Happy Gay Day: Holy Shit, Cher's 60?! Edition

She is an American entertainment icon – a strong, uncompromising woman with whom many gay men have identified, and by whom drag queens have been inspired, for years.  She steadfastly refuses to retire from the business.  And today she celebrates a milestone birthday.

I'm talking, of course, about Mindy Cohn from NBC's "Facts of Life."  Happy 40th Birthday, Natalie!

TODAY IN HISTORY (May 20): 526 - An earthquake kills about 300,000 people in Syria and Antiochia. I didn't know they could count that high back then. 1782 - Deborah Sampson joined the American army under the name Robert Shirtliff. She had previously fought in the Continental Army. Her true sex was discovered the following year. 1830 - H.D. Hyde of Reading, Pennsylvania, patented the fountain pen. 1862 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law. 1873 - Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a US patent for blue jeans with copper rivets. 1883 - The eruption of Krakatoa begins, leading ultimately to the volcano's destruction three months later. 1927 - Charles Lindbergh began the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight, departing from Long Island aboard the Spirit of Saint Louis. 1932 - Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day. 1956 - The first hydrogen bomb to be dropped by air exploded over the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific. 1978 - Mavis Hutchinson, 53, became the first woman to run across America. The 3,000-mile trek took her 69 days. She ran an average of 45 miles each day. 1979 - The Austin (TX) Lesbian-Gay Political Caucus elected Janna Zumbrun and Steve Thomas as their first official co-chairs. 1983 - First publications of the discovery of the virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by Luc Montagnier and Robert Gallo individually. 1988 - The first Conference on Homophobia Education took place in Washington D.C., co-sponsored by gay rights organizations and several church groups. 1993 - The final episode of Cheers was aired on NBC. 1996 - The US Supreme Court voted 6-3 in Romer v. Evans, declaring Colorado's anti-gay Amendment 2 unconstitutional. Opponents of Amendment 2 gathered that evening at the state capital to celebrate the victory. 1998 - The Rhode Island Senate Judiciary Committee voted nine to two in favor of repealing their sodomy law. Born on this day: 1768 - Dolley Madison, First Lady of the United States (d. 1849) 1799 - Honoré de Balzac, French novelist (d. 1850) 1806 - John Stuart Mill, English philosopher (d. 1873) 1908 - James Stewart, American actor (d. 1997) 1913 - William Hewlett, American engineer and founder of Hewlett-Packard (d. 2001) 1919 - George Gobel, American comedian (d. 1991) 1927 - Bud Grant, American football coach 1944 - Joe Cocker, British singer 1946 - Cher, (Cherilyn Sarkisian), American actress and singer 1958 - Ron Reagan, American dancer and talk show host 1958 - Jane Wiedlin, American singer (The Go-Go's) 1959 - Bronson Pinchot, American actor 1960 - Tony Goldwyn, American actor 1965 - Ted Allen, American author and television celebrity, "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" 1966 - Mindy Cohn, American actress 1972 - Busta Rhymes, American singer and rapper

Comments

[PatrickP]

See Mal, the Mindy Cohn thing? THAT'S funny, man.