Happy Gay Day

Today is the birthday of a very gay word ...

TODAY IN HISTORY (May 6):

1868 - Karoly Maria Kertbeny became the first to use the word "homosexual," in a letter to Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (who would soon become one of the earliest crusaders for fair treatment for homosexuals.)

1889 - The Universal Exposition opened in Paris, marking the completion and dedication of the Eiffel Tower.

1933 - Nazis destroyed the Institute for Sexual Science as a brass band played outside. On the same day libraries were ordered to remove and destroy all books with positive or neutral references to homosexuality.

1937 - The German airship Hindenburg blew up and burst into flames at Lakehurst, N.J.

1941 - Dictator Joseph Stalin became the premier of Russia.

1954 - British athlete, Roger Bannister became the first person to run a mile in under four minutes (3:59:4).

1971 - The Firehouse, the meeting place of the Gay Activists Alliance, opened in New York City.

1973 - Six-hundred gay men and lesbians joined hands and formed a chain across the George Washington Bridge in New York City to protest discrimination against homosexuals.

1974 - Walter Cronkite featured a major segment on gay rights after speaking with Mark Segal, a gay youth activist who had interrupted his broadcast five months earlier.

1983 - A Journal of the American Medical Association article rejected the evidence that AIDS was transmitted by a virus in speculation that it was caused by the promiscuity of gay men. The author failed to explain how cases of AIDS in hemophiliacs and infants could occur in such a scenario.

1983 - On ABC's "Good Morning America" a physician said that while AIDS was currently confined to homosexuals, Haitians, and hemophiliacs, the danger of it spreading to normal people was real.

1987 - 700 students at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst held a peaceful rally to protest an appearance by discredited, anti-gay psychologist Paul Cameron.

1992 - Bisexual actress Marlene Dietrich died. Visit her grave at http://www.findagrave.com/pictures/1991.html

1994 - The Chunnel between England and France officially opened.

1996 - Cobb County Georgia commissioners voted 3-2 to repeal an anti-gay resolution it had passed in 1993 which declared homosexuality incompatible with community standards. It was in response to a decision by Olympic officials decision that because of the resolution the Olympic torch would not pass through Cobb county.

1996 - The town council of Normal, Illinois voted 5-2 against a proposal to add a sexual orientation clause to the local ordinance banning job and housing discrimination.

2004 - For the first time the 9-11 Compensation Fund recognized a same-sex partner who was not a legal heir named in a will.

Born on this day:

1856 - Sigmund Freud, father of psychoanalysis and the discoverer of the unconscious, in Freiberg (present-day PYíbor, in the Czech Republic).
1895 - Rudolph Valentino, one of film's earliest "heart throbs", was born in Castellaneta, Italy. By far, the most popular silent film star, Valentino was adored by legions of female fans as he smoldered on the screen in such films as The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Sheik/Son of the Shiek. Valentino died in in 1926 of a perforated ulcer at the age of 31.
1915 - Orson Welles
1931 - Willie Mays
1945 - Bob Seger
1953 - Tony Blair
1955 - Tom Bergeron
1961 - George Clooney

Comments

[Tommy]

Toast to Mr. Kertbenny another true malcontent.

[Scott A]

What does it mean if the name is bold? I've seen it used for gay people, gay-friendly, among others...

[Tommy]

I think its just editorial license not a particular criteria

[Malcontent]

You're right, Tommy. It's either people who are gay, gay-friendly, whom people THINK are gay, whom gay people think are hot, gay icons, etc. etc. There are no objective criteria. I'm sure I often miss bolding the names of people who are also known to be gay -- it's limited by my own knowledge.