September 23rd

09-23-1949 Bruce Springsteen – Born in Long Branch, New Jersey. He is known as “the Boss.” He is an American singer-songwriter and humanitarian. Springsteen has been an outspoken advocate for LGBT rights and has been a strong supporter of gay marriage. In 2009, he posted the following statement on his website: “I’ve long believed in and have always spoken out for the rights of same-sex couples and fully agree with Governor Corzine when he writes, ‘The marriage-equality issue should be recognized for what it truly is — a civil rights issue that must be approved to assure that every citizen is treated equally under the law.’” In 2012, he lent his support to an ad campaign for gay marriage called “The Four 2012”, which focussed on passing same-sex marriage ballot measures in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington in November 2012.

09-23-1907 – 04-27-1998 Anne Desclos – Bon in Rochefort, France. She was a French journalist and novelist. Her lover and employer Jean Paulhan made the remark that no woman was capable of writing an erotic novel. To prove him wrong, Desclos wrote a graphic, sadomasochistic novel that was published under the pseudonym Pauline Rage in June 1954. Titled Histoire d’O (Story of O), it was an enormous, though controversial, commercial success. The book’s graphic content caused so much controversy that the French government brought obscenity charges against the publisher and the author. The case was thrown out of court in 1959, although it was ruled that the book could not be sold to minors. Desclos had a long-term relationship with Paulhan, who was 23 years older than her. She was actively bisexual at times in her life and is known to have had an affair with historian and novelist Édith Thomas.

09-23-1961 Bruce Cohen – Born in Falls Church, Virginia. He is an American film, television, and theater producer. Cohen won the Best Picture Oscar for producing American Beauty. He also earned additional Best Picture nominations for Milk and Silver Linings Playbook. He was the president of the Board of Directors of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, the group that successfully won the case that declared California Prop. 8 unconstitutional. He is married to Gabe Catone and they have a daughter.

09-23-1965 Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil– Born in Ajmer, Rajasthan, India. He is an Indian Prince that is openly gay. He runs a charity, The Lakshya Trust, which works with the LGBT community. As the only son of the Maharaja of Rajpipla, Manvendra was expected to produce an heir, and as per Indian custom, his parents arranged a match for him. In January 1991, the wedding took place. However, suspecting her husband’s true sexual orientation, his bride filed for divorce just a year after the wedding. Manvendra later said of his marriage, “I thought that after marriage everything will be right, that with a wife, I will have children and become “normal” and then I will be at peace. I never knew and nobody told me that I was gay and {that} this itself is normal and will not change. That this is what is called homosexuality and it is not a disease.” The prince had a nervous breakdown in 2002 and was hospitalized. Upon being informed by the psychiatrists that their son was gay, his parents accepted the truth but stipulated that no one else was to know. In 2006, a woman journalist Chirantana Bhatt found out that the prince was a closeted gay man. She approached the prince to come out. He had gone through four years of counseling by this time and had accepted his true nature and did not feel ashamed for it. He decided to defy his parents and to make the matter public. On March 14, 2006, the story of Manvendra’s coming out made headlines in India and around the world. His family disowned him. His mother, in particular, issued a notice in several newspapers that she had disowned him and that she would take legal action against anyone that referred to her as his mother or that he was her son. The prince was interviewed for a BBC Radio 4 documentary in April 2007, titled The Gay Prince of Rajpipla which charted his coming out as a gay man and the HIV/AIDS prevention work of his charity. Manvendra appeared as a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show on October 24, 2007. He expressed that he had no regrets of coming out and that he believes the people of his state respect him for his leadership in prevention and education on HIV/AIDS. In 2009, his father was a guest of honor at a fundraising event for the Lakshya Trust and was beginning to accept his son’s sexuality. Manvendra and his mother remain estranged.

09-23-1970 Ani DiFranco – Born in Buffalo, New York. She is an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, poet, songwriter, and businesswoman. DiFranco has released more than 20 albums and is considered a feminist icon. A move that has given her significant creative freedom was her creating her own record label (Righteous Babe), one of the first independent musicians to do it. She and her foundation (the Righteous Babe Foundation), has backed various grassroots cultural and political organizations, supporting causes ranging from abortion rights to LGBT rights. DiFranco identifies herself as bisexual and has written songs about love and sex with women and men.

09-23-1991 Stephany Mayor – Born in Mountain View, California. She is a professional soccer player. In international competition, she played in the woman’s 2011 world cup in Germany on the team representing Mexico. Mayor confirmed she was in a relationship with fellow Mexico women’s national teammate Bianca Sierra in June 2016. Once the couple came out publicly, they were subjected to vicious online harassment. The couple has relocated to Akureyri, Iceland where they play for Iceland’s top soccer team. In Iceland, they are stars of an unbeaten team and local residents greet them and treat them without prejudice.