February 24th

02-24-1890 – 04-10-1975 Marjorie Main (born Mary Tomlinson) – Born in Acton, Indiana. She was an American character actress, best known for her role as Ma Kettle in a series of ten Ma and Pa Kettle movies. In the early 1950s, she appeared in several MGM musicals, including, Meet Me in St. Louis and The Belle of New York. She also appeared in The Long, Long Trailer and the hit film Friendly Persuasion. In 1958, she appeared twice in the NBC western series, Wagon Train. One of her last roles was on an episode of Perry Mason in 1964. She was married to Stanley LeFevre Krebs, who died in 1935. She stated, “We pretty much went our own ways but we was still in the eyes of the law, man and wife.” During that same interview, Main confided that she had at least two lesbian affairs during her lifetime, which Vogel (the interviewer) believed referred to her long-term relationship with actress Spring Byington.

02-24-1939 – 05-07-2011   Doric Wilson – Born in Los Angeles, California. He was an American playwright, director, producer, critic, and gay rights activist. The success of four of his plays at Caffee Cino in New York City contributed to the concept of Off-Off-Broadway. In 1961, his  play, Now She Dances!, was the first Off-Off-Broadway play to deal positively with gay people. Wilson was involved in anti-war and civil rights demonstrations in the early 1960s through the mid 1970s. He also was a participant in the Stonewall Riots in 1969 and became a member of the Gay Activist Alliance. In 2004, Wilson was named a Grand Marshal of the 35th Anniversary Pride Day Parade in New York City. He was feature in the documentary Stonewall Uprising (2010) by Kate Davis and David Heilbroner. He died from natural causes at his home in Manhattan at the age of 72.

02-24-1962 Jennie Livingston – Born in Dallas, Texas. She is an American film director best known for the 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning. The film won the 1991 Sundance Grand Jury Prize. She also received the GLAAD Vito Russo Award in 1992. She is openly lesbian.

02-24-1971 Jolie L. Justus – Born in Kansas City, Missouri. She was a member of the Missouri Senate from 2007-2015. In her final two years, she served as the Missouri Minority Leader. Justus was the first out gay member of the Missouri Senate and only the third ever publicly gay member of the Missouri General Assembly.

02-24-1975 Ashley MacIsaac – Born in Creignish, Nova Scotia, Canada. He is a Canadian professional fiddler, singer, and songwriter. He has received three Juno Awards. His 1995 album “Hi How Are You Today?” was a double-platinum selling Canadian record. MacIsaac published an autobiography, Fiddling With Disaster, in 2003. In 2007 he married his boyfriend, Andrew Stokes, an Ontario-born violinist.

02-24-1990 Jaymi Hensley – Born in Luton, United Kingdom. He is a musician and lead singer in the band Union J. He was on Out’s 3rd Annual 100 Most Eligible Bachelors (2013). Hensley married his long-time boyfriend, Oily Marmon, in April, 2015. Hensley came out to the public in an interview with The Sun in 2012.