What a day May 8 is. We've got guys who want the world to know they have microphallus, other guys who don't want the world to know that they cruise men in steamrooms, and still other guys who have been executed for similar behavior – in Holland.
TODAY IN HISTORY (May 8):
1763 - In Amsterdam, Barend Jansen and Jan Heemskerk were arrested for having sex in a public toilet. Heemskerk was executed, and Jansen was tortured and received a twenty-year prison sentence.
1794 - The United States Post Office was established.
1887 - The first Westminister Dog Show was held.
1902 - Mount Pelee on Martinique erupted, destroying the town of St. Pierre, and killing 40,000 people.
1945 - V-E Day marks the European victory of the Allies in World War II.
1975 - The Florida Supreme Court dismissed charges against a group of men who were arrested in a Miami bathhouse, citing freedom of assembly, privacy, and equal protection of the law.
1978 - In Montreal, the trial begins of those in Truxx bar raid, charged with being keepers of a common bawdyhouse (house of prostitution).
1978 - David Berkowitz, a.k.a. the “Son of Sam,” pleaded guilty to killing six people in New York City.
1984 - Joanie (Erin Moran) and Chachi (Scott Baio) got married on ABC-TV's "Happy Days."
1985 - The first cans of New Coke rolled out of bottling and canning plants on this day — the 99th anniversary of Coca-Cola.
1987 - The Danish Parliament in Copenhagen voted to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.
1990 - Fitness trainer Paul Barresi told the National Enquirer he had a two-year affair with actor John Travolta. He later apologized, saying he sold the story because he needed the money but would not say it was untrue. (The Malcontent knows some information that validates the claim, however.)
1992 - Deb Price began writing for the Detroit News. She wrote solely on gay and lesbian topics. Since then her column has become syndicated in over 100 newspapers, making it the first nationally syndicated column of its kind in the mainstream press.
1994 - The US Senate confirmed the appointment of Deborah Batts, the first African-American openly lesbian US Federal District Court Judge.
1995 - Virginia Apuzzo received an award from the Hetrick Martin Institute in New York for outstanding contributions to gay and lesbian youth.
1996 - South Africa adopted a new constitution which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.
1998 - The Rhode Island House of Representatives voted 49-40 in favor of repealing a state law which criminalized oral and anal sex. The law had been instituted in 1896, and the sentence ranged from seven to twenty years.
1999 - The Citadel in South Carolina graduated its first female cadet, Nancy Mace.
2002 - Suffolk Superior Court judge (Massachusetts) rules against granting marriage licenses to seven gay couples, saying the legality of same-sex marriage should be decided by the Legislature, not the courts. Born on this day:
1884 - Harry S Truman
1926 - Don Rickles
1937 - Thomas Pynchon
1940 - Peter Benchley
1940 - Rick Nelson
1943 - Toni Tennille
1944 - Gary Glitter
1955 - Alex Van Halen
1964 - Melissa Gilbert
1975 - Enrique Iglesias
"The Malcontent knows some information that validates the claim, however."
OK, I'll bite, give it up?
Tommy - Athens Greece
Posted by: Tommy | May 08, 2006 at 02:21 PM
I think there are already enough clues in this post that I am dancing along the border of Subpoenaland. :-)
Posted by: Malcontent | May 08, 2006 at 02:30 PM
Interesting. One wonders if Travolta's embrace of Scientology, the teachings of which are rather hostile towards gays and promote one's ability to "purge" oneself of bad things, is a response.
Could also explain Tom Cruise....
Posted by: North Dallas Thirty | May 08, 2006 at 02:40 PM
How about a short story: "Scenes from a Steamroom"? or "Saturday Night Steamer"?
All FICTION of course.
Posted by: Tommy | May 08, 2006 at 02:40 PM