September 6th

09-06-1947 – 12-16-1988 Sylvester (Sylvester James, Jr.) – Born in Watts, Los Angeles, California. He was an American disco and soul singer-songwriter. Known for his flamboyant and androgynous appearance, he was often described as a drag queen, although he rejected the description. He had a string of hits in the late 1970s, including You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real), Dance (Disco Heat) and Do You Wanna Funk. He was associated with The Cockettes, The Hot Band, The Weather Girls (also known as Two Tons of Fun), and Jeanie Tracy. Sylvester was openly gay. In 1984, Sylvester met his final partner, Rick Cranmer, an architect. Cranmer and Sylvester moved into a house together. Sylvester died of AIDS in 1988, one year after Cranmer died of AIDS.

09-06-1860 – 05-21-1935 Jane Addams – Born in Cedarville, Illinois. She was a pioneer American settlement social worker, public philosopher, sociologist, author, and leader in women’s suffrage, and world peace. She said, “…that if women were to be responsible for cleaning up their communities and making them better places to live, they needed to be able to vote to do so effectively.” In 1889 she co-founded Hull House, and in 1920 she was a co-founder for the ACLU. In 1931, she became the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and is recognized as the founder of the social work profession in the United States. Addams’ had a romantic relationship with Mary Rozet Smith, who supported Addams’ work at Hull House. Together that owned a summer house in Bar Harbor, Maine. When the two women traveled together, Addams wired ahead to hotels, requesting a double bed. When Addams’ travels took her away from Smith, she took along a portrait painting of Smith. When Smith was away in Europe in 1902, Addams wrote her a letter: “You must know, dear, how I long for you all the time…There is a reason in the habit of married folks keeping together.” Based on such evidence, most of the authors who have written about Addams since 1970 conclude that Addams and Smith, neither of whom had a romantic relationship with a man, thought of their 40-year relationship as a marriage of sorts. “The question of what Addams and Smith did in bed should not be the main issue,” said Lillian Faderman, author of several books on lesbian history. “Those two women obviously loved each other and had a deep emotional bond,” she says. “That’s a good enough definition of lesbian to me.” Some of Smith’s relatives have told the director of the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum that they proudly believe Smith was a lesbian. The museum director, Lisa Un Lee, said, “We’re a history museum, and it should be part of the historical record.”

09-06-1917 — 01-09-1989   Richard David Barr – Born in Washington, D.C. He was an American theater director and producer. Barr is best remembered for producing the works of Edward Albee, including Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962). He also produced the gay drama, The Boys in the Band (1968) by Mart Crowley. From 1967 until his death in 1989, he served as the president of the League of American Theatres and Producers. He was openly gay and died of AIDS-related liver failure.

09-06-1966 Jill Ellis – Born in Portsmouth, United Kingdom. She is the head coach of the United States women’s national soccer team and a development director of the United States Soccer Federation. In 2015, the United States Women’s National Football Team won the World Cup Championship under her leadership. On January 11, 2016, Ellis was honored as 2015 FIFA World Coach of the Year. She is the head coach of the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Ellis lives with her wife Betsy Stephenson, whom she married in 2013, in Palmetto Bay, Florida with their adopted daughter. Ellis, along with her parents and brother, are naturalized American citizens.

09-06-1976 Brendon Ayanbadejo – Born in Chicago, Illinois. He is a straight ally and supporter of LGBT rights. He was an NFL linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens. He played for other NFL teams prior to the Ravens from 1999 to 2012. In 2013 he was hired by Fox Sports as an analyst for Fox Football Daily on Fox Sports 1. He also serves as an occasional game analyst on NFL on FOX coverage. He is married with two children. Since 2009, Ayenbadejo has advocated for same-sex marriage.