February 19th

02-19-1917 – 09-29-1967 Carson McCullers – Born in Columbus, Georgia. She was an American writer of novels, short stories, plays, essays, and poetry. Her novels, The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter and Member of the Wedding were both adapted to stage and film. Married twice to the same man and falling in love with both men and women, McCullers wrestled with bisexuality all her life. MeCullers was always indiscreet about her love interests and there are numerous stories linking her romantically with Anne Marie Clarac-Schwarzenback, Gypsy Rose Lee, Greta Garbo, and Katharine Anne Porter. McCullers never came out as a lesbian or bisexual, although she claimed, “ I was born a man.”

02-19-1948 – 05-06-2002 Pim Fortuyn – Born in Driehuis, Netherlands. He was a Dutch politician, civil servant, sociologist, author, columnist, and professor who formed his own party, “Pim Fortuyn List” in 2002. Fortuyn provoked controversy with his stated views about multiculturalism immigration and Islam in the Netherlands. He called Islam “a backward culture” and said that if it were legally possible he would close the borders for Muslim immigrants. He was openly homosexual. Fortuyn was assassinated during the 2002 Dutch national election campaign by Volkert van der Graaf. Graaf killed him as “a favor to the country’s Muslim minority and other vulnerable sections of society.”

02-19-1953 Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, President of Argentina. Born in La Plata, Buenos Aires Provine. On July 21, 2010, she signed bill for gay marriage and adoption rights. She was the 52ndPresident of Argentina and widow of former president Néstor Kirchner. She is the second woman to serve as president and was in office from December 2007 until December 2015.

02-19-1961 – 05-02-1998 Justin Fashanu – Born in Hackney Central, London , England. He was an English professional soccer player. He was known by his early soccer clubs to be gay and came out to the press later in his career, becoming the first and one of only two English professional footballers to be openly gay. After moving to the U.S., in 1988 he was questioned by police when a seventeen-year-old boy accused him of sexual assault. He was charged and an arrest warrant was issued on April 3, 1998, but he had already left his apartment. He fled to London, England where he committed suicide. According to his suicide note, he feared he would not get a fair trial because of his homosexuality. He also stated that the sex was consensual.

02-19-1964 Andrew Martin – Born in Newark, New Jersey. He is an American politician elected to the Nevada Assembly in the 2012 election. A Democrat, he represents the 9th Assembly District. He is openly gay. His partner is Dana Barooshian. They have been together since 1986 and on November 10, 2013 they were married in Washington, DC.

02-19-1968 Dallas Anggusih (born Dallas Anguish Baker) – Born in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. He is an openly gay Australian writer, noted for his poetry, short stories, and travel writing. His works deal with themes of alienation and sexuality. He has also written plays and screenplays some of which have been produced. In the eighties and nineties, he became one of Australia’s most popular spoken word performers. (Photo by Rosz Craig)

02-19-1977   Ola Salo (b. Rolf Ola Anders Svensson) – Born in Avesta, Sweden. He is a Swedish rock musician known for being the lead vocalist of the Swedish glam rock band The Ark. The band had an international breakthrough in 2000 with the album We Are The Ark, containing the song It Takes a Fool to Remain Sane, for which Salo won a Grammis for Song of the Year. Salo is openly bisexual.  

02-19-1984 Liz Carmouche – Born in Lafayette, Louisiana. She is an American mixed martial arts fighter and competes for UFC in the women’s bantamweight division. Although born in Lafayette, Louisiana, she was raised in Okinawa, Japan and is of Lebanese, Irish, and Cajun descent. Prior to becoming a professional MMA fighter, she spent five years in the U.S. Marines as a helicopter electrician during which she did three tours of duty in the Middle East. She is openly lesbian.