In Honor of Gay History Month

[bigscott]

How about we name our favorite (or most respected) GLBT person?

I will start: Barney Frank. Smart man, biting wit, scares the straights <lol>, overcame some indiscretions in his past, proud of who he is, a leader in the recent financial BS. I had dinner with Congressman Franks and my partner once about 8 years ago. he is one of the most intelligent, well read people I know. Also very respectful and kind to people - maybe not Bill O'Reilly but still.

Also on my list: Del Martin (god bless her soul)

Peace!

S

:pals:

[terrya]

1. I'll add the name of Franklin Kameny.

There's so many people who have helped the GLBT movement. Dr. Kameny is one of the pioneers.

His wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Kameny

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. The two that I respect most are British

Oscar Wilde, one of the greatest writers of the Victorian era, known for his sharp wit. He was sentenced to two years of hard labor on conviction of "gross indecency" with another man.

Alan Turing, mathematician, computer pioneer and cryptographer. He single-handedly saved the Allies' collective bacon by cracking the Nazi's enigma machine cryptography system. In gratitude for his service to freedom, the UK convicted him with "gross indecency" with a man; his conviction was to undergo chemical castration, which caused extreme depression and resulted in his suicide.

[Duncan Grant]

4. I often think of Alan Turing.

His achievements are monumental. I would guess most straight people have no idea who he is -- much less what he suffered at the hands of a "grateful" nation.

Great choice, thanks for naming him (not to give Oscar short shrift). :thumbsup:

[racaulk]

3. Oh, I love Del Martin!

It warmed my heart so much that she was finally able to legally marry her wife before she died. I just hope that the bigots in California don't decide to posthumously annul her marriage. RIP, Del. You are loved and adored by many.

One that I would add to the list: Ellen Degeneres. A true trailblazer since coming out, Ellen has just been an amazing advocate for GLBT equality. She has used her humor and likability to put a gentle, human face to the GLBT rights movement, which the religious right would have everyone believe is monstrous and destructive. I think that went a great way to help break down barriers and to prove to others that we're people, just like everyone else, and we're not too scary. I think she's a hero.

:hi:

[Moloch]

5. Randy Shilts has always been someone I've really admired..

I still read all three of his books periodically and think he was the bravest and most honest journalist of the twentieth century.

Speaking of which, I haven't heard anything about the movie of The Mayor of Castro Street lately.. Does anyone know whats going on with that?

[racaulk]

6. Unfortunately, it doesn't come out until November 26.

I can't wait to see it! Harvey Milk is one of my gay heroes also.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/focus_features/milk

http://www.filminfocus.com/focusfeatures/film/milk

[bigscott]

7. And the Band Played On....

is one of the best books I have ever read. It was one (of many) of the motivating factors that steered me towards a career in HIV/AIDS research when i got out of college. A great man and a great read.

Peace

[Moloch]

11. Thank you.

That book got me interested in journalism and its my passion to this day :)

Have you read Conduct Unbecoming and The Mayor of Castro Street? Neither are quite as good as ATBPO but they're both excellent and incredibly well researched. Conduct Unbecoming is a bit on the long side but it is the most impassioned and logical argument against the ban on gays in the military that has ever been published.

[LeftCoast]

8. Harry Hay - Founder of the Mattachine Society

From the wikipedia article:

Harry Hay (April 7, 1912, Worthing, England – October 24, 2002) was a leader in the gay rights movement in the United States, known for founding the Mattachine Society in 1950 and the Radical Faeries in 1979, and partner of inventor John Burnside for 40 years, from 1962 until Hay's death. He was raised as a Roman Catholic.

Hay was born in 1912 in the coastal town of Worthing, Sussex, England where he grew up until his parents emigrated to California in 1919. Starting in Los Angeles in 1950, Hay worked with a handful of supporters to found the Mattachine Society. At this time, nineteen years before the Stonewall riots, virtually no gays or lesbians were publicly out, it was illegal for homosexuals to gather in public, and the American Psychiatric Association defined homosexuality as a mental illness. Very slowly, he gathered members to this group. The Mattachine Society met in secret, with members often accompanied by a female friend to prevent being publicly identified as gay. Though Henry Gerber's gay rights group The Society for Human Rights had briefly flowered in Chicago twenty years earlier, it was quickly shut down by authorities. Hay's successful launching of a lasting national gay network makes him a plausible entry for the founder of the American gay rights movement.

Although Harry Hay claimed 'never to have even heard' of the earlier gay liberation struggle in Germany -- by the people around Adolf Brand, Magnus Hirschfeld and Leontine Sagan -- he is known to have talked about it with European emigres in America including Mattachine co-founder Rudi Gernreich. (However, Gernreich arrived in America at age 14, and Hay had already written his gay manifesto when they met).

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[cboy4]

9. I'm embarrassed to say I didn't know very much about

Del Martin until I read about her life after she died.

She was a pioneer, who did so much.

What a brave, wonderful lady. RIP Del. :cry:





There's also Barbara Gittings, Frank Kameny, Jean O'Leary, Larry Kramer and Harvey Milk.

And many more.

[Stargleamer]

10. Tennessee Williams

btw, why i am a seeing a protectmarriage.com ad at DU?