July 6, 1907 - Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón: "I paint myself because I am often alone, and I am the subject I know best." The Portland Art Museum (PAM) was to have been having sold-out crowds for Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Mexican Modernism this summer, and as a … [Read more...]
#OnThisDay: 1946, the Bikini is Introduced to the World
On July 5, 1946, the world's first bikini made its debut at a poolside fashion show in Paris. It is now so ubiquitous, it's difficult to believe how shocking it once was. When the bikini first arrived, its revealing cut scandalized even the French fashion models who were … [Read more...]
#BornThisDay: Jean Cocteau
"Cocteau In Bed With A Mask, Paris" (1927) by Berenice Abbott, via YouTube July 5, 1889 - Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau: "Life is a horizontal fall." He was a poet, writer, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. While still in his teens, Cocteau began to … [Read more...]
#BornThisDay: Activist, Sylvia Rivera
Rivera leads an ACT-UP march on June 26, 1994, via YouTube July 2, 1951- Sylvia Rivera: "I was a radical, a revolutionist. I am still a revolutionist…I am glad I was in the Stonewall Riot. I remember when someone threw a Molotov cocktail, I thought, 'My god, the revolution … [Read more...]
Dispatches From Portland: Darcelle XV, the West Coast’s Longest-Running Drag Show is Nominated for Landmark Status
Photo via Wikimedia Commons On Tuesday, June 30, my Representative, the honorable Earl Blumenauer, urged the National Park Service to add Darcelle XV to the National Register of Historic Places. Since 1967, two years before Stonewall, Darcelle XV has been Portland's premier … [Read more...]
Women Take On The Hollywood Patriarchy, 1944: Olivia de Havilland
The great actor and film historian Louise Brooks (1906-1985) wrote that the movie industry began because a bunch of rich men thought it would be just terrific fun to own beautiful young women. Women like Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn and Olivia de Havilland pushed back against … [Read more...]
Marsha P. Johnson Gets a Google Doodle To End Pride Month
To round out Pride Month, Google has a lovely tribute to Marsha P. Johnson, a guiding spirit of the sex and gender minority rights movements. I've listed some interesting works about Marsha and her legacy: Pay It No Mind: … [Read more...]
#OnThisGayDay: Obergefell v Hodges is Decided by SCOTUS
June 26, 2015– Marriage Equality Comes to the USA More than two million LGBTQ American citizens have exchanged vows since SCOTUS ruled on Obergefell v. Hodges deciding that Marriage Equality is a Constitutional Right in a decision that opened the doors at courthouses across the … [Read more...]
#BornThisDay: Cross-Dressing Entertainer, Gladys Bentley
Via Wikipedia Commons June 26, - Gladys Bentley: "From the time I can remember anything, I never wanted a man to touch me. Soon I began to feel more comfortable in boys’ clothes than in dresses." In 1934, King's Terrace, a Manhattan nightclub, was padlocked by the police … [Read more...]
#BornThisDay: Pride Pioneer, Bill Kraus
Photo via Wikimedia Commons June 25, 1947 - William J. Kraus: "Those who depend on television as their primary information source are condemned to .... A form of political illiteracy." If Sir Ian McKellen plays you in a film, your time in this incarnation must have been … [Read more...]
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