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Structure
Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 40 general entries. We are selecting 30 for display.
Special Topics
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Gay History
| The Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar at the time, was raided by the police on Friday, June 27th, 1969. Instead of passively enduring another raid, the patrons started a riot that marked the beginning of a more public fight for gay rights. The Stonewall Inn was in which city? | 20th Century Gay History: Part I
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New York City. The Stonewall Inn was on Christopher Street in New York's Greenwich Village. It since closed, reopened as unrelated businesses, and was later reopened as the Stonewall Inn, and has a gay clientele. Many communities worldwide celebrate gay pride in June, in commemoration of this event.
| Dr. Tom Waddell, a member of the 1968 Olympic team, started the Gay Games, which is an international sporting event held every four years. Originally, it was to be called The Gay Olympics, but the name was changed for which reason? | 20th Century Gay History: Part I
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The United States Olympic Committee requested a federal injunction against using the name "Olympic" for this group.. One wonders why the USOC never brought up the use of the term when it came to the Dog Olympics, Police Olympics, Nude Olympics, Special Olympics, or other groups using the name.
| Anita Bryant waged a campaign in 1977 in Dade County (Miami) Florida to repeal a local gay rights ordinance. Ultimately, her "Save the Children" campaign won a 2-1 repeal of the ordinance. At the time, this former beauty queen was the spokesperson for a marketing organization that subsequently terminated her contract because of her compaign. Which organization was this? | 20th Century Gay History: Part I
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Florida Citrus Commission (as in Orange Juice). Shortly after her landslide victory in this case, it was impossible to find a "screwdriver" in a gay bar or orange juice on a menu in a gay restaurant. The economic boycott of orange juice that ensued brought a quick end to the commercial endorsement phase of this singer's career. Disney Corporation is a leading company in supporting gay rights and domestic partnerships.
| In 1981, unusual cases of KS (Kaposi's Sarcoma), PCP (Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia) and other opportunistic infections began to show up in gay men in New York and San Francisco. This was the the beginning of the AIDS epidemic as we know it today. Before the term AIDS was coined as the name of this disease in August 1982, one name that appeared previously was what? | 20th Century Gay History: Part I
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GRID. the term "GRID", or Gay Related Immune Deficiency began appearing in a variety of publications until the term AIDS came into use. Although AIDS has had a heavy toll within the gay male community in the United States, the vast majority (70%) of victims are in sub-Saharan Africa and about half of all victims are women. (Ref. National Institute of Health, Washington, DC). OCA is an anti-gay group in Oregon. LSMFT is a tobacco company slogan. KS/PCP are the initials of two opportunistic infections caused by AIDS.
| It will never be known how many gay people were killed in concentration camps by the Nazis in World War II. One estimate is about 50,000. While the Jews were forced to wear yellow Stars of David sewn to their clothes, gays were forced to wear another symbol, which has come to represent gays worldwide. What is this symbol? | 20th Century Gay History: Part I
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A Pink Triangle. The Pink Triangle was sewn on the clothes of those assumed to be gay by the Nazi Party. An interesting play that was centered around the life of gay men in concentration camps is "Bent". It was made into a movie and is generally available at video rental outlets.
6. Originally the flag had 8 stripes - pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. These represented, in order, sexuality, life, healing, sun, nature, art, harmony, and spirit. Then the pink color was dropped because the color was not commercially available for flag manufacturing. Upon the murder of Harvey Milk in 1978, the indigo strip was dropped so that the flag could be used in a parade with an equal number of stripes (3 per side) on each side of the parade route. The resulting flag has 6 stripes.
| In 1978, San Francisco City Supervisor Dan White murdered openly gay Supervisor Harvey Milk. At the same time, he also assassinated the mayor of San Francisco. Who was that mayor? | 20th Century Gay History: Part I
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George Moscone. Moscone served from January 1976 until his murder in November 1978. The other choices are also former mayors, with Dianne Feinstein now serving as US Senator from California. Dan White's attorneys successfully argued the now famous "Twinkie Defense" and White ultimately was sentenced to 7 years, and was released just after serving 5 years. In 1985, he committed suicide.
| Twice, former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey (Republican-Texas) has made an anti-gay slur against an openly gay colleague, Rep. Barney Frank. Once, he referred to this person as "Barney Fag" (1995) and again made an anti-gay joke at his expense in 2000, an act for which he refused to apologize. Rep. Barney Frank is from which state? | 20th Century Gay History: Part I
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Massachusetts. Barney Frank has served as US Representative since 1981. Dick Armey did not seek reelection in 2002, and his son Scott Armey ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2002. Armey retired to his home in Lewisville, Texas.
| In April 2000, Governor Howard Dean of this New England state signed a law into effect that extended the rights of same-sex couples to enter into a civil union. This groundbreaking legislation occurred in which state? | 20th Century Gay History: Part I
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Vermont. Howard Dean won and served 5 terms as Governor of Vermont. He was re-elected in November 2000 in spite of a mild anti-gay backlash.
| On October 7th, 1998, Matthew Shephard was lured from a gay club. beaten, tied to a fence, and and left for dead in freezing weather. The 22 year old, 5'2", 105 lb. boy died on October 12th without regaining consciousness. He was a college student in which U.S. town? | 20th Century Gay History: Part II
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Laramie, Wyoming. Aaron McKinney was convicted of first degree felony murder and second degree murder. Russell Henderson pleaded guilty to felony murder, kidnapping, and robbery. Both were given two consecutive life sentences without parole for this heinous crime. In the case of McKinney, who was eligible for the death penalty, the Shepard family requested the court to spare his life.
| On July 15, 1997, the famous Italian clothing designer, Gianni Versace, was murdered execution-style. The hustler who allegedly committed this gruesome act was Andrew Cunanan, who later took his own life, presumably to avoid capture. This murder took place in which U.S. city? | 20th Century Gay History: Part II
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Miami Beach, FL. Mr. Versace was murdered on the steps of his villa on Ocean Drive in the South Beach area of Miami Beach, FL. Traces of his blood remain on the steps today. Cunanan was linked with the murder of Lee Miglin, a Chicago-based realty developer. Cunanan had a history of being a partyboy/hustler/prostitute who preyed on successful gay men. His actual connection with Versace prior to the murder may never be clearly known.
| This Pennsylvania born writer of "Q.E.D." and "Three Lives", which were breakthroughs in English-language fiction due to their open treatment of lesbianism, was the long-time companion of Alice B. Toklas. Who was she? | 20th Century Gay History: Part II
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Gertrude Stein. She once wrote of her love by saying, "I love my love with a b because she is peculiar." Oddly, the manuscript for "Q.E.D." was lost for thirty years and later published as "Things As They Are", 4 years after her death. The alternate choices are all noted leaders in the women's movement, but no sexual orientation should be implied here by their inclusion.
| Born with the first name "George", this ex-GI became one of the most celebrated transsexuals of all time after her three operations in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1952-1953. Athough not the first person to have a sex change operation, her openness and courage helped thousands of other persons who wished to have such a change. Her name was what? | 20th Century Gay History: Part II
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Christine Jorgensen. Christine died in 1989 at the age of 62 following a 2 1/2 year battle with lung and bladder cancer. Of the remaining choices, Renee Richards is the only other transsexual.
| This French film director, noted for directing such films as "Beauty and the Beast" and "Orpheus" (English titles) cast his lover, Jean Marais, in most of his films. Who was this director? | 20th Century Gay History: Part II
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Jean Cocteau. Cocteau was an accomplished artist in many fields - as a painter, a playwrite, a poet, a novelist, and a set-designer. His work as a director was considered quite ahead of its time. Trudeau was Prime Minister of Canada; Clouseau was the inspector in the "Pink Panther" series of films; and Cousteau was the underwater explorer.
| In June, 1987, a group of individuals assembled to begin work on a quilt to commemorate the loss of their friends to AIDS. Each person so remembered would have a 3' x 6' memorial cloth (about the size of a coffin). On October 11, 1987, the quilt was first displayed on the Washington, DC, mall with 1,920 panels. Today, the quilt has over 44,000 panels. What is the name of the organization behind this quilt? | 20th Century Gay History: Part II
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The Names Project. "Common Threads - Stories from the Quilt" won an academy award in 1989 for best feature-length documentary. The Project has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, and has also raised more than $3 million for local AIDS charities. The quilt is so large now that it has only been shown in its entirety in Washington, DC, in recent years.
| "The Children's Hour" is a play centered around lesbianism and was first made into a movie in 1936. Although the play was centered around lesbianism, the 1936 version removed all references to homosexuality and was retitled "These Three". The 1961 version starring Audrey Hepburn and Shirley McLaine was faithful to the original and turned out to be a compelling film. Who was the playwright? | 20th Century Gay History : Part III
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Lillian Hellman. The censors, the Motion Picture Production Code, went so far as to prohibit critics or the studio from associating the 1936 version with Lillian Hellman's play! Ultimately the 1936 version revolved around a heterosexual love triangle. If you have not seen the 1961 version, please see it. It is an excellent film today!
| "And the Band Played On" chronicled the early days of the AIDS epidemic. It covered the the first known appearances of the disease through the recognition of the retrovirus. It also identified "Patient Zero", a Canadian flight attendant who was probably the first person to import the virus into North America and spread it around. Unfortunately, this flight attendant had incredibly good looks, an insatiable sexual appetite, and apparently no qualms about spreading his infection. This book was authored by whom? | 20th Century Gay History : Part III
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Randy Shilts. A series of interviews with the first victims in New York and San Francisco led to the concept of Patient Zero, identified as Gaetan Dugas. Sadly, Dugas was apparently told by his physician to discontinue having sex, but he continued anyway until his death. His reply to the doctor was "Somebody gave this thing to me. I'm not going to give up sex." He was known to say this to people after having sex, "I have the gay cancer. I'm going to die and so are you!" He claimed that he averaged 250 sexual partners a year, having over 2,500 notches in his belt during his lifetime.
| Jerry Falwell often makes national news with his remarks. In 1999 by saying that one of the Teletubbies was gay! After all, it had a male voice, was a gay color (purple), carried a red purse, had a triangle (gay symbol) on his head, and was also seen on television with Ellen DeGeneres. What other proof is there? Which Teletubby was this? | 20th Century Gay History : Part III
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Tinky Winky. Jerry Falwell was the founder of the now-defunct Moral Majority and in 2000, he proclaimed in front of 1,500 followers in Kingsport, TN, that the antichrist "will be a full-grown counterfeit of Christ. Of course he'll be Jewish." In October 2002 Falwell went on to announce on "60 Minutes" that the Prophet of Islam was a terrorist.
| Controversy seems to abound not only when it comes to gay issues, but also when it comes to the arts! Mix the two and you and you really can stir up some quality controversy. Funded by the National Endowment of the Arts, an exhibit of photographs, several of which were homoerotic, by the late Robert Mapplethorpe was cancelled by the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, upon pressure from the conservatives on Capitol Hill. Ultimately, the Corcoran tried to apologize for cancelling the show, but its failure to stand up for the rights of the artist was certainly noted in the artistic community. The director of the gallery subsequently resigned and the exhibit was displayed at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati. Which U.S. Member of Congress led the conservatives' battle against Mapplethorpe's photographs? | 20th Century Gay History : Part III
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Sen. Jesse Helms. Jesse Helms was the most vocal person in the Senate when it came to opposing anything gay-related. As a postscript, there was an indecency trial in Cincinnati following the opening of the exhibit, but all parties involved were ultimately acquitted, with one juror saying, "I'm not an expert, I don't understand Picasso's art, but I assume the people who call it art know what they're talking about."
| Ending on Merlo's death, Frankie Merlo had been in a long term (15 year) relationship with this 20th century playwright. This author of such plays as "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" said, "I went to pieces. I retreated into a shell. For nine months I wouldn't speak to a living soul. I just clammed up. I wouldn't answer the telephone, and I wouldn't leave the house." Who was this playwright? | 20th Century Gay History : Part III
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Tennessee Williams. Williams had gay references throughout his works. At the time, the Hollywood censors were careful to remove those references "to protect the theater-going public". Examples include the sanitizing of the relationship between Brick and Skipper in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", or the reference that Blanche DuBois' husband had been gay in "Streetcar Named Desire".
| The U.S. Customs Department is protecting us against pornography! In 1933, books featuring works by the late Michelangelo (who was well known to be gay) were seized in New York City by a U.S. Customs agent because of indecency. What was pictured in the books? | 20th Century Gay History : Part III
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"The Last Judgment" (Sistine Chapel Nudes). The customs agent claimed never to have heard of Michelangelo. The red-faced U.S. Customs agents ultimately released the books. "David" and the "Pieta" are both well-known works by Michelangelo. "The Venus de Milo" is Greek art and predates Michelangelo by about 1,700 years.
| This quiz I would like to end with a quote. "Feminism ... encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism. and become lesbians." This statement was made by a noteworthy televangelist who once ran for President of the United States. This 700 Club founder is who? | 20th Century Gay History : Part III
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Pat Robertson. Another quote attibutable to this man of God is, "The Constitution of the United States ... is a marvelous document for self-government by Christian people. But the minute you turn the document into the hands of non-Christians and atheistic people, they can use it to destroy the very foundation of your society."
| Alexander the Great often tops lists of notable gay men. It was common at the time for aristocratic Greek men to "love" boys, as well as have women for sexual and procreative purposes. Alexander the Great was no exception, but his love for Hephaestion was so great that, when Hephaestion died, Alexander ordered the physician who failed to save him to be crucified. Of what was he king? | Notable Gay History over the Centuries
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Macedon. Conquering the known world by your 31st birthday is no small feat, even for a gay man! Sadly, he died somewhat mysteriously at the age of 33.
| Born in 1819 on Long Island, one of this poet's greatest works is a collection of poems entitled "Leaves of Grass". Any doubt of his sexual orientation would be removed by reading "Calamus", a collection within "Leaves of Grass". Who was this poet? | Notable Gay History over the Centuries
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Walt Whitman. Whitman was primarily self-taught and worked as a printer until a fire destroyed his printing house. From 1836-1841, he was a teacher. From that point he turned to journalism, first by starting his own paper, "The Long Islander", and later by working as an editor for various newspapers in New York City. In 1848, he moved to New Orleans to work for the "Crescent" for a short period of time. When he returned to New York after having experienced first-hand the horrors of slavery, he started his own "free-soil" newspaper. It was in this time that his style of poetry began to develop, impressing the likes of Ralph Waldo Emerson. By 1855, the first edition of "Leaves of Grass" was published, and the collection was expanded throughout his life.
Whitman moved to Washington DC in 1862 and took a position with the Department of the Interior. James Harlan, then Secretary of the Interior, later fired Whitman because he was offended by the contents of "Leaves of Grass". Whitman later returned to Camden, NJ, where he died in 1892.
The Walt Whitman Bridge connecting Philadelphia and New Jersey was opened to traffic in 1957, however this almost did not happen. Concentrating on his sexual orientation instead of his contributions, some of the city planners of Philadelphia protested naming a bridge after this great poet, but were ultimately overruled.
| In 1964, the tomb of two manicurists, Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep, was found in the necropolis of Saqqara. Drawings showed two men in an embrace as well as an indication they were joined as one. This Old Kingdom tomb was near the pyramid of Unas. In which modern country would this be? | Notable Gay History over the Centuries
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Egypt. These two men both had the title, "Overseer to the manicurists in the palace of the king" and were part of the royal court of King Niuserre of the Fifth Dynasty.
| Ernst Roehm, working for Adolf Hitler, created, assembled, and trained the notorious "Storm Troopers" (Sturmabteilung, or SA), or "Brownshirts" as they were also known. Since the Treaty of Versailles limited the German Army to 100,000 men, Hitler formed this paramilitary group that was eventually supplanted by the SS. By 1934, the ranks of the SA had grown to 4.5 million men. There was also the feeling that the "special" training included some homoerotic acts, such as mutual soaping in the showers, and Himmler and others convinced Hitler that Roehm, a homosexual himself, and his "homosexual army" could overthrow Hitler. Hitler ordered the arrest of Roehm and others in what was to become known as what? | Notable Gay History over the Centuries
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the Night of the Long Knives. Roehm and Hitler were fairly good friends, so Hitler did not want to kill him. Himmler convinced him that he had to die, so Hitler allowed him to opt for suicide. Roehm declined and was shot. "Kristallnacht" was the destruction of Jewish places of worship and businesses; the "Putsch" was a failed attempt to overthrow the Bavarian government, and "Lebensraum" was Hitler's plan to take land from neighboring countries so that the Aryan Germans had a place to reproduce and live.
| Rudolf Nureyev, born in 1938, educated at the Leningrad Ballet school, was often the dance partner of Margot Fonteyn. Having been already more or less "outed" by "The Celebrity Register" no one really noticed the statement in David Kopay's autobiography, a best seller, that Nureyev often visited gay bars. Sadly, he died in Paris in 1993, of AIDS. After he defected to the west, he became a citizen of a western country. Was it the United States of America? | Notable Gay History over the Centuries
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No. He became a citizen of Austria. Had the U.S. immigration service known that he was homosexual, it would likely have denied him citizenship since homosexuality is considered grounds for denial of citizenship for the USA. Kopay's autobiography was published in 1977 after "coming out" in December 1975. He was a running back for the Green Bay Packers and other NFL teams.
| Károly Mária Kertbeny (1824-1882) is best known for having coined this word when living in Berlin. He later used it and a related word in two pamphlets demanding that penal codes against same-sex sexual partners be dropped. What was the word he coined? | Notable Gay History over the Centuries
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Homosexual. And the other word was "heterosexual"! Kertbeny described himself as "normalsexual". Of course "gay" is a modern euphemism for "homosexual".
| The question of gay marriage is controversial, to put it mildly. As Vermont successfully permitted gay and lesbian civil unions, other states hopped on the bandwagon to make sure that those unions would not be recognized on their turf. Western Europe, for the most part, is a bit more forward thinking in that matter. In 1995, Sweden became the second country to allow full rights to a same-sex couple. What European country was first? | Notable Gay History over the Centuries
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Denmark. Denmark has allowed gay marriage since 1989; the Netherlands since 2001, France (domestic partnership act) since 2000; and Germany since 2001, excluding adoption.
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