#FlashBack54: Hubert de Givenchy, Audrey Hepburn and “The Little Black Dress”

By Stephen Rutledge on February 21, 2019 5:00 pm

February 21, 1927- Count Hubert James Marcel Taffin de Givenchy I absolutely believe my talent is God-given. I ask God for a lot, but I also thank him. I'm a very demanding believer. When Audrey Hepburn left this world in 1993, taken by cancer at 63-years-old, she was … [Read more...]

#QueerQuote: “What the People Want is Very Simple – They Want an America as Good as its Promise.” – Barbara Jordan

By Stephen Rutledge on February 21, 2019 7:35 am

Barbara Jordan (1936-1996): We believe in equality for all, and privileges for none… Let Everybody Come! It is Black History Month. It is not necessarily Black Lesbians Month, but possibly, it should be. African-American Gay Women made history too. Barbara Jordan … [Read more...]

#BornThisDay: Kurt Cobain

By Stephen Rutledge on February 20, 2019 3:05 am

February 20, 1967– Kurt Cobain: I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not. The best television episode of the 1990s starred a small blond young man and his band. On November 18, 1993, at Sony Music Studios in New York City, the band Nirvana … [Read more...]

#QueerQuote: “You Are Not Truly a Warhol Superstar Unless You Are Dead.” – Jackie Curtis

By Stephen Rutledge on February 19, 2019 4:44 am

Jackie Curtis (1947-1985) was born John Curtis Holder Jr. in New York City. She had a half-brother Timothy Holder, who is an openly gay Episcopal priest. Her parents divorced when she was a tot and she was mostly raised by her maternal grandmother, Ann Uglialoro, a … [Read more...]

#BornThisDay: Writer, Carson McCullers and the Ballad of a Sad Life

By Stephen Rutledge on February 19, 2019 3:05 am

February 19, 1917- Carson McCullers: Next to music, beer was best. She was an artist who lived hard, died young, and left a stunning legacy. A few people I know have expressed outrage that Oregon's Governor was identified by the media as openly bisexual, one even … [Read more...]

#BornThisDay: Writer, Audre Lorde

By Stephen Rutledge on February 18, 2019 3:05 am

February 18, 1934 - Audre Lorde: Your silence will not protect you. Born Audrey Geraldine Lorde, Audrey Lorde recognized the power of names and naming early in life, changing hers as a child to Audre to highlight the symmetry of both names ending in "e". At … [Read more...]

#BornThisDay: Actor, Alan Bates

By Stephen Rutledge on February 17, 2019 3:05 am

February 17, 1934– Alan Bates: I think actors are privileged. Acting feeds you. My little 15-year-old brain simply fried after seeing Ken Russell's adaptation of D. H. Lawrence's 1920 novel, Women In Love (1969). I had caught it at a movie theatre in Spokane, along … [Read more...]

#BornThisDay: Filmmaker, John Schlesinger

By Stephen Rutledge on February 16, 2019 2:30 am

February 16, 1926– John Schlesinger: Hollywood is an extraordinary kind of temporary place. It would be difficult to underestimate the influence that at least two of Schlesinger's films have had on my life as a gay man. Midnight Cowboy (I was just 15-years-old when I … [Read more...]

#QueerQuote: “Nobody’s Invented Polite Words Yet For Killing.” – Stella (Thelma Ritter) in “Rear Window”

By Stephen Rutledge on February 15, 2019 4:05 am

I just adore Thelma Ritter. She is one of the classiest character actors. Ritter had cool. She could coolly wither many a co-star away with just a single line of dialogue. She played wives, mothers, maids, wise types, tough cookies, working-class gals, solidly real … [Read more...]

#BornThisDay: Composer, Harold Arlen

By Stephen Rutledge on February 15, 2019 3:05 am

February 15, 1905- Harold Arlen Harold Arlen wasn't queer, but he's rather important to LGBTQ culture for writing, among many great songs, a certain special Gay Anthem. In my not particularly humble opinion, after Stephen Sondheim, Arlen is our greatest composer of … [Read more...]