Tag Archives: LGBT History

Via White House press release: Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis announced $500,000 in matching grants to help fund 13 projects across the country to increase the number of listings in the National Register of Historic Places (National Register) associated with Latinos and other underrepresented communities including African Americans, Asian Americans and …

#01_October on 1989 Denmark introduces the world’s first legal modern same-sex civil union called “registered partnership”. — This Day In History (@Wiki_History) October 1, 2014 Photo by Rex Wockner. UPDATE: There’s a great write-up on Wilson Quarterly. It begins: On October 1st 1989, An event unlike any before in history took place at the Copenhagen town hall in Denmark. That …

I got to see this gorgeous short back in April at the tenth anniversary celebration of Freedom To Marry. The Daily Beast recaps: It is a decade since the U.S. first state, Massachusetts, enshrined marriage equality in law, and since the founding of campaign group Freedom To Marry (FTM). It has been a fruitful, frustrating decade, a bizarre range of …

According to a report on the right-wing CNS News, the “ex-gay” crackpots at PFOX are screaming for inclusion in the Smithsonian’s LGBT history exhibit. The exhibit’s curator is not only open to that, he plans on including materials from numerous anti-gay groups. [Smithsonian Archives Specialist Franklin] Robinson told CNSNews.com that he would also be willing to collect items from pro-traditional …

Finland’s postal service reports that sales of its Tom Of Finland stamps are breaking all their records. Via Gay Star News: Stamps commemorating Finnish gay erotic artist Touko Laaksonen, who published his drawings under the name Tom of Finland, have been the biggest sellers in the history of Finland’s Posti postal service, with people pre-ordering the stamps in 178 countries. …

Via Digital Spy: Holly Johnson has unveiled the music video for new song In and Out of Love. The track is the lead single from Europa, Johnson’s first album in 14 years. The video has been directed by Chris Shepherd and produced by Alex Bedford. The follow-up to 1999’s Soulstream coincides with the 30th anniversary of Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s …

From Karen Ocamb at Frontiers Magazine: “Joan Rivers was not only pro-gay – she was out in front raising money for people with AIDS very early on – when many were still terrified of the disease. She was featured on the cover of Frontiers Magazine promoting an AIDS fundraiser at Studio One in March 1984 that raised $45,000 for APLA, …

Kramer took the stage with the aid of a bright pink cane and wearing an ACT UP hat. Director Ryan Murphy gave the acceptance speech and the audience responded with the first standing ovation of the night.

The Associated Press reports that the nation’s dwindling number of bathhouses are facing tough financial times. In the heyday of bathhouses in the late 1970s, there were nearly 200 gay bathhouses in cities across the U.S., but by 1990, the total had dropped to approximately 90, according to Damron, the publisher of an annual gay travel guide. In the last …

A federal court in Orlando has ruled that the estate of Divine was “illegally usurped” from the drag legend’s rightful family heirs. Via the Hollywood Reporter: The ruling is a black eye for Michael O’Quinn, who had befriended Divine’s mother, Frances, and become her business manager and later was named as a beneficiary to the estate in an addendum to …

Via the Associated Press: Hundreds of photographs, papers and historical objects documenting the history of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people are being added to the Smithsonian Institution’s collection Tuesday, including items from the popular TV show “Will and Grace.” Show creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick along with NBC are donating objects to the National Museum of American History. …

Via press release: The AIDS Memorial Quilt returns to New York City for a two-day public display, featuring 260 12-foot-by-12-foot sections of this internationally celebrated, handmade tapestry. Presented as a gift to the city by Kiehl’s Since 1851, the Governor’s Island display will begin with a special opening ceremony/press opportunity at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 11. This opening dedication …

Orlando’s legendary/infamous Parliament House, where I made my first tentative steps into a gay bar on April 18th, 1976*, has declared bankruptcy. Via the Orlando Sentinel: Parliament House, a gay resort and entertainment complex, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Friday citing $15.5 million in debt. The 4.5-acre complex defaulted on loans during the recession in 2009 and has been …

Documentary filmmakers for a project titled Reel In The Closet are seeking your home movies that might help catalog LGBT history. If you want to feel the past not just read about it, watch the home movies and videos. Look at the community shows LGBTQ people put together. Watch the clips they saved. They go at least as far back …

Marriage Equality USA has posted the third and final installment of their interview with Edith Windsor. Via Gay Star News: ‘When Stonewall happened, I was really this ignorant middle class lady who said “I don’t see why I have to be identified with those queens,”‘ Windsor said in an interview posted Thursday (24 July) by Marriage Equality USA. But the …

Accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra and the BBC Singers, last night Pet Shop Boys performed the world premier of their Alan Turing opera, A Man From The Future, at Britain’s Proms event at Royal Albert Hall. The Independent has posted a review: Tennant stands by the choir for A Man From the Future, with fellow Boy Chris Lowe behind …

Tomorrow night at London’s Royal Albert Hall, Pet Shop Boys will perform with the BBC Concert Orchestra in the world premiere of their Alan Turing opera, A Man From The Future. Via the Guardian: “For one night only, I’m one of the BBC singers!” marvels Pet Shop Boys frontman Neil Tennant – he is adding his voice to the 18-strong …

Opening on November 21st: In THE IMITATION GAME, Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Alan Turing, the genius British mathematician, logician, cryptologist and computer scientist who led the charge to crack the German Enigma Code that helped the Allies win WWII. Turing went on to assist with the development of computers at the University of Manchester after the war, but was prosecuted …