Ace Lundon & Patric John Algarin

Ace Lundon (born August 1, 1936), born in Beresford, S.D., in 1936, was raised on a farm.

He attended several colleges and studied English, abnormal psychology and counseling, social science, biblical history and theology, journalism, history and public relations.

Though he is a lifelong Republican, Lundon is an activist for women's rights and minority rights.

He devoted a portion of his life in the 1950's and 1960's to evangelism as a youth pastor, and he is a firm believer in the separation of church and state.

After spending most of his life in the closet, he is now an advocate of gay rights.

Lundon has also worked as a syndicated columnist, reporter, movie reviewer and the managing editor of two national publications: Zipper magazine and The Coast To Coast Times, a homophile newspaper with the second largest circulation in the United States in the 1970's.

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Herman Melville & Nathaniel Hawthorne

Herman Melville (August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick. His first three books gained much contemporary attention (the first, Typee, becoming a bestseller), and after a fast-blooming literary success in the late 1840s, his popularity declined precipitously in the mid-1850s and never recovered during his lifetime. When he died in 1891, he was almost completely forgotten. It was not until the "Melville Revival" in the early 20th century that his work won recognition, especially Moby-Dick, which was hailed as one of the literary masterpieces of both American and world literature. He was the first writer to have his works collected and published by the Library of America.

According to Laurie Robertson-Lorant's 1996 biography, Herman Melville was bisexual. Robertson-Lorant writes:

In successive drafts of this biography, I have struggled to craft a language for talking about Melville's sexuality without force-fitting him into the Procrustean bed of theory. Gay critics claim Melville as a gay writer, but I feel it is restrictive to reduce Melville's writings to coy sexual disclosures, or his life to an elaborate lie. Individuals for whom intellect and sensuality form one strong erotic current may form passionate attachments to persons of both sexes that are not necessarily sexual. Although his writings reflect a deep longing for emotional intimacy with other men, Melville does not seem to have been actively homosexual, according to twentieth-century definitions of the term. He lived a very different life from Walt Whitman, Charles Warren Stoddard, or Oscar Wilde. Whereas Whitman openly proclaimed his preference for men and lived with a male lover, refusing to marry despite proposals from women admirers, Melville lived a heterosexual life, as far as we know. After escaping the forced homosexuality of the forecastle and the multiple seductions of the rover's life in the South Seas, he married and fathered four children." (Robertson-Lorant, Laurie. Melville: A Biography. New York, Clarkson/ Potter/ Publishers: 1996. p.618)


©Charles Osgood (1809-1890)/Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts. Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1840 (©4)
One of the great literary friendships of the nineteenth century was that shared by New England writers Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne. On August 5, 1850, the two met at a picnic in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. When a sudden thunderstorm came up, they were forced to seek shelter among the rocks of Monument Mountain; the two hours spent alone in conversation sealed their relationship. Melville, the younger man, immediately formed "a reckless emotional attachment" to the 46-year-old Hawthorne, a father figure but, "more than handsome, so darkly gorgeous.“

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Source: http://www.glbtq.com/discussion/viewtopic.php?t=2770

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
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

James Whitney Fosburgh & Minnie Cushing

James Whitney Fosburgh (1910-1978) was an American painter and lecturer on art perhaps most famous for his portrait of US President, John F. Kennedy, which is featured in full colour on the cover of the 5th November 1965 edition of Life magazine, to accompany the memorial essay on the President entitled “A Thousand Days”. Fosburgh was trained at Yale School of Fine Art, where he received his B.A. in 1933 and M.A. in 1935, and was an artist very much at the centre of things in pre- and post-war American society. Although homosexual, he was married to the socialite Mary "Minnie" Cushing, whose first husband had been Vincent Astor. (P: Betsey Maria Cushing Whitney and Jock Whitney)

For his first major one-man show, Time magazine featured the following review: “Ever since the "Ashcan" painters of the early 1900s went looking for Beauty in alleys and gutters, U.S. artists have prided themselves on smoking the lady out of the most unexpected hiding places. Last week in a Manhattan gallery, Painter James Fosburgh smoked her out again. He had discovered her in a dirty clothes hamper, a rumpled pillow, a tavern jukebox. "Anything can be beautiful if you bother to see its beauty," says Fosburgh. "Even a hamper can be a vision of the world." He makes a handsome still life from a pair of discarded work gloves or a coffee cup, a romantic landscape from the bleak hangars and dingy flats of La Guardia Airport seen across turgid Flushing Bay.

Fosburgh is a late starter: he is having his first one-man show at 41. After musing through galleries and lecturing for four years at Manhattan's Frick Museum on everything from Chinese ceramics to Boucher, he finally decided to turn painter. Wartime service as an Army glider pilot held him up for five years. Then he spent another year experimenting with blobs and squiggles: "I didn't know what I was doing, and finally I decided I wasn't going to find out, so I chucked the whole lot into the fireplace."


James Whitney Fosburgh was an American painter and lecturer on art at the Frick Museum, perhaps most famous for his portrait of US President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Although homosexual, in 1953 he married the socialite Mary "Minnie" Cushing, whose first husband had been Vincent Astor. On October 8, 1953, several weeks after divorcing his second wife, Minnie, Astor married the once-divorced, once-widowed Roberta Brooke Russell. According to an oft-told story in society circles, Astor agreed to divorce his second wife only after she had found him a replacement spouse.

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Source: http://www.cambridgeprints.com/artists/f/FOSBURGH.HTML

Mary Benedict "Minnie" Cushing (January 27, 1906 – November 6, 1978) was an American socialite, philanthropist and art collector.

Mary Benedict Cushing was the eldest daughter of Harvey Williams Cushing and Katharine Stone Crowell. Her two sisters, also prominent socialites, were Betsey Maria Cushing and Barbara Cushing. She also had two brothers, William Harvey Cushing and Henry Kirke Cushing.

She was a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York City Center, and was on the board of the Yale Art Gallery. She was also a major supporter of the American National Theater and Academy and the Henry Street Settlement. During World War II she was a leader in the Ship Service Committee and New York City War Fund.

As an art collector, she was known for her collection including Paul Cézanne, Winslow Homer, William Nicholson, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Walter Sickert, and Pavel Tchelitchew.

She was married twice, first to the multi-millionaire William Vincent Astor (son of Colonel John Jacob Astor IV and Ava Lowle Willing) in 1940 as his second wife. They were divorced in 1953.

She married her second husband, the painter James Whitney Fosburgh (August 1, 1910 - May 14, 1978), later in 1953.

She died on November 6, 1978.

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

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

Pierre Bergé & Yves Saint Laurent

Pierre Bergé (born 14 November 1930) is a French industrialist and patron. He is the co-founder of Yves Saint Laurent Couture House and onetime life partner and longtime business partner of the late fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.

Bergé was born in Oléron (Charente-Maritime). His mother Christiane was an amateur soprano and a progressive teacher who used the Montessori method. His father worked for the tax office and was a great rugby enthusiast. Bergé attended the Lycée Eugène Fromentin in La Rochelle, and later went to Paris. On the day of his arrival, as he was walking on the Champs-Élysées, French poet Jacques Prévert landed on him following a fall from his apartment window. During these early years in Paris, Bergé befriended the young French artist Bernard Buffet and was a great help in facilitating Buffet's success.

Bergé met Yves Saint Laurent in 1958. They became romantically involved and together launched Yves Saint Laurent Couture House in 1961. The couple split amicably in 1976 but remained lifelong friends and business partners. Bergé acted as C.E.O. of Yves Saint Laurent Haute Couture until it shuttered in 2002. Highly protective of and invested in the reputation and legacy of Saint Laurent Couture, Bergé was known as the "Dean of Yves Saint Laurent" According to The New York Times, a few days before Saint Laurent died in 2008, he and Bergé were joined in a same-sex civil union known as a Pacte civil de solidarité (PACS) in France.


Yves Saint Laurent was a French fashion designer. Pierre Bergé is a French industrialist and patron. He is the co-founder of Yves Saint Laurent Couture House and onetime life partner and longtime business partner of the late fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent. Bergé met Yves Saint Laurent in 1958. They became romantically involved and together launched Yves Saint Laurent Couture House in 1961. The couple split amicably in 1976 but remained lifelong friends and business partners.



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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Berg%C3%A9

Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent, known as Yves Saint Laurent (August 1, 1936 – June 1, 2008), was a French fashion designer, and is regarded as one of the greatest names in fashion history. In 1985, Caroline Rennolds Milbank wrote, "The most consistently celebrated and influential designer of the past twenty-five years, Yves Saint Laurent can be credited with both spurring the couture's rise from its sixties ashes and with finally rendering ready-to-wear reputable." He is also credited with having introduced the tuxedo suit for women and was known for his use of non-European cultural references, and non-White models.

Three documentaries have been made about Saint Laurent's life: David Teboul's "Yves Saint Laurent: His Life and Times" (2002), "Yves Saint Laurent: 5 Avenue Marceau 75116 Paris" (2002), and Pierre Thoretton's "L'Amour Fou" (2009).

Yves Henri-Donat Matthieu-Saint Laurent was born on August 1, 1936, in Oran, Algeria, to Charles and Lucienne Andrée Mathieu-Saint-Laurent. He grew up in a villa by the Mediterranean with his two younger sisters, Michèle and Brigitte. Yves liked to create intricate paper dolls, and by his early teen years he was designing dresses for his mother and sisters. At the age of 18, Saint Laurent moved to Paris and enrolled at the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture, where his designs quickly gained notice. Michel De Brunhoff, the editor of French Vogue, introduced Saint Laurent to designer Christian Dior, a giant in the fashion world. "Dior fascinated me," Saint Laurent later recalled. "I couldn't speak in front of him. He taught me the basis of my art. Whatever was to happen next, I never forgot the years I spent at by his side." Under Dior's tutelage, Saint Laurent's style continued to mature and gain still more notice.

( Yves Saint Laurent & Pierre Berg� )

( Yves Saint Laurent )

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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Saint_Laurent_%28designer%29

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
Amazon: Days of Love: Celebrating LGBT History One Story at a Time

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

Jason & deMarco

Jason Warner (born 1975) and deMarco DeCiccio (born 1976) are a Christian musical duo (and life partners) with outreach to the LGBT community. (P: Jason Warner and deMarco DeCiccio singing together at All God's Children Metropolitan Community Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota.)

Robert Jason Nicewarner, who changed his name to "Jason Warner" before becoming a duo with deMarco, is a 1997 graduate of Lee University in Tennessee, and comes from a Pentecostal faith background. Marco DeCiccio, who is now known as deMarco, grew up a Roman Catholic, is a native of Canada and a 1999 graduate of York University.

Jason and deMarco met in 2001 in Hollywood, California. Before launching their duo act, deMarco was a lead in the international touring company of the musical "California Dream Men" and Jason was a Christian artist in mainline traditional Gospel groups, and then as a solo artist touring mostly through Metropolitan Community Church, gay-accepting churches. The duo released their first album together, The Spirit of Christmas, in 2002 followed by 2003's Songs for the Spirit. In 2004, they appeared on the cover of The Advocate magazine with their new album Spirit Pop. In early 2005, they started working with Letthead Productions, a recording studio and production company based in Houston. They released their fourth album, Till the End of Time, produced by Alan Lett, with additional production from Joe Hogue, Eddie X and Luigie Gonzalez. Seven of the album's twelve songs are written by Jason and deMarco.

Jason and deMarco's first single, "Trying to Get to You," climbed the Billboard Charts and their second single, "This is Love", won "Music Video of the Year 2006" on MTV's LOGO. A full-length feature documentary film entitled We're All Angels premiered at NewFest 2007 (the 19th Annual New York LGBT Film Festival), and at Outfest 2007 (the 25th Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival). They have a fan club "The Angel Club," based on the We're All Angels documentary.


Contemporary Christian singers deMarco DeCiccio, left, and his partner, Jason Warner, along with their 19-month-old twins Mason, left, and Noah.
Jason Warner and deMarco DeCiccio are a Christian musical duo (and life partners) with outreach to the LGBT community. The couple married in Los Angeles in 2008 and performed at summit united Methodist church in Columbus Ohio in September 2008. Fraternal twins Mason and Noah, arrived in May 2011 via surrogacy. DeCiccio is Mason's biological father, and Warner is Noah's biological father. Each parent legally adopted the other child. Warner has written a book, "The Journey of Same Sex Surrogacy," due this fall, that chronicles their experience.

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Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_and_deMarco

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James St. James (born August 1, 1966)

James St. James (born James Clark August 1, 1966) is an American television personality, author, celebutante and former Club Kid of the Manhattan club scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

James St. James was notorious for a lifestyle of excess that included heavy drug use, partying, and bizarre costumes that first brought him to national attention as the subject of Club Kids television appearances and interviews. He wrote Disco Bloodbath (now published under the title Party Monster) that was later made into the feature film Party Monster starring Macaulay Culkin as Michael Alig and Seth Green as St. James. His life was the subject of the 1998 documentary Party Monster: The Shockumentary.

James grew up in a "well-to-do" family in Saginaw, Michigan where he lived with his mother after his parents divorced. In the summer he would stay with his father in Fort Lauderdale, Florida until he moved to Fort Lauderdale for high school. After reading Andy Warhol’s book, Popism: The Warhol Sixties St. James moved to New York in 1984, where he studied performance art at New York University for two years before being absorbed into New York's club scene. St. James lived a celebutante lifestyle after becoming a close friend of nightlife icon and columnist Michael Musto.

St. James became a mentor of sorts to Michael Alig, although at first he and the other club personalities shunned the newcomer. Undeterred, Alig soon created his own scene by gathering up other creative rejects of the nightlife world, copying St. James' flamboyant style with self-promotion and innovative themed parties. Alig eventually grew on St. James, and St. James morphed from celebutante to Club Kid while helping Alig create the new scene. Alig and St. James threw many parties together, eventually setting up the Disco 2000 club night at the New York City club, The Limelight. St. James wrote several columns, most famously for the short lived New York City-based gay publication OutWeek during the magazine's two year life span from 1989-1991. St. James has appeared many times on television many along with the Club Kids on talk shows during the 1980s and 1990s, including The Jerry Springer Show, Geraldo, and the Joan Rivers Show.

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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_St._James

Further Readings:

Freak Show by James St. James
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile; First Edition edition (May 17, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0525477993
ISBN-13: 978-0525477990
Amazon: Freak Show

Billy Bloom is gay, but it’s mostly theoretical, as he hasn’t had much experience. When he has to move to Florida, he can’t believe his bad luck. His new school is a mix of Bible Belles, Aberzombies, and Football Heroes, none of which are exactly his type. Billy’s efforts to fit in and stand out at the same time are both hilarious and heartrending. In this novel from adult author and media personality James St. James, readers are in for a wild ride as he tells Billy’s fascinating story of bravado, pain, and unexpected love, inspired by his own experiences.

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

GRL: Cat Grant

Starting from June 1, 2015, I will daily feature authors attending the three conventions I will join, Euro Pride in Munich (July), UK Meet in Bristol (September) and GRL in San Diego (October).

For the GRL in San Diego, October 15-18, 2015, today author is Cat Grant: Two-time EPIC Award winner Cat Grant lives by the ocean in beautiful Monterey, California with one persnickety feline and way too many books and DVDs. You can usually find her listening to Dan Savage's podcast, hiding behind her couch while The Walking Dead's on, or - most likely - writing while listening (and singing along - badly!) to Verdi or Wagner on her earbuds.

Contemporaries get her creative juices flowing - featuring alpha male Marines and Navy SEALs, MMA fighters, hot musicians (rock stars and classical violinists), a transgender dominatrix (in BREAKING FREE, winner of the 2014 Rainbow Award for LGBT erotica), and a six-book series spanning thirty years, two generations and three genres (menage, m/m and new adult).

She's currently working on the second book in her Courtlands: The Next Generation series, titled, RITES OF PASSAGE.

Coming later this year/early next yead: another Bannon's Gym novel (more hot MMA fighters!) and a possible departure from my strict diet of contemporaries - a journey across a future dystopian/post-apocalyptic America featuring an interracial lead couple (one of whom is military). Expect some Walking Dead-type riffs, though I don't think I'll add zombies to the mix. Living humans are a lot scarier.

Further Readings:

The Only One Who Cares: M/M, Military, Navy SEALs, Gay Romance, series by Cat Grant
Publisher: Cat Grant Books (February 2, 2015)
Amazon Kindle: The Only One Who Cares: M/M, Military, Navy SEALs, Gay Romance, series

Committed couple David Flint and Josh Walker are long past the injuries, separation, and chain-of-command issues that plagued their early years together as Navy SEALs. Now, with David embarking on a new career as a therapist, the future looms bright and promising…

Until Josh, now recovered from the post-traumatic stress that kept him sidelined for two years, goes back to active duty. David dreads the long weeks of sleepless nights and radio silence ahead—and wonders if Josh is really as recovered as he claims to be.

Counseling other traumatized vets fills David’s days and helps him find a new purpose, but it’s his act of kindness to a homeless teenager that may end up changing everything, for him and for Josh.

(Previously published in the Unconditional Surrender: An M/M Military Bundle anthology.)