November 20th

11-21-1886 – 05-01-1968 Sir Harold George Nicolson – Born in Tehran, Iran. He was an English diplomat, married to Vita Sackville-West. They had an open marriage, both were bisexual. According to their son, they discussed their shared homosexual tendencies with each other and remained happy together. Among others, he had a long-term relationship with British writer and literary editor, Raymond Mortimer.

11-21-1890 – 04-22-1976 Jeanne Mammen – Born in Berlin, Germany. She was a German painter and illustrator. A lesbian, she is best known for her depictions of strong, sensual women. In the early 1930s, she created one of her most important works: a series of eight lithographs illustrating Les Chansons de Bilitis, a collection of lesbian love poems by Pierre Louÿs. In 1933, the Nazi authorities denounced her motifs and subjects as “Jewish,” and banned her artwork. The Nazis also shut down most of the journals she had worked for, and she refused to work to those that complied with their cultural policies. She was able to survive in Germany during WWII, and in the 1940s she began to explore Cubism which she continued into the 1970s. In 2013, her later, more abstract work was featured in “Painting Forever!”, a large-scale exhibition held during Berlin Art Week.

11-21-1918 — 01-14-2014   Bernard Perlin – Born in Richmond, Virginia. He was an American artist primarily known for creating pro-war art during WWII and magic realism paintings of urban American life. Perlin was rejected from service in the United States military because he was openly gay. He worked in the Graphics Department of the Office of War Information in 1942, creating pro-war posters. From 1943-1944, he was a war artist-correspondent for Life Magazine and then in 1945 for Fortune Magazine. His most famous work, Orthodox Boys, in 1948 became the first postwar work by an American artist to be acquired by the Tate Museum. In 2009, Perlin married Edward Newell, his partner of 54 years. He died at the age of 95 in his home in Ridgefield, Connecticut.

(Photo by George Platt Lynes – 1940)

11-21-1947 Nickolas Grace – Born in West Kirby, United Kingdom. He is an English actor. Known for his roles in television, including Brideshead Revisited, Robin of Sherwood, and the British comedy series Birds of a Feather. He had an affair with Alan Bates.

11-21-1955 Mary Ann Horton – Born in Richland, Washington. She is a transgender activist and educator, and a prominent computer scientist. Horton was one of the first transgender actors to play a transgender role on television. She appeared as Aurora, a business executive, in a public service announcement advertisement for Stonewall Columbus entitled The Boardroom in June 2003. Horton is also a Consultant on Transgender Workplace issues.

11-21-1956 Cherry Jones – Born in Paris, Tennessee. She is an American actress and is most noted for her work on Broadway. Jones has won two Tony Awards, three Drama Desk Awards, and an Emmy Award. Her Emmy Award was for the Fox television series 24. She starred as Allison Taylor and received the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama series. She is openly lesbian. In 1996, when Jones accepted her first Tony Award, she thanked her then-girlfriend, architect Mary O’Connor, with whom she had an 18-year relationship. In 2004, Jones dated actress Sarah Paulson. Their relationship ended in 2009. In mid-2015, Jones married filmmaker Sophie Huber.

11-21-1962 Christine Vachon – Born in New York City, New York. She is an American film producer active in the American independent film sector. She and fellow New York producer Pamela Koffler, run Killer Films, established in 1996. In 2005 the company was honored with a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Her first feature film was Poison, (written and directed by Academy Award nominee Todd Haynes), won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1991. In 2015, Vachon continued her long-standing collaboration with Todd Haynes for the film, Carol. Vachon is openly lesbian and lives with her partner, artist Marlene McCarty in the East Village of New York with their daughter.

11-21-1965 Christopher Cabaldon – Place of birth unknown. He is a Filipino-American from California. He is the Mayor of West Sacramento, CA – elected 2004, re-elected 2006, 2008 & 2010. He was unopposed in the November 2012 general election and was re-elected with 84.3% of the vote in the 2014 general election. He is the longest-serving mayor in the city’s history. He came out publicly in 2006 in his annual State of the City address. The Logo television network featured Cabaldon in a documentary as part of their show Coming Our Stories in 2006.

11-21-1971 Michael Strahan – Born in Houston, Texas. He is a supporter of LGBT rights. In June 2011, he filmed a commercial supporting legalizing same-sex marriage in New York. He was an NFL New York Giants player. On February 1, 2014, he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. After retiring from the NFL, Strahan became a media personality. He is currently a football analyst on Fox NFL Sunday. Additionally, he is currently a regular contributor to the ABC morning television show Good Morning America.

11-21-1985 Nadine Müller – Born in Leipzig, Germany. She is a German discus thrower. In 2010 she won gold at the European Cup Winter Throwing competition. On New Year’s Eve in 2013, Müller married her partner Sabine in a civil union. Müller was one of 49 out LGBT athletes to participate in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.