Tobias brings you a monthly round-up of queer folk from history, some familiar, some not.
Every month I’ll be highlighting five fascinating (mostly) men profiled on The Queer-A-Day-Project. The other ~25 can be found in the Table of Contents alongside luminaries from prior months.
May saw the advent of a new weekly feature: Historiography Saturday, which explores the trickier aspects of covering queer history by looking at case studies. So far both halves of the rumored Mick Jagger/David Bowie rock star love affair have made appearances, with the complexity of defining their sexual orientations taking center stage.
In honor of the premiere of HBO’s The Normal Heart, its screenwriter Larry Kramer gets his own day of recognition. Heart recounts Kramer’s mostly-autobiographical tribulations at the center of New York City’s HIV/AIDS activism and its in-group feuding, along with the government’s malicious neglect and a doomed love story.
For a more optimistic governmental story, take a look at Kamikawa Aya, Japan’s first openly transgender elected official. She has held a position on a regional assembly seat since 2003 and has used it to advocate on behalf of the queer, disabled, and student communities.
For the more science-inclined, James B. Pollack’s is a name worth knowing. Pollack, a colleague of Carl Sagan, was responsible for pinning down the contents of Saturn’s rings and coining the term “nuclear winter.”
Tune in next month for more queer history highlights, or just follow the blog for regular updates.
Art credit: Claire Quigley
i enjoyed reading about aya
i hadnt known about her before