Garrett Leigh (born May 11)

Garrett Leigh is a British writer and book designer, currently working for Dreamspinner Press, Loose Id, Riptide Publishing, and Black Jazz Press. Her protagonists will always always be tortured, crippled, broken, and deeply flawed. Throw in a tale of enduring true love, some stubbly facial hair, and a bunch of tattoos, and you’ve got yourself a Garrett special.

When not writing, Garrett can generally be found procrastinating on Twitter, cooking up a storm, or sitting on her behind doing as little as possible. That, and dreaming up new ways to torture her characters. Garrett believes in happy endings; she just likes to make her boys work for it.

Garrett also works as a freelance cover artist for various publishing houses and independent authors under the pseudonym G.D. Leigh.

Slide won a 2014 Rainbow Award as Best Bisexual Debut and Best Bisexual Romance.

Further Readings:

Slide by Garrett Leigh
Paperback: 274 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (October 14, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1627981470
ISBN-13: 978-1627981477
Amazon: Slide (Roads Book 1)
Amazon Kindle: Slide (Roads Book 1)

Roads: Book One

Don’t look back. Don’t you ever look back…

Shy tattoo artist Ash has a troubled past. Years of neglect, drug abuse, and life on the streets have taken their toll, and sometimes it seems the deep, unspoken bond with his lover is the only balm for wounds he doesn’t quite understand.

Chicago paramedic Pete is warmth, love, and strength—things Ash never knew he could have, and never even knew he wanted until Pete showed him. But fate is a cruel, cruel mistress, and when nightmares collide with the present, their tentatively built world comes crashing down.

Traumatic events in Pete’s work life distance him from home, and he doesn’t realize until it’s too late that Ash has slipped away. Betrayal, secrets, and lies unfold, and when a devastating coincidence takes hold, Pete must fight with all he has to save the love of his life.

More Rainbow Awards at my website: elisarolle.com, Rainbow Awards/2014

Christopher Bailey & Simon Woods

Christopher Bailey MBE (born May 11, 1971, West Yorkshire, England) is Chief Creative Officer of Burberry, and is responsible for the company’s overall image including all advertising, corporate art direction, store design and visuals as well as the design of all Burberry collections and product lines. In 2009, he announced that he was in a relationship with British actor Simon Woods. On 31 August 2012 it was reported that Woods and Bailey had become engaged to be married.

Bailey, who was 38 in 2009, was born in Yorkshire, the son of a carpenter and a window dresser for Marks and Spencer. He graduated from the Royal College of Art with a Masters degree in 1994 and later received an honorary fellowship from the College in 2004. From 1994 to 1996 he was the Womenswear Designer at Donna Karan and Senior Designer of Womenswear at Gucci in Milan from 1996 to 2001. While in Milan, he met and began dating Geert Cloet, brand designer for Miu Miu. He split his time between his home in Milan and England. In 2004, Cloet was diagnosed with brain cancer. He and Bailey moved to Yorkshire to be near Bailey's family. Cloet died the next year. He joined Burberry in May 2001 as creative director and became chief creative director in November 2009. Bailey is credited with transforming the fortunes of the company.

In 2008, Bailey, alongside Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts, set up The Burberry Foundation, committed to dedicating global resources to help young people realise their dreams and achieve their goals and potential through their power and creativity. The Burberry Foundation invests in select charities focused on supporting young people in the key cities in regions where the majority of Burberry employees live and work, and where they are able to participate in volunteer roles with Burberry charity partners on the ground.


Christopher Bailey MBE (born 1971, West Yorkshire, England) is Chief Creative Officer of Burberry, and is responsible for the company's overall image including all advertising, corporate art direction, store design and visuals as well as the design of all Burberry collections and product lines. In 2009, he announced that he was in a relationship with British actor Simon Woods (born 1980). On 31 August 2012 it was reported that Woods and Bailey had become engaged to be married.



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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Bailey_%28fashion_designer%29

Simon Woods (born 1980) is an English actor best known for his role as Octavian in Season 2 of the British-American television series Rome and the 2005 Pride & Prejudice as Mr. Charles Bingley. He also starred as Dr Harrison in the BBC1 costume drama series Cranford, whose arrival in the village "sets female hearts racing."

He attended Eton College, then read English at Magdalen College, Oxford. After graduating from Oxford, Woods worked briefly at The Guardian before becoming an actor.

While at Oxford, he was in a relationship with Rosamund Pike that lasted two years. Despite the break-up, the two later played lovers Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley in Pride & Prejudice. Since 2009, Woods has been in a relationship with Christopher Bailey, the chief executive of the British fashion house, Burberry.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Woods

( Further Readings )

More Fashion Designers at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Art

More LGBT Couples at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Real Life Romance

Albert Mol & Guerdon Bill

Albert Mol (January 1, 1917 – March 9, 2004) was a popular Dutch author, actor and TV personality, who appeared in movies and TV shows in a career that spanned nearly 60 years. (P: Nationaal Archief. Albert Mol , 1962)

Mol was born in Amsterdam, and was one of the first openly gay actors in the Netherlands. He married Lucy Bor in 1948 and divorced her in 1955. They had a child together in 1949, the actress Kika Mol. On March 16, 1998, Albert Mol registered his relationship with his partner Guerdon "Geurt" J. Bill (born on May 11, 1936, died on August 17, 2003). Their relationship lasted until Guerdon's death on August 17, 2003. Mol died in Laren several months later, from an aneurysm.

A previous partner of Mol was Dutch photographer Faan Nijhoff aka Stephen Storm (28 August 1916 - 10 December 1986), born in Breda as Wouter Stefan Nijhoff, a son to writer A.H. Nijhoff-Wind and poet Martinus Nijhoff. He studied photography in Paris (France) with Man Ray and settled in The Hague (Netherlands) under the name Stephen Storm.

A.H. Nijhoff-Wind (9 June 1897 - 22 May 1971) was a Dutch writer, born as Antoinetta (Netty) Hendrika Wind, born in The Hague. She was married for 34 years to poet Martinus Nijhoff, but they only lived together for a couple of years. In 1916 their son Faan was born. In 1920 she moved to Italy to start a boarding house in Settignano, with her lover Maria Tesi, and experience she described in "The Four Deaths".


@Paul Huf. Albert Mol & Guerdon Bill, 1976
Albert Mol was a popular Dutch author, actor and TV personality, who appeared in movies and TV shows. Mol was born in Amsterdam, and was one of the first openly gay actors in the Netherlands. He married Lucy Bor in 1948 and divorced her in 1955. They had a child together in 1949, the actress Kika Mol. On March 16, 1998, Albert Mol registered his relationship with his partner since the '70s, Guerdon "Geurt" J. Bill. Guerdon died on August 17, 2003, Mol just few months later.

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Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Mol

Days of Love: Celebrating LGBT History One Story at a Time by Elisa Rolle
Paperback: 760 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1 edition (July 1, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1500563323
ISBN-13: 978-1500563325
CreateSpace Store: https://www.createspace.com/4910282
Amazon (Paperback): http://www.amazon.com/dp/1500563323/?tag=elimyrevandra-20
Amazon (Kindle): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MZG0VHY/?tag=elimyrevandra-20

Days of Love chronicles more than 700 LGBT couples throughout history, spanning 2000 years from Alexander the Great to the most recent winner of a Lambda Literary Award. Many of the contemporary couples share their stories on how they met and fell in love, as well as photos from when they married or of their families. Included are professional portraits by Robert Giard and Stathis Orphanos, paintings by John Singer Sargent and Giovanni Boldini, and photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnson, Arnold Genthe, and Carl Van Vechten among others. “It's wonderful. Laying it out chronologically is inspired, offering a solid GLBT history. I kept learning things. I love the decision to include couples broken by death. It makes clear how important love is, as well as showing what people have been through. The layout and photos look terrific.” Christopher Bram “I couldn’t resist clicking through every page. I never realized the scope of the book would cover centuries! I know that it will be hugely validating to young, newly-emerging LGBT kids and be reassured that they really can have a secure, respected place in the world as their futures unfold.” Howard Cruse “This international history-and-photo book, featuring 100s of detailed bios of some of the most forward-moving gay persons in history, is sure to be one of those bestsellers that gay folk will enjoy for years to come as reference and research that is filled with facts and fun.” Jack Fritscher

Edith Craig, Christabel Marshall & Clare Atwood

Clare 'Tony' Atwood (11 May 1866 – 2 August 1962) was a British painter of portraits, still life, landscapes, interiors and decorative flower subjects. Atwood lived in a ménage à trois with the dramatist Christabel Marshall and the actress, theatre director, producer and costume designer Edith Craig from 1916 until Craig's death in 1947. (P: Self Portrait in a Hat with a Basket of Vegetables by Clare Atwood, Collection: National Trust, Fenton House)

Atwood was born in 1866 at Richmond, London, the only daughter of Frederick Atwood, an architect, and his wife, Clara Becker. Named Clara at birth, she later used the form Clare and was also known as Tony. Atwood studied at Westminster School of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art. She first exhibited at the New English Art Club in 1893, becoming a member in 1912. She held an exhibition of her work at the Carfax Gallery in 1911. In 1917, during World War I, she was commissioned to paint war scenes for the Canadian Government through the Canadian War Memorials Fund. The Fund arranged for Atwood to visit the military camp at Folkestone in Kent to gather ideas for the work. However, instead Atwood decided to paint a YMCA canteen at one of London’s railway stations, where enlisted men were waiting for a train to take them to camps or to the front. In 1920 she was commissioned for four war paintings by the Imperial War Museum.


Edith Ailsa Craig (1869–1947) by Clare Atwood, Collection: National Trust, Smallhythe Place

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Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare_Atwood

Christabel Gertrude Marshall (aka Christopher Marie St John) (24 October 1871 – 20 October 1960) was a British campaigner for women's suffrage, a playwright and author. Marshall lived in a ménage à trois with the artist Clare Atwood and the actress, theatre director, producer and costume designer Edith Craig from 1916 until Craig's death in 1947.

Born in Exeter, she was the youngest of nine children of Emma Marshall, née Martin (1828–1899), novelist, and Hugh Graham Marshall (c.1825–1899), manager of the West of England Bank. She changed her name on her conversion to Catholicism in adulthood. Having taken a BA in Modern History at Somerville College, Oxford, Marshall became the secretary to Mrs Humphry Ward, Lady Randolph Churchill and, occasionally, to her son Winston Churchill.

In order to pursue her aim of becoming a dramatist, Marshall went on the stage for three years to learn stagecraft, and occasionally acted as secretary to Ellen Terry. She lived with Terry's daughter Edith Craig from 1899 to Craig's death in 1947. They lived together at Smith Square and then 31 Bedford Street, Covent Garden as well as Priest's House, Tenterden, Kent. Their relationship became temporarily strained when Craig received, and accepted, a marriage proposal from the composer Martin Shaw in 1903, and Marshall attempted suicide. In 1916 Marshall and Craig were joined by the artist Clare 'Tony' Atwood, living in a ménage à trois until Craig died in 1947, according to Michael Holroyd in his book A Strange Eventful History. In 1900 Marshall published her first novel, The Crimson Weed, which takes its title from a transformation of the traditional symbol of the red rose. A feminist, in 1909 she joined the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), having previously worked for the Women Writers' Suffrage League and the Actresses' Franchise League.


Edith Craig, Clare Atwood and Christabel Marshall in the garden of Priest's House at Smallhythe Place, ca 1920
Edith Craig was a prolific theatre director, producer, costume designer and early pioneer of the women's suffrage movement in England. She was the daughter of actress Ellen Terry and architect-designer Edward William Godwin. She lived with Christabel Marshall (Christopher St. John) from 1899 until they were joined in 1916 by the artist Clare 'Tony' Atwood, living togehter until Craig's death in 1947. Virginia Woolf is said to have used Edith Craig as a model for Miss LaTrobe in Between the Acts.

( Read more... )

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christabel_Marshall

Edith Ailsa Geraldine Craig (9 December 1869 – 27 March 1947) was a prolific theatre director, producer, costume designer and early pioneer of the women's suffrage movement in England. She was the daughter of Victorian era actress Ellen Terry and the progressive English architect-designer Edward William Godwin, and the sister of theatre practitioner Edward Gordon Craig. (©Alfred Ellis (active 1884-1899)/NPG x6993. Edith Ailsa Geraldine Craig, 1895 (©19))

As a lesbian, an active campaigner for women's suffrage, and a woman working as a theatre director, Edith Craig has been recovered by feminist scholars as well as theatre historians. Craig lived in a ménage à trois with the dramatist Christabel Marshall and the artist Clare 'Tony' Atwood from 1916 until her death.

Edith 'Edy' Craig, like her younger brother Edward, was illegitimate, as her mother, Ellen Terry, was still married to her first husband George Frederic Watts when she eloped with Godwin in 1868. Edith Craig was born the following year at Gusterwoods Common in Hertfordshire, and was given the surname 'Craig' to avoid the stigma of illegitimacy. Terry was looked after carefully by her mother. Ellen believed that disruptive colors and unsightly objects could have a negative effect on Edith's growth and behavior. The family lived in Fallows Green, Harpenden in Hertfordshire, designed by Godwin, until 1874. The couple separated in 1875. In 1877 Terry married her second husband, Charles Wardell, who became a father figure for the children leading to Craig taking the name Wardell. However, in 1907 Terry married her third husband, James Carew, whom Edith Craig did not like. Craig and her mother,Terry, had a strained relationship, and Craig openly felt that her mother favorited her brother, Edward. As a young child, Craig was harshly criticized by her mother, leaving scars and insecurities that were carried with Craig into adulthood.


©George Frederic Watts (1817-1904)/NPG 5048. “Choosing” (Ellen Terry), ca. 1864 (©4)

( Read more... )

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Craig

Days of Love: Celebrating LGBT History One Story at a Time by Elisa Rolle
Paperback: 760 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1 edition (July 1, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1500563323
ISBN-13: 978-1500563325
CreateSpace Store: https://www.createspace.com/4910282
Amazon (Paperback): http://www.amazon.com/dp/1500563323/?tag=elimyrevandra-20
Amazon (Kindle): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MZG0VHY/?tag=elimyrevandra-20

Days of Love chronicles more than 700 LGBT couples throughout history, spanning 2000 years from Alexander the Great to the most recent winner of a Lambda Literary Award. Many of the contemporary couples share their stories on how they met and fell in love, as well as photos from when they married or of their families. Included are professional portraits by Robert Giard and Stathis Orphanos, paintings by John Singer Sargent and Giovanni Boldini, and photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnson, Arnold Genthe, and Carl Van Vechten among others. “It's wonderful. Laying it out chronologically is inspired, offering a solid GLBT history. I kept learning things. I love the decision to include couples broken by death. It makes clear how important love is, as well as showing what people have been through. The layout and photos look terrific.” Christopher Bram “I couldn’t resist clicking through every page. I never realized the scope of the book would cover centuries! I know that it will be hugely validating to young, newly-emerging LGBT kids and be reassured that they really can have a secure, respected place in the world as their futures unfold.” Howard Cruse “This international history-and-photo book, featuring 100s of detailed bios of some of the most forward-moving gay persons in history, is sure to be one of those bestsellers that gay folk will enjoy for years to come as reference and research that is filled with facts and fun.” Jack Fritscher

Lady Eleanor Charlotte Butler & Honorable Sarah Ponsonby

The Ladies of Llangollen were two upper-class women from Ireland whose relationship scandalised and fascinated their contemporaries. (P: ©James Henry Lynch (died 1868)/NPG D14047. 'The Ladies of Llangollen' (Lady Eleanor Charlotte Butler; Sarah Ponsonby), ca. 1887 (©4))

Eleanor Charlotte Butler (11 May 1739–2 June 1829) was a member of one of the dynastic families of Ireland, the Butlers, the Earls (and later Dukes) of Ormond, who number amongst their ancestors Queen Anne Boleyn (through her paternal grandmother Lady Margaret Butler). Eleanor was considered an over-educated bookworm by her family, who resided at the Butler family seat Kilkenny Castle. She spoke French and was educated in a convent in France. Her mother tried to make her join a convent because she was becoming a spinster.

Sarah Ponsonby (1755–9 December 1832) lived with relatives in Woodstock, Ireland. She was a second cousin of Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough, and thus a second cousin, once-removed, of his daughter the Lady Caroline Lamb.

Their families lived only two miles (3 km) from each other. They met in 1768, and quickly became friends. Over the years they formulated a plan for a private rural retreat.

Rather than face the possibility of being forced into unwanted marriages, they ran away together in April 1778. Their families hunted them down and forcefully tried to make them give up their plans – in vain.


©Richard James Lane (1800-1872), after Lady Leighton/NPG D32504. Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, genteel Irishwomen who eloped to Wales, were famous for their romantic devotion to each other, and became known as the Ladies of Llangollen, after 1831 (©4)
 Rather than face the possibility of being forced into unwanted marriages, Lady Eleanor Charlotte Butler & Honorable Sarah Ponsonby ran away together in April 1778. Their families hunted them down and forcefully tried to make them give up their plans - in vain. They set up home at Plas Newydd, near the town of Llangollen in 1780. Butler and Ponsonby lived together for the rest of their lives, over 50 years. Their books and glassware had both sets of initials and their letters were jointly signed.


St Collen’s Church burial ground, Llangollen, Denbighshire, Wales. Contains memorials to the 'Ladies of Llangollen'. Lady Eleanor Charlotte Butler & Honorable Sarah Ponsonby who fleed Ireland to avoid marriages and settled here in 1778.

( Read more... )

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladies_of_Llangollen

Further Readings:

Days of Love: Celebrating LGBT History One Story at a Time by Elisa Rolle
Paperback: 760 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1 edition (July 1, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1500563323
ISBN-13: 978-1500563325
CreateSpace Store: https://www.createspace.com/4910282
Amazon (Paperback): http://www.amazon.com/dp/1500563323/?tag=elimyrevandra-20
Amazon (Kindle): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MZG0VHY/?tag=elimyrevandra-20

Days of Love chronicles more than 700 LGBT couples throughout history, spanning 2000 years from Alexander the Great to the most recent winner of a Lambda Literary Award. Many of the contemporary couples share their stories on how they met and fell in love, as well as photos from when they married or of their families. Included are professional portraits by Robert Giard and Stathis Orphanos, paintings by John Singer Sargent and Giovanni Boldini, and photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnson, Arnold Genthe, and Carl Van Vechten among others. “It's wonderful. Laying it out chronologically is inspired, offering a solid GLBT history. I kept learning things. I love the decision to include couples broken by death. It makes clear how important love is, as well as showing what people have been through. The layout and photos look terrific.” Christopher Bram “I couldn’t resist clicking through every page. I never realized the scope of the book would cover centuries! I know that it will be hugely validating to young, newly-emerging LGBT kids and be reassured that they really can have a secure, respected place in the world as their futures unfold.” Howard Cruse “This international history-and-photo book, featuring 100s of detailed bios of some of the most forward-moving gay persons in history, is sure to be one of those bestsellers that gay folk will enjoy for years to come as reference and research that is filled with facts and fun.” Jack Fritscher

Billy Bean (born May 11, 1964)

William Daro "Billy" Bean (born May 11, 1964 in Santa Ana, California) is a former Major League Baseball player who publicly came out as gay in 1999.

Bean was an outfielder, and left-handed hitter, with 487 at bats with a .226 batting average in a career that lasted from 1987 through 1995: Detroit Tigers 1987-1989, Los Angeles Dodgers 1989, San Diego Padres 1993-1995. He played for the Kintetsu Buffaloes in Japan in 1992. Bean tied a major league record with four hits in his first major league game.

After acknowledging that he is gay, Bean went on to write a book, Going the Other Way: Lessons from a Life in and out of Major League Baseball.

Bean is the second Major League Baseball player who has ever revealed his homosexuality. Billy Bean came out after his retirement. Glenn Burke was the first to come out to his teammates and employers during his playing days, though Burke didn't come out to the public at large until his career was over.

He was a panelist on GSN's I've Got A Secret revival in 2006, and is a board member of the Gay and Lesbian Athletics Foundation.

In the summer of 2007, it was announced that he had been hired as a consultant by Scout Productions, the team of David Collins and Michael Williams, who produced Bravo's Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, for their next project with Showtime entitled The Beard. The project is a romantic comedy about a gay professional baseball player who enters into a relationship with a woman in order to survive in the sports world.

( Read more... )

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Bean

Further Readings:

Going the Other Way: Lessons from a Life In and Out of Major League Baseball by Billy Bean
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Da Capo Press (March 24, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1569244618
ISBN-13: 978-1569244616
Amazon: Going the Other Way: Lessons from a Life In and Out of Major League Baseball

In spring 2003 Billy Bean, the only living openly gay former major leaguer, gained national attention with his breakthrough memoir, Going the Other Way—an unprecedented chronicle of America's national pastime that went on to sell more than 25,000 copies. Bean brings us inside the clubhouse and onto the playing field, offering dead-on insight into the game and the physical and emotional demands it makes on players. Bean faced an agonizing choice, in secrecy and solitude, between continuing to play the game he loved and the honesty of a loving relationship. By turns heartbreaking and farcical, ruminative and uncensored, the book culminates in a respectful, deeply felt appeal to Major League Baseball and other professional team sports to live up to their promise of equality and opportunity. A testament to the power of the single voice, Going the Other Way is an exemplary American tale that points the way toward a more perfect game, one in which all men and women can pursue their athletic dreams free of prejudice and discrimination. An eight-page photo insert is featured in this New York Times bestseller.

More Spotlights at my website: www.elisarolle.com/, My Lists/Gay Novels

Dick Leitsch (born May 11, 1935)

Dick Leitsch (born on May 11, 1935 in Louisville, Kentucky), three-term president of the Mattachine Society of New York City, was also its reigning power. Leitsch was one of the first Mattachine leaders and pre-Stonewall activists who dared to use his own name - to seek publicity to expose oppression, and to use the courts to sue for homosexual rights. He was also charming and charismatic, a well-polished Kentuckian who presented a much-needed "regular guy" image. In addition, he had what many of the later, more radical gay leaders lacked: a sense of humor.

His parents had been among the first white members of the NAACP in Louisville. Leitsch greatly admired Martin Luther King's nonviolent methods in forcing integration, and he attempted to emulate King in his own political sphere. On April 21, 1966, Dick Leitsch and two other members staged the Sip-in at Julius bar on West 10th Street in Greenwich Village. This resulted in the anti-gay accommodation rules of the NY State Liquor Authority being overturned in subsequent court actions. These SLA provisions declared that it was illegal for homosexuals to congregate and be served alcoholic beverages in bars.

The press scribbled away as Leitsch explained that the Mattachine Society, along with the ACLU, was planning to sue Julius's. But not to worry, he said, the society would pay all of Julius's legal expenses. The object was simply to have the liquor authority's anti-homosexual policies overturned.



( Read more... )

Source: http://andrejkoymasky.com/liv/fam/biol2/leitsc01.html

( Dick Leitsch, 1999, by Robert Giard  )

( Further Readings )

More Particular Voices at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Particular Voices