October 30th
10-30-1930 – 03-04-1992 Néstor Almendros – Born in Barcelona, Spain. He was an Oscar-winning Spanish cinematographer. In 1948, he left Spain for 
Cuba where he started the country’s first film society. Almendros worked on nine films with François Truffaut. He worked in Hollywood as well, including Terence Malick’s Days of Heaven (1976), for which he won an Academy Award for best photography. Other films include Kramer vs. Kramer (1978), The Blue Lagoon (1979) and Sophie’s Choice (1982). In 1984, Almendros filmed and directed a documentary about the homophobia of the Castro regime. He used his film to expose the persecution of gays. An intensely private man, he conducted his emotional and sexual life with great secrecy. Even in his autobiography, he does not mention that he was gay. Almendros died at the age of sixty-one from AIDS-related lymphoma.
10-30-1825 – 02-02-1864 Adelaide Procter – Born in London, England. She was an English poet and philanthropist. Procter was the 
favorite poet of Queen Victoria. She worked prominently on behalf of unemployed women and the homeless and was actively involved with feminist groups. She is known to have had an affair with English writer Matilda Hays. She was never married.
10-30-1853 – 07-10-1927 Louise Abbéma – Born in Étampes, Essonne, France. She was a French painter, sculptor, and designer of the Belle Epoque. She first received recognition for her work at age 23 when she 
painted a portrait of Sarah Bernhardt, her lifelong friend and possibly her lover. She went on to paint portraits of other contemporary notables, and also painted panels and murals for the Paris Town Hall, the Paris Opera House, and numerous theaters including the “Theatre Sarah Bernhardt.” She was a regular exhibitor at the Paris Salon, where she received an honorable mention for her panels in 1881. Abbéma was also among the female artists whose work were exhibited in the Women’s Building at the 1893 Columbian World Exposition in Chicago. Her long relationship with Bernhardt and the fact that she never married has been the basis for the widespread assumption that she was a lesbian. A painting by Abbéma done in 1890, depicting Abbéma and Bernhardt on a boat ride, was donated to the Comédie-Francasise with a letter stated that the painting was “Painted by Louise Abbéma on the anniversary of their love affair.”
10-30-1963 Rebecca Ann Heineman – Born in Los Angeles, 
California. She is an American video game programmer. She won the National Space Invaders Championship, sponsored by Atari, in November 1980, making her the first person to win a national video game contest. In 2003, Heineman was diagnosed with gender identity disorder and began to transition from male to female.
10-30-1965 Jurgen Mayer-Hermann – Born in Stuttgart, Germany. He is 
an German architect and artist. His work has been published and exhibited worldwide and is part of international collections, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) New York and San Francisco. He has taught at Princeton University, Harvard University, Columbia University, New York, and at the University of Toronto, Canada. He was on Out’s 3rd Annual 100 Most Eligible Bachelors (2013).
10-30-1983 Mary Edna González – Born in Clint, Texas. She is an American politician who serves as a state representative of District 75 in the Texas a 
House of Representatives. González is the first openly pansexual elected in the United States. She is also co-chair of the board of directors for ALLGO, Texas’ statewide Queer People of Color organization. In 2015, she was named “Advocate of the Year” by Equality Texas.
I love the new format!