December 17th

12-18-1626 – 04-19-1689 Queen Christina of Sweden – Born in Stockholm, Sweden. She is remembered as one of the most educated women of the 1600s. Christina was interested in religion, philosophy, mathematics, and alchemy. She drew many scientists to Stockholm wanting the city to become the “Athens of the North.” Her closest female friend and noted passion of her youth was Ebba Sparre. She introduced Sparre to the English ambassador as her “bedfellow,” assuring him that Sparre’s intellect was as striking as her body. Queen Christina never married. She revealed in her diary that she felt “an insurmountable distaste for marriage” and “for all things that females talked about and did.” She was known to dress in men’s clothes, including wearing men’s shoes. On February 26, 1649, Christina announced that she had decided not to marry and instead wanted her first cousin Charles to be heir to the throne. The coronation took place in October 1650. The 1933 film Queen Christina starred Greta Garbo and was a major commercial and critical success in the U.S. and worldwide.

12-18-1900 – 03-30-1983 Suzy Solidor – Born in Brittany, France. She was a French singer and actress. Early in the 1930s, she became a popular singer and opened a nightclub called La Vie Parisienne. Solidor was an out lesbian. As a publicity stunt, she became known as the “most painted woman in the world.” She posed for some of the most famous artists of the day, including Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Raoul Dufy, Tamara de Lempicka, Marie Laurencin, Francis Picabia, and Kees van Dongen. Her requirement for sitting was that she would be given the painting to hang in her club. Her night club became one of the most popular spots in Paris. During WWII her club was popular with German officers. In 1941, she recorded a version of a German song, Lil Marleen. After the war she was convicted by the Épuration légale as a collaborator and had to leave France. She went on tour in the United States and was able to return to France in the 1960s. It’s possible that she was a double agent. In order to keep her nightclub open, she had to sign a document that stated she was a member of the Aryan race. There is also documentation that suggests that she helped Jewish people get out of France by getting papers for them. Solidor may also have been passing information to the Resistance that she got from the Germans when they got drunk at her club. She died on March 30, 1983 in Cagnes-sur-Mer and is buried in the town.

12-18-1975 Sia Furler – Born in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. She is an Australian singer-songwriter. Furler has always been out as bisexual. When asked about her sexuality, she said, “I’ve always been …well, flexible is the word I would use.” Her song Breathe Me was used in final episode of 6 Feet Under. As a songwriter she has collaborated with many artists including Christina Aguilera, Eminem, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, Beyoncé, Katy Perry, Britney Spears, Jessie J, Celine Dion, and many others. She married documentary filmmaker Erick Anders Lang in August 2014.

12-18-1963 Brad Pitt – Born in Shawnee, Oklahoma. He is an American actor and producer. He’s a supporter of same-sex marriage. In an October 2006 interview with Esquire, Pitt said he would marry Angelina Jolie when everyone in America is legally able to marry. They were married in 2014 and on September 19, 2016, Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt, citing irreconcilable differences. In September 2008, he donated $100,000 to campaign against California’s Proposition 8. In March 2012, he was featured in a performance of Dustin Lance Black’s play 8 — a staged reenactment of the federal trial that overturned Prop 8 ban on same-sex marriage. He played Judge Vaughn Walker.

12-18-1980   Christina Aguilera – Born in Staten Island, New York City, New York. She is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and television personality. Her awards include five Grammy Awards, one Latin Grammy Award, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Selling more than 75 million records worldwide has made her one of the world’s best-selling music artists. Aguilera is a gay icon and has long supported equal rights for the LGBT community. In 2002, she dedicated her single Beautiful to the LGBT community. The music video earned a GLAAD Media Award for its positive portrayal of gay and transgender people. In her Love Letter to the LGBTQ Community for Billboard, Aguilera called her LGBTQ fans her fighters, heroes, and the reason she loves what she does. She wrote, “LGBTQ community has never had it easy. The struggles each one of you faces daily on an individual level and on a broader political and cultural level are unimaginable, yet you keep fighting, you keep moving forward, trailblazing and beating all odds with love always in your hearts.”  (Photo by Ian Smith)

12-18-1946 Steven Spielberg – Born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He has won the Academy Award for Best Director for Schindler’s List (1993) and Saving Private Ryan (1998). Three of his films – Jaws (1975), E.T. the Extra Terrestrial (1982) and Jurassic Park (1993) — achieved box office records. A supporter of LGBT equal rights, he with his wife, Kate Capshaw, donated $100,000 to defeat Prop. 8 in California. He also quit his high-ranking position in the Boy Scouts of America because they decided to no longer allow openly gay scout leaders.

12-18-1950 Edward S. Flanagan – Place of birth unknown. Flanagan served as Vermont’s State Auditor from 1993 through 2001, becoming the first openly gay, statewide-elected official in the United States. In 2000, he was the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate, becoming the first openly gay individual to be nominated by a major party as a candidate for the United States Senate. He was a member of the Vermont State Senate from 2005 to 2011. He is married to his long time partner Isaac Lustgarten.

12-18-1975 Jamie Charles “Jay” Bakker – Born in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is an American pastor, author, speaker, and theologian. He is the younger of two children born to televangelists Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye Bakker Messner. He adopted a more progressive form of Christianity and became a co-founder of Revolution Church, created in Phoenix, Arizona in 1994. He has endorsed gay marriage and has been an advocate for the church’s acceptance of the LGBT community. Bakker has also spoken out against religion in politics, stating that it prevents civil discussion of topics such as homosexuality and abortion. Bakker’s church used rainbow-colored communion-bread to celebrate gay marriage in Minnesota. In 2006, he was featured in the six-part documentary One Punk Under God on the Sundance Channel.

12-18-1990   Anthony Bowens – Born in Nutley, New Jersey. He is an American professional wrestler. In November 2020, All Elite Wrestling President Tony Khan announced that Bowens had been signed to a five-year contract. Bowens identifies as gay.