Elisa - My reviews and Ramblings

Bruce Benderson (born August 6, 1946) is an American author, to Jewish parents of Russian descent, who lives in New York. He attended William Nottingham High School (1964) in Syracuse, New York and then Binghamton University (1968). He is today a novelist, essayist, journalist and translator, widely published in France, less so in the United States.

In 2004, Benderson's lengthy erotic memoir Autobiographie érotique, about a nine-month sojourn in Romania, won the prestigious French literary prize, the Prix de Flore. The book was published in the United States (Tarcher/Penguin) and the United Kingdom (Snow Books) in 2006 under the title The Romanian: Story of an Obsession.

Benderson's book-length essay, Toward the New Degeneracy (1997), looks at New York’s Times Square, where rich and poor once mixed in a lively atmosphere of drugs, sex, and commerce. Benderson argues that this kind of mingling of classes has been the source of many modern avant-garde movements, and he laments the disappearance of that particular milieu. His novel User (1994) is a lyrical descent into the world of junkies and male hustlers. He is also the author of James Bidgood (Taschen, 1999), about the maker of the cult film Pink Narcissus.

A book-length essay by Benderson, "Sexe et Solitude," about the extinction of urban space and the rise of the Internet, was published in French in 1999. A collection of his essays, published under the title "Attitudes," appeared in French in 2006. These essays, along with "Sexe et Solitude" and "Toward the New Degeneracy," were printed in America in a nonfiction anthology of Benderson's writings entitled "Sex and Isolation" (University of Wisconsin Press, 2007), which was cited as one of the 10 best university press books of the year by the magazine "Foreword." The year 2007 also saw the publication in French (Editions Payot & Rivages) of a new novel by Benderson called "Pacific Agony," a caustic satire of life in America's Pacific Northwest, as well as Benderson's personal illustrated encyclopedia of the 60s and 70s, "Concentré de contreculture" (Editions Scali), published in French only. The novel "Pacific Agony" was published in English by Semiotext(e)/MIT in fall 2009.

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

I first read Bruce Benderson‘s novel User a couple of years after its debut in 1995. Stirring, seductive prose sucked me right into this exhaustive portrayal of urban prostitution and drug addiction in early 1990‘s Times Square. From the first page, a soiled, silken procession of words rendered me weak-kneed, incapable of pulling out until long after its final avian image had flown. Reading it again ten years later confirmed my original feelings. This is a remarkable novel.
[...]
Benderson shows us that everyone is a user and is used as well. To be used is not always to be abused. At times, it benefits the used more than the user. Sometimes, both parties benefit, sometimes neither. There is the temptation to wonder who benefited more in the making of this novel, Benderson or those who were used as the basis of its characters.
[...]
It was in late March of 2007, that I went to a celebration for the Romanian writer Ruda Popa at the Russian restaurant Samovar in Manhattan. The friend I was to meet there didn‘t make it. Upstairs in the salon, I took a seat at the white U-shape made of long tables pushed together. I could not avoid noticing the garish makeup of the 60-or-so-year-old woman who sat next to me. Adroit with a worn down pencil, she calculated her way through several puzzles in a small Sudoku book. Her cloying perfume mingled mercilessly in my head with the mind-altering shot glasses of vodka I downed as they were offered to me on silver trays. As soon as the guest of honor finished talking, she sighed and pushed her chair back away from the table. I recognized Bruce Benderson sitting on the other side of her. I had heard him read years before during one of the many readings hosted by C. Bard Cole in the East Village. This time I introduced myself and we spent the next several hours together talking about all manner of things including his desire not to be labeled gay and the sad fact that his new novel, Pacific Agony would probably not be published in English. Benderson‘s caustic yet cavalier wit did not disappoint. --Rob Stephenson, The Lost Library: Gay Fiction Rediscovered

Further Readings:

The Romanian: Story of an Obsession by Bruce Benderson
Reading level: Ages 18 and up
Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Tarcher (February 2, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1585424781
ISBN-13: 978-1585424788
Amazon: The Romanian: Story of an Obsession

Winner of the 2004 Prix de Flore-one of France's most distinguished literary prizes-a wildly romantic, true-life love story

History follows a trail of sputtering desire, often calling upon the delusions of lovers to generate the sparks. If it weren't for us, the world would suffer from a dismal lack of stories," writes Bruce Benderson in this brutally candid memoir.

"What astonishes and intrigues is Benderson's way of recounting, in the sweetest possible voice, things that are considered shocking," wrote Le Monde. What's so shocking? It's not just Benderson's job translating Céline Dion's saccharine autobiography, which he admits is driving him mad; but his unrequited love for an impoverished Romanian in "cheap club-kid platforms with dollar signs in his squinting eyes," whom he meets while on a journalism assignment in Eastern Europe.

Rather than retreat, Benderson absorbs everything he can about Romanian culture and discovers an uncanny similarity between his own obsession for the Romanian (named Romulus) and the disastrous love affair of King Carol II, the last king of Romania (1893-1953). Throughout, Benderson-"absolutely free of bitterness, nastiness, or any desire to protect himself," wrote Le Monde-is sustained by little white codeine pills, a poetic self-awareness, a sense of humor, and an unwavering belief in the perfect romance, even as wild dogs chase him down Romanian streets.

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

Esera Tavai Tuaolo (born July 11, 1968) is a retired American professional football player. He was a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for nine years.

Tuaolo, who is of Samoan ancestry, was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and was raised in poverty in a banana-farming family in Waimanalo. His father died when Tuaolo was ten years of age.

He played college football at Oregon State University and was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. He was selected in the 1991 NFL Draft. Nicknamed "Mr. Aloha", Tuaolo played nose tackle for several teams in his career, reaching the Super Bowl in 1999 while playing with the Atlanta Falcons. He also played for the Carolina Panthers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers during his career.

He also recorded the last tackle of football legend John Elway.

In 2002, having retired from sports, he announced to the public that he is gay, coming out on HBO's Real Sports. This made him the third former NFL player to come out, after David Kopay and Roy Simmons. He has since worked with the NFL to attempt to combat homophobia in the league and is a board member of the Gay and Lesbian Athletics Foundation. He also made an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2004 to share his coming out story as well.

In 2006, Tuaolo sang the national anthem at the opening ceremony of the Gay Games VII, a quadrennial Olympics-style event. During his career with the Packers, Tuaolo once sang the anthem before a game against the Chicago Bears. Kopay administered the official's oath during the opening ceremony. Also that year, he testified at the State Legislature Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in opposition to an anti-gay-marriage bill.

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Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esera_Tuaolo

Further Readings:

Alone in the Trenches: My Life As a Gay Man in the NFL by Esera Tuaolo (2006)
Paperback: 296 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks (June 1, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1402209231
ISBN-13: 978-1402209239
Amazon: Alone in the Trenches: My Life As a Gay Man in the NFL

This is Esera Tuaolo's own searing story of terror and hope. A Samoan raised on a Hawaiian banana plantation, he had a natural talent, football. He went on to play for five NFL teams: the Green Bay Packers, the Minnesota Vikings, the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Carolina Panthers, and the Atlanta Falcons in the 1999 Super Bowl. But for the nine years he played professional football he lived in terror that when his face flashed upon the TV screen, someone would divulge his darkest secret. Esera Tuaolo is gay.

Alone in the Trenches takes you inside the homophobic world of professional football and describes fears that almost drove him to suicide. He evokes heartbreak--how his older brother, Tua, died of AIDS--and hope when, Esera, a deeply devout Christian fell in love and started a family.

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

Greg Berlanti (born May 24, 1972) is an American television writer, producer and director. He is the creator of the cult television series Everwood and co-creator of Jack & Bobby, No Ordinary Family, and Arrow. He also co-wrote the 2011 DC Comics film Green Lantern. TMZ reports that Greg Berlanti is dating since May 2013 Robbie Rogers, who plays for the LA Galaxy and is one of 2013 OUT100 honorees. (P: Genevieve. Greg Berlanti, 2012)

Berlanti was born in Rye, New York. His parents are Barbara Moller Berlanti and Eugene Berlanti. Greg has one sister, Dina and is the uncle of two nieces. He has Italian and Irish ancestry. He described his early life in an August 2004 interview with Entertainment Weekly: "We were Italians in a town of WASPs" and his family was not "doing as well as 90% of the community." The Berlanti Television production logo, which follows each episode of shows he produces, features a family with their backs to the audience and the spoken quote, "Greg, move your head!" This is an homage to Berlanti's father, Gene, who would yell at Greg when he was blocking the television screen.

He is the writer, creator, and producer behind several creative and lauded television series, including ABC's Brothers & Sisters, Eli Stone, and Political Animals. He got his start in television as a writer and executive producer on Dawson's Creek before going on to create two of the WB's most critically acclaimed dramas, Everwood and Jack & Bobby.

Berlanti co-wrote and co-produced the DC Comics film Green Lantern, as well as directed the 2010 film Life As We Know It, starring Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel. He is set to produce Pan for Warner Bros. under his Berlanti Productions banner. The film is due for released on July 17, 2015.


Greg Berlanti (born May 24, 1972) is an American television writer, producer and director. He is the creator of the cult television series Everwood and co-creator of Jack & Bobby, No Ordinary Family, and Arrow. He also co-wrote the 2011 DC Comics film Green Lantern. TMZ reports that Greg Berlanti is dating since May 2013 Robbie Rogers, who plays for the LA Galaxy and is one of 2013 OUT100 honorees. In February 2013, Rogers came out as gay, becoming the second male footballer in Britain to do so.

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Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbie_Rogers

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

Catherine Lundoff (born March 30): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4277978.html

Catherine Lundoff is an author and editor, with 5 books currently in print/available as ebooks. She writes in multiple genres including science fiction and fantasy, erotica and romance. Hellebore and Rue co-edited with JoSelle Vanderhooft won a 2011 Rainbow Award as Best Lesbian Sci-fi/Fantasy, 3rd place: the essence of fantasy is magic and the folklore of women has often dwelt on the innumerable powers they possess. Magic that heals, magic that destroys, magic that saves their community.

Hollis Frampton (March 11, 1936 – March 30, 1984): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3524275.html

Hollis Frampton was an American avant-garde filmmaker, photographer, writer/theoretician, and pioneer of digital art. His most significant work is arguably Zorns Lemma, a film which drastically altered perceptions towards experimental film at the time. He was seen as a structural filmmaker, a style that focused on the nature of film itself. In an interview with Robert Gardner he stated a discomfort with that term because it was too broad and didn't accurately reflect the nature of his work.

Michael Jeter & Sean Blue: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4277445.html

Michael Jeter was a Tony– and Emmy-winning American actor of film, stage, and television. He his best known as Herman Stiles on the sitcom Evening Shade from 1990 until 1994 and for playing Mr. Noodle's brother, Mr. Noodle on Elmo's World from 2000 until 2003. His film roles include Zelig, Waterworld, Air Bud, The Green Mile, Jurassic Park III and The Polar Express. He died on March 30, 2003. Although he had HIV, he had been in good health for many years. His partner since 1995 was Sean Blue.

Nella Larsen (April 13, 1891 – March 30, 1964): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3524544.html

Constrained by the social conventions of the time, the bisexual African-American novelist Nella Larsen was covert in her treatment of lesbianism. In the late 1920s, she published two major novels: Quicksand (1928), for which she received the Harmon Foundation Bronze Award, and Passing (1929). She was accused of plagiarism in her short story "Sanctuary." During the final thirty years of her life, forgotten by the literary world, she was found dead in her apartment in 1964.

Nick Enright (December 22, 1950 - March 30, 2003): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/2828183.html

Nick Enright (22 December 1950 - 30 March 2003) was an Australian playwright. He wrote the book of the original version of The Boy from Oz. He edited Holding the Man, a memoir by his former NIDA student, Timothy Conigrave, and, following Conigrave's death, saw it to publication by Penguin Books. n June 2004 he was posthumously made a Member of the Order of Australia for 'service to the performing arts, particularly as a playwright, teacher, actor, director, and as a mentor of emerging talent'.

Paul Verlaine & Arthur Rimbaud: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/1407682.html

Arthur Rimbaud sent Paul Verlaine two letters containing several of his poems. Verlaine, who was intrigued by Rimbaud, sent a reply that stated, "Come, dear great soul. We await you; we desire you." Rimbaud arrived in late September 1871. Rimbaud and Verlaine began a short and torrid affair. On the morning of 10 July 1873, Verlaine bought a revolver. That afternoon Verlaine fired two shots at Rimbaud, wounding him. Rimbaud and Verlaine met for the last time in March 1875, in Stuttgart, Germany.

Susan Juby (born March 30, 1969): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/843339.html

"I was a lunatic for horses when I was younger. I owned horses and I became obsessed with an equestrian sport called dressage. I quit riding when I left home for college, but part of me always thought I could have been a "contender". (In retrospect, I'm not sure why I would have thought that.) The story was initially about two girls, but soon I fell in love with a secondary character, a boy named Alex, and the book became mainly about him. That is my most recent book, Another Kind of Cowboy."

Suzy Solidor & Tamara de Lempicka: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4277574.html

Suzy Solidor was a French singer and actress, appearing in films such as La Garçonne. Solidor met Tamara de Lempicka sometime in the early 1930s and Suzy asked the artist to paint her. Tamara agreed, but only if she could paint Solidor in the nude. Solidor agreed and the painting was finished in 1933. In 1941 she recorded the song "Lili Marleen" with French words by Henri Lemarchand and was popular with German officers. After the war she was convicted by the Épuration légale as a collaborator.

Wade Rouse (born March 30): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/1212561.html

We all dream it. Wade Rouse actually did it. In At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream, Wade and his partner, Gary, leave culture, cable, and consumerism behind and strike out for rural Michigan–a place with fewer people than in their former spinning class. There, Wade discovers the simple life isn’t so simple. Battling blizzards, bloodthirsty critters, and nosy neighbors equipped with night-vision goggles, Wade is sorely tested with humorous and humiliating frequency.

Bruce Weber (born March 29, 1946 in Greensburg, Pennsylvania) is an American fashion photographer and occasional filmmaker. He is most widely known for his ad campaigns for Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Pirelli, Abercrombie & Fitch, Revlon, and Gianni Versace, as well as his work for Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair, Elle, Life, Interview, and Rolling Stone magazines.

Weber's fashion photography first appeared in the late 1970s in GQ magazine, where he had frequent cover photos. Nan Bush, his longtime companion and agent, was able to secure a contract with Federated Department Stores to shoot the 1978 Bloomingdales mail catalog. He came to the attention of the general public in the late 1980s and early 1990s with his advertising images for Calvin Klein. His straightforward black and white shots, featuring an unclothed heterosexual couple on a swing facing each other, two clothed men in bed, and model Marcus Schenkenberg barely holding jeans in front of himself in a shower, catapulted him into the national spotlight. His photograph of Calvin Klein of Olympic athlete Tom Hintnaus in white briefs is an iconic image. He photographed the winter 2006 Ralph Lauren Collection.

After doing photo shoots for and of famous people (many of whom were featured in Andy Warhol's Interview magazine), Weber made short films of teenage boxers (Broken Noses), his beloved pet dogs, and later, a longer film titled Chop Suey. Weber directed Let's Get Lost a documentary about jazz trumpeter Chet Baker.

Weber's photographs are occasionally in color; however, most are in black and white or toned shades. They are gathered in limited edition books, including A House is Not a Home and Bear Pond, an early work which shows, among other models, Eric Nies from MTV's The Real World series.

Weber began collaborating with crooner Chris Isaak in the mid-1980s. In 1986, he photographed Isaak for his second album, Chris Isaak. In 1988, he photographed a shirtless Isaak in bed for a fashion spread in Rolling Stone. Isaak appeared in Let's Get Lost and Weber has directed a music video for Isaak.


Roberto Bolle

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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Weber_(photographer)

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

Adrienne Rich & Michelle Cliff: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3520516.html

Adrienne Rich was a poet, essayist and feminist. She was called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century", credited with bringing "the oppression of women and lesbians to the forefront of poetic discourse." In 1976, Rich began her lifelong partnership with Jamaican-born novelist and editor Michelle Cliff. In 1979, she received an honorary doctorate from Smith College and moved with Cliff to Montague. Rich and Cliff were editors of LGBT journals.

Binkie Beaumont & John Perry: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4274118.html

Binkie Beaumont was a British theatre manager and producer, sometimes referred to as the "éminence grise" of the West End Theatre. John Perry, actor, playwright, theatrical agent, was one of the last surviving members of H.M. Tennent Ltd - "the Firm", as it was known - which under the management of Hugh "Binkie" Beaumont dominated the West End and provincial theatres for more than 30 years. In 1938 John Gielgud's then partner, Perry, fell for and moved in with Beaumont.

Edith Craig, Christabel "Christopher" Marshall and Clare "Tony" Atwood: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4273744.html

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.

Joe LeSueur & Frank O'Hara: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/1502228.html

Frank O'Hara was an American writer, poet and art critic. He was a member of the New York School of poetry. He then attended graduate school at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. While at Michigan, he won a Hopwood Award and received his M.A. in English literature 1951. That autumn O'Hara moved into an apartment in New York City with Joe LeSueur, who would be his roommate and sometime lover for the next 11 years. It was in New York that he began teaching at The New School.

Frank O’Hara & Larry Rivers: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/2898381.html

Frank O'Hara (March 27, 1926 – July 25, 1966) also had a relationship with artist Larry Rivers in the late 1950s and Rivers delivered the eulogy at O'Hara's funeral in 1966. Larry Rivers (August 17, 1923 - August 14, 2002) was an American artist, musician, filmmaker and occasional actor. Rivers resided and maintained studios in New York City, Southampton, New York (on Long Island) and Zihuatanejo, Mexico. Rivers is considered by many scholars to be the "Godfather" and "Grandfather" of Pop art.

Freda Stark & Thelma Mareo: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4263011.html

Freda Stark was a New Zealand dancer. In 1933, Stark joined Ernest Rolls' revue, and met a young dancer named Thelma Trott, and the two women fell in love. In 1934 Trott married Eric Mareo, their conductor. In 1935 Trott took a fatal overdose of a prescription drug, leading to Mareo being charged with her murder. During the Second World War, she was a famed exotic dancer at Auckland's Wintergarden cabaret and nightclub, a favourite of American troops and she earned the title "Fever of the Fleet"

Kenneth Macpherson, Jimmie Daniels, Algernon Islay de Courcy Lyons & Norman Douglas: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3664014.html

Bryher was the pen name of the novelist, poet, memoirist, and magazine editor Annie Winifred Ellerman. In 1927 she married Kenneth Macpherson, a writer who shared her interest in film and who was at the same time H.D.'s lover (H.D. was Bryher’s lover as well). In Burier, Switzerland, overlooking Lake Geneva, the couple built a Bauhaus-style style structure that doubled as a home and film studio, which they named Kenwin. They formally adopted H.D.'s young daughter, Perdita.

Richmond Barthe said he chose Jimmie Daniels as his subject because of his dazzling smile, but it was actually Kenneth Macpherson's wife, Winifred Ellerman aka Bryher, who commissioned the bust. Kenneth Macpherson was Jimmie Daniels' lover and his was a marriage of convenience. Bryher supported her husband, who in turn supported Jimmie, thus affording him a high-class life in a Greenwich Village apartment for several years.

George Norman Douglas was a British writer, now best known for his 1917 novel South Wind. Kenneth Macpherson bought a home on Capri, "Villa Tuoro", which he shared with his lover, the photographer, Algernon Islay de Courcy Lyons. Bryher, Macpherson’s wife, supported her husband and his friend on Capri, requesting that they take into their home the aging Douglas. Douglas had been friends of Bryher and Macpherson since 1931. Macpherson remained on Capri until Douglas's death in 1952.

Islay Lyons was a notable Welsh photographer, novelist and linguist. During the WWII, he served in North Africa and then he was sent to the Far East to learn Japanese in 3 months. He did this with amongst others, Richard Mason, who was a lifelong friend and cousin by marriage. Lyons is portrayed by the character 'Peter' in Mason's book 'The Wind Cannot Read'. Lyons had been the last lover of the film-maker, Kenneth Macpherson, both of them living in the ‘Villa Tuoro’ on Capri.

Perry Deane Young (born March 27, 1941): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3520507.html

Perry Deane Young is the author of Two of the Missing, about fellow journalists Sean Flynn (son of Errol Flynn) and Dana Stone, who went missing during the Vietnam War and whose fates remain unknown, and the co-author of The David Kopay Story, a biography of 1970's football player David Kopay, who revealed in 1975 that he is gay. He has lived in the basement of a non-profit counseling and support group in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, working around the building in lieu of rent, since 1993.

Timothy McGivney (born March 27, 1972): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4274331.html

Timothy McGivney resides in Palm Springs, California, is single, and currently dating (his TiVo). Zombielicious won a 2011 Rainbow Award as Best Gay Paranormal / Horror and Best Gay Debut: Amidst a zombie outbreak, Walt, athletic and confident, meets shy and quiet Joey, the attraction between them both instant and electric. With strength in numbers, they band together alongside fellow survivors. In this apocalyptic new world of the dead, an anything-goes attitude has become the law of the land.

Thom Bierdz is the artist who will "borrow" his work to be dispalyed in Sticke Figures (a project of Matthew Montgomery).

I asked Thom if he would like to share a bit of him and his work with us, and I found a very kind but maybe shy man. Strange if you think that he is also an actor, but maybe this makes him an even more interesting person, someone I'm glad to have the chance to discover.

1) Your website says: Thom Bierdz, Actor, Artist & Author. Do you feel to be more of one of those three souls?

I am a quiet guy - my personality is really suited to be alone and create - as a painter.

2) Do you want to tell us something more on your role as Philip Cancellor III in "The Young and the Restless"?

Last year I made history by being the first out-gay actor hired on daytime for a contract role! I received a poignant HRC award.

3) You defined "Forgiving Troy" a VERY personal book. It's enough to read the blurb to understand that for sure it's, but do you care to tell something more about it and the experience to write it?

On this 3 minute clip (taped last month) from CBS news I talk about my book:

http://www.cbsatlanta.com/video/21928920/index.html

 
Taking the Leap

4) Looking at your Gallery, you have a very different and various portfolio. What is your background as artist?

Self-taught trial and error

5) You said that in the last 5 year, art made your living: what is the main common output for your artworks?

I have being doing a lot of personal commissions - a lot of family and dog portraits.

6) Your artworks will be protagonist in the Matthew Montgomery's movie, Sticke Figures; I suppose they will be the "paintings" of the main character, that is an artist. How did you come to this project?

My ex, best guy in the world, is Matt's boyfriend now.

7) Is it your first time on the screen not as actor?

My art has been on several tv show sets.



“2005 Emerging Artist of the Year, Los Angeles” What emerges from his personal journey onto the canvas is at times heartbreaking, haunting and profoundly affecting. Thom’s body of work ultimately proves to be an uplifting and inspiring experience of transcendence, a compelling testimony on the resilience of the human spirit.

Contradictory strategies for painting has quickly become Bierdz’s hallmark. Although he uses the same touch throughout, it can at times appear to be a number of different voices, even personalities. The reluctance to lay claim to a fixed position might at one time have been attributed to youth but it is clearly now an integral aspect of Bierdz methodology. Nothing is by chance. Even when the form appears to be a sort of free association, that’s really his expertise in terms of handling paint. The process is at times extremely rigorous and other times purely subconscious.

His paintings prove cunningly hard to pin down. One painting might be purely decorative abstraction; another an architectural interior or a figurative work. A single landscape might contain the following; asymmetrical branches that engulf a whimsical cabin, naïve animals that refer to Henri Rousseau’s paintings, atmospheric washes that evoke Rothko’s use of vivid color and bold strokes of shapes that seem to pay homage to Matisse. Whether it is a yellow-green wash over a woman in a chair or the mystical atmosphere of a moonlit landscape or storybook houses, it is a lyrical arrangement of elements that flips between symbolism, impressionism and abstract patterning. Bierdz is masterful at establishing tension between the decorative mark and recognizable imagery.

In the end, the artist allows the work to speak for itself. The very thing that takes our breath away, his diversity, his range, this combination of charm and sometimes harsh reality, are the same avenues we all walk. He holds a sort of universal mirror, as if to dare us to look at ourselves, and with a bold conviction and honesty, embrace all of who we are.

http://www.thombierdz.com/



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

Cristóbal Balenciaga (January 21, 1895 – March 23, 1972): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3515830.html

Cristóbal Balenciaga (January 21, 1895, Spain – March 23, 1972, Spain) was a Spanish Basque fashion designer and the founder of the Balenciaga fashion house. In Paris, Balenciaga had a partner, Vladzio Zawrorowski d'Attainville, who designed hats, while Nicholas Biscarondo looked after the business side (as well as Balenciaga’s sexual needs). Balenciaga presented his first collection in August 1937, charging about 3,500 francs for a dress, and earning 193,200 francs in a month — a good start.

Edward Molyneux (September 5, 1891 - March 23, 1974): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3516133.html

Edward Molyneux (5 September 1891 – 23 March 1974) was a British fashion designer whose fashion house in Paris was in operation from 1919 until 1950. In 1923, though said to be openly homosexual, he married his first wife Muriel Dunsmuir (1890–1951), one of the eight daughters of the Hon. James Dunsmuir, Premier of British Columbia. They divorced in 1924. "The designer to whom a fashionable woman would turn if she wanted to be absolutely right without being utterly predictable" -Caroline Milbank

J.C. Leyendecker & Charles Beach: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/2661818.html

Joseph Christian "J.C." Leyendecker (March 23, 1874 – July 25, 1951) was one of the pre-eminent American illustrators of the early 20 century. Leyendecker lived for most of his life with Charles Beach, the Arrow Collar Man, on whom the stylish men in his artwork were modeled. Leyendecker left a tidy estate equally split between his sister and Beach. Leyendecker is buried alongside parents and brother Frank at Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, New York. Charles Beach's burial location is unknown.

Jonathan Ames (born March 23, 1964): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3515249.html

Jonathan Ames is an American author who has written a number of novels and comic memoirs. He was a columnist for the New York Press, and became known for self-deprecating tales of his sexual misadventures. In I Pass Like Night, Alexander Vine uses sex to stave off ennui. The circumstances are of no particular importance to him, nor are his partners: men when he's drunk; a female lover named Joy for whom he feels nothing; waterfront vagrants and street hookers when he can't get it any other way.

Julia Glass (born March 23, 1956): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/1384474.html

Julia Glass is an American novelist. Her debut novel, Three Junes, won the National Book Award in 2002: Paul McLeod, a newspaper publisher and recent widower, travels to Greece, where he falls for a young American artist and reflects on the complicated truth about his marriage. . ..Six years later, again in June, Paul’s death draws his three grown sons and their families back to their ancestral home. Fenno, the eldest, a wry, introspective gay man, narrates the events of this unforeseen reunion.

Perez Hilton (born March 23, 1978): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4268275.html

Perez Hilton is an American blogger and television personality. His blog is known for posts covering gossip items about celebrities. He is also known for posting tabloid photographs over which he has added his own captions or "doodles". Hilton published a children's book entitled "The Boy With Pink Hair." Hilton described the book as a story "about every kid that's ever had a dream, felt excluded, wanted to belong, and hoped that one day they could do what they loved and make a difference."

Ronald Tavel (May 17, 1936 - March 23, 2009): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3515523.html

Ronald Tavel (May 17, 1936 – March 23, 2009) was an American screenwriter, director, novelist, poet and actor, best known for his work with Andy Warhol and The Factory. In 1980, he was appointed the First Playwright-in-Residence at Cornell University where he was commissioned to write the melodrama, The Understudy, which starred a young Jimmy Smitts. In 1986, Tavel was appointed Distinguished Visiting Assistant Professor in Creative Writing at The University of Colorado at Boulder.

Shaun McGill (1962 - March 23, 1992): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3516271.html

Shaun McGill was an ice dancer and choreographer. "He was very calm," recalled Regis Gagnon of skater Shaun McGill in 1989 after McGill was told he had AIDS. Gagnon, 32 at the time, a program adviser at the Ontario Ministry of Health, lived with McGill in Toronto for four years prior to McGill's death. "I kept informed about the latest AIDS treatments. Shaun said to me, 'Just tell me what I need to know. I'll take the pills I'm supposed to take. But don't bother me. I've got work to do.' "

Steven Saylor & Richard Solomon: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4268612.html

Steven Saylor is an American author of historical novels. Saylor's best-known work is his Roma Sub Rosa historical mystery series, set in ancient Rome. He is a graduate of the University of Texas, where he studied history and classics. Saylor has lived with Richard Solomon since 1976; they registered as domestic partners in San Francisco in 1991 and later dissolved that partnership in order to legally marry in October 2008. The couple split their time between properties in Berkeley and Austin.

Terry Sweeney & Lanier Laney: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4268463.html

Terry Sweeney is an American writer, comedian and actor. Terry Sweeney's partner is Lanier Laney, a comedy writer who also wrote for SNL in the 1985–1986 season. They first met as members of a sketch comedy troupe called the "Bess Truman Players". Laney and Sweeney were also writing partners for Saturday Night Live during the 1985–1986 season, the movie Shag, and the Sci-Fi Channel cartoon Tripping The Rift. As of 2012, the couple reside in Beaufort, South Carolina. They married on April 2012.

Anthony Creighton (1922 – March 22, 2005): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3513144.html

Anthony Creighton, actor and writer, is best known as the co-author of the play Epitaph for George Dillon with John Osborne. Although Creighton had little other dramatic success, he remained a close friend and confidant of Osborne, and was living with him on a houseboat in the Thames in 1954, the year Osborne wrote Look Back in Anger. Creighton is believed to have been the model for Cliff in the play. In 1960 Creighton co-wrote another play with his lover Bernard Miller, Tomorrow with Pictures.

Carol Anshaw & Jessie Ewing: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3514899.html

Carol Anshaw is an American novelist and short story writer. Her books include Lucky in the Corner, Seven Moves, Aquamarine, and Carry the One. When Anshaw was growing up, her family divided its time between Michigan and Ft Lauderdale, Florida. In 1968 she moved to Chicago, marrying Charles J. White III in 1969 (they were divorced in 1985). Since 1996, Anshaw has been in a relationship with photographer, filmaker and teacher Jessie Ewing. The two divide their time between Chicago and Amsterdam.

Dan Hartman (November 4, 1950 - March 22, 1994): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3513369.html

Dan Hartman (November 4, 1950, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania - March 22, 1994, Westport, Connecticut) was a Singer/Songwriter, Multi-Instrumentalist (Guitar, Keyboards, Bass, Drums), Producer. In 1978 he shifted from rock to disco. His album Instant Replay was a hit, as was the title single, and led to a world-wide tour. The next album, Relight My Fire, featured a duet with Loleatta Holloway on the title track, and Hartman jamming with Edgar Winter and Stevie Wonder on the song "Hands Down."

Ian Stephens (? - March 22, 1996): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/2823487.html

Ian Stephens was a Canadian poet, journalist and musician, best known as one of the major Canadian voices in the spoken word movement of the 90s. Most of his work focused on his experiences living with AIDS. In 1992, Stephens released a spoken word CD, Wining Dining and Drilling, which featured his poetry with a punk rock-influenced musical backing. Stephens was also a writer for the Montreal Mirror, contributing book reviews and a 1994 cover story, "A Weary State of Grace", on living with AIDS.

Ilana Kloss & Billie Jean King: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3514109.html

Billie Jean King is a former professional tennis player. She won 12 Grand Slam Singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King is an advocate for sexual equality and won The Battle of the Sexes tennis match against Bobby Riggs in 1973. She confessed in 2007 that she had concealed her sexuality for so many years because her parents were homophobic. She is now in a relationship with Ilana Kloss, former professional tennis player.

John B. Whyte (May 22, 1928 - March 22, 2004): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3514112.html

John B. Whyte was an American real estate entrepreneur and former magazine model who developed Fire Island Pines, New York. He was involved in the famous drag queen "Invasion" of the Pines from the Grovers: the people who were living in Cherry Grove, always in Fire Island: the incident that is said to have provoked Grovers beyond endurance was a public humiliation of the Grove's flashy and popular Italian-American drag queen, Teri Warren, by top male model and Pines Botel/disco owner Whyte.

Kenneth Siminski (1952 - March 22, 1993): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3514565.html

Kenneth E. Siminski was stage manager for numerous Off Broadway plays, including Tina Howe's "Approaching Zanzibar," with Jane Alexander, and "Coastal Disturbances," with Annette Bening. He appeared in the CBS television movie "A Royal Romance" and directed more than a dozen productions at Off Broadway theaters. He was a founder of the Theater of Youth Company in Buffalo and appeared regularly in regional stock theater in Cooperstown, N.Y. He was survived by his companion, Timothy Fortuna.

M.L. Rhodes (born March 22): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/999103.html

M.L. Rhodes has been writing for almost fifteen years, predominantly write gay male romance and erotic romance. In Falling, Christian Wetherly comes to the U. S. undercover, posing as a British cop, to investigate a series of murders he suspects have been committed by a dark mage. He never expects, however, to find himself intensely attracted to the American police detective, Alec Anderson, in charge of the case. Christian has struggled with his hidden desires and hasn't admitted them to anyone.

Mark Badgley and James Mischka: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3340197.html

Badgley Mischka is an American fashion label designed by Mark Badgley and James Mischka. Badgley and Mischka went to New York City's City Hall on March 22, 2013, to make their 28-year union official. The designers first met while students at the Parsons School of Design and launched their label in 1988 (followed by bridal, a category for which they would become internationally renowned, in 1993). They have since dressed everyone from Oprah to the Olsen twins in luxe evening wear.

Sean Kennedy (born March 22, 1975): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/1089282.html

Sean Kennedy was born in 1975 in Melbourne, Australia, but currently lives in the second most isolated city in the world. Tigers and Devils, his first novel, was published by Dreamspinner Press: Football, friends, and film are the most important parts of Simon Murray's life. His best friends despair of him ever finding that special someone to share his life. They drag him to a party, where Simon barges into a football conversation and ends up defending the honour of star forward Declan Tyler.

Stephen Decatur & Richard Somers: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4267084.html

Stephen Decatur was one of America’s first naval heroes. As a commander, he endured the loss of his closest friend and companion, Richard Somers. Battling the Barbary Pirates in 1804, Somers volunteered to blow up the pirates’ coastal stronghold. Instead it was Somers and his crew that went up in smoke, while Decatur watched helplessly from the deck of his own vessel. Prior to the fatal mission, Somers had given Decatur a gold ring, which the aggrieved seaman wore for the rest of his life.

Stephen Sondheim & Peter Jones: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3513700.html

Stephen Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist. Sondheim has been described as being introverted, a solitary figure. He has stated that he doesn't believe in marriage. He came out in the 1980s and did not live with a partner until he was 61, in 1991, with Peter Jones, a dramatist; they lived together for several years, until 1999. In an interview with Frank Rich, Sondheim said that "the outsider feeling – somebody who people want to both kiss and kill – occurred quite early in my life."

Agustín Gómez Arcos (January 15, 1933 - March 20, 1998): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/1122434.html

Agustín Gómez Arcos (Enix, Almería, Spain, January 15, 1933 - Paris, March 20, 1998) was a Spanish writer. "The Carnivorous Lamb — and immediately appealed to my hyper-Christian sensibilities associated with the word "lamb," not to mention the lamb imagery replete in Lorca‘s aforementioned play. First impressions are always lasting ones, and my first encounter with Gomez-Arcos was shrouded mythic possibilities which my mind has continued to romanticize ever since." --Richard Reitsma

Gary Glickman & David Leavitt: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3510844.html

David Leavitt is an American novelist. Leavitt's partner since the late '70 (and until before 1992) was Gary Glickman, the author of Years From Now and Aura. After graduation Leavitt moved to NY where he lived at first with fellow students and later with Glickman. From NY he later moved with his partner in East Hampton, a favorite place of many writers, and he went in New York a few times on business travel, maintaining the Glickman's small apartment. Around 2000, Glickman moved to Santa Monica.

Sir Isaac Newton & Nicolas Fatio de Duillier: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4264267.html

Sir Isaac Newton was an English physicist and mathematician. Newton had been reluctant to publish his calculus because he feared controversy and criticism. He was close to the Swiss mathematician Nicolas Fatio de Duillier, whom he met in London around 1690. In 1691, Duillier started to write a new version of Newton's Principia. In 1693 the relationship between Duillier and Newton deteriorated, and at the same time Newton suffered a nervous breakdown, and the book was never completed.

Jeff Miner & David Zier, John Tyler Connoley & Rob Connoley: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4264517.html

Jeff Miner is the pastor of Jesus Metropolitan Community Church in Indianapolis. He was raised in fundamentalist independent Baptist churches, and received his undergraduate degree from Bob Jones University. He discovered the Metropolitan Community Churches, a Christian denomination that has arisen out of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community. He completed his clergy training and was ordained in 1997. Jeff lives with his spouse David Zier. They were married on September 8, 1990.

John Tyler Connoley is the son of Wesleyan missionaries. He came out to himself in 1991, while attending Indiana Wesleyan University. He is married to Rob Connoley. "The night my spouse and I first met, another couple in the room made bets on how long it would be before we were married. For me, it was one of those love-at-first-sight moments. He walked up to me at a Metropolitan Community Church event, smiled, and said, "Hi, my name's Rob," and I fell head over heels." --John Tyler Connoley

Ruby Rose, Catherine McNeil & Phoebe Dahl: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3510220.html

Catherine McNeil (born March 20, 1989) is an Australian fashion model. At fourteen years old, she won a model search contest hosted by Girlfriend. In 2009 she was photographed kissing Ruby Rose (born March 20, 1986), an Australian MTV VJ, during a pool party in Los Angeles. The pair were believed to be engaged, however reports have stated the engagement was called off on 2 July 2010. At the peak of her career she was ranked 12th on the Top 50 Models Women list by models.com.

Ruby Rose Langenheim (born 20 March 1986), better known as Ruby Rose, is an Australian model, television presenter, MTV VJ and recording artist. On the 18 March 2014 Rose reported that she was formally engaged to Phoebe Dahl, granddaughter of author Roald Dahl and cousin of model Sophie Dahl. Rose came out as a lesbian when she was 12. In 2008 and 2009, she was chosen as one of the "25 Most Influential Gay and Lesbian Australians" by Same Same, an Australian online gay and lesbian community.

Stephen Petronio & Jean-Marc Flack: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3511069.html

Jean-Marc works in the fashion industry, and he finds that he is constantly surrounded by superficiality. In 1995, after doing some research to find a fulfilling volunteer opportunity, he was attracted to the "hands-on" concept of God's Love We Deliver. Although they did not meet at God's Love We Deliver, Jean-Marc brought Stephen Petronio to the kitchen on one of their first dates in 1997. After peeling way too many pounds of potatoes, Jean-Marc knew he was in love (not with the potatoes!).

Anne Will & Miriam Meckel: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4261816.html

Anne Will (born March 18, 1966) is a television journalist from Germany. She was anchorwoman of the daily Tagesthemen news broadcast on ARD from April 14, 2001, to June 24, 2007. Will came out in 2007 at a Jewish Museum event in Berlin when she publicly acknowledged her relationship with long-time partner Miriam Meckel, Professor for Corporate Communication and Director of the Institute for Media and Communication Management at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.

Bil Wright: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4262241.html

Bil Wright is an award-winning novelist and playwright. His novels include Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy (Lambda Literary Award and American Library Association Stonewall Book Award), the highly acclaimed When the Black Girl Sings (Junior Library Guild selection), and the critically acclaimed Sunday You Learn How to Box. His plays include Bloodsummer Rituals, based on the life of poet Audre Lorde (Jerome Fellowship), and Leave Me a Message (San Diego Human Rights Festival premiere).

John Fraser (born March 18, 1931): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3507898.html

John Fraser (born 18 March 1931, Glasgow, Scotland) is a BAFTA-nominated Scottish-born actor and writer. In his acclaimed autobiography, Close Up: An Actor Telling Tales, John Fraser takes us from the council estates of prewar Glasgow to the glamour of 1960’s Hollywood and beyond. Funny, honest and acutely observant about himself, his family and his friends, John Fraser presents such legendary figures as Rudolf Nureyev, Hedy Lamarr, Dirk Bogarde and Bette Davis in a new and startling light

John Kander & Fred Ebb: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/1455840.html

John Kander's first produced musical was A Family Affair, written with James and William Goldman. He met lyricist Fred Ebb in 1962 and began a songwriting collaboration that would last for more than four decades. Later that year rising star Barbra Streisand recorded the duo's songs, "My Coloring Book" and "I Don't Care Much." In 1965, Kander and Ebb landed their first show on Broadway, Flora the Red Menace, directed by George Abbott, in which Liza Minnelli made her initial Broadway appearance.

Kevin Hague & Ian: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4261901.html

Kevin Hague is a New Zealand MP representing the Green Party who was first elected to parliament in 2008. Hague is openly gay and in 1988 began work as a research officer for the New Zealand AIDS Foundation. He has been with his partner, Ian, since 1984, and has one son, Thomas, born in 1992. Hague said once the Louisa Wall's Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill had passed its 3rd reading, in 2013/04, there would be a number of "incredibly emotional" weddings between gay couples.

Michael Kirby & Johan van Vloten: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3507497.html

Michael Kirby is an Australian retired judge, jurist, and academic who is a former Justice of the High Court of Australia, serving from 1996 to 2009. When AIDS came along, he and his partner became involved and this was code language for his sexuality. Formally, they announced their relationship in Australian Who's Who in 1999. Van Vloten, who migrated to Australia from the Netherlands in 1963, has lived with Kirby since 1969. Kirby has often spoken publicly in support of gay rights.

William R. Olander & Christopher Cox: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3096817.html

William R. Olander was an art historian, museum curator, and critic. After internships at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Toledo Museum of Art, Olander was appointed curator of modern art at the Allen Memorial Museum at Oberlin College. On January 1, 1985, he became curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, and met Christopher Cox in the spring of 1986. Olander was senior curator at the New Museum when he died from AIDS-related complications on March 18, 1989.

António Botto (August 17, 1892 - March 16, 1959): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/2819648.html

António Botto was a Portuguese aesthete and modernist poet. His first book of poems Trovas was published in 1917. Canções (Songs) was published in 1920 and went unnoticed. Only when the 2nd edition was printed in 1922, and Fernando Pessoa wrote a provocative and encomiastic article about the book praising the author’s courage and sincerity for shamelessly singing homosexual love as a true aesthete, was there public scandal amongst the Lisbon society and Botto attained a lifelong notoriety.

Aubrey Beardsley (August 21, 1872 – March 16, 1898): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/1453962.html

Aubrey Vincent Beardsley was an English illustrator and author. His drawings, done in black ink and influenced by the style of Japanese woodcuts, emphasized the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. He was a leading figure in the Aesthetic movement which also included Oscar Wilde and James A. McNeill Whistler. Beardsley's contribution to the development of the Art Nouveau and poster styles was significant, despite the brevity of his career before his early death from tuberculosis.

David Feintuch (July 21, 1944 - March 16, 2006): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4259839.html

David Feintuch was a science fiction and fantasy author and attorney. He wrote one major fantasy series, Rodrigo of Caledon: When Rodrigo took control of the mystical powers of the Still, he gained the knowledge of his forefathers. On the battlefield, the Still is a potent weapon and Rodrigo proves to be a gifted strategist. But the Still doesn’t make him perfect, and even the wisdom of generations of Caledonian rulers can’t prepare Rodrigo for what will come next.

Eleonora "Eleo" Sears, Isabel Pell & Margarett Sargent McKean: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4259561.html

Eleonora Randolph Sears (September 28, 1881, Boston – March 16, 1968 Palm Beach) was an American tennis player of the interwar period. In addition, she was a champion squash player, and prominent in other sports; she's considered one of the leading all-round women athletes of the first half of the 20th century. Sears had multiple lesbian relationships, though none was officially announced or confirmed, including one with Isabel Pell in the 1930s.

Isabel Pell was a handsome, heroic, cruel and athletic woman who once owned 40 pairs of riding boots, seduced the women of New York, New England and France, and played a heroic but controversial role in World War II. She also remained a skeleton in the closet of Eve Pell’s upper-crust family — until the author was inspired to rediscover her, warts and all. Isabel Pell was lovers with author Honor Moore's grandmother, Margarett Sargent McKean, a painter.

Margarett Sargent's personal life was more shocking than her paintings, which reflected an expressionism not much in vogue at the time. She waited until 1920, and the age of 28, to marry another proper Bostonian, Quincy Adams Shaw McKean. The happy years fade quickly, however. Shaw and Margarett fall apart but stay together, sniping and shouting or coldly ignoring each other. Both embark on many affairs, with Margarett's more flagrant, shocking and undiscriminating as to gender.

Harry Kondoleon (February 26, 1955 - March 16, 1994): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/1454264.html

Harry Kondoleon (February 26, 1955 - March 16, 1994) was a gay American playwright and novelist. Several of his plays were published by Theater Communications Group in an anthology entitled Self Torture and Strenuous Exercise. He is also the author of a volume of poetry, The Death of Understanding, and two novels, The Whore of Tjampuan and Diary of a Lost Boy. The latter was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1994, two months before Harry Kondoleon died of complications from AIDS.

I.A.R. Wylie & Sara Josephine Baker: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/2985262.html

Sara Josephine Baker was an American physician notable for making contributions to public health. Ida Alexa Ross Wylie, better known as I.A.R. Wylie, was one of the most respected authors of her generation. Sara Josephine Baker wrote very little about her personal life, however she spent much of the later part of her life with Wylie, and self-identified as a 'woman-oriented woman'. In 1935, Baker and Wylie decided to move to Princeton, New Jersey, together with their friend Louise Pearce.

Jack Nichols, Lige Clarke and Logan Carter: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/1491256.html

With his partner Lige Clarke, Nichols began writing the column "The Homosexual Citizen" for Screw magazine in 1968. "The Homosexual Citizen", which borrowed its title from the newspaper published by Mattachine D.C., was the first LGBT-interest column in a non-LGBT publication. On February 10, 1975, Clarke was shot and killed in Vera Cruz, Mexico. While his partner Nichols was convinced that the murder was the result of "machismo's homophobic influences", the murder remains officially unsolved.

"Starting as Florida Teen, He Danced Across International Stages" Robert "Bobby" Logan Carter (born May 11, 1954, in Daytona Beach, Florida, died June 23, 1988 in Los Angeles) was an American entertainer and photo model. Logan Carter's two foremost male lovers--Jack Nichols was one-- had, of necessity, to be free from the making of gender-role judgments, able to see him as a person, not as a "star" nor as a cosmetic "woman." Logan died in Hollywood Community Hospital in June, 1988, AIDS.

Jonathan Williams (March 8, 1929 – March 16, 2008): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/1454588.html

Jonathan Williams (March 8, 1929 – March 16, 2008) was an American poet, publisher, essayist, and photographer. He is known as the founder of The Jargon Society, which has published poetry, experimental fiction, photography, and folk art for more than fifty years. A longtime contributing editor of the photography journal Aperture, Williams lived in Scaly Mountain, North Carolina. He died March 16, 2008 in Highlands, NC from pneumonia.

Leverett Saltonstall & Charles William Dabney, Jr.: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4259133.html

Leverett Saltonstall traveled with Charles William Dabney, Jr., Harvard classmate, after graduation and generally had a difficult time settling down; it was said that he was forced by his mother, against his will, to marry. He graduated from Harvard College in 1844, and received his law degree from Harvard in 1847. He practiced law until 1860, when he became active in the Massachusetts Democratic party, and although he was frequently nominated as a candidate for Congress, he was never elected.

Mark Stevenson (1950 - March 16, 1994): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3503067.html

Mark Stevenson's best-known show was "A Visitation From John Keats," which he performed at the Circle Repertory in New York, the Lincoln Center Library, the Edinburgh Festival and the Keats House in Hempstead, England. His other shows included "Shedding Light on Shakespeare" and "The Great F. Scott," a biographical piece about Fitzgerald. He also established a booking agency in New York, died on March 16, 1994, at his apartment in Manhattan. He was 44.

Sybille Bedford & Eda Lord: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4207919.html

Sybille Bedford (16 March 1911 – 17 February 2006) was a German-born English writer. Many of her works are partly autobiographical. Julia Neuberger proclaimed her "the finest woman writer of the 20th century" while Bruce Chatwin saw her as "one of the most dazzling practitioners of modern English prose". Bedford spent the 1950s, 60s and 70s living in France, Italy, Britain and Portugal, and during this period had a twenty-year relationship with the American female novelist Eda Lord (1907-1976).

Victor Garber & Rainer Andreesen: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3503341.html

Victor Joseph Garber is a Canadian film, stage and television actor and singer. Garber is known for playing Jack Bristow in the television series Alias, Max in Lend Me a Tenor, Thomas Andrews in James Cameron's Titanic, and as Canadian ambassador to Iran, Ken Taylor, in Argo.Garber referred publicly to his homosexuality in 2012. In 2013, he said "I don't really talk about it but everybody knows." As of 2013, he lives in New York with his partner since 2000, Rainer Andreesen.

Howard Ashman & Bill Lauch: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3500563.html

Howard Ashman was an American playwright and lyricist. His life partner was William P. "Bill" Lauch. He collaborated with Alan Menken on several films, notably animated features for Disney, Ashman writing the lyrics and Menken composing the music. He is also best known for being the lyricist of two of the biggest hits of the Brazilian rock singer Cazuza, who also died of AIDS, 9 months before in 1990. His second Academy Award in 1992 was accepted by his partner, Bill Lauch.

K.M. Soehnlein & Kevin Clarke: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3930544.html

K. M. Soehnlein is an American writer most famous for his novels The World of Normal Boys and You Can Say You Knew Me When. His most recent novel is Robin and Ruby. He lives in San Francisco's SoMa district with his partner Kevin Clarke, a graphic designer and performer. They married on March 14, 2009, at the Lodge at the Regency Center in San Francisco. They met in 1999 when they were living around the corner from each other in the Mission district of San Francisco.

Kayne Gillaspie (born March 14, 1979): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3500462.html

Johnathan Kayne Gillaspie (born March 14, 1979) is an American fashion designer, specializing in beauty pageant gowns. He was a contestant on the third season of the Bravo reality series Project Runway after being rejected during second-season auditions. On October 24, 2008, Gillaspie launched his newest line, called Kayne9, dog couture. The line is made in Oklahoma and is currently available for purchase from the Johnathan Kayne Studio located in Norman, OK.

Malka Drucker & Gay Block: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4257384.html

Malka T. Drucker is a rabbi and author. She is the longtime companion of artist Gay Block. "While in Yerushalayim I met Barry Block who introduced me to his mother Gay who was a talented photographer. Though I had been married for 19 years, Gay and I fell in love and I left Jerusalem mid-year to reorganize my life. In 1989, I decided to try again for the rabbinate." Their work, Rescuers: Portraits of Moral Courage in the Holocaust, has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, NY, in 1992.

P.A. Brown (born March 14): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4257789.html

After holding a host of jobs, at 40 P.A. Brown went back to school and became a Network engineer, which eventually landed her on the shores of Bermuda where she spent 2 years learning how to drink rum swizzles and battle hurricanes. Back in Canada, she buckled down and started producing books seriously resulting in a multitude of books coming out in the next year. L.A. Heat won a Rainbow Award as Best LGBT Mystery / Thriller and Best Gay Novel, L.A. Boneyard as Best Gay Mystery / Thriller.

Sean Mathias & Sir Ian McKellen: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3501036.html

Sean Mathias is a British theatre director, film director, writer and actor. He is known for directing the film Bent and highly acclaimed theatre productions. He has also had a notable professional partnership with actor and former lover Sir Ian McKellen since the late 1970s. He was included in the 2006 list of the 101 most influential gay and lesbian people in Britain. Mathias is co-owner of The Grapes pub along with business partners Ian McKellen and Evgeny Lebedev, since September 2011.

Sylvia Beach & Adrienne Monnier: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3305255.html

While conducting some research at the Bibliotheque Nationale Sylvia Beach found the name of Adrienne Monnier's bookshop and decided to seek out the little store. There she was warmly welcomed by the owner who, to her surprise, was a plump fair-haired young woman in a peasant's dress/nun's habit, "with a long full skirt and a sort of tight-fitting velvet waistcoat over a white silk blouse. They later became lovers and lived together for 36 years until Monnier's suicide in 1955. Beach died 1962.

Timothy Meyers (August 31, 1945 - March 14, 1989): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3501174.html

Timothy Meyers (August 31, 1945 - March 14, 1989) was an American actor famous for originating the role of Kenickie in Grease and was a 1972 nominee for Tony Award Best Featured Actor in a Musical. His first stage role was in 1970 as Crookfinger Jake in Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera. His film appearances include The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Night of the Juggler, I, the Jury, and To Smithereens. His television credit is the Kojak episode "Kojak's Days".

Toby Johnson & Kip Dollar: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3838742.html

Toby Johnson is a novelist and writer in the field of gay spirituality. In 1981, Johnson returned to his hometown where he practiced as an openly gay therapist and served as co-chair of the San Antonio Gay Alliance. Toby and Kip Dollar organized Gay Pride celebrations, worked with fledgling AIDS Foundations, & helped found gay business societies in both San Antonio and Austin. From 1988 to 1994, Johnson and Dollar ran Liberty Books, the lesbian and gay community bookstore in Austin at the time.

Asher Levine (born March 12, 1988): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3497389.html

Asher Levine (born March 12, 1988) is an American fashion designer. He is the designer for his eponymous progressive menswear label, Asher Levine. Levine’s methods and aesthetic are far from ordinary, and his point of view is unlike any of his contemporaries. Due to Levine’s unique and innovative fabrication processes and stand out style, he has become a pioneer of avant-garde menswear, and is quickly becoming “one of Hollywood’s favorite emerging menswear designers”.

Cynthia Rich & Barbara Macdonald: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3093104.html

Cynthia Rich, teacher, lesbian feminist activist, and author, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 12, 1933, the daughter of Helen (Jones) and Arnold Rice Rich. Her sister was Adrienne Rich. In 1974 she taught a writing workshop at Goddard Cambridge College, where she met Barbara Macdonald, who became her domestic partner of 26 years. In 1983 Rich co-authored with Macdonald Look Me in the Eye: Old Women, Aging and Ageism, a ground-breaking examination of ageism from a feminist perspective.

Edward Albee & Jonathan Thomas: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3092907.html

Edward Albee is an American playwright who is best known for The Zoo Story, The Sandbox, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and a rewrite of the book for the musical version of Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's. Albee's longtime partner, Jonathan Thomas, a sculptor, died on May 2, 2005, from bladder cancer. Albee was a heavy drinker, but the problem became particularly acute in the early 70s. He stopped with the help of Jonathan Thomas, with whom he has been with since 1971 "I'd be dead without him"

James Clark & Anthony Stewart: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4254987.html

James Clark (born 12 March 1963) is a British diplomat. On 30 March 2004, he and his partner Anthony Stewart made history by becoming the first officially recognised gay couple to have an audience with Queen Elizabeth II. Clark is Britain's first openly gay ambassador and he and Stewart are the Foreign Office's first officially recognized gay couple to be sent abroad. They moved into the official residence in Luxembourg and attended social functions there together.

Jesse Hajicek (born 1972): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/528040.html

Jesse Hajicek has written 27 stories for Fantasy, Supernatural, Western, Horror, Fable, Sci-Fi, Romance, Essay, General, and Humor. The God Eaters was published in 2006: Imprisioned for 'inflammatory writings' by the totalitarian Theocracy, shy intellectual Ashleigh Trine figures his story's over. But when he meets Kieran Trevarde, a hard-hearted gunslinger with a dark magic lurking in his blood, Ash finds that necessity makes strange heroes... and love can change the world.

Liza Minnelli (born March 12, 1946): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4254919.html

Liza Minnelli is an American actress, singer and dancer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli. Minnelli has won a total of four Tony Awards, including a Special Tony Award. She has also won an Oscar, an Emmy Award, two Golden Globes and a Grammy Legend Award for her contributions and influence in the recording field, along with many other honors and awards. She is among the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award.

Mario Mieli (May 21, 1952 – March 12, 1983): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/2816797.html

Mario Mieli was a leading figure in the Italian gay movement of the 1970's. He combined a radical theoretical perspective with a provocative public persona. His outrageous public behavior made him a controversial figure, but he was nonetheless respected as one of the movement's most important intellectuals. He’s best known among English speakers for Towards a Gay Communism, a political pamphlet excerpted from his major theoretical work Homosexuality and Liberation: Elements of a Gay Critique.

Christopher Rice (born March 11, 1978): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3496026.html

Christopher Travis Rice (born March 11, 1978) is an American author. Rice has written five best-selling novels: A Density of Souls, The Snow Garden, Light Before Day, Blind Fall, and his latest book, The Moonlit Earth, which was published in April 2010 by Scribner. In A Density of Souls, there's murder, suicide, and madness at the heart of this rather clumsycoming-of-age story, which focuses on the youthful friendship of Stephen Conlin, Meredith Ducote, Greg Darby, and Brandon Charbonnet.

David Carroll (July 30, 1950 - March 11, 1992): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3496251.html

David Carroll is particularly remembered for his portrayal of Baron Felix von Gaigern, a role he created in the 1989 musical Grand Hotel (book by Luther Davis, music and lyrics by Robert Wright and George Forrest, additional lyrics and music by Maury Yeston). The musical won 5 Tony Awards®; Carroll earned both Tony® and Drama Desk nominations for his performance. He was in the process of making the original cast recording in 1992 when he died, at age 41, of a pulmonary embolism.

David LaChapelle (born March 11, 1963): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4253604.html

David LaChapelle is an American commercial photographer, fine-art photographer, music video director, film director, and artist. When LaChapelle was 17 years old, he met Andy Warhol, who offered him his first job as a photographer at Interview magazine. Warhol reportedly told LaChapelle "Do whatever you want. Just make sure everybody looks good." His photographs of celebrities in Interview garnered positive attention, and before long he was shooting for a variety of top editorial publications.

Dora Carrington (March 29, 1893 – March 11, 1932): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4252815.html

Giles Lytton Strachey was a British writer & critic. Dora Carrington was a British painter and decorative artist, remembered for her association with the Bloomsbury Group. Though Strachey spoke openly about his homosexuality with his Bloomsbury friends, it was not widely publicised until the late 1960s, in a biography by Michael Holroyd. In 1921 Carrington agreed to marry Ralph Partridge, not for love but to secure the 3-way relationship. She committed suicide two months after Strachey's death.

John C. Wells & Gabriel Parsons: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4252944.html

John Christopher Wells is a British phonetician and Esperanto teacher. In September 2006 he signed a civil partnership with Gabriel Parsons, a native of Montserrat and his partner since 1968. Wells is a professor emeritus at University College London, where until his retirement in 2006 he held the departmental chair in phonetics. He is a member of London Gay Men's Chorus and has featured in their It Gets Better video. He is also a player of the melodeon and has uploaded videos to YouTube.

June Arnold & Parke Bowman: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3496609.html

June Arnold immersed herself in the rich cultural diversity of the Village. There she established her feminist as well as lesbian identity. Her first novel, Applesauce, dealt in part with her marriage and her difficulty in fulfilling the traditional roles. Arnold also began a relationship with Parke Bowman, a lawyer who became her long-time partner. Bowman and Arnold together with novelist Bertha Harris and political theorist Charlotte Bunch, founded Daughters Inc., Press in 1973.

Kevin Oldham (August 30, 1960 - March 11, 1993): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4253377.html

According to his companion, Stephen Rotondaro, Kevin Oldham became driven to write new songs. In the final verse of one of the most heartrending pieces, “Not Even if I Try,” the composer expresses longing for trying to keep a connection between life and death. “I search the stars, I watch the clouds look down to me, My thoughts are clear, My heart is aching, You’re oh so far away, I close my eyes and hold my pillow, And say a prayer for you, I won’t forget. I can’t forget, Not even if I try.”

Holly Hughes (born March 10, 1955): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3091555.html

Holly Hughes is an American performance artist. She began as a feminist painter in New York but is best known for her connection with the NEA Four, with whom she was denied funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, and for her work with the Women's One World Cafe. Her plays explore sexuality, body images and the female mind. She is the recipient of several awards including the Lambda Book Award and an Obie Award. She teaches fine arts at the University of Michigan School of Art & Design.

Janet Mock (born March 10, 1983): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3494450.html

Janet Mock (born March 9, 1984) is an American trans woman rights activist, author and the former staff editor of People magazine's website. ock lives in New York City with her boyfriend, photographer Aaron Tredwell. In November 2012, the Sylvia Rivera Law Project gave Mock their Activist Award. Mock was included in the Trans 100, the first annual list recognizing 100 transgender advocates in the United States, and gave the keynote speech at the launch event, March 29, 2013 in Chicago.

Jerriese "JJ" Johnson (May 8, 1954 - March 10, 1995): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3494684.html

Jerriese ("JJ") Daniel Johnson (May 8, 1954 - March 10, 1995) was a Gospel Singer, Musical Director, Actor, Composer. It seemed that Jerriese knew nearly everybody in the East Village. JJ's compassionate energy carried over into activism for peace and human rights as well. Like his beloved fellow Georgian, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., JJ fought with his life to overcome hatred, intolerance and exclusion, using the weapons of love, acceptance and inclusion – as well as music.

John Rechy (born March 10, 1934): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/1450674.html

John Rechy is an American author. In his novels he has written extensively about homosexual culture in Los Angeles and wider America. Drawing on his own background, he has also contributed to Chicano literature, especially with his novel The Miraculous Day of Amalia Gomez, which is taught in Chicano literature courses in the United States. His work has often faced censorship due to its sexual content, but books such as City of Night have been best sellers, and he has many literary admirers.

William Douglas (September 25, 1953 - March 10, 1996): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3494971.html

William Douglas, "Bill," Choreographer, dancer, teacher (b. Amherst, NS 25 Sept 1953; d. Montréal, Qué 10 March 1996). Douglas was best known for the elegant, intelligent and sensual formality of his 30 choreographies - much of it achieved with the collaboration of contemporary composers and lighting designers. His dance works, crafted over a decade from 1986 to 1996, also reflected a Cartesian fascination with vortices, honed during early studies and work in architectural design and drafting.

Bruce Hayes (born March 8, 1963): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4248617.html

Lawrence Bruce Hayes (born March 8, 1963) is an American former competition swimmer best known for anchoring the U.S. men's 4x200-meter freestyle relay team that won the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He became the first Olympic gold medalist to compete at the Gay Games when he swam at Gay Games III in Vancouver in August 1990. He came out publicly while competing, and has gone on to organize Gay Games events. "When you're famous and you come out, you become a role model"

Charlotte Whitton & Margaret Grier: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4152690.html

Charlotte Whitton (March 8, 1896 – January 25, 1975) was a Canadian feminist and mayor of Ottawa. She was the first female mayor of a major city in Canada, serving from 1951 to 1956 and again from 1960 to 1964. Whitton never married, but lived from 1915 to 1947 with her partner, Rose Margaret Grier (1892-1947), whom she had met at Queen's University. Grier died in 1947 at the age of 55 years. Grier's tombstone read: Beloved Daughter of Robert and Rose Grier and Dear Friend to Charlotte Whitton.

E. Lockhart (born March 8, 1961): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/1041395.html

Emily Jenkins, who also writes under the name E. Lockhart, is a writer of children's picture books, young adult novels, and adult fiction. Her first novel as E. Lockhart, The Boyfriend List, was published in 2005 and has been followed by three sequels, The Boy Book (2006), The Treasure Map of Boys (2009), and Real Live Boyfriends (2010). Dramarama is about 2 theater-mad, self-invented fabulositon Ohio teenagers. One boy, one girl. One gay, one straight. 1 black, 1 white. And SUMMER DRAMA CAMP.

Henry Ward Beecher & Constantine Fondolaik: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4249159.html

The great love of Henry Ward Beecher’s life was a Greek student he’d met at school named Constantine Fondolaik. Beecher was so enamored of the youth, whom he called “the most beautiful thing I had ever seen,” that he changed his own middle name to Constantine and, in 1832, had a contract drawn up in which they promised to love and watch over each other with eternal devotion. They maintained their romantic relationship into their college year and beyond, until Fondoliak died of cholera in 1842.

Hubert Fichte (March 21, 1935 - March 8, 1986): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/2814974.html

Hubert Fichte (March 21, 1935 - March 8, 1986) was a German novelist. In the seventies Fichte worked more and more on ethnological research. From 1971 to 1975 he travelled to Bahia (Brazil), Haiti and Trinidad several times. He later described the works based on this travels, like Xango (1976) and Petersilie, (1980) as "Ethnopoesie". Fichte died of AIDS-related illness in 1986. Since 1995 the city of Hamburg has awarded the Hubert Fichte Prize for extraordinary literary works.

John Inman & Ron Lynch: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4248906.html

Frederick John Inman (28 June 1935 – 8 March 2007) was an English actor and singer best known for his role as Mr. Humphries in Are You Being Served?, a British sitcom in the 1970s and 1980s. Inman was also well known in the United Kingdom as a pantomime dame. He lived in a mews house in Little Venice for 30 years. On 23 December 2005, Inman entered into a civil partnership at Westminster Register Office with his partner of 33 years (at the time), Ron Lynch. He died in 2007, aged 71.

Pat Califia (born March 8, 1954): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3089867.html

Patrick Califia (formerly known as Pat Califia), born 1954 near Corpus Christi, Texas, is a writer of nonfiction essays about sexuality and of erotic fiction and poetry. Califia is a bisexual trans man. Califia's most recent book is Boy in the Middle, a collection of erotic stories. He is currently working on a number of other projects including a book on FTM sexuality. His pornographic works were often seized by Canadian customs until he fought a court case to allow them to be accepted.

Una Vincenzo, Lady Troubridge & Radclyffe Hall: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/2956010.html

Radclyffe Hall and Una Troubridge met in 1915 as Troubridge was the cousin of singer Mabel Batten (aka Ladye) who was Hall's lover at the time. Mabel died in 1916, and Hall and Troubridge moved in together the following year. In the last nine years of Hall's life she had become obsessed with a White Russian nurse, Evgenia Souline. This made Troubridge very unhappy, but she tolerated their relationship. Despite all their troubles, Troubridge stayed with Hall and nursed her until she died in 1943.

Walter & Lee Plunkett: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4249430.html

Walter Plunkett was a prolific costume designer. He lived with his devoted partner, Lee. Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy would visit them occasionally. "They were both into knitting." Bachardy remembered. "They knitted covers for their toilet seats. They knitted things all over the place." Plunkett retired in 1966, after having worked on Broadway and for the Metropolitan Opera. He spent the last years of his life with Lee, whom he formally adopted so that he could inherit his estate.

Algernon Islay de Courcy Lyons & Kenneth Macpherson: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3928726.html

Kenneth Macpherson was born in Scotland, 27 March 1902, the son of Scottish painter, John 'Pop' Macpherson and Clara Macpherson. Descended from 6 generations of artists, Macpherson was a novelist, photographer, critic and film-maker. He married Bryher maintaining a menages a trois with Bryher lover's H.D. (Hilda Dolittle). He was lover of NY nightclub singer Jimmie Daniels. He took care of aging scottish novelist Norman Douglas. His last lover was photographer Algernon Islay de Courcy Lyons.

Belinda McBride (born March 7): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4247636.html

"I write erotic romance, primarily under the umbrella of speculative fiction. That term covers science fiction, fantasy and urban fantasy. The sexuality of my characters is fluid, so if you are turned off by menage or same sex (or opposite sex) interaction, please check the book blurb before you buy." An Uncommon Whore won a 2010 Rainbow Award as Best Gay Sci-fi / Futuristic. Blacque Bleu 2011 as Best Gay Paranormal / Horror. The Bacchi 2012 as Best Bisexual / Transgender Sci-fi/Fantasy.

Julian Eltinge (May 14, 1881 – March 7, 1941): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/1448258.html

Julian Eltinge was an American stage and screen actor and female impersonator. After appearing in the Boston Cadets Revue at the age of ten in feminine garb, Eltinge garnered notice from other producers and made his first appearance on Broadway in 1904. He appeared in vaudeville and toured Europe and the United States, even giving a command performance before King Edward VII. His popularity soon earned him the moniker "Mr. Lillian Russell" for the equally popular beauty and musical comedy star.

Kevin McDaid & Mark Feehily: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3493594.html

Kevin McDaid was brought up in Newcastle, England. He was best known as member of the British boy band V, which he joined in 2003 along with four other boys. Mark Feehily is one of the lead singers of the former Irish boy band Westlife. They had been a couple since January 2005. They got engaged on 28 January 2010. The couple own a pet pug named Saffy and French bulldog named Nullah. On 31 December 2011, Feehily announced on Twitter that he and McDaid had split after seven years together.

Lorena Hickok & Eleanor Roosevelt: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/1489235.html

Lorena Alice Hickok was an American journalist and confidante of Eleanor Roosevelt. Her relationship with Roosevelt has been the subject of research. A key passage from just one early 12-page handwritten missive to Lorena from Eleanor sheds light on their relationship:Goodnight, dear one. I want to put my arms around you and kiss you at the corner of your mouth. And in a little more than a week now, I shall! It is not universally accepted by historians that the two were romantically connected.

Robert de Montesquiou (March 7, 1855 – December 11, 1921): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4107767.html

Robert de Montesquiou-Fézensac was a French aesthete, Symbolist poet, art collector & dandy. In 1875 he met Prince Edmond de Polignac. Montesquiou was the one who introduced, through his cousin Élisabeth Greffulhe, Polignac to heiress Winnaretta Singer, with whom Polignac had a lavender marriage. Montesquiou, who felt Edmond owed him a debt of gratitude for effecting this marriage of convenience, felt slighted when Edmond was not sufficiently effulgent, and the friendship was irrevocably broken.

Robin Becker (born March 7, 1951): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3089570.html

Robin Becker is an American poet, critic, feminist, and professor. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she is author of 7 collections of poetry, most recently, Domain of Perfect Affection (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2006). Her All-American Girl (University of Pittsburgh Press), won the 1996 Lambda Literary Award in Poetry. Becker earned a B.A. in 1973 and an M.A. from Boston University in 1976. She resides in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania and spends her summers on the North Fork of Long Island.

Wanda & Alexis Sykes: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3493654.html

Wanda Sykes (born March 7, 1964) is an American writer, comedian, actress, and voice artist. She earned the 1999 Emmy Award. In November 2008, she publicly came out as gay while at a same-sex marriage rally in Las Vegas regarding Proposition 8, which forbids new marriages of same-sex couples in California. One month earlier, Sykes married her wife, Alex, whom she met in 2006; they have two children. Sykes publicly expressed being devastated after California voters passed state Proposition 8.

Cyril Collard (December 179, 1957 - March 5, 1993): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4242581.html

Cyril Collard was a French author, filmmaker, composer, musician and actor. Openly bisexual, Collard was also one of the first French artists to speak openly about his HIV-positive status. The semi-autobiographical Savage Nights (Les Nuits Fauves), finished in 1992, was Collard's first and only feature film. It won four Césars (best editing, best film, best first work, and most promising actress) in 1993. Unfortunately, Collard did not live to accept his award; he had died three days earlier.

Laurie Toby Edison (born March 5, 1942): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4242813.html

Laurie Toby Edison is an exhibited portrait photographer. Her 3 suites of photographs include a series of nude environmental portraits of fat women (Women En Large), a series of nude environmental portraits of a very diverse cross-section of men (Familiar Men), and a series of clothed environmental portraits of women living in Japan (Women of Japan). Edison's work is B&W fine art photography, with an underlying social change message, which she often phrases as "making the invisible visible.”

Mary Elizabeth Garrett & M. Carey Thomas: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4243070.html

After Mamie Gwinn left M. Carey Thomas in 1904, Thomas started a relationship with Mary Elizabeth Garrett; they shared the campus home, living together until Garrett's death in 1915. Miss Garrett, who had been prominent in suffrage work and a benefactor of Bryn Mawr, left to President Thomas $15,000,000 to be disposed of as she saw fit. Thomas retired in 1922. She left the college in the capable hands of Marion Edwards Park, who had served as a dean at both Simmons and Radcliffe Colleges.

Richmond Barthé (January 28, 1901 – March 5, 1989): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4243450.html

James Richmond Barthé (January 28, 1901 – March 5, 1989) was an African-American sculptor known for his many public works, including the
Toussaint L’Ouverture Monument in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and a sculpture of Rose McClendon for Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater House. Barthe once said: “...all my life I have be interested in trying to capture the spiritual quality I see and feel in people, and I feel that the human figure as God made it, is the best means of expressing this spirit in man.”

Thomas Hermanns & Wolfgang Macht: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4243681.html

Thomas Hermanns (born 5 March 1963) is a German TV-presenter, director, TV-author and comedian. He is known for his comedy-show Quatsch Comedy Club. Hermanns has been in a relationship for 14 years with Wolfgang Macht. On 6 September 2008 Hermanns and Macht married. Hermanns has written and produced different comedy shows on TV, including Zapped (1998), Back to Life (2000) and Paranoid (2004) for Michael Mittermeier, Gayle Tufts and Cora Frost.

Wilfried Knight & Jerry Enriquez: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4243723.html

Wilfried Knight, stage name of Wilfried Chevalier ( February 19, 1975 - Vancouver , March 5, 2013 ) was a French pornographic actor born in Germany. On March 5, 2013 he took his own life, two weeks after the suicide of his husband, Jerry Enriquez, with whom he was legally married in Canada for seven years. Enriquez lead to the tragic gesture seems to have been the difficulty in finding a job in Canada and the impossibility of being able to return with his husband in the home country.

William Jack Sibley: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4244129.html

William Jack Sibley's first novel ANY KIND OF LUCK was published in 2001. It was nominated for a Lambda award: mere moments after his arrival in his rural hometown of Grit, Texas with Chris, his laid-back lover, Manhattan hand model Clu Latimore is up to his stylish cut in problems that include caring for his dying mother and her pack of prize-inning Chihuahuas - and, of course, initiating the incredulous Chris into the reality of life in the land of blue bonnets, barbecue and Baptists.

Bob Hattoy (November 1, 1950 – March 4, 2007): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/1445950.html

Bob Hattoy (November 1, 1950 – March 4, 2007) was an American activist on issues related to gay rights, AIDS and the environment. In 2002 he started working for the California Fish and Game Commission. He was appointed president of the commission in February 2007, shortly before his death from AIDS-related causes. According to the New York Times Hattoy was "the first gay man with AIDS many Americans had knowingly laid eyes on."

Chaz Bono (born March 4, 1969): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4239885.html

Chaz Salvatore Bono (born March 4, 1969) is an American advocate, writer, and musician. He is the only child of American entertainers Sonny and Cher. Bono is a transgender man. In 1995, several years after being outed as lesbian by the tabloid press, he publicly self-identified as such in a cover story in a leading American gay monthly magazine, The Advocate. Between 2008 and 2010, Bono underwent female-to-male gender transition. Bono worked as a writer at large for The Advocate.

David Plante & Nikos Stangos: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4240382.html

The novels of David Plante (born March 4, 1940) examine a variety of homosexualities, their male characters ranging from openly gay to sexually ambiguous. His most recent book is a memoir of Nikos Stangos, his partner of forty years, The Pure Lover (2009). The papers of his former partner, Nikos Stangos (1936-2004), are in The Princeton University Library, the Program in Hellenic Studies. Plante lives in London, Lucca Italy, and Athens Greece. He has dual citizenship, American and British.

Howard Greenfield & Tory Damon: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4240442.html

Howard Greenfield's companion from the early 1960s to his death was cabaret singer Tory Damon; Greenfield died, aged 49, in Los Angeles, California in 1986 from complications due to AIDS. He was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills). Damon died from AIDS complications just a few days later. Tory Damon died just 26 days after Greenfield and is interred in the wall crypt to his right. Damon's epitaph reads: Love Will Keep Us Together..., Greenfield's continues: ... Forever.

Jean O'Leary & Lisa Phelps: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3165476.html

Jean O'Leary (1948 - 2005) was an American gay and lesbian rights activist. She was the first openly lesbian delegate to a national political convention, attending the Democratic convention in 1976, and served on the Democratic National Committee for 12 years, 8 of those on the Executive Committee, another first. She was survived by her partner of 12 years Lisa Phelps, their daughter Victoria, their son David de Maria, his life partner James Springer, and David and James' son Aiden de Maria.

Luke Sutherland (born 1971): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4241134.html

Luke Sutherland is a Scottish novelist and musician. A full-time member of two independent bands and an occasional member of Mogwai, he has also published a number of written works. Sutherland's debut novel, Jelly Roll, was nominated for the Whitbread Prize in the first novel category in 1998. His novella Venus As A Boy (2004) talks extensively about Sutherland's own childhood in Orkney, where he was the sole Scots-African. Since 2000, he has been an occasional and touring member of Mogwai.

Sunny Moraine (born March 4, 1984): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4240886.html

Sunny Moraine lives just outside Washington DC with a husband and two cats. Line and Orbit, co-authored with Lisa Soem, won a 2013 Rainbow Award as Best Gay Sci-Fi / Futuristic, 2nd place, and Best Gay Debut, 3rd place: Adam Yuga, a rising young star in the imperialist Terran Protectorate, is on the verge of a massive promotion…until a routine physical exam reveals something less than perfection. Struggling to adapt to his new life, Adam discovers his illness hides a terrible secret.