Happy Gay Day, Lucky Popes Edition

Is it news when somebody involved with the WNBA comes out?

TODAY IN HISTORY (May 13):

1607 - Jamestown, Virginia, is settled as what would become the first permanent English colony in North America.

1846 - Mexican-American War: The United States declares war on Mexico.

1958 - Velcro's trade mark is registered.

1981 - Mehmet Ali Ağca attempts to assassinate Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square in Rome.

1985 - U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Georgia's sodomy laws were unconstitutional. The Georgia State Attorney General appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which reversed the lower decision.

1987 - During a speech at Northeastern University in Boston, Jesse Jackson criticized the Reagan administration's response to AIDS and opposed mandatory HIV testing.

1998 - Timothy McVeigh (no relation to the Oklahoma City bomber) was promoted to master chief petty officer, the Navy's highest enlisted rank. He was chosen from a pool of 168 candidates. The Navy had attempted to discharge him after discovering his AOL profile said he was gay.

1999 - The Human Rights Campaign announced that it would run a counter ad to recent anti-gay television ads urging parents to teach their children tolerance.

1999 - New York Liberty general manager Carol Blazejowski came out at the WNBA team's Media Day.

Born on this day:

1914 - Joe Louis, boxer
1923 - Beatrice Arthur
1931 - Jim Jones, American cult leader
1939 - Harvey Keitel
1941 - Ritchie Valens
1944 - Armistead Maupin, American author
1950 - Stevie Wonder
1957 - Alan Ball, American screenwriter, director, producer
1961 - Dennis Rodman
1964 - Stephen Colbert, American comedian and actor
1966 - Darius Rucker ("Hootie")
1977 - Samantha Morton

Comments

[blewsdawg]

1607 - Jamestown, Virginia, is settled as what would become the first permanent English colony in North America.

This is right in my neck of the woods. Most people think the first settlers in N. America landed in Massachussetts. Didn't happen until twenty years after Jamestown. By that time, some of Jamestown's settlers had populated both sides of the Hampton Roads harbor, and had a well established ferry system running from Cape Henry to Jamestown. The home of Adam Thoroughgood, who founded that ferry system, is still standing in Virginia Beach.

Jamestown is gonna have a big ol' time next year, celebrating the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown settlement, and it'll be worth a trip if you're interested in history.

[Scott]

No, it is not news when anyone with the WNBA comes out....just like it's not news when the AFA decides to start a corporate boycott or Jesse Jackson travels to the site of the latest two-party conflict.