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Participating and
Contributing Member of
United Vision For Idaho
Participating and
Contributing Member of
The Idaho Women's Network
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Participating and
Contributing Member
of INTERPRIDE
Your Family,
Friends & Neighbors
P.O.Box 768
Boise Idaho 83702
(208) 344-4295
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- ALAN TURING (1912-1954)
- British mathematician Alan Turing is credited with developing the
theoretical basis for the digital computer. Upon the outbreak of World War II,
he was enlisted along with other intellectuals to break the German war codes.
Turing's unique understanding of the mathematical underpinning of Germany's
encoding machine "Enigma" allowed the British to decipher the codes in
time to stop the bombing of British ships and contributed greatly toward the Allied
victory over Germany.
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- While little is known about his personal life, Turing was open about being gay. When
his home was burglarized in 1952, Turing told police he suspected that one of his former
lovers may have been involved. The police then charged Turing with "gross indecency"
and Turing was faced with the choice of going to prison for two years or undergoing a year of
experimental hormone therapy designed to suppress his homosexual feelings. He opted for the
therapy and seemed to fully recover from this unsuccessful "cure". But on June 7,
1954, Turing died after eating an apple laced with cyanide. While no note was ever found, Turing's
death was ruled a suicide.
- JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES (1883-1946)
- John Maynard Keynes grew up in Victorian England, the son of middle-class parents who
cultivated in him a sense of public duty and a passion for intellectual stimulation. Known
as the father of modern economics, Keynes was educated at Cambridge University where he formed
a life-long friendship with Bloomsbury writer Lytton Strachey. Keynes gained international fame
for his economic theories, evidences in his 1919 best selling work, The Economic Consequences
of the Peace which argued for Europe's economic unity. Keynes's theories were the first to
encourage the government's involvement in solving the problems of unemployment and were used as
the bases of President Roosevelt's New Deal programs, designed in response to the Great Depression.
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- Along with a series of casual relationships with men, Keynes had two significant love affairs during
his life. The first was with post-impressionist painter Duncan Grant, lasting seven years. The
second, when his bisexuality emerged, was with Russian ballerina Lydia Lopokov whom he married in
1925 and stayed with until his death over twenty years later.
- BAYARD RUSTIN (1910-1987)
- African American civil rights activist Bayard Rustin began working with Martin Luther King Jr.
In 1955, Rustin played a central role in organizing the Montgomery bus boycott and the historic
1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. His successful organizing of the march led to his
being dubbed "Mr. March" by his friends and admirers.
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- Rustin, who was open about being gay, was an easy target for political conservatives trying
to derail this march. Senator Strom Thurmond spoke for almost an hour on the Senate floor about
Rustin's homosexuality and war resistance. (Rustin was a conscientious objector during World War II),
making front-page news across the country. In response, the African American, Jewish, Catholic,
Protestand, and labor leaders who had joined together to sponsor the march issued a joint statement
reaffirming their "absolute confidence" in Rustin's integrity and ability.
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- Speaking to gay organizations during the 1980's, Rustin encouraged people to come out, emphasizing
his belief that despite the potential dangers of being openly gay the community's civil rights would
only be advanced when enough people spoke out for justice.
- THE PINK TRIANGLE
- Pre-Nazi Germany of the 1920's saw the modern world's first gay rights movement and the
emergence of a visible lesbian and gay culture. In January, 1933, only weeks after the Nazi party
came to power, a law was passed banning all pro-gay organizations. On May 10, 1933, Hitler Youth staged
the Nazi's first book burning, destroying the valuable collection contained in gay rights activist
Magnus Hirschfelds's Institute of Sexual Science. Over 12,000 books,
35,000 pictures, and other materials were burned.
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- Men convicted under the German law known as Paragraph 175, which criminalized homosexual relations
(including kissing and embracing), were send to Nazi concentration camps. The Pink Triangle, now one of
the most widely recognized symbols of the gay community, originated in these camps, where tens of thousands
of gay men imprisoned during the Holocaust were forced to wear the triangle so that they can be
easily identified . While the Nazis generally ignored the criminalization of lesbian behavior; lesbians were
also imprisoned in concentration camps and forced to wear a black triangle, the symbol of antisocial behavior.
- MAGNUS HIRSCHFELD (1868-1935)
- German-Jewish physician Magnus Hirschfeld was one of the modern world's first gay rights activists. Moved by the
1886 suicide of one of his patients - whose suicide note stated he could not live the double life of a closeted
homosexual - Hirschfeld published a thirty-four page booklet arguing that there was a biological basis for
homosexuality, a radical notion at the time. In 1897, he co founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, which
marked the beginning of Germany's gay rights movement. The committee's goals were to repeal the German laws
criminalizing homosexuality, to improve the public's perception of homosexuals, and to
motivate gay men and
lesbians to join the fight for their civil rights.
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- In 1919, Hirschfeld founded the Institute of Sexology, a Berlin-based organization dedicated to advancing sexual
freedom, including the rights of lesbians and gay men, and the legalization of contraceptives. Its counseling
museum, and meeting rooms were shut down and its extensive library destroyed by the Nazis in 1933. Despite this
significant setback, Hirschfeld's contribution to the rise of gay activism continues to be felt around the world.
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- ELEANOR ROOSEVELT (1884-1962)
- First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was forced into the political arena after her husband's first bout with polio in 1921.
Formerly a shy woman whose attentions were focused on raising her six children, Roosevelt became an outspoken
advocate on behalf of the oppressed, holding numerous political appointments including heading the
United Nations Commission on Human Rights from 1945-1951.
- Roosevelt met journalist Lorena Hickok while Hickok was
assigned by the Associated Press to cover Franklin Roosevelt's 1932 presidential campaign. As their intimacy grew, they
traveled together as Roosevelt toured the country campaigning for her husband. By the time the
presidential inauguration took place, their lifelong relationship was cemented. In 1933,
Hickok moved to Washington in order to be closer to Roosevelt, and in 1941 she moved into the White House
and lived there for the next four years. While some speculation has surrounded the question of whether
Roosevelt and Hickok were lovers, they wrote thousands of intimate letters to each other proclaiming their love for
one another. Biographers believe their passionate relationship ended after a few years, but their friendship
lasted until Roosevelt's death in 1962.
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- JAMES BALDWIN (1924-1987)
- James Baldwin was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century --
a novelist, essayist, playwright, and activist, he was a vocal, sometimes
strident critic of race relations in America, and years ahead of his time in
his portrayal of homosexuality in such novels as Another
Country and Giovanni's
Room.
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- Like many African Americans of his day, Baldwin fled the bigotry of his
native country for Europe. He lived for much of his adult life in France,
though he referred to himself as a "commuter," returning to the
United States to organize actions and serve as an unofficial spokesman for the
burgeoning civil rights movement.
Baldwin considered himself a maverick -- answerable to nobody, white or black,
but himself. His criticism of discrimination against homosexuals, and his
openness about his own sexuality, estranged him from many civil rights
leaders. But Baldwin was never shy about carrying out his self-proclaimed
mission of "bearing witness to the truth." He died in 1987 at the
age of 63.
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