May 8th
05-08-1920 – 11-07-1991 Tom of Finland (Touko Laaksonen) – Born in Kaarina, Finland. He was a Finnish artist who was one of the first artists to depict gay men as healthy, happy people having sex. Over the course of four
decades, he produced 3500 illustrations, mostly featuring men with exaggerated primary and secondary sex traits with tight or partially removed clothing. His best known works depict homomasculine archetypes such as lumberjacks, motorcycle policemen, sailors, bikers, and leathermen. In April 2014 Finland published a set of first class stamps that included two drawings by Tom of Finland. The stamp set became a hit with its popularity surprising the Finland Post Office which received pre-orders from 178 countries around the world.
05-08-1946 Andre Boulerice – Born in Joliette, Canada. He is a Quebec, 
Canada politician and gay rights activist. Elected in the Sainte-Marie-Saint Jacques riding in 1989, Boulerice was reelected in 1994, 1998, and 2003. He helped introduce civil union for same-sex couples. He resigned in September 2005. Boulerice is out gay.
05-08-1954 Kwame Anthony Appiah – Born in London, England. He is a British-born Ghanaian-American philosopher, cultural theorist, and novelist. University Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University, he is out gay 
and lives with his husband, Henry Finder, in an apartment in Chelsea, Manhattan. They also have a home in Pennington, New Jersey. Appiah has written about what it was like growing up gay in Ghana.
05-08-1972 Darren Hayes – Born in Brisbane, Australia. He is a UK-based Australian singer-songwriter. He was the frontman and singer of the pop duo Savage Garden, whose 1997 album Savage Garden peaked at No. 1 in Australia, No. 2 in the United Kingdom, and No. 3 in the United States. 
Savage Garden sold more than 23 million albums worldwide before parting ways in 2001. Hayes has had a successful solo career. At school, Hayes was bullied, and physically and verbally abused. He married a childhood sweetheart, makeup artist Colby Taylor, in 1994. They separated in 1998 and were divorced in 2000. Hayes started coming out as gay to friends and the head of his label, Sony, in the early 2000s. He married (via a civil partnership) his boyfriend of 2 years, Richard Cullen, on June 19, 2006, in London. Hayes and Cullen applied for a marriage license in California and were married on July 15, 2013, to show their support for those fighting for same-sex marriage rights. Hayes and Cullen currently live in the United States.
05-08-1981 Stephen Amell – Born in Toronto, Canada. He is a Canadian actor who portrays Oliver Queen/Arrow in the television series Arrow. He 
is married to actress and model Cassandra Jean. A straight ally, Amell is a supporter of marriage equality. In 2013, the actor posted a message to more than 85,000 fans on his official Facebook page in support of gay rights and urged the Supreme Court to rule in favor of marriage equality. He stated, “Some of the most loving, powerful relationships I’ve witnessed have been same-sex couples.”
05-08-1985 Sarah Vaillancourt – Born in Sherbrooke, Canada. She is a Canadian women’s ice hockey player. She is a member of the Canada 
women’s national team and a member of the Montreal Stars. She is a 2-time Olympic Gold Medallist (2006 & 2010)/World Championships Gold/4-time World Championships Silver/Clarkson Cup Champion (2010-11). From 2003 to 2009 Vaillancourt played 88 international games for Team Canada and scored 36 goals adding 39 assists. She is an out lesbian.