April 

April 1

April 1, 1970 - The Advocate estimates that there are approximately 6,817,000 gays and lesbians living in the United States.

 

April 1, 1971 - French newspaper Tout calls for complete sexual liberation in France. Police seize the publication calling it an "outrage to public morals."

 

April 1, 1972 - Delaware decriminalizes private consensual adult homosexual acts.

 

April 1, 1975 -Mandate an openly gay nudie magazine makes its debut

April 1, 1976 - South Dakota decriminalizes private consensual adult homosexual acts.

 

April 1, 1978 - A new Canadian Immigration Act goes into effect which removes the prohibition against gays and lesbians from  entering the country.

 

April 1, 1981 -  Ebony magazine poses the question, "Is Homosexuality a Threat to the Black Family?" (The article concludes that it is not.)

 

April 1, 1985 -  The first classes are held at the Harvey Milk School for gay, lesbian and bisexual youth, a New York city-funded institution.

 

April 1, 1985 - Actress Rae Dawn Chong in an interview with Playboy magazine states that she'd like to see the trend of "men liking other men" disappear.

April 1, 1990 - Madonna announces in Vanity Fair that she is not a lesbian and that Sandra Bernhard is not her lover.

 

April 1, 2001 - Four gay and lesbian couples are married in the Amsterdam City Hall shortly after midnight when a new law recognizing gay and lesbian marriage takes effect. Holland becomes the first country in the world to legalize gay marriage.

April 2

April 2, 1805 - Hans Christian Aderson is born in Odense, Denmark. As a child he loved to sew clothes for dolls. As a teen he gave up a job hoping to become a dancer. He lived briefly with two gay musicians who taught him a thing or two, and then he used his lessons to find a rich patron to care for him while he wrote his fairy tales. His life was as colorful as his stories.

April 2, 1977, - In Argentia, Newfoundland, Master Corporal Gloria Cameron and eight other women are dismissed from the Canadian Armed Forces because they are lesbian. Cameron launched an appeal and went public with her story. The appeal was rejected Jul 2, 1977

 

April 2, 1980 - Montreal Municipal Court judge finds owner of Truxx bar guilty of keeping a common bawdyhouse and sentences him to ten days in jail and $5,000 fine.

April 3

April 3, 1924 - Actor Marlon Brando was born in Omaha, Nebraska. In the 70's Brando told an interviewer, "Like many men I too have had homosexual experiences and I am not ashamed." By this time Brando was a confirmed star, and although his agent and studio cringed, there was no fallout. The sun still rose in the morning.

 

April 3, 1979 - In Toronto the Provincial Council of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) amends its anti-discrimination policy to include sexual orientation. The policy acts as a directive to local bargaining units with school boards.

April 4

April 4, 1785 - Elisabeth (Bettina) Brentano Von Arnim was born in Frankfurt-am-Main . The writer was devoted to poet Karoline von Gunderode. Although it is not known if the love were ever consummated, it is known that after the two quarreled Karoline blew her brains out. She was 26.

April 5

April 5, 1976 - Ottawa City council passes a motion to prohibit discrimination in municipal hiring on basis of sexual orientation. It becomes the second city in Canada to do so after Toronto.

 

April 5, 1895 - Playwright Oscar Wilde lost his criminal libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry, who'd accused the writer of of being gay.

 

April 6

April 6, 1483 - Renaissance painter Raphael was born in Urbino. As a young man was exceedingly beautiful. As an adult he lived with his two favorite students. When Raphael died he left his estate to the pair.

 

April 6, 1786 - William Rugus De Vane Kingwas born in Sampson County, North Carolina. A US Senator from Alabama, King was the best friend of America's only bachelor president, James Buchanan. Andrew Jackson called King "Miss Nancy" and others referred to him as "her" and "aunt". The rumors of romps in the White House did not subsist even after King was appointed Ambassador to France. Whether to gossip had any truth is unknown.

April 7

April 7, 1907 - The ultimate "fag hag" Violette Leduc was born in Arras Pas de Calais, France. She hated being a woman and continually went after gay men. One of them, Maurice Sachs told her to write just to get rid of her. She did. Her book Le Batarde, was the story of her upbringing as an illegitimate child which blamed on the sexuality of her mother. She once told a friend she wanted to wear a tight body stocking to hold in her breasts and then attach a "strap on" dildo in order to bed gay writer Jean Genet.

April 8

April 8, 1974 - The American Psychiatric Association remove its "sickness" definition of homosexuality.

 

April 8, 1990 - Ryan White dies of AIDS after a five-year battle with the disease.

April 9

April 9, 1821 - Charles Baudelaire is born in Paris to a bourgeois family.  The author of Les Fleurs du Mal is alternately described as a Catholic, a Satanist; brilliant, mundane. No one knows much about his sexual exploits, although Marcel Proust and Andre Gide tell us he was certainly gay.  

April 10

April 10, 1644 - British poet John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester is born at Ditchley Manor In Oxfordshire.  Little read today, and that is a pity, Wilmot's poems are bawdy and beautifully simple.  

"If by chance then I wake, hot-headed and drunk,
What a coyle do I make for the loss of my Punck?
 I storm and I roar, and I fall in a rage,
And, missing my whore I bugger my Page.

 

April 11

April 11, 1901 - Glenway  Wescott is born in Kewaskum, Wisconsin.  One of America's clearest and lyrical writers, he is best known for "The Grandmothers" published in 1927.  Throughout his life he kept journals about everything.  Perhaps when they are published we will learn all about his reputed affair with photographer George Platt Lynes and museum curator Monroe Wheeler.

April 12

April 12, 1526 - Marc-Antoine Muret is born near Limoges France.  The 16th century humanist was accused by the church of being a sodomist and a Protestant.  He was of course only one of them.

April 13

April 13, 1975 - In  Montreal the first issue of the English-language news journal, Gay Times, is published. It ceased publication in early 1976, after 8 issues.

 April 14

April 14 - 1904 - British actor John Gielgud is born in London.  Perhaps the greatest actor to grace a stage in the English speaking world, Gielgud never came out publicly.  Privately he gave large sums of money to gay rights organizations like Stonewall.    

 

April 14, 1968 - The Boys in the Band opens in New York.

 

April 14, 1983 - Due to financial problems, Great Britain's only gay magazine, Gay News, stops publication.

 

April 14, 1985 - The first Gay Erotic Film Awards is held in Los Angeles.

April 15, 1843 - American writer Henry James is born in New York City.  His biographer Leon Edel has endorsed a series of articles written by Richard Hall detailing the extent of James love for his brother the Harvard philosopher William James.  Of Henry's writing, Maugham summed it up best: "I don't think Henry James knew how ordinary people behave.  His characters have neither bowels nor sexual organs. (In his books) people do not go away, they depart, they do not go home but repair to their domiciles."

 

April 15, 1894 - Singer Bessie Smith is born in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  In "Foolish Man Blues" Smith sang,

 "There's two things got me puzzled, there's two things I don't understand; 
That's a mannish-actin' woman, and a skippin, twistin' woman-actin' man."
Strange words for a woman whose best friend was male impersonator Gladys Fergusson and who had been introduced to the world of 'women-lovin' women' by blues singer Ma Rainey. 

 

 

April 15, 1972 - In Ottawa a visible gay contingent joins Viet Nam Mobilization Committee demonstration protesting the visit of US president Richard Nixon to Canada.

 

April 16

April 16, 1453 - Leonardo da Vinci is born near Florence, Italy.  When he was 23 he was accused of having committed homosexual act with a 17 year old youth of "questionable" background.  Other affairs included his assistants, but much of the gay lore of da Vinci is speculation. 

April 17

April 17, 1863 - C.V. Cavafy is born in Alexandria, Egypt.  During his lifetime Cavafy was considered the poet of Alexandria.  Today he is primarily identified with Lawrence Durrell's characterization of him in the Alexandria Quartet. 

April 17, 1897 - Thornton Wilder is born in Madison Wisconsin.  Best known as the writer of "Our Town", Wilder suffered "writer's block" finishing the last act of the play.  His close friend, writer Samuel M. Steward helped him through it all as only gone good buddy can help another.

April 18

April 18, 382, BC - Phillip of Macedonia is born.  Philip II was the military genius who defeated the combined armies of Athens and Thebes, conquering all of Greece. Along the way he availed himself of the 800 young eunuchs that had been brought with the army for his pleasure.

April 19

April 19, 1967 - The Student Homophile League of Columbia University becomes the first gay group to obtain a campus charter.

April 20

April 20, 1492 -Renaissance writer and dramatist Pietro Aretino is born in Tuscany. The first well known writer of his era his works are bawdy and pornographic, at least by the standards of the 15th century.  He is said to have died of a stroke laughing at a dirty joke. 

 

April 20, 1979 - New legislation amending the Saskatchewan human rights code is introduced in the legislature but it  omits sexual orientation although the provincial convention of the ruling NDP had called for its inclusion. Gay activists had mounted an extensive lobbying campaign as well.

April 21

April 21 1976 - In  Saskatoon the Board of Governors of the University of Saskatchewan overturns recommendation of the University Council that homosexuality should not be considered in the selection of dons of residence. But,  It accepts that sexual orientation not be a factor in treatment of faculty or students in faculty positions. 

 

April 21 1979 - The Alberta Lesbian and Gay Rights Association is created during province-wide Alberta Gay Conference.

April 21 1981 - In  Toronto six people, including activists George Hislop and Peter Maloney and head of Club Bath chain in US, Jack Campbell, charged with conspiracy to live off avails of crime. All three were listed as owners of the Club Toronto.  These were the final charges following the February 5 bathhouse raids.  Almost all charges are later dropped in court.

 

April 21 1982 - Metro Toronto Police Morality Squad officers seize two magazines, charge assistant manager Kevin Orr of Glad Day Bookshop with "possession of obscene material for purpose of resale."

April 22

April 22, 1766 - Madame De Stael is born near Paris.  Older editions of the Encyclopedia Britannica only describe her life as being "unconventional".  In truth, she was an active bisexual.  Born Anne Louise Germaine Necker she seduced and lived for 19 years with Juliette Recamier the most celebrated beauty of her time.  Upon Recamier's death, De Stael wrote "I love you with a love that surpasses that of friendship...were I to embrace you with all that remains of me." 

April 23

April 23, 1791 - James Buchanan is born near Mercerburg, Pennsylvania. The 15th president of the United States was the only bachelor to serve in that office.  His closest friend, Senator William Rufus De Vane King was called "Miss Nancy" by his detractors, making the President "Mr Nancy."

 

April 23 1980 -  Montreal Police raid Sauna David, a gay bathhouse, and arrest sixty-one men on bawdyhouse charges.

 

April 23rd, 1990 - The Hate Crimes Statistic Act is signed into law by President George Bush. It is the first U.S. bill to use the phrase "sexual orientation."

April 24

April 24, 1858 - Dame Ethel Smyth is born in Surrey, England.  A composer, writer, and feminist Smyth wrote seven torrid volumes of explicit memoirs.  Smyth was something of a female Don Juan.  She particularly enjoyed seducing the wives of men who had wanted to sleep with her. 

April 25

April 25, 1284 - King Edward II is born in Caernavon Wales.  Ancient Christianity had tolerated homosexuality (In the 12th century the king of France elevated his lover to high office) but by the mid 13th century live was harder on gays and Edward was made an example.  His first lover Piers Gaveston ended in Gaveston's murder by courtiers.  His second affair, with Hugh le Despenser, ended with the Barons arresting them, imprisoning and them. Le Despenser had his genitals cut off an burned in front of him.  He was then beheaded.  Edward was murdered by having a red-hot poker inserted in his anus.  

 

April 25th, 1978 - St. Paul, Minnesota votes to repeal its four-year old gay-rights ordinance by a margin of 2-1.

 

April 25th,1979 - Jury selection begins in the trial of Dan White for the murder of S.F. Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk.

 

April 25th,1993 - The third March on Washington has an estimated attendance one million people.

 

April 25th, 1995 - Lawrence, Kansas passes an ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. The law, the culmination of a 7-year struggle, is the only one of its type in the state of Kansas.

April 26

April 26, 1564 - William Shakespeare is born at Stratford-on-Avon.  The debate rages as to whether or not he was gay.  It will likely never be resolved.

  

April 26 1980 - A large night demonstration takes over Montreal' s Stanley and Ste-Catherine intersection to protest the police raid on Sauna David.

April 27

April 27 1978 - John Argue, a swimming instructor with Toronto Board of Education, is fired from his job at public school because he is gay. Argue, a gay activist later becomes active in Metro Toronto New Democratic Party.

April 28

April 28, 1929 - .Gay journalist John Paul Hudson is born.  Hudson is one of the first gay writers to take up gay rights and become involved in the media.  He wrote for the periodical Gay in 1969, the Advocate in 1970 and contributed to David, Gaysweek, News West, Flash and Vector.  A tireless activist he is credited with being one of the founders of the gay rights movement that grew out of the Stonewall riots.

  

April 28 1977 - Ontario MPP Margaret Campbell's private member's bill, to include sexual orientation in Ontario Human Rights Code, introduced April 4, fails in legislature.

April 28th, 1977 - Florida Governor Reubin Askew asks Miami voters to rescind a recently passed ray rights ordinance saying, "I would not want a known homosexual teaching my children.

April 28th, 1981 - Marilyn Barnett files a palimony suit against tennis icon Billie Jean King. At the time, King denies that she is a lesbian, although she acknowledges the affair.

April 28th, 1990 - Five hundred people attend Queer Nation's first major demonstration.

April 29

April 29, 1933 - Singer Rod McKuen is born in Oakland, California.  His sugary "new age" songs made him a celebrity in the late 60s.  He told an interviewer "I have had sex with men.  Does that make me gay?"

   

April 29 1978 - Homophobic singer Anita Bryan's visit to Edmonton prompts demonstrations organized by Coalition to Answer Anita Bryant.

April 30

April 30, 1877 - Alice B. Toklas is born in San Francisco.  Not the homeliest woman to have walked the face of the earth, Toklas is close to it.  Nevertheless her true beauty was the way she looked after her celebrity lover Gertrude Stein.  

 

April 30 1978 - A visit to Winnipeg by Anita Bryant visit prompts gay protests demonstrations.

April 30 1973 - In  Toronto Newsweb Enterprises a printing company controlled by newspaper The Toronto Star, refuses to print an Issue 8 of gay paper The Body Politic following a battle over classified ads which the printer said were "obscene.".

April 30 1980 - Two Winnipeg chain bookstores, Coles and Classics, remove copies of Joy of Gay Sex and Joy of Lesbian Sex from shelves following threats from police that they would lay obscenity charges.