July 26th

07-26-1957 Del LaGrace Volcano – Born in California, city unknown. Born intersex with both male and female characteristics, Volcano was raised as a female from birth. At the age of 37, he/she began living as both sexes. Volcano is a genderqueer artist, performer, and activist. He/she is a formally trained photographer. In 2005 Volcano stated, “As a gender variant visual artist I access ‘technologies of gender’ in order to amplify rather than erase the hermaphroditic traces of my body. I name myself. A gender abolitionist. A part-time gender terrorist. An intentional mutation and intersex by design, (as opposed to diagnosis), in order to distinguish my journey from the thousands of intersex individuals who have had their ‘ambiguous’ bodies mutilated and disfigured in a misguided attempt at “normalization”. I believe in crossing the line as many times as it takes to build a bridge we can all walk across.” Volcano is married to a gay man. They have two children.

 

07-26-1959 Kevin Spacey – Born in South Orange, New Jersey. He is an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, and singer. His first Academy Award was for Best Supporting Actor in The Usual Suspects and in 1999 he won for Best Actor for the film American Beauty. Spacey was the artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in London from 2004 until mid-2015. Since 2013, he has played Frank Underwood in the Netflix series House of Cards. In October 2017, actor Anthony Rapp alleged that Spacey, while drunk, made a sexual advance to him in 1986, when Rapp was 14 years old. Spacey said he did not remember the encounter, but that if he behaved as described by Rapp, he owes him “the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.” Spacey disclosed that “I have had relationships with both men and women. I have loved and had romantic encounters with men throughout my life, and I choose now to live as a gay man.” According to Scotland Yard, as of July 2018, there have been a total of six allegations of sexual assault by Spacey. It is still an open investigation in the UK. Spacy pleaded not guilty on January 7, 2019. A civil lawsuit filed against Spacy was dismissed on July 5, 2019.

07-26-1968 Nicole Sinclaire – Born in London, England. (Born male, birth name unknown) She is a former English politician and was a member of the European Parliament for West Midlands region from July 14, 2009, until June 30, 2014. She was the first-ever transgender member of the British Parliament. In 2004, Sinclaire came out as a lesbian in a letter to the LGBT newspaper The Pink Paper. In November 2013, she said that she knew she had feelings of being female since the age of three. She underwent gender reassignment at the age of 23. She loves animals, especially cats, and owns 6 rescue cats. In 2104, she was charged with money laundering relating to European Parliament travel expenses. On July 11, 2016, the jury found her not guilty.