May 13th

05-13-1944 – 04-25-1988   Carolyn Franklin – Born in Memphis, Tennessee. She was an American singer/songwriter, best known as the younger sister of Aretha Franklin. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in music from Marygrove College in Detroit. The two sisters were close and collaborated together. Carolyn Franklin also sang backup and appeared in the 1980 movie The Blues Brothers. In David Ritz biography, Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin, Carolyn’s sister, Erma, is quoted saying of Carolyn, “I consider her a great woman…She went her own way, lived her own life, and found freedom in her individuality. She had no shame about her sexual preference and spoke the unvarnished truth.” Carolyn’s sexuality was not the focus of the book, but Ritz mentions a few times that Carolyn was a lesbian. The song Ain’t No Way, written by Carolyn Franklin in 1967, is the last stand in a hidden romance and told from the perspective of a woman, but Carolyn’s subject is also a woman. The song is on Aretha: Lady Soul album. Carolyn Franklin died of breast cancer in 1988.

05-13-1957 Alan Ball – Born in Marietta, Georgia. He is an American screenwriter, director, and producer for television, film, and theatre. He is particularly notable for writing American Beauty and True Blood, and for creating Six Feet Under, which earned him an Academy Award, an Emmy, and awards from the Writers, Directors, and Producers Guilds. Ball has discussed his Buddhist faith in numerous interviews, noting how it has influenced his film making. He has also discussed how his Buddhism has shaped themes in Six Feet Under and True Blood. Ball is out gay and has been called “a strong voice” for the LGBT community. In 2008, he made Out magazine’s annual list of the 100 most impressive gay men and women. He lives with his partner, Peter Macdissi in Los Angeles.

05-13-1944   Armistead Maupin, Jr. – Born in Washington, D.C. He is an American writer who wrote Tales of the City, a series of novels set in San Francisco. Tales of the City began as a newspaper serial. In 1978, Tales of the City was published as a novel. The series was followed by five more novels in the 1980s, ending with the last book, Sure of You, in 1989. In 2007, Michael Tolliver Lives was published. It continued some of the characters from Tales of the City. 2014 ended the series with the publication of The Days of Anna Madrigal. In Babycakes, published in 1983, Maupin was one of the first writers to address the subject of AIDS. Maupin knew he was gay since childhood but did not have sex until he was 26 and in 1974 he decided to come out publicly. On February 18, 2007, Maupin married website producer and photographer, Christopher Turner in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  

05-13-1907 – 04-19-1989 Dame Daphne du Maurier (Lady Browning) – Born in London, England. She was a novelist and many of her stories were successfully adapted into films, including the novels, Rebecca and Jamaica Inn, and the short stories, The Birds and Don’t Look Now. On meeting Tallulah Bankhead, she was quoted as saying that the actress was the most beautiful creature she had ever seen. She married Major Frederick Browning in 1932 and had three children. After her death in 1989, references were made to her reputed bisexuality. She had an affair with Gertrude Lawrence, as well as Ellen Doubleday, the wife of her American publisher Nelson Doubleday. She died at the age of 81 at her home in Cornwall.

05-13-1966   Alison Goldfrapp – Born in London, England. She is an English musician and record producer, best known as the vocalist of British electronic music duo Goldfrapp. In 2009, she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Music degree by the University of Portsmouth. The duo (comprised of Goldfrapp and composer/musician Will Gregory) has released seven albums. The multi-platinum pair has been nominated for the Mercury Prize, multiple Grammy Awards, and won an Ivor Novello for Strict Machine. Goldfrapp scored the films My Summer of Love and Nowhere Boy. As of February 2010, Goldfrapp confirmed she was dating film editor Lisa Gunning. In an interview with The Sunday Times, she stated, “I think of everything as being about a person and a relationship, and I am in a wonderful relationship with a wonderful person. It just happens to be a lady…It’s something I’ve thought about for a long time and it concurs with my philosophy on life and sexuality.” She went on to say, “My sexuality is the same as my music and my life. Why does it need a label?”

05-13-1867 – 06-06-1954 Caroline Pratt – Born in Fayetteville, New York. She was an American social thinker and progressive educational reformer whose ideas were influential in educational reform, policy, and practice. In 1914, she founded the City and Country School in Greenwich Village, which is still going and has adhered to her original vision. Her book, I Learn from Children (1948) was reprinted in 1990 and republished by Grove Atlantic in May 2014. While in Philadelphia, she met Helen Marot, a feminist, social investigator, and writer. The couple moved to New York City in 1901, settling in Greenwich Village. They lived together until 1940, when Marot died from a sudden heart attack.

05-13-1850 – 01-02-1916 Modest Tchaikovsky – Born in Alapayevsk, Perm Governorate, Russian Empire. He was a Russian dramatist, opera librettist, and translator. Brother of Peter Tchaikovsky, Modest was relatively open about his homosexuality and lived with his boyfriend Nikolai Hermanovich Konradi, a deaf and dumb boy whom Modest tutored. The two lived together for almost seventeen years.

05-13-1982 Casey Stoney, MBE ( Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) – Born in Basildon, United Kingdom. She is an English footballer who plays for FA WSL club Arsenal Ladies. A versatile defender, she has appeared more than 100 times for the England women’s national football team since making her debut in 2000. She was the captain of Team Great Briton for the 2012 London Olympics. In November 2012, Stoney was named 50th on The Independent newspaper’s Pink List of influential lesbian and gay people in the UK. On February 10, 2014, she publicly acknowledged that she was gay. She is in a relationship with former teammate Megan Harris. In May 2015, the University of Essex announced that it would be awarding Stoney an honorary degree.

05-13-1987 Matt Doyle – Place of birth unknown. He graduated from Redwood High School in Larkspur, California. He is an American actor and singer-songwriter. He is best known for his work in the films Spring Awakening and War Horse and on Broadway, The Book of Mormon. He was on Out’s 3rd Annual 100 Most Eligible Bachelors (2013). Doyle is out gay.

05-13-1991   Jake Borelli – Born in Columbus, Ohio. He is an American actor best known for his roles as Wolfgang on the series The Thundermans (2015-2018) and Dr. Levi Schmitt on Grey’s Anatomy (2017 – present). Borelli publicly came out as a gay man in November 2018, moments after the airing of the 6th episode of Grey’s Anatomy where his character, Dr. Levi Schmitt, came out as gay.