April 24th

1900 – 12-18-1993 Betty Carstairs (Marion Barbara “Joe” Carstairs) – Born in Mayfair, London, England (DOB unknown). She was a wealthy British power boat racer known for her speed and her eccentric lifestyle. She usually dressed as a man, had tattooed arms, and loved machines, adventure, and speed. Openly lesbian, she had numerous affairs with women, including Oscar Wilde’s niece, Dolly Wilde, Greta Garbo, Tallulah Bankhead, and Marlene Dietrich. During WWI she served in France with the American Red Cross, driving ambulances. In 1925 she inherited a fortune through her mother and grandmother from Standard Oil. She died in Naples, Florida in 1993.

1946 – 07-22-2011 Ifti Nasum – Born in Faisalabad, Pakistan (DOB unknown). He was an openly gay Muslim Pakistani poet. At the age of twenty-one, he moved to the U.S. to escape persecution for his sexual orientation and to avoid an arranged marriage. Nasum became known for establishing Sangat, an organization to support LGBT south-Asian youths, and for publishing “Narman,” a poetry collection that was the first open expression of homosexual themes in the Urdu language. He also hosted a weekly radio show and wrote a weekly column for a Pakistani American newspaper advocating LGBT rights in South Asian and Muslim communities.

1950 – Rabbi Laura Geller – Born in Brookline, Massachusetts (DOB unknown). She is a supporter of LGBT rights and marriage equality. After Prop. 8 was struck down, she stated, “Now I can invoke the power vested in me by the State of California and declare them married in accordance with the laws of the State of California and our Jewish faith. Now we are so much closer to the truth of their experience: a gay or lesbian Jewish wedding, like a Jewish heterosexual wedding, is a Jewish wedding pure and simple.”

 

1961 – Staci Yandle – Born in Centreville, Illinois (DOB unknown). She is the first openly gay judge in the 7th Circuit, which covers Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. She isalso the first African-American District Judge ever to sit on the federal bench in the district of southern Illinois. She received her judicial commission on June 19, 2014.

 

 

 

DOB Unknown – Andrew Ahn – Born in Los Angeles, California. He is a Korean-American independent filmmaker. His short film Dol (First Birthday) premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. It won awards including the Grand Jury Award Outstanding Narrative Short Film at Outfits: Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival 2012, and a Jury Award for Best Narrative Short Film at the Polari: Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival 2012. Ahn stated that he made the film to come out to his parents as gay. Spa Night, Ahn’s feataure film was shown at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. Joe Seo, the star of the film, won the Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Performance.