May 11th

05-11-1933 – 09-11-2001 Father Mychal F. Judge (born Robert Emmet Judge) – Born in Brooklyn, New York. In 1992, Father Judge was appointed chaplain for the Fire Department of New York. He was killed on 9-11-2001 in the North Tower lobby with many others as the South Tower collapsed. Following his death, a few of his friends and associates revealed that Judge was gay — as a matter of orientation rather than practice, as he was a celibate priest. According to fire commissioner Thomas Von Essen: “I actually knew about his homosexuality when I was in the Uniformed Firefighters Association. I kept the secret, but then he told me when I became commissioner five years ago. He and I often laughed about it, because we knew how difficult it would have been for the other firemen to accept it as easily as I had. I just thought he was a phenomenal, warm, sincere man, and the fact that he was gay just had nothing to do with anything.” Judge did, in fact, identify himself as gay, both to others and in his personal journals. Judge was a long-term member of Dignity, a Catholic LGBT activist organization that advocates for change in the Catholic Church’s teaching on homosexuality. Judge disagreed with official Roman Catholic teaching regarding homosexuality. He often asked, “Is there so much love in the world that we can afford to discriminate against any kind of love?”

05-11-1942 Pam St. Clement – Born in Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex, England. She is an English actress, best known for playing Pat Butcher in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders from 1986 until 2012, becoming one of the program’s longest-serving cast members. She is openly bisexual. St. Clement is also an animal lover and a conservationist. She supports several charities, including the Global Wildlife Fund.

05-11-1866 – 08-02-1962 Clare ‘Tony’ Atwood – Born in Richmond, United Kingdom. She was a British painter of portraits, still life, landscapes, interiors, and decorative flower subjects. Atwood lived in a ménage à trois with the dramatist Christabel Marshall and the actress, theatre director, and producer, Edith Craig from 1916 until Craig’s death in 1947. The three of them were friends with many artists and writers including lesbian novelist Radclyffe Hall. In 1920, she was commissioned for four paintings by the British Imperial War Museum. Atwood died of heart failure in 1962 and is buried alongside Marshall at St. John the Baptist’s Church, Small Hythe, Kent, England. Photo is of Edith Craig (left), Clare Atwood (middle), and Christabel Marshall  (right) at Smallhythe Place, the home of Victorian actress Ellen Terry.

05-11-1739 – 06-02-1829 Eleanor Charlotte Butler – Born in Ireland. She was a member of one of the noble families of Ireland. Butler and Sarah Ponsonby are better known as Ladies of Llangollen. The Ladies of Llangollen were two upper-class women from Ireland. Their families lived 2 miles apart. They met in 1768 and quickly became friends and ended up being life-partners. Rather than being forced into unwanted marriages, they left County Kilkenny together in April 1778; ended up in Wales and set up home at Plas Newydd near the town of Llangollen in 1780. Their relationship attracted the interest of the outside world and their house became a haven for visitors, mostly writers such as Robert Southey, William Wordsworth, Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, and Sir Walter Scott. They were also visited by the Duke of Wellington, Josiah Wedgwood, and Caroline Lamb. Queen Charlotte wanted to see their cottage and persuaded the King to grant them a pension. Out lesbian, Anne Lister (born April 3, 1791), was also a visitor. The ladies lived together for over 50 years. Their books and glassware had both sets of initials and their letters were jointly signed. They’re both buried at St. Collen’s church in Llangollen.

05-11-1945 – 06-13-1993 Rand Schrader – Born in Los Angeles, California. Schrader was an AIDS and gay rights activist. He was also one of the first openly gay judges in California. Appointed to the Los Angeles Municipal Court in 1980 by Governor Jerry Brown. Shortly before his death, in May 1993, the 5P21 HIV/AIDS clinic at Los Angeles County – USC Medical Center was named in honor of Rand Schrader. Schrader had previously advocated for the establishment of the clinic. Schrader’s long-time partner was entrepreneur David Bonnet, they had been together for 10 years at the time of Schrader’s death. Schrader died of AIDS.

05-11-1964 Billy Beane – Born in Orlando, Florida. Beane is a former Major League Baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder for the Detroit Tigers (1987-1989), Los Angeles Dodgers (1989), and San Diego Padres (1993-1995), as well as the Kintetsu Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball (professional league in Japan) in 1992. He came out as gay in 1999. He was the second major league baseball player to come out. Bean was appointed MLB’s first “Ambassador for Inclusion” on July 15, 2014. He is also a board member of the Gay and Lesbian Athletics Foundation.

05-11-1968 Eliad Cohen – Born in Acre, Israel. Cohen is an Israeli producer, actor, and model, entrepreneur, and event promoter. Cohen is the co-founder of Gay-ville, a gay-friendly vacation rental service headquartered in Tel Aviv. He became a prominent Israeli gay personality after being chosen as the cover model of the Spartacus International Gay Guide for the 2011-2012 issue, which led to various magazine covers around the world. He was on Out’s 3rd Annual 100 Most Eligible Bachelors for 2013. Cohen is openly gay, after coming out to his parents when he was twenty years old.