March 11, 1967 – Today is the birthday of Scottish singer, actor, and activist JOHN BARROWMAN. Best known for his role as Captain Jack Harkness in the science fiction series Doctor Who and Torchwood. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Barrowman and his family emigrated to the U.S. when he was nine. Growing up in the state of Illinois, his high school teachers encouraged his love for music and theatre and he studied performing arts at the United States International University in San Diego before visiting the United Kingdom and landing the role of Billy Crocker in Cole Porter's Anything Goes in London's West End.
Barrowman met his partner Scott Gill in 1993 and in 2005 they registered as civil partners under British law. They do not call their relationship a marriage: "We're just going to sign the civil register. We're not going to have any ceremony because I'm not a supporter of the word marriage for a Gay partnership." Barrowman explained later: "Why would I want a 'marriage' from a belief system that hates me?" A small ceremony was held in Cardiff with friends and family, with the cast of Torchwood and executive producer Russell T Davies as guests.
In 2009, Barrowman published I Am What I Am, his second memoir detailing his recent television work and musings on fame. In the book, Barrowman reveals that when he was just beginning his acting career, a Gay producer told Barrowman that he should try to pretend to be heterosexual in order to be successful. Barrowman was offended by the incident, and it made him more aware of the importance of his role as a Gay public figure: "One of my explicit missions as an entertainer is to work to create a world where no one will ever make a statement like this producer did to me to anyone who s Gay." To this end, Barrowman is active in his community supporting the issues that matter to him most. He worked with Stonewall, a Gay rights organization in the UK, on the "Education for All" campaign against homophobia in the schools. In April 2008, the group placed posters on 600 billboards that read, "Some people are Gay. Get over it!" Barrowman contributed his support to the project asking people to join him and "Help exterminate homophobia. Be bold. Be brave. Be a buddy, not a bully." In the same month, Barrowman spoke at the Oxford Union about his career, the entertainment industry, and gay rights issues. The event was filmed for the BBC program The Making Of Me, in an episode exploring the science of homosexuality
In 1998, Barrowman was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical, and in 2006 he was voted Stonewall's "Entertainer of the Year."
credit gaywisdom.org
Friday, March 11, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
Today in Gay History
Monday, February 28, 2011
credit to Dan Vera and SEE MORE @ gaywisdom.org
1824 - on this date Karl-Maria Kertbeny or Károly Mária Kertbeny (born Karl-Maria Benkert) (d. 1882) was born in Vienna, the son of a writer and painter. He was an Austrian-born Hungarian journalist, memoir-ist and human rights campaigner who in 1869 coined the word homosexual. This was part of his system for the classification of sexual types, as a replacement for the pejorative terms "sodomite" and "pederast" that were used in the German- and French-speaking world of his time. In addition, he called the attraction between men and women "heterosexualism", masturbators "monosexualists", and practitioners of anal intercourse "pygists." [Please note that "homosexuality" was defined first. Then they had to come up with the term for "heterosexuals."]
ate two members of the GAY ACTIVIST ALLIANCE appeared on the popular national television program JACK PAAR TONITE show to demand that the host stop using the terms "fairies", "dykes" and "fags" to disparage Gay people. It was the first such conversation on network television and resulted in Paar apologizing for his deluge of anti-gay remarks (he had a long track-record of homophobic remarks over his career). Friday, February 18, 2011
Hymn to Love
HYMNE à L'Amour
(Lyrics by Edith Piaf ~Music by M. Monnot / E. Constantine)
Edith Piaf (France), and many covers such as Thierry Amiel, nice one by Josh GrobanLe ciel bleu sur nous peut s'effrondrerEt la terre peut bien s'écroulerPeu m'importe si tu m'aimesJe me fous du monde entierTant que l'amour inondera mes matinsTant que mon corps frémira sous tes mainsPeu m'importent les grands problèmesMon amour, puisque tu m'aimes... J'irais jusqu'au bout du mondeJe me ferais teindre en blondeSi tu me le demandais...J'irais décrocher la luneJ'irais voler la fortuneSi tu me le demandais...Je renierais ma patrieJe renierais mes amisSi tu me le demandais...On peut bien rire de moi,Je ferais n'importe quoiSi tu me le demandais... Si un jour la vie t'arrache à moiSi tu meurs, que tu sois loin de moiPeu m'importe, si tu m'aimesCar moi je mourrai aussi...Nous aurons pour nous l'éternitéDans le bleu de toute l'immensitéDans le ciel, plus de problèmesMon amour, crois-tu qu'on s'aime?......Dieu réunit ceux qui s'aiment! HYMN TO LOVE~ ENGLISH LYRICSOriginal : Hymne À L'Amour(Eddie Constantine / Marguerite Monnot) Recorded by : Edith Piaf, Thierry Amiel, Christine Albert; Corey Hart; Cyndi Lauper.NOT a literal translation, but an artistic one If the sky should fall into the seaAnd the stars fade all around meAll the times that we have known hereI will sing a hymn to love We have lived and dreamed we two aloneIn a world that's been our very ownWith it's memories ever gratefulJust for you I sing a hymn to love I remember each embraceThe smile that lights your faceAnd my heart begins to singYour eyes have never liedAnd my heart begins to singAnd my heart begins to sing If one day you should ever disappearAlways remember these wordsIf one day we had to say goodbyeAnd our love should fade away and dieIn my heart you will remain hereAnd I'II sing a hymn to love O for love, we live eternallyIn the blue we'll roll this harmonyWith every day we are in heavenAs for you, I'll sing a hymn to love Don't you ever worry, dearAnd the stars shall fade from the skyAll the times that we have known hereI will sing a hymn to our loveOh darling,Just for you I singA hymn to loveENCORE PAR THIERRY AMIEL
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Strange Videos
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This is just plain wrong on so many levels
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Monday, February 14, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
For Egypt
Don't Worry: It's Only timeschangin' !
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Saturday, February 12, 2011
Today in Gay History
Del Martin (left) and Phyllis Lyon (right) at their 2004 weddingOn this day in 2004, and after 50 years together, LGBT pioneers Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin were the 1st gay couple wed in San Francisco weddings. Del died just two short years later in August 2006 at age 87. Phyllis still lives in San Francisco, the undisputed gay female icon of the last 70 years.
In their younger years, Del and Phyllis had founded the lesbian organization, The Daughter’s of Bilitis in 1956. They published for several years the newsletter “The Ladder,” with Phyllis being the first editor for about a year, and Del becoming the editor for the next several years. They also were very involved advocating for the entire LGBTQ community for over 58 years.
For more on their remarkable and very public activism over 50+ years, see Wiki here.
Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin in the 1950s
Herewith a letter published in “The Ladder” from Del in 1956, explaining the rationale for the Daughters of Bilitis.
“ . . . The Daughters of Bilitis is a women’s organization resolved to add the feminine voice and viewpoint to a mutual problem. While women may not have as much difficulty with law enforcement, their problems are none the less real — family, sometimes children, employment, social acceptance.
However, the lesbian is a very elusive creature. She burrows underground in her fear of identification. She is cautious in her associations. Current modes in hair style and casual attire have enabled her to camouflage her existence. She claims she does not need help. And she will not risk her tight little fist of security to aid those who do.
But surely the ground work has been well laid in the past 5½ years [referring to earlier references to the male-dominated groups such as The Mattachine Society]. Homosexuality is not the dirty word it used to be. More and more people, professional and lay, are becoming aware of its meaning and implications. There is no longer so much “risk” in becoming associated with [text missing].
And why not “belong”? Many heterosexuals do. Membership is open to anyone who is interested in the minority problems of the sexual variant and does not necessarily indicate one’s own sex preference.
Women have taken a beating through the centuries. It has been only in this 20th, through the courageous crusade of the Suffragettes and the influx of women into the business world, that woman has become an independent entity, an individual with the right to vote and the right to a job and economic security. But it took women with foresight and determination to attain this heritage which is now ours.
And what will be the lot of the future lesbian? Fear? Scorn? This need not be — IF lethargy is supplanted by an energized constructive program, if cowardice gives way to the solidarity of a cooperative front, if the “let Georgia do it” attitude is replaced by the realization of individual responsibility in thwarting the evils of ignorance, superstition, prejudice and bigotry.
Nothing was ever accomplished by hiding in a dark corner. Why not discard the hermitage for the heritage that awaits any red-blooded American woman who dares to claim it?
S/ Del Martin, President
Daughters of Bilitis
Friday, February 11, 2011
Today in Gay History
Happy Birthday
U S Rep Tammy Baldwin (D-Ws)
Born February 11, 1962
“The first out lesbian elected to the United States Congress, Democratic legislator Tammy Baldwin has been a strong supporter of glbtq rights, but she is far from a one-issue politician. Because of her solid record on such concerns as health care, the environment, education, and farming, her constituents in Wisconsin have [thus far] elected her to four terms in the House of Representatives. The last two terms, she was elected by over 2 to 1 margins over her nearest opponents.” http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/baldwin_t.html
From wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammy_Baldwin
“Baldwin has stated her support for such legislation as the Equal Pay Act (EPA) and recently voted for the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. These acts criminalize and outline prosecution guidelines and punishments for wage discrimination based on sex. She received a grade of 100 from the League of Women Voters as of 2007. She has received favorable evaluations from other civil rights groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union.
Representative Baldwin has also advanced what she sees as stronger enforcement of laws against sexual violence and violence against women. She is a supporter of the Violence Against Women Act, which allowed victims of sexual violence and other sexual crimes to take their cases to federal courts as well as providing funding for various anti-sexual violence initiatives and programs. She is also among the sponsors of a resolution to promote and support National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.
Baldwin has also promoted her efforts on behalf of women's health and reproductive rights.[5] She sponsored of the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program Reauthorization Act of 2007, which helped low-income, underinsured and uninsured women pay for cervical and breast cancer-related medical services.”
Baldwin and her domestic partner Lauren Azar were together for 16 years before amicably separating and ending their relationship in May, 2010.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Today in Gay History
During this week, in fact on February 7th, 1941, an incident took place in Hamburg, Germany during World War II. As the Nazi’s reign of terror continued, many gay couples had one man dress as a woman to avoid being caught. One such couple, Franz Liederspool and his lover, Burt Nowitski were out for casual evening of beers and weinershnitzel when the Nazi’s noticed that one of them was actually a woman. The men ran through the crowded streets of Hamburg trying to escape the Nazi’s when they ended up in a dark alley.
Knowing that if they were caught together they were doomed, Franz Liederspool told Burt Nowitsk, who was dressed as the woman, to go into the back entrance of a local burlesque house. Little did Franz know that the door actually led right to the stage. For the next three hours the Nazi’s hunted for the gay couple while Burt performed with some of the best leg kicks that the German people had ever seen. Not only did the Nazi’s not find them, but the soldiers eventually grew tired and went for some R&R at the very burlesque house that Burt was working at. It was quite an ironic twist of fate, indeed.
Years later the movies “La Cage au Folles” and “The Bird Cage” were loosely based on their story.
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