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THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … April 3

1895 – The libel trial instigated by Oscar Wilde begins, eventually resulting in his imprisonment on charges of homosexuality.

1924 – Marlon Brando, American actor born. (d.2004); Academy Award-winning American actor whose body of work spanned over half a century. Widely regarded as one of the most influential actors of modern time, Brando is best known for his roles as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire and Terry Malloy in On The Waterfront, both directed by Elia Kazan in the early 1950s, but mostly for his Academy-Award winning performance as Vito Corleone in The Godfather. He also portrayed Colonel Walter Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, the latter two directed by Francis Ford Coppola in the 1970s. Brando was also an activist, lending his presence to many issues, including the American Civil Rights and the American Indian Movement. He was named the fourth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute.

Brando's sexuality has been a matter of debate. Not only did he have numerous affairs with women (such as actress Rita Moreno, who reportedly attempted suicide after they broke up), but he is also alleged to have enjoyed sex with men. In his 1976 biography The Only Contender by Gary Carey, Brando was quoted as saying, Homosexuality is so much in fashion it no longer makes news. Like a large number of men, I, too, have had homosexual experiences and I am not ashamed. I have never paid much attention to what people think about me.

He would appear to have had many such experiences and his name has been linked with many including Cary Grant, Rock Hudson, Farley Granger, Montgomery Clift, John Gielgud and James Dean.

Brando and Wally Cox

He also appears to have had a long-term relationship with fellow actor Wally Cox, who was also his best friend since their childhood days. Brando is quoted as saying: "If Wally had been a woman, I would have married him and we would have lived happily ever after."

After Cox died in 1973, Brando kept his ashes for 30 years; they were eventually scattered with his own. Cox's third wife only discovered he possessed them after reading an interview in TIME Magazine where Brando was quoted as saying: "I have Wally's ashes in my house. I talk to him all the time." She wanted to sue, but her lawyers would not accept the case.

Another alleged lover was the French actor Christian Marquand, after whom Brando named his son.

During the filming of Streetcar (1951), in the garden of Vivien Leigh's's mansion, David Niven discovered Brando and Laurence Olivier swimming in the pool. Olivier was kissing Brando. "I turned my back to them and went back inside to join Vivien. I'm sure she knew what was going on, but she made no mention of it. Nor did I. One must be sophisticated about such matters in life."

In a recent biography Brando Unzipped, Darwin Porter, (2006) details the alleged affairs with Grant, Hudson, and Granger. The book also features an alleged picture of Brando performing fellatio on a male lover. The validity of the photograph has yet to be substantiated.

James Dean And William Bast

1931 – William Bast was an American screenwriter and author living in Los Angeles. In addition to writing scripts for motion pictures and television, he is the author of two biographies of the screen actor James Dean.

Bast was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. When his family moved to Los Angeles, enrolled at UCLA, where he majored in Theater Arts, rooming with a fellow Theater Arts student from Indiana named James Dean. In 1952 he moved to New York to join Dean and pursue a career in radio and television. There, he initially worked in the Press Relations department at CBS and subsequently, in 1953, wrote his first scripts for the NBC television sitcom The Aldrich Family.

After the death of Dean in an automobile accident in 1955, Bast chronicled his five year relationship with the actor in James Dean: a Biography. After moving to London, Bast wrote The Myth Makers for Granada Television, a fictionalized drama inspired by Dean's funeral, which Bast perceived as grotesque and publicity-driven, with a shattering effect on Dean's rural-American family and his hometown of Fairmount, Indiana. In the United States, the script was produced again by NBC's Dupont Show of the Month and aired under the title The Movie Star.

In 1975, Bast produced and scripted James Dean: Portrait of a Friend for NBC, a movie for television based upon his first James Dean biography.

In 2006, Barricade Books (USA) published Surviving James Dean, a second, more candid book by Bast about his relationship with Dean; which featured material that Bast did not include in his earlier account due to personal trepidations and social mores of the 1950s. In Surviving James Dean Bast describes Dean in a compassionate light; how they met at UCLA, shared an apartment in Santa Monica, dated the same woman, and also had a sexual relationship. He also describes the events that happened to him after Dean's death, largely as a result of having written his first book.

In the late 1950s, Bast adapted Jean Giraudoux's play Tiger at the Gates for Granada Television, and wrote scripts for the BBC and Independent Television, including episodes of the classic series The Prisoner. Back in the States he wrote episodes for Combat!, Perry Mason, Ben Casey, The Outer Limits, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Honey West, and Dr. Kildare, among other series.

He died on May 4, 2015 at the age of 84; he had Alzheimer's disease.He was partnered in work and life to Paul Huson, actor and author.

1942 – Tony DeBlase (d.2000), one of the great innovators and leaders of the leather community and creator of the Leather Pride Flag was born. Throughout his life Tony DeBlase contributed to the leather community in a variety of ways.

He used the two aliases of Fledermaus and Richard W. Krousher for his fictional work which focused on leather and S and M. Of his many awards "the one DeBlase said he treasured most was the coveted Caligula Award from Chicago Hellfire Club for service to Inferno". DeBlase joined the Chicago Hellfire Club shortly after its inception. "What's more, DeBlase was a major factor in the development of Inferno and in exporting the lessons learned and formulas tested there to other, less experienced SM clubs".

In 1969 DeBlase, a gay man, got married and moved to Chicago. He describes the situation, "I got married in [19]69. The woman had been my secretary while I was museum directory. She had polio as a child and was confined to a wheel chair. Told her I was gay. I loved her very much. We had several good years together"In 1982 he published a collection under his alias Fledermaus which have become “imitated classics of the genre”. He chose the name because of his work outside of leather and S&M. "Its a German word for bat. … Since I was doing my dissertation on bats, and the story was set in a German castle, it seemed like an appropriate name"

By 1986 DeBlase had divorced and he and his male partner moved to San Francisco and bought the Drummer family of magazines.

In 1989 in Chicago he presented a 'proposed' idea for a pride flag for the leather community, which was widely adopted. He presented the flag at International Mr. Leather. The flag was originally created by DeBlase because wanted a symbol for the community.

He died peacefully in Portland, Oregon, on July 21, 2000, after an extended illness, largely involving liver failure. He was survived by his lover of more than 24 years, Dr. Andrew Charles.

1955 – The American Civil Liberties Union announces it will defend Allen Ginsberg's book Howl against obscenity charges.

1959 – David Hyde Pierce is an American actor, best known for his role as psychiatrist Dr Niles Crane on the sitcom Frasier.

Pierce was born in Saratoga Springs, New York. He moved to New York City, where he worked several menial jobs (including selling ties at Bloomingdales and working as a security guard) while acting in the theatre during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Pierce's first big television break came in the early 1990s in a sitcom that was cancelled after a brief run despite promising reviews. His career would soon, however, take off with a role on another sitcom. Because of his resemblance to Kelsey Grammer, the role of Niles Crane on the Cheers spin-off Frasier was created for him.

Pierce also acts in movies from time to time. He appeared alongside Meg Ryan in Sleepless in Seattle, with Jodie Foster in Little Man Tate and alongside Ewan McGregor in Down With Love. Pierce has a distinctive voice and, like his Frasier co-star Kelsey Grammer, is often called upon to provide voice work.

In 2005, he joined Tim Curry and others in the stage production of Spamalot. In August/September 2006, he starred in Curtains, winning him a 2007 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical.

Pierce's father and grandfather suffered from Alzheimer's Disease, resulting in him being very active in fighting for research into the disease. He is also a regular supporter of AIDS charities as well as gay and lesbian causes.

After years of media speculation about his sexuality, Pierce came out in 2007. Pierce's longtime life partner is TV writer/director/producer Brian Hargrove. He and Hargrove were married in California on October 24, 2008, just before Proposition 8 was adopted as law, banning same-sex marriages in the state. They live in New York and Los Angeles.

1963 – Colorado repeals its ban on voting by anyone convicted of sodomy.

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