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100gayicons · 3 days

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Excerpts from Herbert Tobias entry on Wikipedia:

Tobias was a German photographer best known for his fashion photography during the 1950s. He also drew critical praise for his portrait studies, his photographs of Russia during World War II and his homoerotic pictures of men.

In 1942 Tobias was drafted into the German Nazi army and was sent to the Eastern Front. Shortly before the end of the war he deserted and was captured by the Americans on the Western Front. He was released at the end of 1945.

In 1948, while staying in Heidelberg he began a relationship with a civilian employee of the American Forces of Occupation. In 1950 both men were denounced under § 175 of the German Criminal Code. They moved to Paris.

In Paris Tobias worked as a retouched for German photographer Willy Maywald who introduced him to the fashion world. In 1953 Tobias' first published photos appeared in Vogue. In the same year, after resisting arrest during a police raid on a gay establishment, he was thrown out of France and returned to Heidelberg.

Soon his fashion photographs began to appear in West German magazines. And November 1953, out of over 18,000 entrants, he won first prize in a highly lucrative competition by Frankfurter Illustrierten Zeitung.

Through publication of his work in many high-class magazines Tobias had become, by 1956, an established figure in West German fashion scene.

During the 1960s, Tobias style fell out of favor in Fashion magazines. But in 1972 he found a new avenue for his photographs - various gay and pornographic magazines.

By 1981, with some high profile exhibitions of his work in Amsterdam and Berlin, Tobias working on a book with a collection of his nudes.

Tobias became seriously ill in February 1982 and died in August of the same year. He was one of the first high-profile victims of AIDS in Germany. He was buried in Altona Cemetery in Hamburg. In 2007 his grave site was declared an Ehrengrab ("grave of honour") by the Hamburg Senate.

#Ehrengrab #gay icons #Herbert Tobias #German photographer #fashion photography #vogue #homoerotic #German Criminal Code #AIDS #resisting arrest

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100gayicons · 4 days

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Albert Delègue was ski instructor in Mérilheu, France, when he was spotted by a modeling talent agent in 1989. Delègue was intrigued and soon switching careers. He quickly became successful, working for such brands as Versace, Valentino, Calvin Klein and Giorgio Armani. His contract with Armani was rumored to be worth 5 million francs (nearly $1 million Euros).

His family reported that Albert suffered a serious ski accident in August 1994 that left him paralyzed. In March 1995 he was admitted to the hospital. His family announced he had died on April 14, 1995, as a result of complications due to his accident.

But within a week, the truth had been revealed. Media outlets reported that Delègue’s cause of death was AIDS-related encephalitis (inflammation of the brain). But family denied it, sticking to their ski accident story.

Delègue’s friend Alain Gossuin, a fellow fashion model, attempted to set the record straight in a television interview:

“His own family wanted to silence the real reason for his death. I had discussed it in a TV show, believing that my intervention would put a spotlight on the magnitude (of the AIDS) scourge.”

Delègue’s family complained to the broadcasting company and Gossuin’s comments about AIDS were edited out.

HIV and AIDS diagnosis come with a stigma, causing some sufferers and their families to hide it or deny it. Regarding the family, homophobia often plays a part.

When my partner of 13 years was diagnosed with AIDS, one of the first things he insisted on was that none of our friends could know. And when he died, he did not want me to tell his family. I told him I would honor his wishes while he was alive, but after his death, I would need to tell the truth. He died 7 months later. I won’t lie, keeping it a secret was an incredible burden.

On the day he passed away, I wrote a letter to all of our friends and to my partner’s brothers explaining what had happened and why I waited to tell them.

It was such a shame because so many of his friend expressed how much they would have wanted to spend him with him in his moment of need.

The Truth should alway take presidency.

#gay icons #gay rights #aids #Albert Delègue #male fashion model #HIV #keeping secrets #homophobia #versace

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100gayicons · 5 days

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Excerpts from Minor White’s entry on Wikipedia.

“Minor White was an American photographer, theoretician, critic, and educator. He had an intense interest in how people viewed and thought about photographs.

From 1937 until his death in 1976, White made thousands of black-and-white and color photographs of landscapes, people, and abstract subject matter. They showed technical mastery and a strong sense of light and shadow. He taught (at) California School of Fine Arts, the Rochester Institute of Technology, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

(White) lived much of his life as a closeted gay man, not expressing his sexuality publicly out of fear of losing his teaching jobs. Some of his most compelling images are figure studies of men he taught or with whom had relationships.

After his death in 1976, White was hailed as one of America's greatest photographers.

Samples of Minor White’s work…

Note: the last photo has been modified to get past tumblr’s censors. You can see the original at the link below:

#gay icons #minor white #photographer #male nudes #b&w #black and white #landscapes #closeted #fear of losing his job

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100gayicons · 18 days

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William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp

William Lygon’s story is fascinating example of the homophobia and treatment gay people have had endure.

Lygon was the 7th Earl Beauchamp and a British politician who held various important posts, including Governor of New South Wales (1899 and 1901), and leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Lords (1924 and 1931).

He married Lady Lettice Grosvenor in 1876 and had 7 children (3 sons and 4 daughters). He was also a homosexual (or more probably bisexual) which was a crime under Britain’s Gross Indecency act. This was the same law that doomed Oscar Wilde and Alan Turing.

While attending Oxford, Lygon met Evelyn Waugh. He would become Waugh’s inspiration for the ill-fated Sebastian Flyte in Waugh’s novel ‘Brideshead Revisited’

In the 1920s Lygon would throw “racy” parties at Walmer, a castle he had been given. Lady Christabel Aberconway wrote in her diary of open party she attended:

“We arrived and were shown into a garden… There was the actor Ernest Thesiger, a friend of mine, nude to the waist and covered with pearls.”

Thesinger is best known for his campy performance as Dr Pretorius in “The Bride of Frankenstein” (1935).

Apparently Lygon’s sexual activity was an open secret within Britain’s upper crust. He had sexual affairs with servants, common men and other socialites (often at Madresfield Court, the Lygon family home; and at Walmer Castle when he resided).

Lygon toured Australia in 1930 with a young valet, who lived with him. The Australian Star newspaper reported:

“The most striking feature of the vice-regal ménage is the youthfulness of its members … Rosy cheeked footmen. (Each wearing) many lanyards… festoons from their broad shoulders. Lord Beauchamp deserves great credit for his taste in footmen.”

This came to the attention of Hugh Grosvenor (Duke of Westminster). He was Lygon’s brother-in-law and political rival. He hired detectives to get evidence about Lygon’s trysts.

Grosvenor was a Tory, an opposing party, and he wanted to ruin both Lygon and the Liberals. Grosvenor provided his evidence to King George V that Lygon was a homosexual. The King reportedly said,

“I thought men like that shot themselves.”

In 1931, Lygon was given an ultimatum - he must divorce his wife, resign from all offices and leave the country. Otherwise he would face public humiliation, arrest and potentially time in prison. Lygon left England immediately, first heading to Germany where he contemplated suicide. But he was talked out of it by his eldest son.

Grosvenor also showed the evidence to Lettice, Lygon wife, and Grosvenor sister. When told her husband was a bugger, Lettice misunderstood and thought he was being accused of being a bugler.

The divorce petition described Lygon as:

“A man of perverted sexual practices, [who] has committed acts of gross indecency with male servants and other male persons and has been guilty of sodomy … throughout the married life …”

Ironically Lygon’s children sided with the father and visited him often when he was out of the country. They shunned they’d mother.

Afterwards Lygon traveled, making his way to Paris, Venice, Sydney and San Francisco. But he returned to England after King George V died in 1936. His successor King George IV lifted the arrest warrant.

Lygon returned to Madresfield, his family estate in 1937. Unfortunately he was diagnosed with cancer and died in 1938.

Before his death, Grosvenor wrote Lygon saying,

"Dear Bugger-in-law, you got what you deserved. Yours, Westminster."

(Grosvenor, by the way, was a Nazi sympathizer and hated Jews, he was known for His anti-Semitic rants.)

#gay icons #william lygon #Gross Indecency act #Oscar Wilde #Alan Turing #Ernest Thesiger #vanity fair #Evelyn Waugh #brideshead revisited #Sebastian Flyte

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100gayicons · 3 months

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Richard Rodney Bennet was an English composer for film, TV and concerts, and he also performed as a jazz pianist. He received his musical education in England but by 1979, he felt frustrated with life in Britain and he moved to New York. Both Steven Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein wrote in support his application for a US green card.

Bennett produced over 200 works for the concerts, and 50 scores for film and television, including Far from the Madding Crowd (1967); Equus (1977); Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994). And of course by personal favorite, the wonderful score for Murder on the Orient Express (1974) where he was nominated for an Oscar and won a BAFTA.

In 1995, Gay Times nominated him as one of the most influential gay people in music. Three years later Bennett was knighted by Queen Elizabeth.

When asked what was the first thing he did each morning, Bennett replied:

I cuddle my cats, because they always sleep with me.

#gay icons #Richard Rodney Bennet #movie score #murder on the orient express #academy award nominee #BAFTA winner #stephen sondheim #leonard bernstein #gay times #cuddling with cats

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100gayicons · 3 months

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Tom Tryon began his acting career on Broadway in the early 1950s. Paramount offered him a contract and he spent the rest of the decade appearing in mostly B (low budget) Pictures. My favorite of his movies is “I Married a Monster from Outer Space” (1958) which costarred Gloria Talbott as his wife. When Wife-Talbot realized Husband-Tryon had little interest in her, she assumed he must be an monster from outer space, instead of the more obvious answer.

Although actor Tryon was married for three years (1955 to 1958), he was gay. But like other movie heart throbs of the era, he was deeply in the closet.

Tryon was loaned to Disney Studios where he starred as Texas John Slaughter in a series of TV movies (1958 to 1961). The series was popular so Disney cast him in “Moon Pilot” (1963). It’s a frivolous but fun movie similar to “I Dream of Jeannie” (which would arrive on TV 3 years later).

Tryon costarred with John Wayne in 2 films: “The Longest Day” (1962) and “In Harms Way” (1965). But the turning point in his acting career was when he was cast in the leading role of Otto Preminger’s “The Cardinal” (1963).

According to several sources, Preminger treated Tryon horribly during production - regularly bullying and humiliating him. Once Preminger fired Tryon in front his parents that were visiting the studio that day.

Tryon said,

“To this day, I cannot look at that film. It's because of Preminger. He was a tyrant who ruled by terror. He tied me up in knots. He screamed at me. He called me names. He said I was lazy. He said I was a fool. He never cursed me. His insults were far more personal."

Although Tryon continued to accept movie and TV roles until 1969, the traumatic experiences with Preminger soured him on acting.

Tryon was inspired by “Rosemary’s Baby” to become a novelist. He wrote several horror stories including “The Other” and “Fedora” which were made into successful movies (1972 & 1978). And “Harvest Home” was adapted into a mini-series starring Bette Davis (1978).

In the early 1970s Tryon was in a relationship with actor Clive Clerk, who was in the original cast of “A Chorus Line” on Broadway. In 1973 he met Cal Culver, aka gay porn star Casey Donovan. Apparently Tryon wasn’t concerned with Culver’s adult film background and they continued their relationship for 4 years. But as Culver/Donovan became increasingly well known, Tryon became concerned because he was still in the closet. They ended their relationship in 1977.

Tryon died in 1991, with stomach cancer listed as the cause on the Death Certificate. Thomas Holloway, Tryon’s literary executor, said that Tryon was HIV-positive which contributed to his death.

#tom tryon #casey donovan #clive clerk #gay icons #in the closet #boys in the sand #i married a monster from outer space #otto preminger #moon pilot

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100gayicons · 4 months

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Brigette Bandit is a True Icon and LGBT hero. Read about their impact at the tumblr link below

And at the New Yorker article.

#gay icons #brigette bandit #lgbt hero #drag #fuck Texas #fuck republicans

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100gayicons · 4 months

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Gore Vidal was an writer, a political pundit and one of the most polarizing figures of the 20th Century. He was also a self described bisexual or pansexual.

Vidal’s lifelong opponent William F Buckley once said to him on National TV:

"Now listen, you queer. Stop calling me a crypto-Nazi, or I'll sock you in the goddamn face, and you'll stay plastered."

Buckley later regretted using “queer” but still disliked that Vidal was an "evangelist for bisexuality”.

Buckley was not his only literary opponent. Vidal famously had feuds with Truman Capote and Norman Mailer as well.

In “The City and the Pillar” (1948), one of Vidal’s earliest novels, he wrote about a young man coming to accept he was homosexual. At the time, some critics were so offended by the subject, they refused to read the book, let alone review it. The book made Vidal an early champion for sexual liberation.

A later satirical novel “Myra Breckenridge” (1968) described the exploits of Myron who undergoes sexual reassignment, and becomes Myra. She tries to take down the macho patriarchy of Hollywood. It was made into the 1970 film starring Raquel Welch and Mae West.

Vidal set a goal to make his life as “promiscuous as I could make it.” He wrote in his diary that by age twenty-five, he had had more than a thousand sexual encounters.

On the straight side of the fence, Vidal had an affair with French author Anaïs Nin. He was also engaged to actress Joanne Woodward before she married Paul Newman. For a time, all three shared a house together in Los Angeles.

Regarding men… he preferred masculine young men and paid them because the cash transaction limited messy emotional entanglements.

Vidal once said:

“The difference between Italian boys and American boys, is Italian boys have dirty feet and clean assholes, while American boys have clean feet and dirty assholes.”

Vidal’s one true love was Jimmie Trimble, who he met in 1937 when they were students. Trimble died during World War II. Vidal dedicated the novel “The City and the Pillar” to Trimble.

Among his sexual conquests Vidal claimed to have slept with Fred Astaire when he first moved to Hollywood; and also with a young Dennis Hopper. One verifiable lover was Harold Lang, a dancer-actor who starred on Broadway in “Kiss Me Kate” and “Pal Joey”. Lang’s muscular butt was also cherished by Leonard Bernstein and Arthur Levante.

Vidal’s life long relationship was with Howard Austen who he met in 1950. He described their Union as “two men who decided to spend their lives together". Furthermore, Vidal said the secret to their long relationship was they did not have sex with each other.

Austen managed the their financial affairs, travel arrangements and housing needs. They were eventually buried together in a joint grave in Washington DC.

#gore vidal #myra breckenridge #william f buckley #paul newman #gay icons #joanne woodward

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100gayicons · 5 months

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In 1989, Albert Delègue was ski instructor in Mérilheu, France, when he was spotted by a modeling talent agent. Delègue was intrigued and soon switching careers. He quickly became successful, working for such brands as Versace, Valentino, Calvin Klein and Giorgio Armani. His contract with Armani was rumored to be worth 5 million francs (nearly $1 million Euros).

His family reported that Albert suffered a serious ski accident in August 1994 that left him paralyzed. In March 1995 he was admitted to the hospital. His family announced he had died on April 14, 1995, as a result of complications due to his accident.

But within a week, the truth had been revealed. Media outlets reported that Delègue’s cause of death was AIDS-related encephalitis (inflammation of the brain). But his family denied it, sticking to their ski accident story.

Delègue’s friend Alain Gossuin, a fellow fashion model, attempted to set the record straight in a television interview:

“His own family wanted to silence the real reason for his death. I had discussed it in a TV show, believing that my intervention would put a spotlight on the magnitude (of the AIDS) scourge.”

Delègue’s family complained to the broadcasting company and Gossuin’s comments about AIDS were edited out.

HIV and AIDS diagnosis come with a stigma, causing some sufferers and their families to hide it or deny it. Regarding the family, homophobia often plays a part.

When my partner of 13 years was diagnosed with AIDS, one of the first things he insisted on was that none of our friends could know. And when he died, he did not want me to tell his family.

I told him I would honor his wishes while he was alive, but after his death, I would need to tell the truth. He died 7 months later. I won’t lie, keeping it a secret was an incredible burden.

On the day he passed away, I wrote a letter to all of our friends and to my partner’s brothers explaining what had happened and why I waited to tell them.

It was such a shame because so many of his friends and members of his family expressed how much they would have wanted to spend him with him in his moment of need.

The Truth should alway take precedence.

#gay icons #Albert Delègue #French male model #stigma of aids #Alain Gossuin #lies and telling the truth #my personal story

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100gayicons · 5 months

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(Excerpts from Bayard Rustin’s entry on Wikipedia.)

Rustin worked with Asa Philip Randolph on the March on Washington Movement, in 1941, to press for an end to racial discrimination in employment. Rustin later organized Freedom Rides, and helped to organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to strengthen Martin Luther King Jr.'s leadership and teaching King about nonviolence.

Rustin was a gay man, who had been arrested, early in his career, for engaging in in sex in a parked car, (He was posthumously pardoned.) Due to criticism over his sexuality, he usually acted as an influential adviser behind the scenes to civil-rights leaders. In the 1980s, he became a public advocate on behalf of gay causes, speaking at events as an activist and supporter of human rights.

“... gay people are the new barometer for social change... The question of social change should be framed with the most vulnerable group in mind: gay

Bayard met Walter Naegle in 1977.

“The day that I met Bayard I was actually on my way to Times Square. We were on the same corner waiting for the light to change. He had a wonderful shock of white hair. I guess he was of my parents' generation, but we looked at each other and lightning struck.”

Naegle and Rustin were together for ten years until his death in 1987. On his even conservative Present Ronald Reagan praised him: "for human rights throughout the world".

On November 20, 2013, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Rustin the Presidential Medal of Freedom which was accepted by Naegle.

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100gayicons · 5 months

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Billie Joe Armstrong is considered by some music critics as one of the greatest punk rock guitarists of all time. He, Mike Dirnt and (later joined by) Tré Cool, formed the band Green Day in the late 1980s. They chose that name because of their fondness for marijuana.

With their 3rd album “Dookie” (1994), Green Day broke through into music mainstream. It sold over 60 million records worldwide. Green Day has remained one of the most popular rock bands of the 1990s and 2000s.

Armstrong is open about his sexuality. In a 1995 interview with The Advocate, Armstrong said:

“I think I've always been bisexual. I mean, it's something that I've always been interested in. I think people are born bisexual, and it's just that our parents and society kind of veer us off into this feeling of "Oh, I can't." They say it's taboo. It's ingrained in our heads that it's bad, when it's not bad at all. It's a very beautiful thing.”

He explained that the song “Coming Clean” described his acceptance of his sexuality as a 17 year old in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Armstrong also takes delight when fans at concerts sing along with the lyrics for “American Idiot”:

“Well, maybe I'm the faggot, America, i'm not a part of a redneck agenda”

American Idiot was adapted into a Broadway musical in 2009. Armstrong appeared in American Idiot in the role of St. Jimmy for two stints in late 2010 and early 2011.

Armstrong has been married to Adrienne Nesser for nearly 30 years. Together they have 3 sons.

Despite that, Armstrong hasn’t been shy about kissing his male fans and band mates on stage at concerts.

#gay icons #billie joe green day #Green Day #punk rock #American idiot #bisexual #married with 3 sons #I’m the faggot #dookie #coming clean

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100gayicons · 6 months

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Anderson Cooper is a prominent openly gay journalist on American TV. He came out as gay in an essay in 2012. He had been conflicted about protecting his own privacy and providing LGBT youth with a positive role model.

“It’s become clear to me that by remaining silent on certain aspects of my personal life for so long, I have given some the mistaken impression that I am trying to hide something—something that makes me uncomfortable, ashamed or even afraid,” he wrote. “This is distressing because it is simply not true...The fact is, I’m gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn’t be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud.”

In 2022, Cooper shared an amusing story about when he first realized he was gay. At the age of 12, friends of his mother took him to go see “Bent”, a Broadway play starring Richard Gere. In the opening scene Gere and another actor were having sex under blankets. The other actor climbs out of the bed, naked, and got dressed. Cooper thought to himself:

“Oh my God, I’m gay…I’m totally gay.”

When the play was over, young Cooper went back stage to meet Gere (his theater companions knew the actor). Gere was shirtless and Cooper described the situation:

“And I had my Playbill and I wanted to get him to autograph it, but I was too—I just couldn’t stop staring at his chest. And so, fast forward to 10 years ago, I was interviewing Richard Gere and I took out the Playbill…and I told him the whole story and I had him sign it. Yeah. He was very tickled with it.”

Cooper had been in a long term relationship with Benjamin Maisani, a New York businessman. They broke up in 2018 but remained friends. In 2022 and again in 2023, Anderson Cooper had sons via surrogacy. Cooper co-parents the boys with Maisani who plans to adopt the boys as well.

Although Anderson Cooper being gay may be inspirational, I was more surprised when I found out he is the son of railroad heiress and fashion designer Gloria Vanderbilt. His net worth is estimated to be $200 million, partial due to his $12 million annual salary at CNN. And also from his inheritance from his mother’s estate when she passed away in 2019.

#gay icons #anderson cooper #gloria vanderbilt #cnn #Benjamin Maisani #children through surrogacy #Richard Gere #I’m gay…I’m totally gay.#the play bent #LGBT

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100gayicons · 6 months

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Edward Gorey was a successful artist and author best know for intricate and macabre stories. He began his artistic career in the early 1950s working for the publisher Doubleday, designing covers and illustrating book.

Later in the decade, Gorey exhibited his artwork at the Gotham Bookstore in Manhattan. This exposed his work to a wider audience.

Over his career, Gorey had dozens of publications in anthologies and stand alone books. He often signed them using elaborate anagrams of his own name such as Ogdred Weary, D. Awdrey-Gore, and Madame Groeda Weyrd.

My favorite of his books are:

“The Curious Sofa” (1961) is set in the 1920s it tells the story (in single page illustrations) of a weekend party they evolved into an elaborate orgy. No sex is ever shown but events lead to a shocking climax featuring a mechanical sofa.

“The Gashlycrumb Tinies” (1963) written as rhyming couplets, tells the sad tale of 26 children. Nearly all the illustrations capture the children just moments before their horrible deaths.

In 1977 he designed the sets and costumes for a wildly successful revival of “Dracula” on Broadway. His intricate pen and ink drawing were enlarged greater than life on the stage.

In 1980, Gorey’s work and style was used as the inspiration for the animated introduction to PBS’ “Mystery!” Tv program.

Gorey never married. He never openly discussed his sex life. If the topic came up, Gorey was evasive. In a 1980 interview he was specifically asked "What are your sexual preferences?"

He replied, “"Well, I'm neither one thing nor the other particularly. I suppose I'm gay. But I don't really identify with it much." (But “I suppose I’m gay.” Was not included in the article.)

Gorey added the following which suggests he may have been asexual and oppressed by the homophobia which pervaded the era he grew up.

“I am fortunate in that I am apparently reasonably undersexed or something. I do not spend my life picking up people on the streets. I was always reluctant to go to the movies with one of my friends because I always expected the police to come and haul him out of the loo at one point or the other. I know people who lead really outrageous lives. I've never said I was gay, and I've never said I wasn't. A lot of people would say that I wasn't because I never do anything about it." Shortly thereafter, he added, "What I'm trying to say is that I am a person before I am anything else."

(On the set of his production of “Dracula”.)

#gay icons #Edward Gorey #illustrator #the curious sofa #PBS Mystery!#asexual #The Gashlycrumb Tinies #weekend orgy #Dracula #macabre

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100gayicons · 6 months

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Arthur Levine grew up in a middle class family that was half Orthodox Jews and half atheist. Arthur himself rejected of all fundamentalist religions, but he identify himself as Jewish. Before embarking on a writing career he started using the less Jewish-sounding Laurents to improve his job prospects.

In the military during WWII, Laurents was assigned to the U.S. Army Pictorial Service located in Astoria, Queens. While working on training films he met director George Cukor and actor William Holden. He also wrote plays for Armed Service Force Presents radio show.

Later in life he wrote his autobiography, about the war in NYC:

“Everything was rationed except the two things everyone wanted most: sex and booze. The city reeked of sex. . . . I whirled in a blender of sex and booze.”

After the war, his career in writing led him to Broadway. When his first play, “Home of the Brave” (1945), was sold to Hollywood, he achieve an opportunity to write movies

Laurents’ best known early film is “Rope” (1948) directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It tells the story about two young men who nurder a friend then hide the body in a chest while they hold a cocktail party. One of the stars of the film was Farley Granger who was already in a relationship with Laurants.

He later wrote the popular “The Way We Were” (1973) which starred Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford; and “The Turning Point” (1977) for which he was nominated for an Oscar.

But Laurents most memorable works are the musicals he wrote for Broadway (he wrote structure the plot and wrote the dialogue): “West Side Story” (1957) and “Gypsy” (1959). Laurents also directed for the stage: credits include “I can get it for you wholesale” (1962), the 1974 revival of “Gypsy”, “La Cage Aux Folles” (1983), and the bilingual production of “West Side Story” (2009.

The creative team of “West Side Story" (1957): Sondheim, Arthur Laurents, Hal Prince, Robert Griffith (a co-producer, seated), Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Robbins.

But Laurents’ longest credit is his 52 year relationship with his partner Tom Hatcher. In 1954, fellow writer Gore Vidal suggested to Laurents that he visit a certain men’s clothing store in downtown Hollywood. The reason? The young blond man who worked there.

Laurents later described the encounter:

“It was lust, not love, at first sight.”

But out of that intense early relationship, Laurents and Hatcher were together until Hatcher’s death in 2006.

#tom hatcher #arthur laurents #west side story #Broadway #list at first sight #gore Vidal #farley granger #alfred hitchcock #gay writer #the way we were

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100gayicons · 6 months

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“When I was in the military, they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one.”

Technical Sergeant Leonard P. Matlovich was a Vietnam War veteran and receivrd a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for his service. He was also the first gay soldier to out himself on purpose to the military.

Matlovich was the son of a career Air Force sergeant and spent his childhood living on military bases. When he enlisted in the Air Force at the age of 19 he volunteered to be assigned to Viet Nam (eventually serving 3 tours of duty). He was seriously wounded when he stepped on a landmine in Đà Nẵng.

When he returned to the US he was stationed in Florida and started going to gay bars in Pensacola. In 1973, at the age of 30, he had sex with man for the first time. It was a difficult decision but he “came out" to his friends, BUT he hid the news from the Air Force.

Matlovich volunteered to teach classes for the Air Force on Race Relations. This was in response to several racial incidents in the military during that era. He was so successful that the Air Force sent him around the country to coach other instructors. While conducting the classes, Matlovich realized that gays faced similar discrimination as that of African Americans.

In 1974, Matlovich learned that gay activist Frank Kameny was looking for a gay service member with a perfect record to create a test case to challenge the military's ban on homosexuals. He met with Kameny and ACLU attorneys to make a plan.

In March 1975 Matlovich hand-delivered a letter to his commanding officer at Langley AFB. He was challenging the ban on Gays using the landmark Supreme Court ruling on “Brown versus the Board of Education" as his basis - it had outlawed racial segregation in public schools.

Within months Matlovich became an icon that gays across the country rallied around. He appeared on the 09/08/1975 cover of Time magazine - the first openly gay man to appear on the cover of a US news-magazine.

During his discharge hearing, Matlovich he was asked if he would pledging to "never practice homosexuality again" in exchange for being allowed to remain in the Air Force. Matlovich refused. Despite his military record, tours of duty in Vietnam, and high performance evaluations, the panel ruled Matlovich unfit for service. He was discharge in October 1975.

Matlovich sued but the case was bounced from court to court. Finally in 1980, the Air Force offered him a financial settlement based on back pay, future pay, and pension. He accepted (the amount was $160,000).

During this period, Matlovich was excommunicated by the Mormon Church - TWICE!

But Matlovich also became a Gay activist - helping with fundraising campaigning against Anita Bryant in Florida, and John Briggs' in California

When the AIDS crisis surfaced in the 1980s, Matlovich fought for HIV/AIDS education and treatment. But unfortunately, in 1986, he was diagnosed with the diseases himself. He began treatment with AZT, but his condition was poor. Even then, he continued campaigning - protesting against Roland Reagan’s Administration feable efforts to combat AIDS.

On 06/22/1988 at the age of 45, Leonard Matlovich died. His tombstone does not bear his name. It reads,:

“When I was in the military, they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one.”

#gay icons #leonard p. matlovich #don’t ask don’t tell #air force #aids #gays in the military #purple heart #viet nam #time magazine #gay rights

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100gayicons · 6 months

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Siegfried Sassoon was English poet, writer, and soldier who won awards for bravery during World War One. But he spoke out and wrote about the horrors of the trenches.

Sassoon was motivated by patriotism when he joined the British Army at the start of the Great War. A broke arm (due to a training riding accident) prevented him from being immediately deployed to the front. By mid 1915 he was assigned to the 3rd Battalion as a Second Lieutenant. There he met and developed a friendship with fellow poet Robert Graves.

Sassoon poetry was greatly impacted by the realities of the war. Until then his poetry could be described as romantic and sweet. But it shifted towards revealing the ugly truths of the war. He was no longer swayed patriotic propaganda and wrote about rotting corpses, mangled limbs, cowardice and suicide.

Despite his personal feeling, or perhaps because of them, Sassoon performed bravely, once single-handely capturing of a German trench. In 1916 he was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry during a raid on the enemy's trenches. He continued while under fire bringing in wounded soldier.

Robert Graves described Sassoon suicidal in his bravery.

Later in 1916, while convalescing in a English hospital, Sassoon decided that he would not return to the front. Encouraged by leading passifist, Sassoon wrote “Finished with the War: A Soldier’s Declaration” where he declared:

“I am making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military authority… I believe that the war upon which I entered as a war of defence and liberation has now become a war of aggression and conquest.”

The letter was sent to his commanding officer, the press, and even read aloud in the House of Commons. Rather than be court marshaled for treason, Sassoon was sent to a psychiatric hospital to be treated for shell-shock.

Sassoon was homosexual. In Britain is was a crime of gross indecency and could be punish with jail time and hard labor (as was Oscar Wilde’s 20 years earlier). Sassoon had a number of relationships with men. The most significant were with Welsh actor Ivor Norvello, English actor Glen Byam Shaw, and Stephen Tennant, a socialite known for his decadent lifestyle.

After 6 years together, Tennant ended the relationship. It was reported that Sassoon was devastated. Three year later, in 1931, Sassoon married Hester Gatty. She was 20 years younger. They had one son. By the end of WWII, they separated and lived apart.

In 2019, a research student discovered an unpublished poem by Sassoon. Sassoon written the night he had dinner with his soon to be lover Glen Byam Shaw. Sassoon was 39 and Shaw 20.

“Though you have left me, I’m not yet alone:

For what you were befriends the firelit room;

And what you said remains & is my own

To make a living gladness of my gloom

The firelight leaps & shows your empty chair

And all our harmonies of speech are stilled:

But you are with me in the voiceless air

My hands are empty, but my heart is filled.”

Sassoon died from stomach cancer in 1967.

Check this link for a profile I wrote earlier about Ivor Norvello:

https://100gayicons.tumblr.com/post/659069305971949568/in-the-1930s-ivor-novello-was-named-britains

#gay icons #gay rights #siegfried sassoon #stephen tennant #gay man #poet

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100gayicons · 6 months

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This is my second attempt at posting this. I wanted to share some of Harry Bush’s art (yes, that was his real name). BUT tumblr thought it was too risqué. That’s all the more reason to spread the word about Bush. (I removed the more salacious drawing but I encourage you to do some searches to discover them yourself.)

@rstabbert posted a brief bio of gay artist Harry Bush at the link below. Bush served in the Navy and Airfare, retiring to California in the 1960. There he began creating illustrations of hunky young men with big butts.

More info about him is available on Wikipedia. Since neither of those include sample of his work, I’ve included a few below. (Bush’s drawing can be very explicit, so be sure to look I’m up on your favorite browser!)

#gay icons #Harry bush #California hunks #sexy guys #big butts #censored by tumblr

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