October 21st

10-21-1942 Judge Judy (Judith Sheindlin) – Born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York. She is an American lawyer, judge, television personality, and author. Since 1996, Sheindlin has presided over her own successful Daytime Emmy Award-winning reality courtroom series named after her, Judge Judy. On September 14, 2015, she began celebrating her 20th anniversary presiding on Judge Judy. She is the longest-serving judge or arbitrator in courtroom-themed programming history. She has been a great supporter of same-sex marriage and has been very vocal about it since at least 2006. Asked by Larry King about “gay marriage,” Sheindlin replied, “Who is it hurting? You know my grandmother used to say who is it hurting? So, I ask you, Larry, if you have two adults and they happen to be of the same sex and they love each other and they want to set up a home with each other they have as much of a shot as heterogeneous couples do. Fifty-two percent of marriages end in divorce, you know.” When she was on The View, she said that one of the most heart-warming marriages she’d ever presided over was between a gay couple. “If you’re a good citizen, if you pay your taxes, if you work, you should have all the rights and responsibilities of everybody else,” she stated.

10-21-1884 – 01-22-1957 Claire Waldoff – Born in Gelsenkirchen, Westphalia, German Empire. She was a famous German cabaret singer during the 1910s and 1920s in Berlin, known for performing sarcastic songs in the Berlinish dialect and songs with lesbian undertones and themes. Waldoff’s success reached its peak in the Weimar Republic era of the 1920s. In 1924 she performed at the two great Berlin variety theaters, Scala and Wintergarten. Waldoff also sang with a young Marlene Dietrich. Her songs played on the radio and were released on record. Her repertoire included about 300 original songs. Waldoff was an out lesbian and lived with Olga “Olly” von Roeder (1886-1963) until Waldoff’s death in 1957. The couple lived in Berlin during the 1920s and 1930s. After WWII, she and Olly lived in West Berlin. Waldoff has a star in the Walk of Fame of Cabaret, Mainz, Germany.

10-21-1933 Maureen Duffy – Born in Worthing Sussex, United Kingdom. She is a contemporary British novelist, poet, playwright, nonfiction author, and activist. Her writing often features London, past and present, and its inhabitants, celebrating diversity, regardless of class, nationality, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. Duffy advocates “an ethic of compassion” towards human and animal rights. Her first openly gay novel was The Microcosm (1966), set in and around the famous lesbian Gateways Club in London (renamed the House of Shades). It was the first novel to depict a wide range of gay women of different ages, classes, and ethnicities. Her point was that “there are dozens of ways of being queer.” It became a best seller. Duffy was the first lesbian in British public life today to be open about her sexuality. She came out publicly in her work in the early 1960s and made public comments about LGBT rights. In 1980, she became the first President of the Gay Humanist Group (renamed in 1987, the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association). She is also a vegetarian and a campaigner for animal rights since 1967.

10-21-1976   Andrew Scott – Born in Dublin, Ireland. He is an Irish actor and earned a BAFTA Television Award for Best Support Actor in the BBC series Sherlock. In 2017, he was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for playing the title role of Hamlet. Scott is gay, and commented in November 2013, “Mercifully, these days people don’t see being gay as a character flaw. But nor is it a virtue, like kindness. Or a talent, like playing the banjo. It’s just a fact. Of course, it’s part of my make-up, but I don’t want to trade on it.”

10-21-1982 Matt Dallas – Born in Phoenix, Arizona. He is an American actor, best known for playing the title character on ABC Family series Kyle XY. He has been in many films, including You, Me & the Circus (2011), The First Ride of Wyatt Earp Life Tracker (2013). Dallas has also had a recurring role as Fitch Douglas in the TV series Baby Daddy (2013-2014). On January 6, 2013, he announced his engagement to boyfriend Blue Hamilton. The coupled married on July 5, 2015.