Celebrating Pride Month: Frank Kameny, grandfather of the Queer Liberation Movement

Frank Kameny, born May 21, 1925 in New York City, was an early gay advocate and one of the most significant figures in the history of the American gay rights movement. He enlisted in the US Army in May 1943 and, after finishing basic training, sent to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to study mechanical engineering. Kameny was withdrawn from the program to prepare for an invasion of France.  He was sent to the frontlines where he served as an infantry private.

After the war, he enrolled at Harvard University and graduated with a Master's degree in 1949 and a doctorate in 1956 in astronomy.  In August 1956, he was "detained" in San Francisco after being accused of "lewd and indecent acts".

A year later, Kameny was hired by the US Army Map Service, but when they heard of his arrest in San Francisco he was fired. He appealed his firing through the courts and even the US Supreme Court, but never won a case.  He devoted himself to activism.

Kameny's pushback against the government's policy on gay employees was the first of its kind, arguing that discrimination on the basis of sexuality is no different from discrimination based on race or religion.  

In 1961, he co-founded the Washington DC branch of the Mattachine Society. He campaigned to overturn DC sodomy laws in 1963, and was finally successful in 1993. He also worked to remove the classification of homosexuality as a mental disorder from the American Psychiatric Association.

He represented and defended government employees who had their security revoked or suspended due to allegations of "perversion" or immoral acts". 

Kameny ran for US Congress in 1971 in DC's first election for a non-voting Congressional delegate, the first gay to run for Congress, but lost unfortunately.  After his defeat, he created the Gay and Lesbian Alliance of Washington, DC, which still lobbies the government and pushes for equal rights.

Kameny passed away in October 2011.

Celebrating Pride Month: William Dorsey Swann: The first "Queen of Drag"

Not Swann, but an image from a drag ball during that time.

William Dorsey Swann, born into slavery in  Hancock, Maryland in March 1860, is the first person in the US to lead a queer resistance group and self-identify as a "queen of drag".  After the Civil War, his parents bought a farm and began a job working as a hotel waiter.

During the 1880s and 1890s, Swann organized drag balls in Washington, DC and called himself the "queen of drag".  The men attending these drag balls were usually former slaves and rebel drag queens.  These events were very secretive and only communicated by word of mouth.

On April 12, 1888, he was arrested for female impersonation, the first documented case of such.  Swann stood up to the arresting officer and proclaimed, "You is no gentleman."

By choosing to resist instead of go along passively, Swann's arrest is one of the earliest-known instances of violence in the name of gay rights.

The publicity and public shaming made it even more difficult for Swann to throw his secret drag balls.

Swann stopped organizing drag balls in the 1890s, but his two brothers continued to participate in the drag community for almost 50 years.

Swann passed away in December 1925 in Hancock, Maryland.

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Tony Hillerman, author of Navajo mystery novels

Tony Hillerman, born May 27, 1925 in Sacred Heart, Oklahoma, is a best-selling author of mystery novels featuring Navajo Nation police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee.  He is noted for including Navajo culture into his writings.

He served in WWII in the 103rd Infantry Division, and was awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and the Purple Heart.

His first novel The Blessing Way, featuring Joe Leaphorn was published in 1970.  His fourth novel People of Darkness introduced Jim Chee.  Starting with his seventh novel Skinwalkers, Leaphorn and Chee begin working together. 

His second novel Dance Hall of the Dead won the 1974 Edgar Award.  His novels have won many more awards.

Hillerman passed away in Albuquerque, New Mexico in October 2008.

Remembering actress extraordinaire Angela Lansbury (1925-2022)

The amazingly talented, beautiful, intelligent, and all-around perfect Angela Lansbury passed away today in Los Angeles, California at the young age of 96, just 5 days shy of her 97th birthday.

Her first on-screen appearance was in Gaslight in 1944 which garnered her first Academy Award nomination.  The next year, she received her second nomination for her performance in The Picture of Dorian Gray.  Her final nomination came in 1962 for her performance in the Manchurian Candidate, a powerful piece of filmmaking, and she delivered a knockout performance.  One of the Academy's biggest snubs.  But in 2013 she received the Academy Honorary Award.  Good for her!

She kept busy during her career, appearing in some of my favorites, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Death on the Nile, The Mirror Crack'd, Pirates of Penzance, Beauty and the Beast, and Nanny McPhee.  One of her most beloved roles was that of Jessica Fletcher in the immensely popular television series, Murder, She Wrote.  

She was nominated for twelve Golden Globes for her performance as Jessica Fletcher and nominated for 6 more. She won 4 Golden Globes for Murder, She Wrote, plus an additional 3 wins and 8 more nominations.

She received 18 Primetime Emmy Nominations, 12 for Murder, She Wrote, pretty much a nomination for every season of the show.

She has won 5 Tony Awards, the first of which was for originating the role of Mame in the musical of the same name.

She also received a Grammy Award nomination for the soundtrack for Beauty and the Beast.

She will be so missed.  🙁😦

Morgan Woodward, Star Trek actor, born 1925

Morgan Woodward, prolific actor, was born September 16, 1925 in Fort Worth, Texas.  He appeared in many westerns and two episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series.  He played Dr. Simon van Gelder in Dagger of the Mind and Captain Tracey in The Omega Glory.  

He also appeared in episodes of Murder, She Wrote, The X-files and Millennium.

Woodward passed away in February 2019.

Pavel Belyayev, Voskhod 2 cosmonaut, born 1925

Pavel Belyayev, born June 26, 1925 in the former Soviet Union, made space history when he commanded the Voskhod 2 mission, which involved the first spacewalk ever.   In March 1965, Belyayev and fellow cosmonaut Alexey Leonov launched in Voskhod 2.  Leonov made the first successful EVA.

Belyayev had to perform a manual re-entry when the automatic system failed.  It took time for him to perform the maneuver, and it caused them to overshoot their landing position by 2000 km. 

Belyayev was scheduled to fly the Voskhod 8 mission but it was cancelled.

He died in 1970 from peritonitis.

Mercury Program Astronaut Scott Carpenter born 1925

Malcolm Scott Carpenter, born in Boulder, Colorado May 1, 1925, was one of seven original astronauts chosen for NASA's Project Mercury program in 1959.  He became the 4th American in space and the 2nd to orbit Earth, after John Glenn and the first to eat solid food in space.

This was his only flight as he received an injury from a motorcycle accident in 1963, which grounded him.  He was hospitalized in September 2013 after a stroke and passed away October 10, 2013 in Denver.

Happy birthday, Angela Lansbury!

Angela Lansbury, one of my favorite actresses, turns 90 today!  She came to the United States in 1940 and began studying acting.  She moved to LA and got roles in "Gaslight" and "The Picture of Dorian Gray" based on the novel by Oscar Wilde, who was also born on this day in 1845.

Dame Angela has won five Tony awards and six Golden Globes.  She's been nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar three times. 

Although I loved her in "Murder, She Wrote", her performance in "The Manchurian Candidate" is one of the best in all filmdom.