(Not Quite) 80 Gays Around the World: 3) Atlantis, Bigfoot and Awards

Previously on "80 Gays": A retelling of the myth of 3) Ganymede was written by 4) Felice Picano (b.1944), member of the Violet Quill Club with 5) Edmund White (b.1940), 6) Christopher Cox (1949-1990), 7) George Whitmore (1945-1989), 8) Andrew Holleran (b.1944), 9) Robert Ferro (1941-1988), and 10) Michael Grumley (1942-1988).

9) Robert Ferro and 10) Michael Grumley met in 1967 when they were both studying creative writing at the University of Iowa. Michael Grumley was an Iowa native though had studied at several universities before landing back. Although a member of the Violet Quill, which was primarily concerned with writing gay fiction, Michael had a secondary interest outside the lgbt+ community.

The 1960s and 1970s saw an explosion of interest in esoteric topics such as ancient astronauts, mystic faiths, and the paranormal. While not having any extreme beliefs himself, Michael became a notable contributor in two of the more popular subjects – Atlantis and Bigfoot.

Michael Grumley only collaborated with his partner Robert Ferro on one work, “Atlantis: The Autobiography of a Search”, published in 1970. Officially marketed as non-fiction there are some critics who regard the book as being semi-fact.

What is contained in “Atlantis: The Autobiography of a Search” is the odyssey taken by the Ferro-Grumleys (as the couple were called from their Iowa university days) from Italy to the Bahamas, following a trail of clues and prophecies that led them to the Bimini Road, an underwater ridge of natural rock which has been clamed as the road to Atlantis. There may be elements of literary license and elaboration on the Ferro-Grumley’s part, but their book has become part of the Atlantis mythos itself.

Robert Ferro didn’t collaborate on Grumley’s 1975 book “The Are Giants in the Earth” about Bigfoot, the American forest-dwelling Yeti. Several years ago I included Michael Grumley in my piece “Queer Cryptids”. “There Are Giants in the Earth” expands Grumley’s take on Atlantis to include other ideas such as a hollow earth and lost races of humanity.I shall be returning to these ideas in another episode of “80 Gays” later this year. Although I am highly sceptical of such ideas I am fascinated by them and how they develop, or can develop, if you let your imagination run free. For instance, by combining some ideas in “There are Giants in the Earth” with others from a book entitled “Santa Claus: the Last of the Wild Men” by Phyllis Siefker, I can make a claim that Santa Claus is not based on St. Nicholas but is actually based on a Scandinavian Bigfoot called a Stallo.

Despite being such an enigmatic and elusive creature, Bigfoot ranks as one of the most internationally well-known cryptids. It’s no wonder books about him become best-sellers. When it comes to fiction cryptids provide ready-made fantasy creatures (the Harry Potter books rely primarily on established cryptids). One recent novel about Bigfoot gave a new spin on the creature. The novel is called “Pamela Wants To Cuddle”, and is written by 11) Samantha Leigh Allen.

Spoiler alert: The following paragraphs contain plot details about “Pamela Wants To Cuddle”. If you are currently reading it, or intend to, I advise you to skip to the last paragraph below so that your enjoyment of the novel won’t be spoilt.

Samantha has worked primarily as a transgender journalist, writing for such publications as The Daily Beast, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Out, and CNN, amongst others. She has a PhD in Women’s Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and wrote “Real Queer America: LGBT Stories From Red States” in 2019.

Just before that Samantha thought about writing a novel. From a germ of an idea grew a novel that has been described as “bizarre” and “bonkers”. In effect, what she came up with was a slasher-movie/dating-show combination.

“Patricia Wants To Cuddle” is set in Washington state, USA, where stories of Bigfoot, or Sasquatch, seem to be common. The Patricia of the novel’s title is a female Bigfoot. Like all creatures who live in the wild, Patricia is very protective of her territory, so when a television cast and crew arrive to film a dating show Patricia “despatches” these intruders, one by one, in her own inimitable style. It’s all very tongue in cheek and satirical, like “Slumber Party Massacre”, the slasher novel by Rita Mae Brown (number 57 in that first “80 Gays” series). But “Patricia Wants To Cuddle” has one last twist, which I’m not going to reveal.

Let’s get back to Michael Grumley and Robert Ferro. After the deaths of both partners from AIDS in 1988 their estates were used to set up the Ferro-Grumley Foundation. In 1990 the foundation created the Ferro-Grumley Award, an annual prize given to the best lgbt+ fiction of the year. Three fellow Violet Quill members have won this award – 4) Felice Picano in 1996,8) Andrew Holleran in 1997, and 5) Edmund White in 2001. The winning author received $1,000 and a two-week residency at the Art Workshop International in Assisi, Italy, which was founded by 12) Bea Kreloff (1925-2016) and 13) Edith Isaac-Rose (1929-2018).

Next time on “80 Gays”: We turn our attention to art in Italy.

Marathon Efforts

When Pheidippides finished running what is now regarded as the first marathon in 490 BC he dropped dead from exhaustion. Just imagine, though, what he would have thought about the prospect of running the 26 miles every day for 106 consecutive days, or even 401 days.

To celebrate today’s London Marathon, and the feast day of our patron saint, St. George, here are the feats achieved by two British lgbt+ runners from my region.

The first of these was the 401 Challenge to run 401 marathons in 401 days set by Ben Smith.

Ben was born into a Royal Air Force family, which meant being stationed in a succession of RAF bases around the world. When Ben was 10 his parents decided to place him in a boarding school in England. Ben went from one school to another over the next few short years, including one near Retford, a town I know well not far from Nottingham.

Sadly, Ben’s school experiences were not all good ones. Having come from a close loving family he felt isolated and withdrew into himself. He began to realise he had sexual feelings towards other boys. Becoming more introvert and being bullied, and confused by his sexuality, Ben attempted suicide twice. After school he fell into depression even though his family had now returned to England and were close by.

In 2012 Ben took up running. He was instantly hooked and began training for long distance racing. In 2014 he entered his first marathon. From this experience he developed his 401 Challenge to raise awareness and funds for vulnerable youngsters who were being bullied for whatever reason. The charities he chose to fundraise for were Stonewall, the biggest lgbt+ charity in the UK, and Kidscape, a charity specialising in providing help to tackle child bullying.

The first of the 401 marathons was on 1st September 2015 in Plymouth. Sadly, the page which listed all of his run on the 401 Challenge website is no longer available. However, searching the internet I have found what I think is a list of the marathons Ben ran in my home county of Nottinghamshire. Here they are:

27 December 2015 – Newark

28 December 2015 – Nottingham

29 December 2015 – Nottingham

5 May 2016 – Retford

13 August 2016 – Clumber Park, near Worksop.

Everything was going to plan. Then, during his Aberdeen run in June 2016 Ben suffered an umbilical hernia and had to take ten days rest to recuperate. Sadly, this meant that he could no longer aim for 401 marathons in 401 consecutive days. An alternative plan was devised to ensure that by the end of his challenge he had run the full equivalent to 401 marathons in 401 days. For his subsequent marathons Ben ran an extra 2 and a half miles to make up the distance.

The climax of the 401 challenge came on 5 October 2016 in Bristol. There to cheer him over the finish line of his 401st marathon were hundreds of spectators, supporters, family, friends, and his partner Kyle, not to mention a lot of media. He had raised £250,000 for his charities.

Ben may not have made it into the records books because of his injury, but he won the admiration of the public. In October 2016 he won Fundraiser of the Year at the Pride of Britain Awards. In December he won the Helen Rollason Award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony. This last award is named after a very popular sports presenter who died of cancer at the age of 43 and in awarded to athletes who have made an “outstanding achievement in the face of adversity”.

Even if Ben didn’t enter the Guinness Book of World Records, another runner from my region did. Her name in Kate Jayden (b.1987). Kate lives with her wife in Hartington, a village in rural Derbyshire about 35 miles from Nottingham. She was already an experienced marathon runner and triathlete with over 230 finishes.

Overcoming difficult experiences or health issues is often a spur for the athletically-minded person. Kate’s youth was bedevilled with anorexia and bulimia. It was to raise funds for a charity which helps sufferers of eating disorders that was the start of Kate’s marathon running.

The challenge to run 106 marathons on 106 consecutive days began as a joke with a friend, but Kate thought “why not?” The chosen charities for which the challenge would raise funds were the Refugee Council, the Trussell Trust and the Hygiene Bank. The two latter charities provide food banks and hygiene products respectively to people on a low income.

Kate’s challenge began on 31st December 2021. Unlike Ben Smith, Kate also had a full-time job while taking on her challenge. Not all of her marathons were run outdoors. Some of them were on a treadmill.

Kate often ran in the early morning before leaving for work, sometimes running in the cold and dark of a British winter. This may have brought back an unhappy memory of competing in a 24-hour run in 2014. During the night-time stage when she was several miles ahead of the rest of the runners Kate was grabbed from behind by a stranger and sexual assaulted. Kate fought off the assailant, and ran back several miles to find the next runner to raise the alarm. The race was suspended while the police carried out their initial investigation, then the race resumed, and Kate won.

On day 46 of the 106 challenge (15th February 2022) Kate experienced pain in her knee which slowed her down on subsequent runs. Only after the last marathon was it discovered that Kate had a fractured knee.

Kate’s challenge didn’t have as much of a high-profile as Ben Smith’s, but she had a solid fan base and interest picked up as she neared the final marathons. The 106th marathon was completed on 15th April 2022. Kate was now a Guinness World Record holder and had raised £25,000 for her charities.

Because Kate completed some marathons on a treadmill she shares the record with a Scottish couple, Fay Cunningham and her partner Emma Petrie, who ran 106 road marathons on 106 consecutive days. They began their challenge on 19th February 2022 and submitted their record attempt of running 100 marathons on 100 consecutive days. Having discovered that Kate Jayden was already attempting 106 marathons they added 6 more to their schedule to equal the record attempt. Fay and Emma now hold the record for the most consecutive road marathons, and Kate holds the record for the most consecutive road/treadmill marathons (as of todays’ date).

With more and more ultra and extreme sport challenges being created it should be a matter of pride that there are many lgbt+ runners who are representing our community and receiving recognition for their achievements.

Tokyo: The Wait is Over

There’s going to be a lot of statistics in this article, so I apologise in advance if you get confused. The data is as correct as possible on Thursday 21st July 2021 at 7 a.m. GMT (UCT) +1.

With Cyd Ziegler of Outsports I have again compiled a list of openly lgbt athletes at the Olympics. Let’s call them Team Out. It’s a record number, and this is sure to increase as more athletes are identified. Check out the list here.

First, a comparison to the previous record-holding Olympics, the Rio 2016 games. Outsports published its first Rio list of 27 names on 11th July 2016. By the start of the games on 5th August it had 49, and at the end of the games it had 55. Since then, a lot of Rio athletes have come out and have been identified, so that today my complete list of lgbt Olympians who were at Rio is at 151.

Outsports’ first Tokyo 2020 list, published on 12th July, had 121 names, so records were being broken before the games started. Today, there are over 160 names.

There are over 90 Olympic newcomers, another record. Most newcomers are under 30 years old, all born during an era in which lgbt sport has been slowly gaining acceptance, though there is still a long way to go. Many young athletes are coming out during their college years rather than waiting until they’ve retired, as has often been the case in previous decades.

Let’s look to the returning Olympians and their previous performances. There are several ways of counting medals and places – by event or by individual athlete. For example, the official medal table counts team events as one medal, and doesn’t count each individual player in the team.

On the last day Rio 2016 a total of 25 individual members of Team Out (excluding those identified as lgbt after Rio) had won medals in 14 events (5 gold, 6 silver and 3 bronze). This placed them 17th in the final medal table. As of today, adding the athletes identified since Rio, Team Out is 8th, with 10 gold, 16 silver and 5 bronze medals in individual and team events (won by 59 athletes if you split team medals into individuals).

I’m going to make some predictions. There are 64 medal events in which members of Team Out are competing. I believe there will be at least 80 individual members of Team Out who will win a medal in 40 of those events. Predicting Team Out’s place on the final medal table (counting events, not individuals) I think it is probable that they will be ever higher than Rio’s 8th position.

Below are medal and placings tables for the returning Olympians. It shows how many medals they have won as individuals. It should not be compared to national medal tables which only count events, not individuals.

I’ve split the table into two. The first portion shows the medal winners and the second the non-medal winners. Both tables include each athlete’s position up to the 8th place. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) awards diplomas to athletes who finish in the top 8 in most sports. These diplomas are highly sought after by collectors and, depending on their condition and the athlete who received it, a diploma can fetch up to $1,000 US, more than some gold medals.

Even those athletes who don’t finish in the top 8 receive a participation medal, so no-one goes home empty handed. Last year I included the participation medal of gay Olympian Mark Chatfield when I painted his coat of arms.

So, the tables. The columns show the athlete’s name, nationality and sport, followed by the 8-place finishes.

The last two columns show the athlete’s place in the all-time summer lgbt Olympian medal table, then their place on the all-time lgbt Olympian medal table if you include the Winter Olympians. Let’s take Brittney Griner to explain those figures. Her last two columns show 49= (28) and 64= (33). The first means that she is in equal 49th position in the all-time summer list, and that she is one of 28 athletes with the same medals and placings. The second figure means Brittney is in equal 64th position among 33 athletes if you include the Winter Olympians. I hope that makes sense.

Several other facts before I go. The Brazilian footballer Miraildes Mota, commonly called “Formiga”, is making her 7th Olympic appearance, the record number of competitive appearances by an lgbt Olympian. She is probably the only Olympian to have competed in every tournament since her sport was introduced last century (women’s football, introduced 1996).

Formiga is also one of the two members of Tokyo’s Team Out who competed in an Olympic Games before 2000. The other is British dressage rider Carl Hester who first competed in 1992 (Tokyo is his 6th Olympics). Carl is also the current record holder as the oldest lgbt competitor (at 54) and the oldest lgbt medallist (a silver in Rio, aged 49).

If you see the opening ceremony try to stay awake long enough to see the flag-bearers. An innovation this year is for nations to have two flag-bearers if possible, one male and one female. There are five lgbt flag-bearers in the parade (Rio 2016 had 3) – Cecilia Carranza (Argentina), Andri Eleftheriou (Cyprus), Kellie Harrington (Ireland), Sue Bird (USA) and Yulima Rojas (Venezuela). Not only are they waving the flag for their nation but they are waving them as proud members of Team Out. Many gay men will be eagerly looking forward to Tonga’s flag bearer, the oiled-up muscle-boy from Rio 2016 and PyeongChang 2018. His predecessor at London 2012 was gay swimmer Amini Fonua (fully clothed). Amini probably won’t be in the parade tomorrow because his first race is the day after.

I’ll return to the medal table after the games and review some of the most significant events.

UPDATE: Since this article was published, many more lgbt Olympians have been added to the Tokyo list. The original tables have been updated to include the new listed names that are returning Olympians.

Oscar's Queer Awards

The covid pandemic may have disrupted film production over the past year but is hasn’t disrupted the awards season where it seems that quotas, inclusion and diversity are more important than actual talent and achievement.

It isn’t generally known, especially by self-identified lgbt spokespeople, that there have been many lgbt winners and nominees of Oscars. There were more lgbt nominees in the ten years of the 1950s (132) than there were in the 25 years from 1994 to 2019 (126). Many of these nominees may not have been lgbt publicly, but then they didn’t have social media demanding that this part of their life should be made public. Most were openly lgbt to those they worked with and knew. There has only been two awards ceremonies where there weren’t any lgbt nominees – November 1933 (there were two ceremonies that year, the first being in April) and 1935. As the ceremony last weekend was the 93rd that means that there are had been at least 91 lgbt nominations in Oscar history.

Do you remember Sam Smith looking like a complete fool by declaring in front of the world to be the first openly lgbt Oscar winner in 2015 (probably the only thing Sam will ever be remembered for)? Thankfully, there were plenty of previous lgbt Oscar winners ready to put the record straight.

Of course, there were people who were deliberately secretive about their sexuality, but fewer than you might think. It is recognised that the film studio bosses deliberately suppressed news in the media about a film star’s sexuality. To cover up any scandal the news would have caused at that time the studios arranged for that person to get married. This attitude towards sexuality in the American cinema still prevails today, despite the deceptive appearance of there being a lot of out American actors and film-makers.

There are too many lgbt nominees and winners to list here (602 in total, held by 219 individuals), but an almost accurate list is available on Wikipedia. A handful of the names it lists are not verified as being lgbt, being based purely on unsubstantiated rumour or unreliable testimony. Some names that have been included which are based on rumour have other supporting evidence which supports their identification. There are also a few omissions and wrongly categorised names.

So, here are some of the more interesting and significant facts and figures about lgbt nominees and winners of Oscars.

Category with the most lgbt nominations, and category with the most lgbt winners
Best Art Direction (replaced with Best Production Design in 2012) received 20 lgbt nominations. Between 1941 and 1970 the category was subdivided into Colour and Black and White.

Best Art Direction: Colour received 67 nominations, and Best Art Direction: Black and White received 58. In total the Best Art Direction category has received 145 lgbt nominations. Of those 145 nominations, 28 won. Best Art Direction won 4 times, Best Art Direction: Colour won 13 times, and Best Art Direction: Black and White won 11 times.

Honorary Awards

Eight lgbt people were given honorary awards, and 1 was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

Number of lgbt nominations for acting

Best Actor – 35 nominations (5 wins)

Best Actress – 32 nominations (10 wins)

Best Supporting Actor – 23 nominations (4 wins)

Best Supporting Actress – 14 nominations (5 wins)

First lgbt nomination, first lgbt acting nomination, first ever female nomination, and first female to receive more than one nomination, and first female to win all nominations received in one year.

Janet Gaynor (1906-1984) received three nominations as Best Actress at the very first awards ceremony in 1929 for her roles in “Seventh Heaven”, “Street Angel” and “Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans”. She won all three Oscars.

First lgbt male nominations

In 1934 there were two lgbt male nominees: George Cukor (1899-1983) as Best Director for “Little Women”; and Charles Laughton (1899-1962) as Best Actor as King Henry VIII in “The Private Life of Henry VIII”.

First male lgbt winner

Charles Laughton (1899-1962) for Best Actor in 1934 (above).

First non-acting lgbt nomination

George Cukor (1899-1983), nominated as Best Director in 1934 (above).

First non-acting lgbt winner, the most nominated lgbt non-actor, the most consecutive years with a nomination, and the lgbt person with the most Oscars

Edwin B. Willis (1893-1963) won Best Art Direction (Colour) for “Blossoms in the Dust” in 1942. He received a total of 32 nominations over 27 years with a further 7 wins. He was nominated every year between 1950 and 1958.

First female transgender nomination, first transgender person to be nominated twice

Angela Morley (1924-2009), nominated for Best Scoring: Original Song Score and Adaptation or Scoring in 1975 for “The Little Prince”. She was nominated in the same category in 1978 for “The Slipper and the Rose”.

First male transgender nomination

Yance Ford (b.1972), nominated for Best Documentary Feature in 2018 for “Strong Island”.

First transgender acting nomination (pre transition)

Elliott Page (b.1987), nominated as Best Actress in 2008 for playing the lead role in “Juno”.

First lgbt actor to play a non-lgbt character of the opposite sex

Linda Hunt (b.1945), nominated at Best Actress in 1983 for playing Billy Kwan in “The Year of Living Dangerously”.

First black lgbt acting nomination

Paul Winfield (1939-2004), nominated as Best Actor in 1973 for “Sounder”.

First black lgbt non-acting nomination

Lee Daniels (b.1959), nominated as Best Director in 2010 for “Precious”.

Lgbt actors with the most nominations

Katherine Hepburn (1907-2003) received 12 nominations, all for Best Actress. She won 4 times, and holds the record for the most Oscars won by any female actor.

Sir Laurence Olivier, Lord Olivier (1907-1989) received 13 nominations, though they include Best Director and Best Picture (“Hamlet”, 1949), and one honorary award. He also won 4 times.

First posthumous lgbt acting nomination

Jeanne Eagels (1890-1929), nominated in April 1930 as Best Actress for “The Letter”.

First posthumous lgbt male acting nomination, first lgbt actor to be nominated posthumously twice

James Dean (1931-1955), nominated in 1956 as Best Actor for “East of Eden”, and nominated in 1957 as Best Actor for “Giant”.

First posthumous lgbt non-acting nomination, first posthumous lgbt winner, most number of posthumous nominations

Howard Ashman (1950-1991) was nominated in 1992 as lyricist in the Best Original Song Category with three songs from “Beauty and the Beast”, “Be Our Guest”, “Belle” and the title song, which was the first posthumous win by an lgbt individual. Howard received his fourth posthumous nomination in 1993 in the same category with “Friend Like Me” from “Aladdin”.

Lgbt nominee with the lowest success rate

Many people were nominated once but did not win. Several with multiple nominations also did not win. Probably the most famous of these are songwriter Cole Porter (1891-1964) and actor Montgomery Clift (1920-1966), who each received 4 nominations but did not win. The lgbt person nominated the most without a win was Howard Bristol (1902-1971), who was nominated 9 times between 1942 and 1969 in all of the three Best Art Direction categories.

Film with the most lgbt nominees, and film with the most lgbt winners

In 1952 “An American in Paris” had 6 lgbt people among its 15 nominees in 8 categories. Five of those lgbt nominees won – 2 for Best Art Direction: Colour, and 3 for Best Costume Design: Colour.

Year with the most number of lgbt nominees, and the most lgbt winners

At the 1952 ceremony a total of 16 lgbt people received 20 nominations in 9 categories. Eight of those people won in 4 of the categories, including “An American in Paris” (above).

Lgbt people with the most multiple nominations in one year

There are 7 who have been nominated 3 times in one year. They include Janet Gaynor in 1929 (also the first lgbt multiple winner in one year, see above), Edwin B. Willis in 1954 (see above), and Howard Ashman in 1992 (all posthumous, see above). The others are:

Samuel M. Comer (1893-1974) in 1964 for Best Art Decoration on 3 different films,

Jacques Demy (1921-1990) in 1966 in 3 categories for “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg”,

Sir Elton John (b.1947) in 1995 for 3 songs from “The Lion King”, and

Henry Krieger (b.1945) in 2007 for 3 songs from “Dreamgirls”.

I think that’s enough statistics for now. If I get the time I’ll produce another list of interesting lgbt Oscar facts in the future, perhaps concentrating on music, design or production.

 

80 More Gays Around the World: Part 28) Gold All The Way

Last time on “80 More Gays”: 76) Chelsea Blackmore is a pioneer in queer archaeology, first championed by 77) Thomas Dowson after doing research into San cave art in Namibia, which became part of a National Geographical archaeological tour for students led by 78) Thomas Egli, who was a volunteer at the ice hockey stadium at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics in which the 79) Canadian women’s ice hockey team won gold.

The full 79) Canadian women’s ice hockey team consisted of 21 members, 19 of them being experienced Olympians. Five of them are currently known to have been lesbian or bisexual, and I’ll briefly look at them individually later. But first, how did they get to the final.

The team were the reigning Olympic champions having won the 2006 Turin competition, beating Sweden 4-1. Since Turin Canada had lost to the USA in the 2008 and 2009 World Championships. They faced each other in the final in Vancouver and the anticipation and expectations of the Canadian home crowd was very high.

The defence of their Olympic title began well for the Canadian women. In their first match they thrashed Slovakia 18-0, the biggest score difference in Olympic ice hockey history, actually beating their own record from Turin 2006 when they beat the home team 16-0.

It came as no surprise to anyone that Canada faced the USA in the final. Again, the Canadians got off to a good start scoring 2 goals in 3 minutes, the only goals of the match. The final score Canada 2 – USA 0.

Let’s move on to the lgbt players. There isn’t really enough space to go to any real biographical detail so I’ll restrict myself to their Olympic experiences. The player with the most Olympic experience was 79a) Jayna Hefford (b.1977). She made her debut at the 1998 Nagano games in the inaugural women’s Olympic ice hockey tournament. Jayna scored one goal in the final match but it was the goal that won the team the silver medal (final score: USA 2 – Canada 1). She was chosen for team for the next four Olympics, making her only one of 6 lgbt athletes to compete in 5 Olympics (only Robert Dover, US equestrian, has been in 6). Because she was on the winning team for those next four Olympics, which included the Sochi 2014 games, she shares joint 4th place with US swimmer Greg Louganis on the all-time lgbt Olympic medal list (both have 4 gold, 1 silver).

Jayna Hefford is one of only 5 Olympians, lgbt or straight, to win a gold medal at four consecutive games. One of the others is the next most experienced member of the 2010 Canadian women’s ice hockey team, 79b) Caroline Ouellette (b.1979). Her first Olympics was the 2002 Salt Lake City games. With her four gold medals Caroline is joint 6th on the all-time lgbt medal list.

Then next most experienced player on the Canadian women’s team was 79c) Gillian Apps (b.1983) who not only has Olympic experience but Olympic blood. Her grandfather Syl Apps, was a pole vaulter at the 1936 Berlin summer games, and her first cousin is Darren Barber, who won a gold medal in rowing at the 1992 Barcelona games. Gillian herself competed in three Olympics – Turin, Vancouver and Sochi.

Like quite a few others she is married to a fellow Olympian, a player on the US team she beat in Vancouver, Meghan Duggan. Caroline Ouellette also married one of the losing team, Julie Chu. Jayna Hefford is also married to a US ice hockey Olympian, Kathleen Kauth, against whom she played in the 2006 Turin final.

79d) Charline Labonté (b.1982), like Gillian, competed in the Turin, Vancouver and Sochi Olympics. They also both came out as lesbian a couple of months after the Sochi games of 2014 in which the Canadians successfully defended their title.

The least experienced member of the 2010 Vancouver team was the only one who was openly lesbian at the time, 79e) Sarah Vaillancourt (b.1985). It was while she was a freshman at Harvard University that she came out to her Harvard Crimson ice hockey team-mates in 2004. Sarah first played in the Turin games of 2006 but due to injury did not return to the Olympic arena.

We stay with the 2010 Vancouver Olympics to reach the last person in our “80 More Gays Around the World”, and there’s several to choose from. It could be Ted Nebbeling, the Minister of State for the 2010 Olympics. It could be Ignatius Jones, the artistic director of the opening and closing ceremonies. It could be DQuared2, the gay twins Dean and Dan Calen, who designed the costumes for the closing ceremony. But instead I’m going for the one person who had the most direct involvement on every day and in every medal ceremony, giving a continuous link from the opening ceremony where 1) k d lang performed to the closing ceremony where the last medals were awards. That person is the designer of the Vancouver Olympic medals, 80) Corrine Hunt (b.1959).

Back in 2014 I wrote about Corinne’s medal design, so go and have a look at that. Since then she has designed the jackets worn by the Canadian snowboarding team at the 2018 PyeongChang games.

And that brings me to the end of “80 More Gays Around the World”. As before it has been a pleasure to research. It has led me on to people and subjects I would not normally have looked into (e.g South African wines and leper hospitals, or the psychological effects of the Polykrates complex).

I hope you enjoyed this series and learnt something new, I know I have, which has been the main inspiration that helped me to carry on even when I hit a brick wall and couldn’t find any direction to take to get me back to the beginning.

80 More Gays Around the World: Part 20) Swedish Legacies

Last time on “80 More Gays”: 53) Narses (c.478-c.568), one of the greatest military commanders of the Byzantine Empire, was open about his gender variance, unlike the “Father of the American Cavalry”, recently discovered to have been intersex, 54) Casimir Pulaski (1745-1779), a descendant of the same noble family as mathematician 55) Sofya Kovalevskaya (1850-1891).

 

55) Sofya Kovalevskaya was born Sofya Korvin-Krakovskaya in Moscow. Her father was a direct descendant of the Korwin family, as was 54) Casimir Pulaski. Some genealogists doubt her father’s descent from the Korwins but his unchallenged use of the Korwin coat of arms in his lifetime by the Russian Imperial Heroldmeister (Master Herald) strongly suggests that he was.

 

As a female in Russia at that time the only way Sofya would have obtained a university education was by studying outside the country, and she needed written permission from either her father of her husband to do so. To this end in 1868 she married a radical young palaeontology student called Vladimir Kovalevsij, thus becoming Sofya Kovalevskaya. The marriage was “fake” and both parties were aware it was only made to allow Sofya to study abroad.

 

Sofya travelled around Europe with Vladimir, attending various universities and learned men. By her early 20s Sofya had earned her doctorate. She was a pioneer female mathematician and the first woman in Europe to earn a modern doctorate in maths (from the University of Göttingen in 1874). Sofya was also one of the first women to be appointed a professor (Stockholm University).

 

Sofya’s mathematical papers and theories influenced later generations and includes everything from differential equations (the Cauchy-Kovalevskaya theorem is partly named after her) to the rings of Saturn.

 

She and Vladimir spent their final years in Sweden. Following the death of Vladimir, from whom she had separated, Sofya became professor of maths at Stockholm University. Sofya died in Stockholm at the young age of 41 from flu and pneumonia. She is buried in Norra Begraviningsplaten, the “Northern Cemetery”, where several notable Swedes were buried, including Alfred Nobel, whose prize for literature with crop up later.

 

Among the famous Swedes buried in Norra Bergaviningspalten is a film director who helped to bring a rising star to Hollywood. That director was called 56) Mauritz Schiller (1883-1928).

 

Mauritz was a pioneer of the early Swedish film industry. In 1912 he wrote and acted in his first film, a short silent film. The silent film industry was beginning to boom around the world and there was an eager audience everywhere. Mauritz appeared in another four films in 1912, also directing three of them. He went on to direct and write another 45 short and feature-length films before being invited to Hollywood by MGM Studios in 1925. Mauritz took with him a young actress he had talent-spotted and featured in one of his recent films, an actress called Greta Garbo.

 

Mauritz Stiller never became a big Hollywood legend himself like his protégé. He was often at odds with the bosses at MGM and Paramount and he returned to Sweden in 1927. He was eventually honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.

 

Although many of his film scripts were original Mauritz also adapted plays and novels. One of these was his 1916 film “Vingarme” (Wings), one of the earliest gay love stories ever made. It was adapted from a novel by gay Danish writer Herman Bangs.

 

uritz wrote and directed several films by the same author including the film in which he gave Greta Garbo her first screen role in 1924. The author of the original novel on which the film was based was 57) Selma Lagerlöf (1858-1940).

 

In 1919 Selma Lagerlöf sold all the film rights to any yet to be published works to the Swedish Cinema Theatre and Mauritz Stiller was one of several Swedish film-makers to adapt Selma’s novels for the screen.

 

Selma was already a famous novelist by 1919. Her first novel was “Gosta Berling’s Saga”, published in 1891, and was the basis of the film Mauritz made just before going to Hollywood. Selma’s works became very popular in Sweden and she was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1904. She didn’t win, though the Swedish Academy who award her their gold medal.

 

Selma was nominated again for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1905. Again she didn’t win. She was further nominated in 1906, 1907, 1908 and 1909. Selma finally won in 1909, the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. In 1914 she also became the first woman to be elected to the Swedish Academy and in 1924 she was a judge in the literature contests at the Olympic Games in Paris.

 

A well as being nominated and awarded a Nobel Prize Selma Lagerlöf also twice nominated names herself as a member of the Swedish Academy. In both 1920 and 1922 she nominated Danish writer Georg Brandes. His 1922 nomination lost to 58) Jacinto Benevente (1866-1954).

 

Next time on “80 More Gays”:  We sweep across the Spanish stage and bank on the Rothschilds to follow in their theatrical footsteps before living life in the fast lane.

Paralympic Tribute: 2

Last week I presented a tribute to Marieke Vervoort, the Dutch lgbt Paralympic who passed away last year. Today is a tribute to Angela Madsen, the US lgbt Paralympian who died during her attempt to row solo across the Pacific Ocean in June.

Many tributes to Angela appeared online. None of them could have had adequate room to list all of Angela’s achievements so the table below is my attempt to do so.

Note on Paralympic categories:

F54 – (field athletics) Full arm function, no abdominal power.

F55 – (field athletics) Full arm function, partial abdominal power, no lower limb function or leg amputee.

F56 – (field athletics) Full arm and abdominal function, full or partial leg amputee.

LTA – (rowing) Legs, trunk and arms, being able to use a sliding seat.

 

Event/Award	Location/date	Medal/award
National Veteran’s Wheelchair Games	Jun 1995, Atlanta, USA	Gold, 100m freestyle swimming
		Gold, 100m backstroke swimming
		Gold, 100m breaststroke swimming
		Gold, slalom canoeing
		Gold, billiards
National Veteran’s Wheelchair Games	July 1996, Seattle, USA	Gold, 100m freestyle swimming
		Gold, 100m backstroke swimming
		Gold, 100m breaststroke swimming
		Gold, shot put
		Silver, slalom canoeing
Bay-to-Bay Race (open water rowing race)	6 June 1999, San Diego, USA	Gold, 5 mile, open class
Eagle Adaptive Regatta	10 July 1999, Indianapolis, USA	1st place, double sculls
		1st place, 1000m single sculls
		1st place, 2000m single sculls
US Amateur Surfing Championships	18 July 1999, Oceanside, USA	2nd place, prosthetic/handicap division
Newport to Dana Point, California	24 July 1999, California, USA	1st place, 15 mile open ocean row
National Adaptive Rowing Championships	11 Sept. 1999, Philadelphia, USA	1st place, 1000m single sculls
5000m Head Race	10 Oct. 1999, Long Beach, USA	1st place, adaptive rowing
Bay-to-Bay Race	4 June 2000, San Diego, USA	1st place, 5 miles physically challenged open division
International BAYADA Regatta (annual contest for rowers with disabilities)	9 Sept. 2000, Philadelphia, USA	Gold, 400m single sculls
		Gold, double fixed seat sculls
Tony Mezzadri Surf Contest (named after Tony Mezzadri who suffered a spinal cord injury while surfing)	30 Sept. 2000	Most Inspirational Surfer award
Long Beach Rowing Association Christmas Regatta	3 Dec. 2000, Long Beach, USA	1st place, adaptive division
Queen Mary Open Water Row	16 Dec. 2000	1st place, adaptive fixed seat division
Long Beach Rowing Association Spring Regatta	18 March 2001, Long Beach, USA	1st place, 1000m adaptive fixed seat division
International BAYADA Regatta	8 Sept. 2001, Philadelphia, USA	2nd place, 1000m single sculls
Bay-to-Bay Race	4 June 2002, San Diego, USA	3rd place, 20 nautical miles open water race, class 3
International Rowing Federation (IRF) World Rowing Championships	Sept. 2002, Seville, Spain	Silver, adaptive single sculls TA
Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles (now the LA84 Foundation)	Feb 2003	Women Who Inspire Us award
Bay-to-Bay Race	31 May 2003, San Diego, USA	2nd place
National Veterans Wheelchair Games	July 2003, Long Beach, USA	Gold, shot put
		Gold, javelin
		Gold, discus
		Gold, weightlifting
		Silver, wheelchair basketball
IRF World Rowing Championships	August 2003, Milan, Italy	Gold, double sculls TA
International BAYADA Regatta	6 Sept. 2003, Philadelphia, USA	Silver, 1000m men’s/mixed fixed seat category
Leo Reilly jr. Award	6 Sept 2003	Award for spirit and determination
Surfboards for Spinal Cords Contest (formerly Tony Mazzadri Surf Contest)	27 Sept. 2003, Ocean Beach, USA	1st place, surfer with a disability category
IRF World Rowing Championships	August 2004, Banyoles, Spain	Gold, double sculls TA
Surfboards for Spinal Cords Contest	25 Sept. 2004, Ocean Beach, USA	1st place, surfer with a disability category
Spring Regatta	19 March 2005	3rd place, 2000m quadruple sculls
		3rd place, double sculls TA
IRF World Rowing Championships	Sept. 2005, Kaizu, Japan	Gold, double sculls TA
Paris Open Indoor Rowing Championships	11 Dec 2005, Paris, France	1st place, LTA
IRF World Rowing Championships	August 2006, Eton, UK	Gold, double sculls TA
World Records (trans-Atlantic row)	Dec. 2007-Feb 2008, from the Canary Islands to Antigua	First trans-Atlantic row (with Frank Festor) by a pair with disabilities
		First trans-Atlantic row by a woman with a disability
		Oldest woman to row the Atlantic
World Records (trans-Indian Ocean row – those in bold are currently recognised by Guinness World Records)	April-June 2009, from Western Australia to Mauritius	Oldest woman to row the Indian Ocean
		With Helen Taylor, the first women to row the Indian Ocean
		Member of the first team to row the Indian Ocean
		Member of the first crew of 8 to row the Indian Ocean
		First woman with a disability to row the Indian Ocean
		Team to make the fastest crossing of the Indian Ocean
National Veterans Wheelchair Games	July 2009, Spokane, USA	Gold, 100m freestyle swimming
		Gold, 100m breaststroke swimming
		Gold, shot put
		Gold, javelin
		Gold, discus
World Records (as part of 2010 Virgin GB Row, classed as an ocean row – those in bold are currently recognised by Guinness World Records)	June-July 2010, around the UK mainland	Member of the only crew to finish the row
		Member of the first all-female team to row around the UK
		Member of the team to make the fastest unsupported row around the UK
		Oldest woman to row around the UK
World Records (trans-Atlantic row – those in bold are currently recognised by Guinness World Records)	Jan.-March 2011, Morocco to Barbados	First woman to row three oceans
		First woman with a disability to row three oceans
		First woman with a disability to row the same ocean twice
		Oldest woman to row the Atlantic (breaking her own record)
		Member of the largest team to row the Atlantic (team of 16)
		Member of the first catamaran to cross the Atlantic
Para-PanAmerican Games	Nov. 2011, Guadalajara, Mexico	Bronze, shot put F54-56
World Record (US Paralympic Trials)	June-July 2012, Indianapolis, USA	Shot put F56
Boiling Point Track Classic (leading Canadian open track competition for para-athletes)	14 July 2012, University of Windsor, Canada	Gold, shot put F56 (Guinness World Record)
		Gold, javelin F56
Paralympic Games	Sept. 2012, London, UK	Bronze, shot put F54-56
Trans-Pacific row (abandoned)	June 2013, from Santa Cruz, USA	First woman with a disability to attempt to row the Pacific solo
World Records (trans-Pacific row - those in bold are currently recognised by Guinness World Records)	May-July 2014, Long Beach to Hawaii, USA	First female pair to row the Pacific (with Tara Remington)
		First (and, to date, the only) woman to make four oceans crossings
		First woman with a disability to row the Pacific
		Fastest pair to row the Pacific
		First (and, to date, the only) lgbt person to row four oceans
		Oldest woman to row the Pacific
Foundation for Global Sports Development	17 Nov. 2014	Athletes in Excellence Award
Aquatic Capital of America Foundation	16 Jan. 2015	2014 Outstanding Achievement award
Long Beach Lesbian and Gay Pride Parade	17 May 2015, Long Beach, USA	Grand Marshal
US Paralympic Track and Field National Championships	June 2015, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA	Gold, shot put F53-57
		Silver, discus F54-57
Para-PanAmerican Games	Aug. 2015, Toronto, Canada	Gold, javelin F55/56 (Games record)
		Silver, shot put F56/57
Boiling Point Track Classic	14 July 2016, University of Windsor, Canada	Gold and World Record (breaking her own 2012 record), shot put F56
Trans-Pacific Row (unfinished – the row on which she passed away)	April-June 2020, Marina del Rey, USA to mid-Pacific	Oldest woman to attempt a solo ocean crossing
		First woman to attempt to row the Pacific three times

I’m sure you’re exhausted reading all those records and achievements. Guinness World Records recognized 14 records in their obituary of Angela Madsen. No doubt, there will be some achievements I haven’t yet found.

When the Tokyo Paralympic Games begin next year let’s think about Angela Madsen and Marieke Vervoort and how much they have brought to lgbt sport.