August 13th

08-13-1961 Sam Champion – Born in Paducah, Kentucky. He is an American weather anchor who is best known for his combined 25-year career on ABC’s Good Morning America and weather editor of ABC News. Following his December 4, 2013, final day with ABC, he became the managing editor of The Weather Channel on January 21, 2014. Champion also appears on the Today Show on NBC. Champion is active in many charitable organizations in the New York City area, including master of ceremonies of “Stopping AIDS Together.” He also hosted the New York City Project’s 2002 “Courage Awards”, along with movie critic Frank DeCaro. Champion and his partner of several years, Rubem Robierb, announced on October 5, 2012, that they were engaged. They married on December 21, 2012.

08-13-1952 – 12-26-2002 Herb Ritts – Born in Los Angeles, California. He was an American fashion photographer who concentrated on black-and-white photography and portraits, often in the style of classical Greek sculpture. He photographed Brook Shields for the cover of the October 12, 1981 edition of Elle and he photographed Olivia Newton-John for her Physical album in 1981. Five years later, he would replicate that cover pose with Madonna for her 1986 release True Blue. During the 1980s and 1990s, Ritts photographed celebrities such as Diana Ross, Christopher Reeve, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Dalai Lama, Cher, George Clooney, Elizabeth Taylor, Tom Cruise, Elton John, Nicole Kidman, Antonio Banderas, David Bowie, Tina Turner and many more. He was openly gay, having come out to his parents while in college. His parents were accepting and supportive. He was HIV positive and died of complications from pneumonia in 2002.

08-13-1895 – 01-10-1978 Gluck (Hannah Gluckinstein) – Born in England to a wealthy Jewish family, exact place unknown. She was a British painter that became known in the 1920s and 30s for her portraits and floral paintings. One of Gluck’s best-known paintings, Medallion, is a dual portrait of Gluck and Gluck’s lover, Nesta Obermer, inspired by a night in 1936 when they attended a Fritz Busch production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. It was later used as the cover of a Virago Press edition of The Well of Loneliness. Gluck also had a romantic relationship with the British floral designer Constance Spry, whose work influenced the artist’s paintings. In 1944, Gluck moved to Chantry House in Steyning, Sussex, living with lover Edith Shackleton Heald until her death.

08-13-1937 – 01-27-1986   Robert Fraser – Born in England, he was a London art dealer. He became a well-known trendsetter during the 1960s. Paul McCartney described him as “one of the most influential people of the London Sixties scene.” Fraser sponsored the 1966 exhibition by Yoko Ono at the Indica Gallery, where she first met John Lennon. He was also a close friend of the Rolling Stones and was present at the 1967 party at Keith Richards’ house when it was raided by the police. Fraser was a gay man who hired rent boys and was promiscuous sexually with men when it was still a crime. He was also a heroin addict. His addiction was so bad that he closed his gallery in 1969. Fraser left the UK and spent several years in Indian during the 1970s. In the 1980s he returned to London and opened a second gallery in 1983 where he was again influential in promoting the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. By this time he was suffering from chronic drug and alcohol use. It also became apparent that Fraser had AIDS, making him one of the first “celebrity” victims to die of the disease in the UK.

08-13-1908 – 05-03-1998 Gene Raymond – Born in New York City, New York. He was an American film, television and stage actor of the 1930s and 1940s. Raymond was also a composer, writer, director, produced and decorated WWII military pilot. His most notable films include Red Dust (1932) with Jean Harlow and Clark Gable, Zoo in Budapest (1933) with Loretta Young, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941) with Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery. In 1937, Raymond married Jeanette MacDonald. They stayed married until her death in 1965. In 1974, he married New Bentley Hees, who died in 1995. He was a Republican. In a 2001 biography of Nelson Eddy, titled Sweethearts by Sharon Rich states the Raymond had affairs with men during his marriage to MacDonald. The book has documentation that Raymond was arrested three times for having sex with other men, including a copy of Raymond’s arrest sheet in January 1938. A US Army nurse is named and quoted concerning his second arrest; and a retired Scotland Yard detective confirmed his third arrest, which occurred in England during WWII. In 1938, he was sharing a house with a 19-year-old actor and was arrested on a morals charge after a raid on a gay nightclub. MacDonald bribed the authorities to get his release. Studio head, Louis B. Mayer, had him blacklisted following his 1938 arrest. Raymond died of pneumonia at the age of 89 in 1998.

08-13-1958   Domenico Dolce – Born in Polizzi Generosa, Sicily, Italy. He’s an Italian fashion designer and entrepreneur. Dolce is one half of the luxury fashion house Dolce & Gabbana (D&G). Since 1985, D&G has become one of the world’s most influential fashion designers. In 1993, the Italian designers became famous worldwide when Madonna chose them to design her costumes for her Girlie Show World Tour. Dolce and Gabbana were an openly gay couple for many years. They ended their long-time relationship in 2005, but they still work together at D&G. (Photo courtesy of Renan Katayama)

08-13-1975   Andrea (aka Andrew or Andy) Gibson –  Born in Calais, Maine, pronouns they/them. Gibson is an American poet and LGBTQIA+ activist. Their poetry focuses on politics, social reform, and the struggles LGBTQIA+ people face in today’s society. Gibson is a spoken word artist and in 2008 became the first poet to win the Women of the World Poetry Slam. Their most notable books of poetry include Pole Dancing to Gospel Hymns (2008), Trees that Grow in Cemeteries (2009), Pansy (2015), Take Me with You (2018), Lord of the Butterflies (2018), and You Better be Lightning (2021)

08-13-1909 – 1994 Alvilde Lees-Milne (formerly Viscountess Chaplin) – Born in London, England. She met her second husband, James Lees-Milne, during WWII while she was having an affair with the Singer heiress, Winnaretta de Polignac. Alvilde married James in 1950. Both she and James were candid with each other about their true sexual nature. In the 1930s James had been the lover of Harold Nicolson, husband of writer Vita Sackville-West who was herself well known for her lesbian affairs. In the 1950s Alvilde began an affair with Sackville-West. In 1961 Alvilde purchased Alderley Grange, near the western edge of Cotswolds. The garden she created drew widespread admiration. She designed gardens for the Queen of Jordon and Mick Jagger at his manor in France. Her books on gardening and interiors have been best-selling.

08-13-1962 Richard R. Tisei – Born in Somerville, Massachusetts. He is an openly gay American Republican politician and realtor from Massachusetts. He has served in the Massachusetts state legislature for 26 years. His last Senate term ended in January 2011. In 2014 Tisei boycotted the Republican state convention because of the “socially conservative platform the party adopted.” In July 2013, Tisei and his longtime partner Bernie Starr were married.

08-13-1982 Robert Arnold (Known as Rob Arnold) – Born in Wellington, New Zealand. He is a New Zealand singer who achieved fame in a New Zealand band, Boyband, as “Gay Boy.” Their debut single, a remake of the classic Kinks song You Really Got Me, debuted at #1 on the New Zealand Music Charts on October 9, 2006. He has had numerous modeling jobs and has appeared in a number of feature-length films. Rob has resurged in popularity in Europe, primarily due to his recent appearances in Amsterdam.