a spokesman for the Services Legal Defense Fund, a group that advocates for the rights of gays and lesbians in the military, and he continues to work for marriage equality and LGBT rights.

The march goes on, sometimes in stilettos and spandex.

And while I've admired Harvey the writer, entertainer, actor, singer, and yes, even dancer, this Harvey is the one I admire most.

On This Day In LGBT History

October 29, 1979 – Gay activists hold “mince-in” at Ontario legislature in Toronto to draw attention to inaction on human rights protections for gays and lesbians.

October 29, 1995 – In Iran, a 31 year old man was convicted of “ugly and improper conduct” and sentenced to twenty lashes for cross-dressing.

October 29, 1997 – Representatives from the National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum, the Human Rights Campaign, the National Latino/a Lesbian and Gay Organization, and the Gay Lesbian and Straight Educators Network met with House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt to discuss the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and funding for AIDS care and research.

October 29, 1997- US House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt met with several leaders of national gay and lesbian organizations to discuss ways in which the party could assist gay and lesbian candidates through the coming election cycle.

October 29, 1997- Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) introduced a bill calling for the extension of health insurance coverage to the domestic partners of US federal employees through the federal employee health program.

October 29, 1997- Maryland’s Court of Special Appeals unanimously overturned Circuit Court Judge Lawrence H. Rushworth’s decision prohibiting a divorced gay man from seeing his children in the presence of his partner.

Bishop Melvin Talbert Defied His Church To Officiate Same-Sex Wedding

Bishop Melvin Talbert

I’ve often said that change will come in the fight for LGBT rights when the change comes to the South. See, down here folks like to hold onto to tradition, and grudges; I mean, how else do we explain that some Southerners still complain about the Civil War, AKA  The Act Of Northern Aggression? So, when change comes to the South, then change will most assuredly be coming everywhere, which is why this story makes me smile.

Down in Birmingham, Alabama — Birming-effing-ham, Ala-effing-bama — Melvin Talbert, a retired United Methodist Bishop, officiated at a same-sex wedding last weekend and used part of the ceremony to criticize the United Methodist Church anti-equality policy.

"This is a great day for the church and I hope it's something we can build on.”—Melvin Talbert

Talbert united in wedded bliss Joe Openshaw and Bobby Prince. Now the two men had already been legally married in September up in Washington DC, and since marriage equality has not yet come to Alabama this was a mostly symbolic ceremony, but it was a stance against intolerance and inequality that needed to be heard.

L to R: Reverend Kevin Higgs,
Bobby Prince, Reverend J.R. Finney,
Joe Openshaw and Bishop Melvin Talbert.

Openshaw and Prince are members of Discovery United Methodist Church, but were told the ceremony could not be done in a Methodist church, so they held their ceremony, for their friends and loved ones, at Covenant Community Church, which is affiliated with the United Church of Christ, one faith that does bless same-sex unions.

And Melvin Talbert agreed to officiate the wedding even after he received word from North Alabama Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett and other United Methodist bishops that he refrain from doing so because it’s against United Methodist church law. The United Methodist Book of Discipline says homosexuality is "incompatible with Christian teaching" and Talbert talked about that ‘rule’ during the ceremony.

"It's wrong, evil, immoral.”—Melvin Talbert

And for his service in performing this ceremony—and let’s again remember that the ceremony he performed is not yet legal in Alabama—Melvin Talbert could be charged with breaking church law, but he says he chose doing the right thing over following archaic church laws.

Talbert, along with Openshaw and Prince, said he hopes his little ceremony would help the church to change. And it just might.

This Sunday Talbert will preach at the 10:30 AM service at Brownsville United Methodist Church, where the Reverend Kevin Higgs is pastor. Higgs was the pastoral counselor for Openshaw and Prince and he has pointed out that the Book of Discipline also has a rule that ministers must serve people of all kinds, including homosexuals.

"The Book of Discipline commands me to be in ministry for Joe and Bobby."—Pastor Kevin Higgs

Joe and Bobby, whose wedding ceremony in Birmingham looked like every other wedding done in that town, except there was no bride. There was family and friends, and flowers and pomp and circumstance; there were prayers and a reading of the "love is patient, love is kind" passage, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, and there was this:

"Why are we here? Joe and Bobby, two men created in the image of God, loyal and faithful United Methodists, servants of the church in Jesus Christ, are in love with each other."—Melvin Talbert

And isn’t that all that matters.

Love. 

source

Keith Orr Scores ... And Everybody Wins

There are times when I worry about the future, about people and the way we treat one another because of our differences. Rather than celebrate the differences, many times we make fun of them, and mistreat those who are different. But for every story like this morning’s post about the server and the bigot, I stumble across one like this that makes me smile and gives me hope that those kids coming up after us will make things better.

Keith Orr

At Olivet Middle School in Olivet, Michigan, Keith Orr is one of those “different” kids. He has a learning disability and struggles with boundaries — in a sweet way because he hugs just about everyone he meets. And one group at his school, a rather surprising group really, has hugged him, right back.

Rather than be the group that picks on the different kid, the Oliver Middle School football team has brought Keith into their group; he’s kind of like the team mascot; he eats with the team at lunch and they walk with him through the halls. But they wanted to do a little something more for Keith and in doing so they also did a great thing for themselves.

They had a plan, just the team. No coaches were told; no parents involved. They spent weeks working out the logistics of their plan, and on game day they put it into motion.

Nick Jungel, Parker Smith, Justice Miller

"Everyone was in on it."—Nick Jungel.

"But the coaches didn't know anything about it. We were, like, going behind their back."—Parker Smith

"It's just like to make someone's day, make someone's week, just make them happy"—Justice Miller

Their plan was that would try as hard as they could not to score. The first part of their plan was to try to get as close to the goal line as possible without scoring, even if it meant stopping on the one-year line, which they did. And the crowd wasn't happy with it.

"But us kids knew, hey, we got this, this is our time, this is Keith's time. We thought it would be cool to do something for him."—Parker Smith

And they did. Keith was brought onto the field and when the ball was snapped, the quarterback handed it off to Keith, and then the entire Olivet Middle School football team surrounded Keith Orr and helped him walk the ball across the goal line to score a touchdown.

Keith called that moment “awesome” but the players also felt something they didn’t expect.

"Nothing can really explain getting a touchdown when you've never had one before. Once I saw him go in, I was smiling to here," says Justice Miller, pointing to his cheeks. "Nothing could wipe that smile off my face."

And when he was asked why it affected him so much, Justice turns emotional, "Because he's never been cool or popular, and he went from being, like, pretty much a nobody to making everyone's day."

Justice admits the play wasn't his idea, saying, "I would have not really thought of that. … I kind of went from being somebody who mostly cared about myself and my friends to caring about everyone and trying to make everyone's day and everyone's life."

And he did, and the team did. Keith’s parents were in the crowd that day and almost missed what happened because it was so unexpected.

"It was like, 'Did he just score a touchdown?'" Keith's mom, Carrie, says.

"Get your camera out!" his dad, Jim, remembers saying.

They almost missed it, but what it meant will stay with them forever:

"Somebody is always going to have his back -- from now until the day he graduates."

And they should, because he’s different, not better or worse, and that makes him just like everyone else; different.

And now he’s been changed, and the team and school, have been changed, and his parents as well. All because he was allowed to carry a ball over a line.

source

WTF: JLo

I will give her props.
Jennifer Lopez can look good, really good, a lot of the time, but when she goes bad, like in this see-through-is-it-shredded-are-those-suspenders-is-that-a-bib looking mess, she goes epically bad.

Repost: LGBT History Month: Billy Strayhorn*

*originally posted October 28, 2009

William Thomas "Billy" Strayhorn was openly gay, unapologetically gay, at a time when most gay men and women met in secret, in back alleys, out of sight, for fear of arrest or worse.  He was also a composer, pianist and arranger, best known for his works with Duke Ellington, early in his career, and Lena Horne, late in his life. Billy Strayhorn's compositions include "Take the 'A' Train" and "Lush Life."

He was born in Ohio, grew up some in Pennsylvania, but lived most of his life with his grandmother in North Carolina; Billy's mother sent him there to save him from his father's drunken beatings. That move proved lucky for Billy; it was while in North Carolina that he discovered his love for music.

As a teenager, Strayhorn returned to Pittsburgh, and attended Westinghouse High School; it was in Pittsburgh where he began his musical career, studying classical music at the Pittsburgh Music Institute, writing a high school musical, forming a musical trio that played daily on a local radio station, and, while still in his teens, writing both the music and lyrics for songs like "Life Is Lonely," which later became "Lush Life," "My Little Brown Book" and "Something To Live For." He worked odd jobs, saving enough money to buy his first piano, and by age nineteen, Billy Strayhorn had written his first musical, Fantastic Rhythm.

While classical music was his first love, Billy's desire to become a classical composer was not to be; in those days, the world of classical music was an all-white world into which Billy Strayhorn could not gain entrance. Disillusioned, but not done, he took to working with jazz artists like Art Tatum and Teddy Wilson; he'd found a home in the world of jazz music and he would live there, and thrive there, for the rest of his life.

In 1938, at twenty-three, Billy met Duke Ellington. In typical Billy style, he showed the Duke how he would have arranged some of Ellington's best known works. Rather than being insulted, Ellington was impressed enough to invite other band members to hear Strayhorn. At the end of the visit he arranged for Billy to meet him when the band returned to New York. Billy Strayhorn would work for Duke Ellington for the next twenty-five years, leaving the Duke to call him, "my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brain waves in his head, and his in mine".

Billy Strayhorn, already a gifted composer and arranger, flourished in Ellington's shadow; the Duke became somewhat of a father figure to a young man who'd often been sent from home to keep him safe from his own parent. And Duke Ellington used Billy Strayhorn to complete his thoughts, while giving the young man freedom to write on his own and enjoy at least some of the credit he deserved. Duke Ellington would often announce from the stage, "Strayhorn does a lot of the work but I get to take the bows!"

Billy Strayhorn composed the band's best known theme, "Take the "A" Train", and a number of other pieces that became part of the Duke Ellington orchestra songbook. In some instances, Billy was credited solely with writing such pieces as "Lotus Blossom", "Chelsea Bridge", and "Rain Check", while others--"Day Dream" and "Something to Live For"--were called collaborations with Ellington. "Satin Doll" and "Sugar Hill Penthouse" were credited to Ellington alone.

In 1939, shortly before leaving on his second European tour, Ellington announced to his family and the band that Strayhorn would be staying with them. And it was through the Duke's brother, Mercer, that Billy met his first partner, musician Aaron Bridgers, with whom he lived until Bridgers moved to Paris in 1947.

Billy Strayhorn was openly gay during an extremely homophobic era. He was who he was, a gifted musician, composer, arranger, and gay man; he made no apologies and refused to hide his life and loves from anyone. Still, there is some speculation that, like Bayard Rustin and his civil rights work, Billy Strayhorn is often overlooked and discredited because he was a gay man. Most people spoke of his being black and gay than they did of his musical prowess, and it was because of this, perhaps, that Strayhorn quietly hid behind Duke Ellington, letting the Duke take credit for much of his work.

In the 1950s, Strayhorn left his musical partner Duke Ellington for a few years to pursue a solo career; he recorded several solo albums, wrote a few revues for the Copasetics--a New York show-business society--and took on theater productions with his friend Luther Henderson.

In the 60s, Billy Strayhorn participated in many civil rights causes, and, as a committed friend to Martin Luther King, Jr., he arranged and conducted "King Fought the Battle of 'Bam'" for the Ellington Orchestra in 1963. It was used in the historical revue My People, which was dedicated to Dr. King.

Not only with Ellington and King, but with many others, did Strayhorn make an impact. He was a major influence in Lena Horne's career; in fact, she wanted to marry him, and often called him the love of her life.

Billy Strayhorn was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 1964, and, in 1967, died in the company of his partner Bill Grove; it was erroneously reported -- perhaps to take the light off his homosexuality -- that he had died in Lena Horne's arms, but, by her own accounts, Horne was touring in Europe when Billy Strayhorn passed.

And even while dying, Billy worked. In the hospital he submitted his final composition to longtime mentor and musical partner Duke Ellington, "Blood Count." Ellington used the piece as the first track on a memorial album, "...And His Mother Called Him Bill," dedicated to Billy Strayhorn. The last track is a spontaneous solo version of "Lotus Blossom" performed by Ellington, sitting at a piano and playing for his friend.

Billy Strayhorn was told 'No' an awful lot in his life. He was told 'No' when he asked if he could come home if his father would behave. He was told 'No,' because of his skin color, when he wanted to become a classical musician. He was denied a proper place in the history of jazz music for many years because he was an openly gay man.

But Billy never lived in 'No.' Billy lived a Lush Life and was quite proud of it.

The march goes on.

On This Day In LGBT History

October 28, 1903 – British writer Evelyn Waugh is born in London. The writer of “Brideshead Revisited” kept diaries of his affairs.

October 28, 1970 – Author Kate Millet came out.

October 28, 1987 – The Human Rights Campaign Fund began running ads in response to an amendment introduced in the Senate by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC) and passed by the house and senate to restrict funding to AIDS organizations which distributed gay-related prevention literature.

October 28, 1987- At the University of Vermont in Burlington nineteen people were arrested in a demonstration protesting the CIA’s exclusion of gays and lesbians.

October 28, 1990 – During a campaign speech, US Congressman Jesse Helms referred to gays and lesbians as “disgusting people marching in the streets demanding all sorts of things, including the right to marry each other.”

October 28, 1990 – Placido Domingo and Andre Watts raise $1.5 million at a fundraiser for the Gay Men’s Health Crisis.

October 28, 1992 – Episcopal bishop A. Theodore Eastman issued an order to clergy in Maryland not to bless same-sex unions.

October 28, 1992 – The lesbian comic book “Hothead Paisan #7″ was seized from Toronto Women’s Bookstore. Officials cited “sexual degradation” as the reason for the seizure, though it contained no sex. The prohibition would be lifted seven months later.

October 28, 1997 – The National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum condemned gospel singers Angie and Debbie Winans for their anti-gay song “It’s Not Natural” and BET-TV for providing them with a one-sided forum to promote their homophobic views. Earlier in the year, BET-TV refused to air MeShell NdegeOcello’s video “Leviticus Faggot,” about a black gay teenager’s struggle to come to terms with his sexuality.

October 28, 1998 – Welsh secretary Ron Davies resigned after British tabloids reported he was robbed at knifepoint in a London park while looking for a male sexual companion.

October 28, 1998 – Glen Murray, an out gay man, was elected mayor of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Server Gets Tipped In Hate

As someone who has worked in the hospitality industry, I understand the value of a tip; you’d have to give really bad service to get less than 20% from me, and you’d have to be downright awful to get nothing from me.

But, for one young server, being gay was enough to get stiffed; and not in a good way.

A 20-year-old waiter provided exemplary service at a Carrabba's Italian Grill in Overland Park, Kansas, but his anti-gay customers refused to tip him because of his sexual orientation. In fact, not only did they not tip, they left a message on the back of the check:

"Thank you for your service, it was excellent. That being said, we cannot in good conscience tip you, for your homosexual lifestyle is an affront to GOD. Queers do not share in the wealth of GOD, and you will not share in ours. We hope you will see the tip your (homosexual slur) choices made you lose out on, and plan accordingly. It is never too late for GOD's love, but none shall be spared for fags. May GOD have mercy on you."

Funny, because I think God may want to have a little mercy for the bigots who wrote the note. I mean, howsabout this, the next time you go into a restaurant ask for the Not Gay Section, where the straight folks serve you. Ask for the Not Gay Hairdresser next time you get your beehive teased. Ask for the Not Gay Checker at the Piggly Wiggly. Or, failing that, just stay home and wallow in your bigotry.

The young man and his mother, who works as a hostess at the same restaurant, aren’t giving time to the news media but the media is giving time to them. After the story broke, as happens, it flooded over into social media websites, people began heading over to that Carrabba's Italian Grill so that the young man could serve them and they could take good care of him. 

One such couple who came, specifically for this particular server, Dr. Marvin Baker, who came with his partner:

"I said, 'We are here to meet your celebrity. The one who was mistreated.' She said, 'That's my son. Would you like a table or booth?' I said, 'Wherever he's serving.'"

Baker has served as a pastor for many years and currently leads a Bible study group for LGBT members, and he calls the customer’s behavior ‘ ungodly’:

"I was angry. I said this is not Christian as I know it. This does not represent Christianity. God really loves us. And God does not advertise or promote hate. That is not love."

Baker talked with the young man while he had lunch, and the server told Baker he appreciated all the support, adding, "It is nice to know that someone cares."

For their part, Carrabas said in a statement that the company does not tolerate discrimination from either employees or guests:

"We embrace diversity and believe in treating everyone with respect."

It remains unclear what they will do, however, if that bigoted couple returns.

Like I said, if you don’t want service from The Gays, please share your bigotry up front, because I’m sure The Gays wouldn’t want to service anyone who thinks so little of them , and who blames God for their own homophobia.

As Marvin Baker said, God is love.

source

Repost: LGBT History Month: Allen Schindler*

*originally posted October 27, 2009

We keep waiting for some action on Don't Ask, Don't Tell; we've been promised action time and time again, and then asked to be patient. But patience wears thin. Being patient didn't help August Provost, murdered last summer at Camp Pendleton, and it certainly didn't help Allen Schindler, murdered sixteen years ago today, simply because he was gay.

Don't ask.

Allen Schindler was from a Navy family, and following in those footsteps, he served as a radioman on the USS Belleau Wood, an amphibious assault ship. His close friends onboard knew he was gay, and also knew that Schindler was repeatedly victimized by other crew members. Schindler had made numerous complaints about the anti-gay harassment he endured, from simple pranks, like having his locker glued shut to comments from shipmates like, "There's a faggot on this ship and he should die".

Don't tell.

While on transport from San Diego, California to Sasebo, Schindler made a personal prank of his own. He announced himself as "2-Q-T-2-B-S-T-R-8” [too cute to be straight] on secured lines that reached much of the Pacific Fleet. For his prank, he appeared 'captains mast,' which allows commanders to administratively discipline troops without a court-martial. He asked for a closed hearing.

Don't ask.

The hearing was held open and some two-to-three hundred sailors attended. Schindler was put on restrictive leave for his unauthorized radio transmission, and was not allowed shore leave for the first few months that the ship was in Japan.

Four days after his confinement was over, Airman Apprentice Terry Helvey stomped Allen Schindler to death in a toilet in a park in Nagasaki. Schindler had "at least four fatal injuries to the head, chest, and abdomen," his head was crushed, ribs broken, and his penis cut, and he had "sneaker-tread marks stamped on his forehead and chest" destroying "every organ in his body" leaving behind a "nearly-unrecognizable corpse."

Allen Schindler was left on the bathroom floor until the Shore Patrol and a key witness to the incident carried his body to a nearby bridge. His body was held by the witness until the medical team from the Sasebo Base announced his death. The medical examiner compared Schindler's injuries to those sustained by a victim of a fatal horse trampling saying they were worse "than the damage to a person who’d been stomped by a horse; they were similar to what might be sustained in a high-speed car crash or a low-speed aircraft accident." At the wake in the family's home in Chicago, his mother and sister could only identify him by the tattoos on his arm as his face was so badly disfigured.

Bad enough to learn that your son died; worse to learn he was murdered; and horrific to discover that he'd been stomped to death by a fellow shipmate. But the hardest thing of all to endure was the idea that the Navy downplayed Schindler's murder. His superiors denied ever receiving any complaints of harassment and refused to speak publicly about the case or to release the Japanese police report on the murder.

Don't tell.

At trial, Terry Helvey denied killing Schindler because he was gay, saying, "I did not attack him because he was homosexual." Still, he could offer no reason for the vicious killing, and evidence presented by Navy investigator, Kennon Privette, showed otherwise. "He said he hated homosexuals. He was disgusted by them," Privette said. On killing Schindler, Privette quoted Helvey as saying: "I don't regret it. I'd do it again. ... He deserved it."

Don't ask.

A plea-bargain was arranged, and Helvey pleaded guilty of "inflicting great bodily harm," and was sentenced to lifetime imprisonment; he is guaranteed a clemency hearing every year. The captain who kept the incident quiet was demoted and transferred to Florida, and Helvey's accomplice, Charles Vins, was allowed to plead guilty to three lesser offenses, including failure to report a serious crime, and to testify truthfully against Terry Helvey. Vins served just 78-days before receiving a general discharge from the Navy.

Don't tell.

So, why do we need to end DADT? Why do we need to end secrecy and lies? For people like Allen Schindler and August Provost, who did nothing wrong, except maybe be open about being gay. When you force people to keep secrets, stories build about them, people talk, people taunt, people attack. People stomp you to death.

Ask. Tell.

The march goes on…but not for DADT which was repealed on December 22, 2010

On This Day In LGBT History

October 27, 1903 – In “Die Zeit”, Sigmund Freud was quoted as saying homosexuals are not sick and should not be treated as sick.

October 27, 1951 – The French postal service issued stamps with gay lovers Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud.

October 27, 1970 – Forty members of the Gay Activist Alliance invaded the offices of Harper magazine to protest an article which presented homosexuality as a mental illness. GAA president Arthur Evans verbally attacked editor Midge Decter for publishing an article which would add to the suffering of homosexuals. The protest led to a three-part television news series on gay liberation.

October 27, 1977 – A meeting between Quebec Human Rights Commission and representatives of gay group ADGQ results in public recommendation that government amend Human Rights Charter to include sexual orientation.

October 27, 1990 – US Congress repealed a law barring homosexuals from being admitted to the United States on grounds of mental illness.

October 27, 1992 – The Federal Court of Canada ordered the military to lift the ban on gay and lesbian service personnel. The Defense Department declined to appeal the decision.

October 27, 1993 – Allen Schindler, a gay American sailor, was beaten to death by his shipmates.

October 27, 1997 – BET-TV withdrew an invitation to Keith Boykin to appear on a show with Angie and Debbie Winans. The Winans objected to his presence on the show, which featured their anti-gay song “It’s Not Natural.”

October 27, 1999 – The Ontario provincial government changed 67 statutes to give same-sex couples equal treatment to heterosexual couples.

October 27, 1999 – Democratic presidential nomination candidates Al Gore and Bill Bradley promised that if elected they would do everything in their power to ensure equal rights for gay and lesbian Americans.

Sunday Funnies