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9 July: David Hockney, Painter

b. July 9, 1937

It is very good advice to believe only what an artist does, rather than what he says about his work.

Initially famous for popularizing British pop art in the 1960s, David Hockney grew more influential as he showcased exceptional artistic flexibility. From oil paintings to lithography, photomontage to computer sketch, Hockney demonstrated an uncanny ability to adapt his creative talents to various media. The Hockney exhibit in the National Portrait Gallery in London from October 2006 to January 2007 was one of the Gallery's most successful exhibitions.

Hockney began to display his work while at the Royal College of Arts in London in 1949. At a featured exhibition, he presented paintings which became forerunners of British pop art. Hockney won a gold medal for outstanding distinction at the college's convocation ceremony.

Hockney's early work often explored homosexual themes. "We Two Boys Together Clinging" (1961), titled after a Walt Whitman poem of the same name, became one of his more famous works. Lithography enticed Hockney in the early 1960s when he began to make prints of paintings. "Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Percy" (1971) is one of the most popular paintings in London's Tate Gallery.

Bibliography

“David Hockney Biography.” Modern British Artist: 20th Century British & International Contemporary Artists. July 3, 2007

“David Hockney Interview.” bbc.co.uk: The John Tusa Interviews. July 3, 2007

Luckhardt, Ulrich and Paul Melia. David Hockney: Paintings (Art & Design). Prestel. 2000

Selected Works

David Hockney's Dog Days (September 25, 2006)

Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters (October 5, 2006)

June 28: Sunil Babu Pant, Nepalese Politician

"People in general do not wish to discriminate against their fellow neighbors."

Sunil Babu Pant is the first openly gay politician in Nepal. His 2008 election to the national legislature followed years of activism on behalf of the Nepalese GLBT community.

Trained as a computer engineer, Pant received a scholarship to study in Belarus. It was there that he first heard the word "homosexual" and identified as a gay man. It was also where he was first exposed to entrenched homophobia, inspiring him to fight for equality in his home country.

In 2002, Pant founded the Blue Diamond Society. The group consists of more than 20 organizations and 120,000 members representing the interests of the country’s GLBT and HIV/AIDS communities. Leaders and members of the society have continued their advocacy in the face of threats of arrest and violence.

The Blue Diamond Society was party to a 2007 case that led Nepal’s highest court to declare that GLBT individuals were “natural persons” who deserve protection and civil rights. The court also ordered the establishment of a commission to study same-sex marriage as well as the addition of a third gender option on official government documents.

Pant was elected to Nepal’s Constituent Assembly as a member of Nepal’s Communist Party United. His legislative goals include equal justice and economic rights. He serves on a committee charged with rewriting Nepal’s constitution. In spite of his many accomplishments, Pant insists that his work is far from complete: "With our progress, however, is the awareness that so many more need to be served."

In 2005, Pant and the Blue Diamond Society were awarded the Utopia Award, Asia’s leading GLBT honor. In 2007, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission bestowed the group with its Felippa de Souza Award.

Pant, who lives in Nepal's capital city, Kathmandu, recently founded Pink Mountain, a company that offers GLBT-geared travel packages to Nepal.

May 29th: Melissa Etheridge, Singer

b. May 29, 1961

“What do they know about this love anyway?”

Melissa Etheridge is a Grammy and Academy Award-winning singer and songwriter. She came out at the 1993 Triangle Ball, the Clinton administration’s inaugural gala for gays and lesbians, when she exclaimed, “Gee, I’m really excited to be here, and I’m really proud to have been a lesbian all my life!”

She was born in Leavenworth, Kansas, and studied at The Berklee School of Music in Boston. Etheridge moved to Los Angeles and evolved from a bluesy sound to her renowned rock/alternative style.

Etheridge shot to stardom with her trademark blues-rock hit “Come to My Window,” for which she received a Grammy Award in 1994 for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. With its powerful lyrics, the song became an anthem for gay rights.

In 2004, Etheridge was diagnosed with breast cancer. At the 2005 Grammy Awards, she gave one of her most memorable performances with Janis Joplin’s hit, “Piece of My Heart.” She exposed her head, left bald from chemotherapy.

Etheridge’s songs have not only entertained, but have helped heal in times of tragedy. Her songbook includes “Scarecrow,” a tribute to Matthew Shepard; “Tuesday Morning,” dedicated to the memory of Mark Bingham, a hero of 9/11; “Four Days,” about those devastated by Hurricane Katrina; and “I Run for Life,” an anthem for breast cancer survivors.

Julie Cypher, Etheridge’s long-term ex-partner, gave birth to their two children. After their breakup, Etheridge exchanged vows with actress Tammy Lynn Michaels. In 2006, Michaels had twins.

In 2006, Etheridge received the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Stephen F. Kolzak Award, which honors openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender media professionals who have made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for the community. “I Need to Wake Up,” featured in the film “An Inconvenient Truth,” won an Academy Award for Best Original Song (2007).

22 May: Peter Gomes, Theologian

b. May 22, 1942

	There can be no light without the darkness out of which it shines.

Peter Gomes offers a look at religion from a distinctive perspective. Gomes, a Reverend and Professor at Harvard University, argues that the Bible is neither anti-Semitic, anti-feminist nor anti-gay.

In 1991, Peninsula, a conservative Harvard magazine, published a 56-page issue largely critical of homosexuality. Gomes denounced the magazine and came out publicly at Harvard's Memorial Church. A small group called Concerned Christians at Harvard immediately called for his resignation, but Gomes received support from the Harvard administration.

Renowned for both his teaching and his preaching, Reverend Gomes is the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals at Harvard and the Pusey Minister at Harvard's Memorial Church. A graduate of Bates College in 1965 and Harvard Divinity School in 1968, he also studied at the University of Cambridge, where he is an Honorary Fellow and where the Gomes Lectureship was established in his honor. Gomes holds thirty-three honorary degrees. Religion and American Life named him Clergy of the Year in 1998, and he won the Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Award from Harvard in 2001. Gomes offered prayers at the inaugurations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

Gomes is a widely published author. Of the ten volumes of sermons and numerous articles and papers he has written, two of his works - "The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart" (1996) and Sermons: "Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living" (1998) - were New York Times and national bestsellers.

Bibliography

“The Reverend Peter J. Gomes.” The Memorial Church of Harvard University. July 1, 2007

Gregen, David. “Words for the Heart.” PBS: Essays & Dialogue. December 25, 1996. July 1, 2007

Selected Works

Gomes's Book of Good Graces: A Collection of Graces and Blessings Compiled by Peter J. Gomes (2003)

Sermons: Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living (1998)

Strength for the Journey: Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living (2003)

The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart (1996)

The Good Life: Truths that Last in Times of Need (2002)

21 May: Frank Kameny, Gay Pioneer

The momentum is there, and that's not going to be stopped. It's moved from hopes of a grass-roots movement, to the actuality of a grass-roots movement. And it's taken 40 years to do it.

b. May 21, 1925

In 1957, the Army Map Service in Washington, D.C. dismissed astronomer Frank Kameny. Though a WWII veteran with an M.A. and Ph.D. in astronomy from Harvard University, Kameny was discharged because he was gay. Rather than accept a common practice of the times, Kameny fought for his rights. He successfully challenged anti-gay policies of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), the US Department of Defense and the US Civil Service Commission.

Kameny sued the Army Map Service and lost his case. On appeal he lost again, and after the Supreme Court denied his petition to direct the case to be reconsidered, Kameny realized his objectives would require a broader movement. In 1961, Kameny co-founded the Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C with Gay Pioneer Jack Nichols.

Kameny was the first to bring open activism to the gay rights movement. The D.C. Mattachine Society contacted public officials to attempt to change policy. They published a newsletter, The Gazette, and campaigned to overturn security clearance denials, employment restrictions and dismissals of gay men from the Federal workforce. In 1963, Kameny began a movement to repeal sodomy laws and challenge the APA's classification of homosexuality as a mental disorder.

On April 17, 1965, Kameny led the first public picket for gay rights at the White House. With support from the Daughters of Bilitis, the Mattachine Society extended its protest to the Pentagon and the Civil Service Commission. He helped launch the first organized gay and lesbian demonstrations for equality. These seminal demonstrations by activists from New York, Philadelphia and Washingon D.C. were held annually each July 4th at Independence Hall from 1965 to 1969 and were called annual reminders. They paved the way for the Stonewall Riots in 1969.

Inspired by Stokely Carmichael's "Black is Beautiful," Kameny dubbed the phrase "Gay is Good" as a slogan for the movement. He led the fight for gay rights into the 1970s and ran for Congress in 1971 on an equal rights platform. The APA removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in 1973 and the Civil Service Commission lifted its ban on homosexuality in 1975, an action President Bill Clinton formalized many years later.

In 2000, Equality Forum with WHYY/PBS produced the documentary film "Gay Pioneers" about Frank Kameny and other early activists. In 2006, the Library of Congress incorporated over 70,000 letters, documents and memorabilia from Frank Kameny into its permanent collection. The Washington, D.C. City Council honored Frank Kameny in 2007, hailing him as a "true freedom fighter."

9 April: Cynthia Nixon, Actress

"I never felt like there was an unconscious part of me that woke up or came out of the closet. I met this woman and I fell in love with her."

Actor Cynthia Nixon at the Garden State Equali...

b. April 9, 1966

Cynthia Nixon is a television, film and Broadway actress best known for her role as Miranda on "Sex and the City." She is one of only 15 performers to receive a Tony, an Emmy and a Grammy Award.

Nixon is a native New Yorker, the only child of Walter Nixon, a radio journalist, and Anne Kroll, an actress and a researcher on the television series "To Tell the Truth." Cynthia’s first television appearance was at age 9 as an imposter on the show.

At age 12, Nixon began her acting career with a role in an ABC Afterschool Special. Her feature film debut came soon after in "Little Darlings" (1980), followed by her first role on Broadway in "The Philadelphia Story."

Nixon graduated from Hunter College High School and attended Barnard College. As a freshman, she made theatrical history acting in two Broadway plays at the same time, "The Real Thing" and "Hurlyburly."

A working actress since the 1980’s, Nixon received a Best Supporting Actress Emmy Award in 2004 for "Sex and the City." In 2006, she was honored with a Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in "The Rabbit Hole." In 2008, Nixon received a second Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."

In 2008, "Sex and the City" became a movie franchise. Nixon and her television co-stars reprised their roles in the film and a 2010 sequel, "Sex and the City 2." The original film grossed over $415 million worldwide, making it one of the most successful R-rated comedies.

Nixon is engaged to Christine Marinoni. The couple plans to tie the knot in Manhattan when same-sex marriage becomes legal in New York State. "We want to get married right here in New York City, where we live, where our kids live," Nixon says. She and Marinoni share parenting responsibilities for Nixon’s two children from a previous relationship.

In 2009, Nixon shared a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for reading Al Gore’s "An Inconvenient Truth." In 2010, Nixon received the Vito Russo GLAAD Media Award for promoting equal rights for the gay community.

Nixon is a breast cancer survivor and a spokeswoman for Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Bibliography

Breen, Matthew. "Cynthia Nixon is More Than Just Sex.” The Advocate. 2 June 2010.
"Cynthia Nixon." The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). 2 June 2010
"Cynthia Nixon” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2 June 2010.
Nussbaum, Emily. "Educating Cynthia.” New York Magazine. 2 June 2010.

Videos
FIGHT BACK: A Message from Cynthia Nixon
Cynthia Nixon on Larry King Live on Prop 8
Marie Claire TV: Cynthia Nixon Interview

Websites
IMDb: Cynthia Nixon
Sex and the City HBO Official Website
Sex and the City Movie Website
Internet Broadway Database (IBDB): Cynthia Nixon

Cynthia Nixon’s Social Network
Cynthia Nixon’s Facebook Fan Page

March 24th: Margarethe Cammermeyer, Military Officer

b. March 24, 1943

"I wear my uniform at every inappropriate moment to remind people of gays and lesbians who have to serve in silence in the military."

In 1992, Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer became the highest-ranking military officer discharged on the basis of sexual orientation. Cammermeyer was dismissed as chief nurse of the Washington State National Guard after disclosing she was a lesbian during a routine security clearance interview. She challenged the U.S. military’s ban on homosexuals in federal court. In 1994, she was reinstated as chief nurse, making her one of the few openly gay or lesbian members of the military.

Cammermeyer was born in Oslo, Norway, during the Nazi occupation. Her parents sheltered Norwegian resistance forces. Cammermeyer credits her parents’ courage as her inspiration for defending civil liberties.

In 1951, Cammermeyer’s family moved to the U.S. She became a citizen in 1961 and joined the U.S. Army Student Nurse Program. After receiving her B.S. in nursing from the University of Maryland in 1963, Cammermeyer reported for active duty.

At her request, in 1967, Cammermeyer was deployed to Vietnam where she served as head nurse of a neurosurgical intensive care unit. She calls this time in her life “the most extraordinary experience any military nurse could have been a part of.” Cammermeyer was honored with the Bronze Star for Meritorious Service. In 1985, she was named Nurse of the Year by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

In 1964, Cammermeyer married a fellow soldier and had four sons. The couple divorced after 15 years. In 1989, Cammermeyer met her life partner, Diane Divelbess.

Cammermeyer’s autobiography, “Serving in Silence” (1994), received critical acclaim. The book was turned into a made-for-TV movie, executive produced by Barbra Streisand and starring Glenn Close. The film generated more than 25 million viewers and received three Emmy Awards and the Peabody Award. It was one of the first television movies about a gay person.

Cammermeyer retired in 1997 after 31 years of service. She serves on the Military Advisory Council for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and is an outspoken advocate for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Bibliography
Bateman, Geoffrey W. “Cammermeyer, Margarethe (b. 1942)” GLBTQ: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, & Queer Culture. 2004
http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/cammermeyer_m.html
Cammermeyer, Margarethe. “Biography.” June 6, 2008
http://www.cammermeyer.com/bio.htm
“Colonel Grethe Cammermeyer Biography.” HRC-Atlanta. 1998
http://www.hrc-atlanta.org/98Dinner/grethebio.htm
Quindlen, Anna. “Public & Private; With Extreme Prejudice.” The New York Times. June 24, 1992
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE7DD1F3DF937A15755C0A964958260
Van Biema, David. “Military Ins and Outs.” Time. June 13, 1994
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,980890,00.html
Articles
Egan, Timothy. “Lesbian in Uphill Race for Congress.” The New York Times. July 22, 1998 http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9400E5DA1639F931A15754C0A96E958260&scp=12&sq=margarethe%20cammermeyer&st=cse
Mathews, Linda. “She Asks, She Tells.” The New York Times. May 15, 1996
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E03E1D61239F935A25756C0A960958260&sec=&spon=&&scp=14&sq=margarethe%20cammermeyer&st=cse
Schmitt, Eric. “Pentagon Ordered to Reinstate Nurse Forced Out as a Lesbian.” The New York Times. June 2, 1994 http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C00E3D6103BF931A35755C0A962958260&sec=&spon=&&scp=10&sq=margarethe%20cammermeyer&st=cse
Books
Serving in Silence (1994)
http://www.amazon.com/Serving-Silence-Margarethe-Cammer-Meyer/dp/B000R9H0KM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216846572&sr=1-2

Other Resources
Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story (1995)
http://www.amazon.com/Serving-Silence-Colonel-Margarethe-Cammermeyer/dp/B000GI3S00/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1216847124&sr=8-2
Websites
Official Margarethe Cammermeyer Website
http://www.cammermeyer.com

2 March: Matthew Mitcham, Olympic Diver

"Being ‘out' for me means being just as I am with nothing to be ashamed about and no reasons to hide."

b. March 2, 1988

Australian diver Matthew Mitcham is one of the few openly gay Olympic athletes. At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Mitcham won a gold medal after executing the highest-scoring dive in Olympic history.

Mitcham grew up in Brisbane, Queensland,

Australia

. He competed as a trampoline gymnast before being discovered by a diving coach. By the time he was 14, he was a national junior champion in diving. A few years later, he won medals in the World Junior Diving Championships.

In 2006, after battling anxiety and depression, Mitcham decided to retire from diving. The following year, he returned to diving and began training for the Olympics.

In Beijing, Mitcham won an Olympic gold medal in the 10-meter platform dive. It was the first time in over 80 years that an Australian male diver struck Olympic gold. After his triumph, he leaped into the stands to hug and kiss his partner, Lachlan Fletcher.

Mitcham was the first out Australian to compete in the Olympics. There were only 11 openly gay athletes out of a total of over 11,000 competitors in Beijing.

Mitcham was chosen 2008 Sports Performer of the Year by the Australian public. The same year, Australia GQ named him Sportsman of the Year. After accepting the GQ award, Mitcham joked, "Oh, my God, I’m a homo and I just won the sports award!"

Mitcham competed in the 2010 Gay Games in Cologne. He is studying at Sydney University and training for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

"I look at the last 20 years as a long, winding path of lessons and some hardship," Mitcham said in 2008. “I hope I do have more lessons to learn. I look forward to that."

Bibliography

Bradshaw, Don. "Aussie Olympic Gold Medalist Matthew Mitcham to Attend 2010 Gay Games in Cologne." Philadelphia Examiner. 1 June 2010.
Buzinski, Jim. "Olympic Diver is Openly Gay.” Outsports.com. 1 June 2010.
Fonseca, Nicolas. "Matt’s Next Act.” The Advocate. 1 June 2010.
Halloran, Jessica. "Out, Proud and Ready to Go for Gold.” Sydney Morning Herald. 1 June 2010.
Jensen, Michael. "Catching up with Matthew Mitcham.” AfterElton.com. 1 June 2010.
"Matthew Mitcham.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 1 June 2010.
Williams, Rebecca. "Sensational Dive Earns Matthew Mitcham Gold Medal in Beijing.” FoxSports. 1 June 2010.
Videos of Matthew Mitcham
FINA Diving Grand Prix 2008 Shenzhen
Interview with Matthew Mitcham after the Gold Medal
Promo for the Gay Games
Matthew Mitcham on “The Morning Show”
Websites
Matthew Mitcham Official Website
Federation of Gay Games
Official Website of the Olympic Movement
Matthew Mitcham’s Social Network
Matthew Mitcham’s Facebook Fan Page

12 December: Volker Beck, German Politician

b. December 12, 1960

Volker Beck is one of Europe's leading advocates of GLBT rights. A member of Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, Beck is the father of the German Registered Partnership Act.

"Human rights that do not apply to everyone are not human rights at all."

Prior to becoming politically active in the peace movement in the 1980's, Volker Beck studied at the University of Stuttgart. In 1985 he joined the Green Party. In 1987, he became responsible for GLBT issues in the Green Party caucus in the Bundestag. From 1991 to 2004, Beck was spokesman for the Lesbian and Gay Association in Germany (LSVD). He is credited with placing the issue of same-gender partnerships and a GLBT anti-discrimination law on the parliamentary agenda.

Beck has represented Cologne in the Bundestag since 1994. He is Green Party Whip for the Alliance 90/Greens caucus, a member of the Greens' party council, and human rights spokesman for the parliamentary group. He was legal affairs spokesman for the Alliance 90/Greens parliamentary group (1994-2002) and political coordinator of the Working Group on Internal and Legal Affairs, Women and Youth within the parliamentary group's executive committee (1998-2002).

Volker Beck believes that Germans must assume responsibility for their history before they can shape a future. He has sought compensation for victims of National Socialism, including financial reparations for persons subjected to slave labor under the Nazi regime, and advocated such acts of remembrance as the construction of a Holocaust memorial. Beck serves as a trustee of several foundations that remember victims.

Since 1992 he has lived with his partner in Cologne, Paris and Berlin.

In May 2006, Beck was attacked and injured by right wing extremists at Russia's first gay rights rally in Moscow. Images of his bloodied face published in the media evoked strong reactions internationally.

Bibliography:

Sunil Babu Pant, Nepalese Politician

June 28, 1972

"People in general do not wish to discriminate against their fellow neighbors."

Sunil Babu Pant is the first openly gay politician in Nepal. His 2008 election to the national legislature followed years of activism on behalf of the Nepalese GLBT community.

Pant, who lives in Nepal's capital city, Kathmandu, recently founded Pink Mountain, a company that offers GLBT-geared travel packages to Nepal.

Cynthia Nixon, Actress

"I never felt like there was an unconscious part of me that woke up or came out of the closet. I met this woman and I fell in love with her."

b. April 9, 1966

Cynthia Nixon is a television, film and Broadway actress best known for her role as Miranda on "Sex and the City." She is one of only 15 performers to receive a Tony, an Emmy and a Grammy Award.

Nixon is a breast cancer survivor and a spokeswoman for Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Bibliography

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