July 8th

07-08-1886 – 12-16-1973   Frances M. Witherspoon – Born in Meridian, Mississippi. She was an American writer and activist. She and her life-partner, Tracy Dickinson Mygatt, founded the New York Bureau of Legal Advice, a forerunner of the American Civil Liberties Union. Both women were graduates if Bryn Mawr College. For over sixty years, the women lived and worked together. They were both against war and were charter members of the Episcopal Pacifist Fellowship when it was founded in 1939. In 1961, they were recognized jointly with the War Resisters League Peace Award. In her eighties, Witherspoon organized a campaign among Bryn Mawr alumnae against the Vietnam War. Witherspoon and Mygatt died within a month of each other. The couple’s papers were donated to the Swarthmore College Peace Collection.

07-08-1906 – 01-25-2005 Philip C. Johnson – Born in Cleveland, Ohio. He was an American architect. In 1930, he founded the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. In 1961, he was elected into the National Academy of Design. In 1978, he was awarded an American Institute of Architects Gold Medal. He is especially known for his postmodern work. In 1993, he came publicly came out as gay. Johnson died in his sleep at his Glass House retreat in 2005 and was survived by his partner of 45 years, David Whitney, who died later that year at age 66.

07-08-1933 – 05-30-2010 Peter Orlovsky – Born in New York City, New York. He was an American poet and actor. His work has appeared in The New American Poetry (1945-1960), The Beatitude Anthology (1965), as well as the literary magazines Yugen and Outsider. Orlovsky also appeared in four films, including Andy Warhol’s Couch (1965). Orlovsky was the lifelong partner of Allen Ginsberg.

07-08-1958 Hemming Andreas Carlgren – Born in Västra Ryd, Stockholm County, Sweden. He is the first openly gay Swedish cabinet minister.

07-08-1960 Bettina Herlitzius – Born in Bad Salzuflen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. She is a German politician, specifically a Green Party representative in the Bundestag. She is a committed environmentalist. Herlitzius is openly lesbian and has championed equal rights for LGBT couples since the 1990s. She lives with her partner in a civil union and has one son.

07-08-1970 Sylvain Gaudreault – Born in Chicoutimi, Quebec. He is a Canadian politician and teacher. He was one of two LGBT ministers in the National Assembly of Quebec.