October 20th

10-20-1964   Kamala Harris – Born in Oakland, California. She is an American politician, attorney, and LGBT straight ally. Since 2017, she serves as the United States Senator from California. She is the Democratic vice presidential nominee for the 2020 election. In 2008, she vigorously opposed California Prop. 8, the state’s anti-marriage measure, and provided legal arguments against it cited by the Supreme Court when it was overturned. When Prop. 8 was finally struck down, Harris presided over the wedding of the couple who brought the suit against the initiative. In 2014, Attorney General Harris co-sponsored legislation to ban the gay and trans panic defense in court, which passed and California became the first state to do so.  As a Senator, she made Kavanaugh squirm during his confirmation hearings by questioning him intently on marriage equality. While running her presidential campaign, she pledged that she would prioritize the passage of the Equality Act, reinstate Obama-era protections, and pursue hate crimes. 

10-20-1854 – 11-10-1891 Arthur Rimbaud – Born in Charleville-Mézières, France. He was a French poet. He influenced modern literature, the arts, and inspired musicians. His complete prose work, A Season In Hell, is still regarded as a pioneering example of modern symbolist writing. Rimbaud started writing poems at a very young age, while still in primary school, and completely stopped before he turned 21. He had a short and torrid love affair with the poet Verlaine. Rimbaud’s poetry influenced many 20th-century writers, musicians, and artists, including Pablo Picasso, Dylan Thomas, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, Henry Miller, Van Morrison, and Jim Morrison. His life has been portrayed in several films.

10-20-1971 Snoop Dog – Born in Long Beach, California. He is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. In an interview with Huffington Post, he came out in support of same-sex marriage, saying that “people can do what they want and as they please.” In another interview, Snoop said he doesn’t have a problem with gay people. “I got some gay homies,” he added with a laugh. “Yeah, for real. People who were gay used to get beat up. It was cool to beat up on gay people back then. But in the ‘90s and 2000s, gay is a way of life. Just regular people with jobs. Now they are accepted, not classified. They just went through the same things we went through as black.”

10-20-1921 – 12-19-2001   Hans Warren – Born in Borssele, Netherlands. He was a Dutch writer & poet-best known for publishing his diaries which described his life and gay experiences in a country that repressed homosexuality. He is also known for his poetry, his literary criticism, and his translation of poetry from Modern Greek. In 1952 he married an English woman, and they had three children. The marriage lasted until 1978.  In 1978 Warren met Mario Molegraaf, forty years his junior (Warren was 57 at that time). The two began a love affair that lasted until Warren’s death. Molegraaf was a talented writer himself, and together they published a number of translations, including the entire work of gay poet, Constantine P. Cavafy. 

10-20-1977 Simon Emil Ammitzbøll – Born in Hillerød, Denmark. He is a Danish politician and member of the Parliament of Denmark. Openly gay, Ammitzbøll is in a civil partnership with Henning Olsen.