A few events worth celebrating and/or remembering…
AUGUST 19, 1839
Louis Daguerre's daguerreotype photographic process with complete working instructions is published "free to the world" in Paris as a gift to the world from the French government.
AUGUST 19, 1867
In Munich, Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (28 August 1825 – 14 July 1895) is jeered when he attempts to persuade jurists that same-sex love should be tolerated rather than persecuted. He is probably the first to come out publicly in defense of what he calls “Uranism” (homosexuality). Ulrichs coined various terms to describe different sexual orientations, including Urning for a man who desires men (English “Uranian”) and Dioning for one who desires women. These terms are in reference to a section of Plato‘s Symposium in which two kinds of love are discussed, symbolized by an Aphrodite who is born from a male (Uranos) and an Aphrodite who is born from a female (Dione). Ulrichs also coined words for the female counterparts (Urningin and Dioningin) and for bisexuals and intersexual persons. Ulrichs is likely the first true gay activist and is seen today as the pioneer of the modern gay rights movement. Published in 1870, Ulrich’s Araxes: A Call to Free the Nature of the Urning from Penal Law is remarkable for its similarity to the discourse of the modern gay rights movement. In it “the Urning, too, is a person. He, too, therefore, has inalienable rights. His sexual orientation is a right established by nature. Legislators have no right to veto nature; no right to persecute nature in the course of its work; no right to torture living creatures who are subject to those drives nature gave them. The Urning is also a citizen. He, too, has civil rights; and according to these rights, the state has certain duties to fulfill as well. The state does not have the right to act on whimsy or for the sheer love of persecution. The state is not authorized, as in the past, to treat Urnings as outside the pale of the law.”
AUGUST 19, 1883
French fashion designer Coco Chanel is born in Saumur, France.
“The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.”
Coco Chanel
AUGUST 19, 1890
In response to a letter received from John Addington Symonds, American poet Walt Whitman (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) denies that “Calamus” from Leaves of Grass was homoerotic. Whitman’s work was very controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass which was described as obscene for its overt sexuality. Though biographers continue to debate Whitman’s sexuality, he is usually described as either homosexual or bisexual in his feelings and attractions.
AUGUST 19, 1919
American businessman, politician, and publisher Malcolm Forbes is born in Englewood, New Jersey.
“Diversity: the art of thinking independently together.”
Malcolm Forbes
AUGUST 19, 1936
Spanish poet, playwright, and director Federico García Lorca dies near Alfacar, Granada, at the age of 38.
AUGUST 19, 1984
President Ronald Reagan issues a statement saying his administration would fight governmental endorsement of homosexuality.AUGUST 19, 1992
The Ann Arbor, Michigan, city council votes 8-1 to extend health benefits to same sex partners of city employees.AUGUST 19, 1992
Over 250 gay and lesbian couples submit marriage applications in over fifty German cities as part of an attempted mass wedding. About 75% of the couples were male, and over 100 of the applications were submitted in Berlin. The demonstration, organized by the Gay League of Germany, receives widespread media attention. Lesben und Schwulenverband in Deutschland (LSVD), German for the Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany, is the largest non-governmental LGBT rights organization in Germany. It was founded in 1990 and is part of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Association (ILGA). Manfred Bruns, Volker Beck, Eduard Stapel, Günter Dworek and Halina Bendkowski were prominent persons in the Board of Directors. People from the arts, like comic-designer Ralf König, comedian Hella von Sinnen, director Rosa von Praunheim, and from politics and from science like sexologist Rolf Gindorf and others are prominent individual members of the organization.
AUGUST 19, 1996
California’s state senate kills a bill banning same-sex marriage after Democrats attach a provision to establish a domestic partner registry.
AUGUST 19, 1996
In Spokane, Washington, the family of Curtis Babcock files a lawsuit against county coroner Dexter Amend. Babcock’s memorial service had to be delayed because Amend ordered an autopsy to link his AIDS-related death to sodomy.AUGUST 19, 1997
The school board of Wayne-Westland, a suburb of Detroit, votes 6-1 to repeal sexual orientation protection for students and staff.AUGUST 19, 2005
DC Comics orders the Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts Gallery in New York to remove an exhibit of watercolors showing Batman and Robin in a variety of romantic poses. DC threatened both artist and the Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts gallery with legal action if they did not cease selling the works and demanded all remaining art as well as any profits derived from them. Homosexual interpretations have been part of the academic study of the Batman franchise at least since psychiatrist Fredric Wertham asserted in his 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent that “Batman stories are psychologically homosexual.” Wertham, as well as parodies, fans, and other independent parties, have described Batman and his sidekick Robin as homosexual, possibly in a relationship with each other. DC Comics has never indicated Batman or any of his male allies to be gay but several characters in the Modern Age Batman comic books are expressly gay, lesbian, or bisexual.AUGUST 19, 2008
Interscope Records releases The Fame, the debut album by Lady Gaga (Grammy Award Album of the Year, Best Electronic/Dance Album 2009).
AUGUST 19, 2011
The Arizona Queer Archives is founded by Jamie A. Lee with support from Susan Stryker. The Arizona Queer Archives is the state of Arizona’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex (LGBTQI) collecting archives of the Institute for LGBT Studies at the University of Arizona.