April 5th

04-05-1900 – 06-10-1967   Spencer Tracy – Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was an American actor and one of the major stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Tracy was nominated nine times and won two Academy Awards for Best Actor. According to Scotty Bowers’ autobiography, Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars, he talks at length about Hepburn and Tracy: “They were merely friends….They were not in the bed department together at all.” Bowers went on to say that Tracy, drunk, would ask him to spend the night, and then, the next morning would act as if nothing had happened. Bowers’ book was made into a documentary, Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood. In the film, the gossip columnist, Liz Smith, went on record for the first time to confirm that Hepburn had lesbian relationships. Director of the documentary, Matt Tyrnauer, asked Bowers, “So how gay was Spencer Tracy?” Bowers replied, “He got drunk and thanked the man beside him in the morning for taking care of him.” On June 10, 1967, 17 days after completing the film, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Tracy died from a heart attack.

04-05-1982 Thomas Hitzlsperger – Born in Munich, Germany. He is a German former professional footballer. During his career, he played on teams in England, Germany, and Italy. Hitzlsperger also represented the German national team and was selected for the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2008 teams. Due to injuries, he retired from football in September 2013. After his retirement, he came out as gay, the highest-profile footballer to do so. He said that it took him awhile to realize that he was gay.

04-05-1955 Maryan Street – Born in New Plymouth, New Zealand. She was a member of the New Zealand Parliament. In the 2005 elections, she became the first out lesbian MP elected to the Parliament of New Zealand. She was an MP for nine years between 2005 and 2014. In 1993, Street was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal for service to women. She also worked as an international observer of general elections across Africa and Asia with a focus on human rights and good governance.

04-05-1967 Denise Juneau – Born in Oakland, California. She is an American politician that served as the State Superintendent of Public Instruction from 2009 to 2017 in the state of Montana. Juneau is the first American Indian woman and out lesbian to be elected to a statewide executive office in Montana. She is a descendant of the Blackfeet Tribe.