April 15

4/15/2023

Bessie Smith, Bolette Berg, Greta Garbo, Lauren Morelli, Linda Perry, Marie Høeg, Melissa Etheridge, Myra Stratton, Sally Miller Gearhart, Samatha Fox, Samira Wiley, Sara Gilbert, Tammy Lynn Michaels, The Empress of the Blues, The Future-If There is One-is-Female, Whitney Houston

BCE to The Suffragettes

04-15-1866 – 02-22-1949 Marie Høeg – Born in Langesund, Norway.

She was a Norwegian photographer and suffragette. From 1890 to 1895, Høeg lived in Finland working as a photographer. She was greatly influenced by the Finnish women’s rights movement. It was in Finland that she met her life-long partner Bolette Berg (1872 – 1944), who was five years younger than Høeg and also a photographer. The couple opened up their own photography studio in Horten, Norway. They used their studio not only for photography, but also as a meeting place for women interested in feminism and women’s suffrage. In 1903, they moved to Kristiania (present-day Oslo) and continued to work as professional photographers. Berg died in 1944, Høeg in 1949. Many of

their glass negatives were discovered after her death inside a barn in the 1980s. The barn was on the property the couple owned at the end of their lives. A series of negatives in a box labelled “private” contained photographs of Berg and Høeg dressed in men’s clothes, smoking, and wearing mustaches. The 440 glass negatives are now in the collection of the Preus Museum, located in Horten, Norway.

04-15-1894 – 09-26-1937 Bessie Smith – Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She was an American blues singer. Nicknamed “The Empress of the Blues” she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s. Smith is regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era and along with Louis Armstrong, a major

influence on other jazz vocalists. She started recording in 1923. She married Jack Gee, a security guard on June 7, 1923, just as her first record was released. During the marriage – a stormy one, with infidelity on both sides – Smith became the highest paid black entertainer. Her husband was impressed by the money, but never adjusted to show business life, or to Smith’s bisexuality. On September 26, 1937, Bessie Smith was critically injured in a car accident. She died at the age of 43 at Clarkdale’s G. T. Thomas Afro-American Hospital. Her funeral was held in Philadelphia on October 4, 1937.

04-15-1931 Sally Miller Gearhart – Born in Pearisburg, Virginia. She grew up in the Appalachia mountains of Virginia. Gearhart is an American teacher, feminist, science fiction writer, and political

activist. In 1973 she became the first out lesbian to obtain a tenure-track faculty position when she was hired by San Francisco State University, where she helped establish one of the first women and gender study programs in the country. In her book The Future-If There is One-is-Female, she made the controversial statement that, “The proportion of men must be reduced to and maintained at approximately 10% of the human race.” She retired from teaching in 1992.

1940s The Friends of Dorothy Era and The Hayes Code

1950s The Decade the public learned heterosexual women wanted sex

The Civil Rights 60s: When the Boomers were under 30

04-15-1965 Linda Perry – Born in Springfield, Massachusetts. She is an American rock singer-songwriter and record producer. She has written and produced hit songs for several successful female singers, including Pink, Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani, and Grace

Slick. From 1989 to 1995, she was lead singer and primary songwriter for the rock group 4 Non Blondes. Perry won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 2004 for her song Beautiful. Perry began a relationship with Sara Gilbert in 2011. They married on March 30, 2014. Their son was born to Gilbert on February 28, 2015. Perry is stepmother to Gilbert’s son and daughter from a previous relationship.

04-15-1966 Samatha Fox – Born in Mile End, London, England. She is an English singer, songwriter, actress, and former glamour model. In 1983, at

the age of 16, she appeared as a topless model in the British tabloid newspaper The Sun. During this time she became the most popular pin-up girl and was one of the most photographed British women of the 1980s. In 1986, she began her music career with her single Touch Me (I Want Your Body), which peaked at number-one in 17 countries. In the late 1980s, Fox appeared in television advertisements. In 1990, she appeared on the American sitcom Charles in Charge. In 2003, Fox made a statement about her personal life. “I have slept with other women but I’ve not been in love before Myra Stratton. People say I’m gay. All I know is that I’m in love with Myra [Stratton, my manager]. I love her completely and want to spend the rest of my life with her.” In 2015, Stratton died of cancer. Fox is currently in a relationship with Linda Olsen, a woman from Norway. In 2011, Fox appeared as part of a campaign for LGBT charity Albert Kennedy Trust.

1967

Aretha Franklin prevailed for a fourth week at #1 on the R&B chart with “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)”.

Father & Daughter Sinatra “Somethin’ Stupid” was in the third of nine weeks at #1 on the Easy Listening chart.

Nancy and Frank Sinatra had the #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100, The Cashbox Best Sellers List and Britain’s New Musical Express record chart with “Something Stupid”. They became the only father and daughter act ever to score a No.1 single.

1968

Aretha Franklin recorded “Think” at Atlantic Recording Studios in New York City.

1970s: Feminist, Gay Liberation and Lesbian Separatists: Civil Rights

, 1972

Roberta Flack started a six week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’: The song was featured in the Clint Eastwood film ‘Play Misty For Me.’ Aretha Franklin had #9 with “Day Dreaming” and Sonny & Cher came in at #10 with “A Cowboy’s Work Is Never Done”.

Barbra Streisand, James Taylor, Carole King and Quincy Jones performed at a benefit for U.S. presidential candidate George McGovern.

1978

USA pop chart Yvonne Elliman remaining at 5 with “If I Can’t Have You”, Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway jumped from 13-7 with “The Closer I Get To You”, and Natalie Cole scored a top 10 with “Our Love”.

1980s The Genderfuck Apathetics vs Yuppies : Aids the new STD on the list

1984

USA pop chart the Pointers had #5 with “Automatic”, he Eurythmics slipped to 7 with “Here Comes The Rain Again

1986

Janet Jackson released the single “Nasty”.

04-15-1987 Samira Wiley – Born in Washington, D.C. Her parents are co-pastors of Covenant Baptist

United Church of Christ and the only Baptist church in D.C., since 2007, that perform same-sex unions. Wiley is an American actress known for her roles in Orange Is the New Black and The Handmaid’s Tale. On October 4, 2016, Wiley announced her engagement to Orange Is the New Black writer Lauren Morelli. They married on March 25, 2017. Out magazine nominated Wiley in 2017 to “Out 100” in recognition of her work and visibility. In 2018, she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.

1989

American all girl group The Bangles started a four week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Eternal Flame.’ Also a No.1 in Australia (biggest selling single of 1989) and the United States.

USA Charts: “Like A Prayer” from Madonna at #3, “Eternal Flame” by the Bangles

1990s: The Queer Slur Reclaimed: Act Up! Lesbian Avengers and Queer Nation

1990

Actress Greta Garbo died of pneumonia and renal failure at the age of 84. (Ninotchka, Grand Hotel, Camille, Queen Christina, Anna Karenina, Mata Hari, The Kiss, Flesh and the Devil, The Painted Veil, As You Desire Me, Two-Faced Woman, Conquest, Inspiration, Anna Christie)

Encyclopedia Britannica https://www.britannica.com › … › Actors

4 days ago — Greta Garbo, original name Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, (born September 18, 1905, Stockholm, Sweden—died April 15, 1990, New York, New York, …

Born: September 18, 1905 Stockholm Sweden

Notable Works: “Flesh and the Devil” “Romanc…

Died: April 15, 1990 (aged 84) New York City‎ …‎

Awards And Honors: Academy Award (1955) …

Greta Garbo – Movies, Career & Death

Biography https://www.biography.com › actor › greta-garbo

Swedish actress Greta Garbo is best known for her career in both silent and talking films before World War II.

Death Year: 1990

Death date: April 15, 1990

Birth Year: 1905

Birth Country: Sweden

What Was So Special About Greta Garbo?

The New Yorker https://www.newyorker.com › Magazine › Actresses

Dec 6, 2021 — In 1941, at the age of thirty-six, Greta Garbo, one of the biggest box-office draws in the world, stopped acting and, though she lived for …

Date of birth: September 18, 1905

2000s – “gay and lesbian” to “lesbigay” to “Lgbt/Lgbtq/Lgbtq2”

2003

Kelly Clarkson‘s debut album “Thankful” was released, featuring the single “Miss Independent.” The album came out more than seven months after Clarkson won the first season of American Idol.

2010s Avocado Toast is the new Latte cheaper made at home, tastes better out

2010

After receiving some bad reviews and even enduring some boos during her performance, Whitney Houston brushed off criticism of her first show in the UK in over eleven years by insisting she was playing to a “tough crowd”. She had recently been hospitalized with chronic rhinopharyngitis, which is a swelling of the membranes in the nose and throat.

Singer Melissa Etheridge and her partner, actress Tammy Lynn Michaels, announced their separation, seven years after bonding in a commitment ceremony. Michaels gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, in 2006.

-2013 A judge ruled a Hawaii bed and breakfast violated the law when two women were denied a room because they are gay. The Hawaii Civil Rights Commission joined the lawsuit.

2015

It was reported that Digital music revenues matched physical sales for the first time in 2014, thanks to strong growth in the streaming market. The digital market rose 6.9% to $6.9 billion (£4.6 billion), representing 46% of all global music sales. CDs, vinyl and other physical formats also accounted for 46% of the market. Pharrell Williams’s ‘Happy’ was the most-downloaded single globally in 2014, with Taylor Swift the most popular artist.

2019

Olivia Newton-John’s ‘Physical’ Named Billboard’s No. 1 Hit Of …

uDiscover Music–Apr. 15, 2019

Olivia Newton-John’s 1981 mega-hit ‘Physical’ has been named Billboard’s No. 1 hit of the ’80s. Billboard has teamed up with Sirius XM for a …

2020s: Unnamed Common Oppressor/Religion VS: Sex/Gender Ideas vs Global Reality

2023

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11976009/Florida-retiree-says-lesbian-squatters-trashed-rental-property-owns-tune-38-000.html

Mail Online

FL retiree says lesbian squatters trashed $38k worth of property

Patti Peeples and her co-owner Dawn Tiura discovered they had two people illegally living in their Jacksonville rental home more than 40 days ago. The women caused $38,000 of damages.

https://www.autostraddle.com/fantasy-island-season-2-episode-9

Autostraddle

Valerie Anne

Fantasy Island’s Lesbians Want to Be Part of Your World

Plus updates on 9-1-1, Good Trouble, A Million Little Things, Station 19, Survivor, The Power, and Grey’s Anatomy!

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/showbiz/sam-foxs-wildest-sex-confessions-29710707

Dailystar.co.uk

Sam Fox’s racy confessions – Page 3 tales, £1m boobs and lesbian ‘f…

As pin-up legend Sam Fox celebrates her birthday, we’re taking a look at some of her wildest-ever sex confessions, including Page 3 secrets and her lesbian fantasies

2024

https://www.autostraddle.com/the-best-lesbian-movies-with-less-than-20-on-rotten-tomatoes

Autostraddle

The Best Lesbian Movies With Less Than 20% on Rotten Tomatoes

I’m here to talk about the films that might not be masterpieces, but are still deserving of a second look — even if that second look is with a group of friends and several bottles of wine.