Famous/Highly Visible Queers

[Soon]

Langston Hughes--poet/writer




Dreams


Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

Dream Deferred

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

[Soon]

"I remember how being young and black and gay and lonely felt. A lot of it was fine, feeling I had the truth and the light and the key, but a lot of it was purely hell."

"If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive."

"There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt."

"Your silence will not protect you."

[Soon]

Federico García Lorca





“To see you naked is to recall the Earth.”

[Hack]

This may mean more to those from Michigan, but I would hate to see this lady just be a footnote in queer history: Ruth Ellis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Ellis_(activist)

Ruth Ellis was an out African-American lesbian most of her life. She and her long-time partner, Babe Franklin, opened their home to runaway gays and lesbians. Today, there is a LGBTQ center in Highland Park in the metro Detroit area named for her (the Ruth Ellis Center) that serves as short-term and long-term shelter for LGBTQ youth or young adults. It is one of 4 shelters in the US that is dedicated to this purpose.

[Nat]

Originally Posted by HowSoonIsNow

Federico García Lorca





“To see you naked is to recall the Earth.”

Cool! I had no idea he was family. I love him.

[WolfyOne]

Ricky Martin told the World that hey's gay and while it's no big deal in this corner, Ricky Martin's coming out caused a stir, and got him so excited he put down the wrong website link from his Twitter account!

[Martina]

Originally Posted by HowSoonIsNow

Federico García Lorca





“To see you naked is to recall the Earth.”

God, i loved Lorca back in the day.

Gacela of Unexpected Love

No one understood the perfume
of the shadow magnolia of your belly.
No one knew you crushed completely
a humming-bird of love between your teeth.

There slept a thousand little persian horses
in the moonlight plaza of your forehead,
while, for four nights, I embraced there
your waist, the enemy of snowfall.

Between the plaster and the jasmines,
your gaze was a pale branch, seeding.
I tried to give you, in my breastbone,
the ivory letters that say ever.

Ever, ever: garden of my torture,
your body, flies from me forever,
the blood of your veins is in my mouth now,
already light-free for my death.

----

[Martina]

The author of my favorite book of all time -- Country of the Pointed Firs -- Sarah Orne Jewett

[christie]

One of my favorite authors and a former Richmonder... Patricia Cornwell



Patricia Cornwell was born on June 9, 1956, in Miami, Florida, and grew up in Montreat, North Carolina.

Following graduation from Davidson College in 1979, she began working at the Charlotte Observer, rapidly advancing from listing television programs to writing feature articles to covering the police beat. She won an investigative reporting award from the North Carolina Press Association for a series of articles on prostitution and crime in downtown Charlotte.

Her award-winning biography of Ruth Bell Graham, A Time for Remembering, was published in 1983. From 1984 to 1990 she worked as a technical writer and a computer analyst at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia.

Her first crime novel, Postmortem, was published by Scribner’s in 1990. Initially rejected by seven major publishing houses, it became the first novel to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity awards as well as the French Prix du Roman d’Aventure in a single year. In Postmortem, Cornwell introduced Dr. Kay Scarpetta as the intrepid Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Virginia. In 1999, Dr. Scarpetta herself won the Sherlock Award for best detective created by an American author.

Often interviewed on national television as a forensic consultant, Cornwell is a founder of the Virginia Institute of Forensic Science and Medicine; a founding member of the National Forensic Academy; a member of the Advisory Board for the Forensic Sciences Training Program at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, NYC; and a member of the Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital’s National Council, where she is an advocate for psychiatric research. She is also well known for her philanthropic contributions to animal rescue and criminal justice as well as endowing college scholarships and promoting the cause of literacy on the national scene. Some of her projects include the establishment of an ICU at Cornell’s Animal Hospital, the archaeological excavation of Jamestown, and the scientific study of the Confederacy’s submarine H.L. Hunley. Most recently she donated a million dollars to Harvard’s Fogg Museum to establish a chair in inorganic science.

from www.patriciacornwell.com

[UofMfan]

OMG I love her!

Originally Posted by christie0918

One of my favorite authors and a former Richmonder... Patricia Cornwell



Patricia Cornwell was born on June 9, 1956, in Miami, Florida, and grew up in Montreat, North Carolina.

Following graduation from Davidson College in 1979, she began working at the Charlotte Observer, rapidly advancing from listing television programs to writing feature articles to covering the police beat. She won an investigative reporting award from the North Carolina Press Association for a series of articles on prostitution and crime in downtown Charlotte.

Her award-winning biography of Ruth Bell Graham, A Time for Remembering, was published in 1983. From 1984 to 1990 she worked as a technical writer and a computer analyst at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia.

Her first crime novel, Postmortem, was published by Scribner’s in 1990. Initially rejected by seven major publishing houses, it became the first novel to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity awards as well as the French Prix du Roman d’Aventure in a single year. In Postmortem, Cornwell introduced Dr. Kay Scarpetta as the intrepid Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Virginia. In 1999, Dr. Scarpetta herself won the Sherlock Award for best detective created by an American author.

Often interviewed on national television as a forensic consultant, Cornwell is a founder of the Virginia Institute of Forensic Science and Medicine; a founding member of the National Forensic Academy; a member of the Advisory Board for the Forensic Sciences Training Program at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, NYC; and a member of the Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital’s National Council, where she is an advocate for psychiatric research. She is also well known for her philanthropic contributions to animal rescue and criminal justice as well as endowing college scholarships and promoting the cause of literacy on the national scene. Some of her projects include the establishment of an ICU at Cornell’s Animal Hospital, the archaeological excavation of Jamestown, and the scientific study of the Confederacy’s submarine H.L. Hunley. Most recently she donated a million dollars to Harvard’s Fogg Museum to establish a chair in inorganic science.

from www.patriciacornwell.com

[Nat]

Ma Rainey (the Mother of the Blues)

from the Prove It On Me Blues:

Went out last night, had a great big fight
Everything seemed to go on wrong
I looked up, to my surprise
The gal I was with was gone.

Where she went, I don’t know
I mean to follow everywhere she goes;
Folks say I’m crooked.
I didn’t know where she took it
I want the whole world to know.

They say I do it,
ain’t nobody caught me
Sure got to prove it on me;
Went out last night
with a crowd of my friends,
They must’ve been women,
‘cause I don’t like no men.

It’s true I wear a collar and a tie,
Makes the wind blow all the while
Don’t you say I do it,
ain’t nobody caught me
You sure got to prove it on me.

Say I do it,
ain’t nobody caught me
Sure got to prove it on me.

I went out last night
with a crowd of my friends,
It must’ve been women,
‘cause I don’t like no men.
Wear my clothes just like a fan
Talk to the gals just like any old man

Cause they say I do it,
ain’t nobody caught me
Sure got to prove it on me.

[Jess]

Sheri Reynolds, Author and Professor of English at ODU.

http://www.sherireynolds.com/

[christie]

Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara (Gujarati: ફ્રારુક બુલ્સારા*), 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991), was a British musician, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his powerful vocals and flamboyant performances.[2][3][4] As a songwriter, Mercury composed many hits, including "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "Somebody to Love", "Don't Stop Me Now", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "Barcelona", and "We Are the Champions". Led by Mercury, Queen had sold more than 300 million albums internationally as of 2009.[5][6][7][8]

[Kast]

Jodie Foster

[Medusa]

Dorothy Allison - Author, Femme, fellow redhead, and amazing mentor.

Dorothy has written numerous books but is probably most famous for "Bastard Out of Carolina". If you havent read it, I demand you get yourself to the nearest library and get it now. It is simply amazing.


I'll post my pic with Dorothy from the last Femme Conference if I can find it.

[Medusa]

Amber Hollibaugh - author of "My Dangerous Desires: A Queer Girl Dreaming her Way Home"

Another MUST read.

Amber is a fierce, kick-ass Femme activist and has the most amazing energy.

[Medusa]

Leah Lakshmi Piepzna Samarasinha - FIERCE as fuck Femme Shark, author of Consensual Genocide.

[Medusa]

Jewelle Gomez - Another FIERCE Femme author. Jewelle wrote one of my favorite books of poetry, "43 Septembers".

And here she is with what she calls her "Happy Medusa" rolls

[Soon]

I leave you my portrait so that you will have my presence all the days and nights that I am away from you.

I love you more than my own skin.

I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality.

[Nat]

Originally Posted by Medusa

Dorothy Allison - Author, Femme, fellow redhead, and amazing mentor.

Dorothy has written numerous books but is probably most famous for "Bastard Out of Carolina". If you havent read it, I demand you get yourself to the nearest library and get it now. It is simply amazing.


I'll post my pic with Dorothy from the last Femme Conference if I can find it.

I love her to death!