The Malcontent: Happy Gay Day

March 31, 2006

Happy Gay Day

TODAY IN HISTORY (March 31):

1889 - The Eiffel Tower opened in "Gay Paree."

1918 - Daylight Saving Time went into effect throughout the United States for the first time.

1943 - The show "Away We Go" was renamed. It has been known ever since as "Oklahoma!"

1945 - Tennessee Williams’ play, "The Glass Menagerie", arrived on Broadway in New York City.

1976 - The Florida Supreme Court overturned a conviction of "open and gross lewdness" in a 5-2 decision. The defendant, a waiter in a gay bar, had been accused of fondling a customer's pubic area. In the written decision Justice Sundberg wrote that the conduct had to be extremely indecent and offensive, and that in "the dark and crowded recesses of the Yum Yum Tree at 2:00 a.m." it was unlikely that anyone was offended.

1980 - Ontario Provincial Police constable Paul Head is suspended from duty and charged with discreditable conduct after it was discovered he was gay.

1981 - Nancy Reagan told The Globe that gay pride parades are appalling because gays have nothing to be proud of.

1981 - Montana amended its sodomy laws to add a fine of up to $50,000. The sentence of up to 10 years was not changed.

1987 - Legislation barring anyone HIV positive from entering Japan was approved by the Japanese cabinet.

1988 - Marty James of Los Angeles acknowledged having assisted in the suicide of a friend with AIDS, during an appearance on the television show Nightline.

Born on this day (a good day for musicians):

1596 - Rene Descartes
1732 - Franz Joseph Haydn
1929 - Liz Claiborne
1934 - Shirley Jones
1935 - Actor Richard Chamberlain born in Beverly Hills, California. Long a TV heartthrobe (Dr. Kildare) and later dubbed the "king of the mini-series," Chamberlain came out at age 69 in his autobiography.
1940 - U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) was born in Bayonne, New Jersey. Frank is the United States' most prominent gay politican, having served in Congress since 1980.
1943 - Christopher Walken
1948 - Rhea Perlman
1948 - Al Gore
1971 - Ewan McGregor
1976 - Colin Farrell