Born On This Day- August 12th... Radclyffe Hall

Outside of Rita Mae Brown & Fannie Flagg, I am not really all that keen on Lesbian Literature, although I kissed a girl & I liked it. But as the chronicler of the lives of famous gay people, I need to note that today is the birthday of Radclyffe Hall, who lived her lesbianism openly & proudly, & was the writer of what is arguably the most important lesbian novel ever written.

At 21 years of age, after a desperately unhappy upbringing Marguerite Antonia Radclyffe-Hall inherited a large sum of money that left in trust by her grandfather.

Hall lived with the singer Mabel Veronica Batten, who was 25 years her senior, until her death in 1916. Soon afterwards she began a relationship with Una Elena Troubridge, a talented sculptor. She was married to Admiral Ernest Troubridge & Radclyffe Hall sued him for libel after he described her as "a grossly immoral woman".

Hall liked to be called John & cultivated a strikingly masculine appearance, sporting cropped hair, monocles, bow-ties, smoking jackets, & pipes.

Although she had enough money to live in leisure, Hall set about to be a writer. She published several novels, including The Forge (1924), The Unlit Lamp (1924), A Saturday Life (1925) & several volumes of poetry. Her 4tg novel, Adam's Breed (1926) was a best-seller & won prestigious literary prizes.

In 1928 Radclyffe Hall published the explicitly lesbian novel- The Well Of Loneliness.  The publisher, Jonathan Cape, argued on the book jacket: "In England hitherto the subject has not been treated frankly outside the regions of scientific text-books, but that its social consequences qualify a broader & more general treatment is likely to be the opinion of thoughtful & cultured people."

There was a campaign by the press to get the book banned. The London Sunday Express urged: "In order to prevent the contamination & corruption of English fiction it is the duty of the critic to make it impossible for any other novelist to repeat this outrage. I say deliberately that this novel is not fit to be sold by any bookseller or to be borrowed from any library."

British Government put pressure of Jonathan Cape to withdraw the book. One official described the book as "inherently obscene… it supports a depraved practice & is gravely detrimental to the public interest".  It was ordered that all copies be destroyed, & that literary merit presented no grounds for defense. The publisher agreed to withdraw the novel & proofs intended for a publisher in France were seized in October 1928.

Several writers, including, Arnold Bennett, T.S. Eliot, E.M. Forster, George Bernard Shaw, Lytton Strachey, Leonard Woolf, Virginia Woolf, & T.S. Eliot signed a letter of protest about the banning of the The Well Of Loneliness to The Daily Chronicle. In the USA, the book faced obscenity trials, garnering letters of support from Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Mencken, Sinclair, Dos Passos, St. Vincent Millay, & more, & both times the book triumphed. Its first year, the book sold more than 100,000 copies. It was finally published in the UK in 1949.

Although she continued to live with Troubridge, Hall fell in love with a Russian nurse, Eugenie Souline in 1934. Despite the initial protests of Troubridge, the trio of women lived together in Florence.

At the outbreak of the WW2, the 3 women left Italy & settled in Devon, England. Hall developed bowel cancer & died on 7th October 1943. Just before her death, Hall changed her will, leaving everything to Troubridge, including the copyrights to her works. In her new will she asked Troubridge to "make such provision for our friend Eugenie Souline as in her absolute discretion she may consider right".  Troubridge only provided Souline with a small allowance. The Well Of Loneliness has never gone out of print.

Born On This Day- July 31st... Gay Rights Pioneer, Barbara Gittings

During an era when very few gay people dared come out in private, much less in public, Barbara Gittings was a vocal & visible figure in the fledgling fight for gay rights.

In the late 1950s, she founded the NYC chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis, the first national organization for lesbians, even though she lived in Philadelphia. In the 1960s, she took part in early gay rights demonstrations at the White House & Liberty Square in Philadelphia. In the early 1970s, she helped lobby the American Psychiatric Association to change its stance on homosexuality; in 1973, the APA invalidated the definition of homosexuality as a mental disorder.

Gittings also strove to make information about gay men & lesbians more widely available in libraries. Though not a librarian by training, she was for many years the head of the American Library Association’s Gay Task Force; she coordinated & edited the association’s comprehensive bibliography of literature by & about gay people.

Gittings felt keenly aware of the need for such a bibliography as a young woman, when she scoured local libraries, seeking, but seldom seeing, something that would help her understand her own life.

Gittings was born on July 31, 1932, in Vienna, where her father was a member of the United States diplomatic corps, returning to the United States when Barbara was young. When she was a teenager, her father caught her reading The Well of Loneliness, the 1928 novel of lesbian love by the English writer Radclyffe Hall. He told her, via a letter, to burn the book. Gittings’ father mailed the letter, when he could not bring himself to speak to her.

Gittings studied theatre at Northwestern, but she was increasingly distracted by the need to learn as much as she could about homosexuality. She haunted the libraries of Chicago, unearthing little that was relevant & nothing that was encouraging.

Gittings: "I had to find bits & pieces under headings like ‘sexual perversion’, ‘invert, or ‘sexual aberration’ in books on abnormal psychology. I kept thinking, ‘It’s me they’re writing about, but it doesn’t feel like me at all.’"

She left Northwestern after her freshman year, & for decades she supported her activism with clerical jobs. In 1958, commuting from her home in Philadelphia, Gittings started the NYC chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis, which was founded in San Francisco in 1955; she later edited the organization’s national newsletter- The Ladder. In 1965, she took part in one of the first gay rights pickets of the White House, in an effort to end discrimination against gay people in federal employment.

Gittings received many awards, among them honorary membership in the American Library Association. The Free Library of Philadelphia named its gay & lesbian collection for her, & the NYC Public Library acquired the papers of Gittings & her longtime partner- Kay Tobin Lahusen, which chronicle more than half a century in the gay rights movement.

She appeared in the documentaries Out of the Past, Gay Pioneers, Before Stonewall & After Stonewall.

Lahusen: “Before Barbara died, we went jointly into an assisted-living facility. Our last bit of activism was to come out in the newsletter of our assisted-living facility.” Gittings died of cancer in her home on February 2007 at 74 years old.

Born On This Day- July 27th... Carol Leifer

After graduating from Binghampton University with a degree in Theatre, Carol Leiferstarted in stand-up after accompanying her then boyfriend Paul Reiser to his gig at Catch A Raising Star. She enjoyed a successful career doing stand-up & appeared on Late Night with David Letterman more more that 25 times. She moved to writing & has won Emmys for her work on The Larry Sanders Show, SNL, Rules of Engagement (also executive producer), & most famously- Seinfeld(she has been dubbed- the real Elaine). She once opened for Frank Sinatra in Las Vegas.

In September 2007, Leifer won an auction for the handwritten notes used by Michael Vick during his apology for his role in dogfighting.

On her 40th birthday, Leifer had a revelation: "I suddenly had this really mad desire to have an affair with a woman, I was divorced. I was childless. I figured there's got to be one more way to really tick off my mom. I told Lori that I kind of had this crush on her, & she was, like: 'No way. I'm not going to be a science experiment for some straight girl!'"

"I used my patented line that I've used easily for the last 20 years—'Well, what would it hurt if we just made out?' Heard the song lyric- 'I kissed a girl & I liked it'? Well, I kissed a girl & my head spun around."

“When I first started talking about being gay onstage I felt it wasn't working. The audience was like, You seem straight & now you're talking about being gay, what? I just kind of gave it up. But now I think I wasn't completely owning it, because it works completely now. I talk about having been married, and then I met this woman & my life spun around & we've been together for almost 14 years. & the audience always still applauds when I say how long we've been together, which is pretty amazing for a comedy club. I own it so much now. It wasn't the audience. It was me.”

Leifer currently is a staff writer on Modern Family & is nominated for an Emmy this year. She lives in Santa Monica with her longtime partner- real estate developer Lori Wolf, Chihuahuas- Cagney & Mini Mo & their son. Love her.

Born On This Day- June 18th... Berenice Abbott

If you were to click on the label at the bottom of my posts you would discover that I have a very real passion for Photography, whether it is formal portraiture, commercial work, art photography, or found snapshots. I have a sizable & thought provoking collection of vintage photographs of men being affectionate, which I like to share with readers.

My passion for photography + my keen interest in architecture brings me to today’s birthday- Berenice Abbott. Abbott was a celebrated photographer of NYC architecture. She shot using a Century Universal Camera which produced 8 x 10 inch negatives; this large format camera was the instrument that Abbott used to photographed NYC with diligence & attention to detail. Her work has provided an historical chronicle of many now destroyed buildings & neighborhoods of Manhattan.

Abbott by Man Ray 1925

Abbott by Hank O'Neal 1979

During the Great Depression, Abbott was hired by the Federal Art Project (FAP) as a project supervisor for the Changing New York project. She would take the photographs of the city, but had assistants to help her both in the field & in the office. This arrangement allowed Abbott to devote all her time to producing, printing, & exhibiting her photographs. By the time she resigned from the FAP in 1939, she had produced 305 photographs that were added to the collection at the Museum of the City of New York.

Self Portrait 1937

When she first arrived in NYC, Abbott shared an apartment in Greenwich Village with writer Djuna Barnes, philosopher Kenneth Burke, & literary critic Malcolm Cowley. She pursued journalism, but soon became interested in theater & art, inspired by her friends Eugene O'Neill & Man Ray. Abbott first became involved with photography in 1923, when Man Ray, looking for somebody who knew nothing about photography & would do as he said, hired her as a darkroom assistant at his portrait studio in Montparnasse. Abbott: "I took to photography like a duck to water. I never wanted to do anything else." Ray was impressed by her darkroom work & allowed her to use his studio to take her own photographs.

In 1935, Abbott fell in love & moved into a Greenwich Village apartment with the art critic- Elizabeth McCausland. They were a couple for 30+ years until McCausland's death in 1965. In the early 1960s Abbott & McCausland traveled US Highway # 1 from Florida to Maine, with Abbott shooting the small town & automobile-related architecture. The project resulted in more than 2,500 photographs. Not only was Abbott a photographer, but also an inventor & innovator. She developed the distortion easel, which created unusual effects on images developed in a darkroom, & the telescopic lighting pole, known today by photographers as an "autopole," to which lights can be attached at any level.

Shortly after McCausland’s death, Abbott underwent a lung operation. She was told she should move from NYC because of the air pollution. She bought a rundown house in Maine, remaining there until her death in 1991. Abbott continued to work after her move to Maine. Her last book was A Portrait of Maine in 1968.

Born On This Day- July 14th... Jane Lynch

With Jane Lynchhosting last year's Emmy Broadcast & Neil Patrick Harris just finishing being brilliant & charming hosting the Tonys, I suggest that we only have smart, funny, profoundly gifted, out & proud, legally married to their same sex spoused performers host award shows. It is proven to work, don't mess with the formula.

Do you love Jane Lynch as much as I do? I read her terrifically honest memoir- Happy Endings this spring, where Lynch reveals she would dress up as a man every chance she got, like at Halloween.

Lynch: “I felt I was in the wrong sex. I really did. I would go into my dad’s room & put on his clothes, very Mad Men of me, I would pretend to have a cocktail, this was in the mid-1960s, & I just felt more myself in a suit & a tie. I looked at my mom & her life & said, ‘I don’t want that at all’; I don’t think my mom wanted it either!”

“Any chance I had to dress up as a boy, like Halloween, I would be a pirate, or a ghost that wore a tie… or a hobo.”

“I am just really, really gay. I am. If here’s the spectrum, I am gay. I have no interest in men sexually at all. I don’t. I want to be them, I get the male thing & I like being that for a woman. But I also like being a woman, too.”

In the book Lynch tells of realizing she was gay when she was just 12 years old. She “never felt quite right” as a child, but the pivotal moment came to her as a budding teen when she spied a pair of boys walking hand in hand on a beach in Florida.  Lynch: “I thought, that’s what I have… I am the girl version of that.” But, as a conflicted girl, Lynch vowed to keep that notion a secret to avoid a backlash from her peers. Lynch: “When I grew up… I didn’t want to be too tall. I didn’t want to be too loud. I didn’t want to be gay.”

Lynch finally came to terms with her sexuality & confessed all to her parents after watching comedienne Ellen DeGeneres come out on her sitcom.

Lynch married psychologist Lara Embry. She insists her parents have always been supportive of her & her mother even handled her daughter’s 2010 gay nuptials with humor, telling her, “Well, you’re marrying a doctor!”

 Lynch turns 52 years old on this day, July 14^th.

Born On This Day- May 5th... Suze Orman

What were the chances that John Maynard Keynes & Susan Lynn Orman would share a birthday? Is there something about June 5th that is telling of people being smart about money? Do Geminis think a great deal about finances?


Suze Orman is a famous financial advisor, author, motivational speaker, TV host, & the anti-Stephen. I have a feeling that she just wouldn’t be that fun to shop with. What, with all that saving money philosophy.


Orman is the host of The Suze Orman Show on CNBC. She has written 7 consecutive NY Times Best Sellers; has written, co-produced, & hosted 6 PBS specials, & is the most successful fundraiser in the history of public TV.


In 2004 & 2006, Orman won 2 daytime Emmy Awards for her PBS specials. Over her television career, she has won 6 Gracie Allen Awards (rewarding the achievements of women in radio & television), more than anyone in the 34-year history of the awards.


In July 2009 Forbes named Orman 18th on their list of The Most Influential Women In Media. She was selected by Time magazine as one of the TIME 100: The World's Most Influential People. In 2009 she was honored by Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation with the Vito Russo Media Award. In April 2008 Orman was presented with the Amelia Earhart Award for her message of financial empowerment for women. She is regularly spoofed on Saturday Night Live, the biggest compliment possible.


In 2007, Suze Orman revealed to the NY Times, that she is a lesbian & had been with her partner, Kathy Travis, for 7 years. During the interview, she was asked if she is married. Orman: "K.T. is my life partner. K.T. stands for Kathy Travis. We're going on 7 years. I have never been with a man in my whole life. I'm still a 55-year-old virgin. Both of us have millions of dollars in our name; it’s killing me that upon my death, K.T. is going to lose 50 percent of everything I have to estate taxes. Or vice versa."


Orman has a net worth of approximately $25 million (with $7 million more in real estate), she didn't start out wealthy. Orman grew up in Chicago 's South Side & worked part-time at her father's take-out store. After completing her B.A. in social work, she moved to Berkeley, Calif., & worked at the Buttercup Bakery for 7 years. Orman started working as an account executive at Merrill Lynch, where she remained for 3 years before becoming vice president of investments at Prudential Bache Securities. In 1987, Orman had founded her own business- the Suze Orman Financial Group.


To me, it is interesting is that since her announcement that she was gay, there has been little focus on Orman's sexual orientation. The focus is on why it makes good financial sense to get married, & her inability to do so because she is in a same-sex relationship. Suzy is looking good as she turns 61 today.

Born On This Day- April 10th... Liberal Pioneer Frances Perkins

History seems to have forgotten poor Frances Perkins she was one of the most influential

women of the 20^th century. If they knew their US History, the Right Wing Religious Conservatives heads would explode if they understood the story of the life of this accomplished woman. She is a Current Republican’s worst nightmare.

Perkins was named Secretary of Labor by Franklin Roosevelt in 1933. She was the first female cabinet secretary; she dedicated her life to improving the lives of American working people even as she faced challenging & complex family concerns of her own. Perkins’ ideals would become the building blocks for the most important social welfare legislation in US history: unemployment compensation, child labor laws, & the 40 hour work week.

She started her job as secretary at the apex of the Great Depression. Perkins pushed for massive public works projects that created millions of jobs for unemployed workers. She reengaged the labor movement, boosting living standards across the country. As head of the Immigration Service, she fought to bring European refugees to the safety in USA. Her greatest triumph was helping creating Social Security.

She accomplished all these progressive programs for FDR’s administration while confronting family issue including a frequently institutionalized husband with severe psychiatric problems & her only child’s Manic pression. She was in a deeply secret relationship with Mary Harriman Rumsey (sister of Averell Harriman). The pair lived together in DC, hosting parties for the famous & powerful. It makes me wonder if the couple played softball with Eleanor Roosevelt & Lorena Hickok. Rumsey died in a riding accident in 1934. Perkins grieved by throwing herself into work on her progressive reforms.

Perkins is depicted in a WPA mural displayed in the Maine Department of Labor headquarters, the native state of both of her parents. In March, 2011, Maine's Republican governor, Paul LePage, ordered the removal of the mural. A spokesperson for the governor said they received complaints about the mural from state business officials & from an anonymous source charging that it was reminiscent of “communist North Korea where they use these murals to brainwash the masses.” LePage also ordered the name of conference room in the State Department of Labor be changed, the room was named after Perkins.