Indiana

"LOVE" Sculptor

b. September 13, 1928
d. May 19, 2018

“I am an American painter of signs charting the course.”

A pioneering American artist, Robert Indiana was instrumental in the evolution of Assemblage and Pop Art. He is best known for his ubiquitous 1965 work “LOVE,” which features the word rendered in colorful stacked letters with the “O” tilted.

Born Robert Clark, he was raised in Indiana during the Great Depression. His adoptive father worked for the Phillips 66 energy company, and as a child, Indiana often looked up at company’s boldly lettered sky-high logo. It made an indelible impact on his creative sensibility.

Indiana spent time in the Air Force before studying at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1954 he moved to New York to begin his artistic career. “I was told … if I should persist in this ambition I’d be eating bean soup and living in a garret,” he recalled. “And that’s exactly what happened.”

Indiana’s fortunes turned when he met his lover, Ellsworth Kelly, a fellow artist living in the waterfront neighborhood of Coenties Slip, a lower Manhattan haven for contemporary painters and sculptors. Kelly helped Indiana find housing there and introduced him to other trailblazing gay artists: Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns and Agnes Martin. Together, they laid the groundwork for the Pop and Minimalist Art of the 1960s. During this time, Indiana adopted his new surname as an homage to his roots and the distinctively American subject matter he chose to explore.

Inspired by the maritime trade at Coenties Slip, Indiana repurposed planks and used stencils of short, bold words to make enigmatic “sign” assemblages. The darker aspects of the American ethos became a central theme in his work, including “The American Dream #1,” an oil painting featuring words such as “tilt” and “take all.”

In 1965 the Museum of Modern Art commissioned Indiana to create a Christmas card. The result marked a watershed in his career. Inspired by the inscription “God is Love” from the churches of his youth, his late father and the colors of the Phillips 66 sign, he produced “LOVE.” He reimagined the work in painting and sculpture, and in the 1970s it appeared on a U.S. postage stamp. “LOVE” has been translated into multiple languages. Today, more than 50 versions are displayed in public locations worldwide, including Philadelphia’s famous LOVE Park.

Indiana eventually complained that the widespread popularity and appropriation of his work caused the art world to shun him. He retreated to a remote island in Maine in 1978, where he continued his art until he died at age 89.

U.S. Presidential Candidate

b.  January 19, 1982

“If you have a problem with who I am, your problem … is with my creator.”

Pete Buttigieg was the first openly gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana. In 2019 he became the second openly gay major-party U.S. presidential candidate and the first married gay candidate. At age 37, he was also the youngest person to run for the U.S. presidency. On February 2, 2021, he became the first openly LGBTQ person to serve in the U.S. Cabinet.

An only child, Buttigieg was born and raised in South Bend. His father, who died in January 2019, emigrated from the Mediterranean island of Malta. Both his parents taught at the University of Notre Dame.

Buttigieg graduated valedictorian of his high school. The class voted him “most likely to become president.”  In his senior year, he won the John F. Kennedy Profiles in Courage Essay Contest for his composition on the political integrity of then-Congressman Bernie Sanders.

Buttigieg attended Harvard University, where he was elected student president of the esteemed Harvard Institute of Politics and served as a board member of the Harvard College Democrats. He graduated in 2005, earning a prestigious Rhodes scholarship. Buttigieg received his master’s degree in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford University in 2007. He speaks eight languages, including Maltese, Norwegian, Arabic and French.

After Oxford, Buttigieg worked for three years at McKinsey & Company, the No. 1 global management consulting firm. During that time, he joined the U.S. Navy Reserve.

In 2010 Buttigieg ran as the Democratic nominee for Indiana state treasurer but was defeated by the Republican incumbent. One year later, he successfully ran for mayor of South Bend, winning a landslide victory with three quarters of the vote. At age 29, he became the second-youngest mayor in the city’s history and the youngest mayor of a U.S. city of 100,000 or more. Known affectionately as “Mayor Pete,” his popular programs have spurred significant economic growth. In 2013 GovFresh named him mayor of the year, alongside Mayor Bloomberg of New York.

In his fourth year in office, Buttigieg was called to active duty by the Navy. A lieutenant, he served as an intelligence officer in Afghanistan for six months in 2014. In 2015 South Bend reelected him with an overwhelming 80% of the vote. In June 2015, during discussions on state legislation that would have permitted LGBT discrimination, Buttigieg came out as gay in a personal essay that appeared in the South Bend Tribune.

In April 2019, Buttigieg formally announced his Democratic presidential candidacy. If elected, he would have become the first openly gay president of the United States. In 2021 President Joe Biden nominated him for a Cabinet position. Now serving as Secretary of the Department of Transportation, Buttigieg is the first openly LGBTQ person in history to be confirmed to the Cabinet by the U.S. Senate.

Buttigieg is a practicing Episcopalian. He married Chasten Glezman, a high school teacher, in June 2018. The couple lives in the neighborhood where Buttigieg grew up.

AIDS Activist

b. April 11, 1955, Rising Sun, Indiana

d. December 27, 1993, Los Angeles, CA

“The party that was the ’70s is over.”

Michael Callen was a pioneering AIDS activist. In 1982, when Callen was diagnosed with Gay Related Immune Deficiency (GRID), little was known about the “gay cancer.” Those with the disease knew their days were numbered and that the disease stigmatized them. Callen did not hesitate to come out openly as a gay man with the fatal disease and to take action.

He was convinced that GRID was sexually transmitted. In 1983 Callen co-wrote one of the first guides on safe-sex practices, “How to Have Sex in an Epidemic.” He appeared on television talk shows and wrote for newspapers and magazines. He became the face of AIDS, as the disease was renamed.

While Callen never advocated for the closure of bathhouses, he did believe that gay men were suffering from their own promiscuity. In 1982 he coauthored an article in the New York Native in which he declared “war on promiscuity” and argued that gay men needed to rethink their attitudes toward sex and relationships.

Callen also gained recognition as a songwriter and singer. His music reflects the frustration of living with a chronic disease but also celebrates love as a powerful force for healing. His lyrics promote loving companionship and long-term partnerships for gay men.

Callen toured internationally with the gay a capella group The Flirtations. His solo album, “Purple Heart” (1988), won wide acclaim and features the hit song “Love Don’t Need a Reason,” which he performed at the 1993 March on Washington for LGBT Rights.

In 1985 Callen helped found the People With AIDS Coalition. In doing so he coined the term PWA’s (People With AIDS) to foster a self-empowered movement. He served on many boards and provided testimony for government bodies including the President’s Commission on AIDS. Callen died of AIDS-related complications.

Sexual Researcher   

Alfred Kinsey is known as the father of sexology. His groundbreaking and controversial research on human sexuality profoundly influenced social and cultural values.

Kinsey grew up in Hoboken, New Jersey, the oldest of three children in a devoutly religious home. His father was a strict disciplinarian and insisted the family attend church every Sunday.

In 1916, Kinsey graduated magna cum laude from Bowdoin College with degrees in biology and psychology. In 1919, he earned his doctorate in biology from Harvard University.    

In 1920, Indiana University hired Kinsey as an assistant professor of zoology. The following year, Kinsey married Clara McMillen. The couple had four children. 

Kinsey’s first 20 years of research focused on the study of gall wasps. His research methodology, which made an important contribution to entomology, carried over into his later research on human sexual behavior. 

In 1940, as part of a marriage course he was teaching, Kinsey began conducting research on sexual behavior. Thereafter, Kinsey worked exclusively on his research. He and his staff conducted over 18,000 interviews. Kinsey published “Sexual Behavior in the Human Male” (1948), followed by “Sexual Behavior in the Human Female” (1953). 

The two books, known as the “Kinsey Reports,” became best sellers and sparked a firestorm of controversy. Kinsey became an overnight celebrity, with articles about him in Time, Life, Look and McCall’s. Kinsey’s work planted the seed for the sexual revolution of the 1960’s.                                                                         

Kinsey’s findings on homosexuality were among the most widely discussed. His studies found that 37% of American men had at least one homosexual experience. Kinsey devised a scale measuring sexual orientation, now known as the Kinsey Scale. The scale ranges from 0 to 6, with 6 designating someone exclusively homosexual, and 0 signifying someone exclusively heterosexual.                                                                               

In 1947, Kinsey founded the Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University—now the Kinsey Institute—one of the leading academic centers on human sexuality. 

Founder of NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt

b. October 11, 1954

"If AIDS had taught us anything, it was that we must be true to ourselves if we are to survive."

In 1983, Cleve Jones cofounded the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, making him among the first to respond to the epidemic. In 1987, he conceived the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, which produced the world’s largest community artwork.

Born in Lafayette, Indiana, Jones studied political science at San Francisco State University. He began his career as an intern in the office of openly gay San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk, who was subsequently assassinated.

He conceived the idea for the AIDS Memorial Quilt at an annual candlelight vigil remembering Harvey Milk. AIDS loomed over the gay community. At the vigil, hundreds of names of people who died of AIDS were written on cardboard scraps and taped to the San Francisco Federal Building. The cardboard reminded Jones of the pieces of fabric his grandmother quilted together.

The quilting of pieces of fabric memorializing loved ones became the world’s largest piece of community art. In 1987, 1,920 panels were exhibited on the National Mall in Washington, and were viewed by more than 500,000 people. The AIDS Quilt became a symbolic funeral service since many who died were denied memorial services.

Since 2005, Jones has spearheaded efforts to diminish homophobia in the hospitality industry with a project called UNITE HERE. He was instrumental in the Sleep with the Right People campaign, which encourages gay tourists to stay at hotels that respect employees’ rights.

Jones was awarded honorary doctorates from Haverford College and the Starr King School for the Ministry. His memoir, “Stitching a Revolution” (2000), was a best seller.

By 2006, the AIDS Quilt had  memorialized more than 44,000 lives.

Producer        

b. November 30, 1965   

“I dealt with my sexuality at a very early age. I didn't have a struggle, and I know so many people who were terrified of dealing with it.”

Ryan Murphy is an award-winning film and television director, writer and producer. He is best known for creating the television series “Glee.”

Murphy grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana, in an Irish Catholic family. His mother was a writer. His father was a newspaper circulation director. At 15, after coming out to his parents, Murphy saw a therapist, who said he was just “too precocious for his own good.”

At Indiana University in Bloomington, Murphy worked on the school newspaper and performed with the “Singing Hoosiers,” the university’s show choir.

Starting out as a journalist, Murphy worked for the Miami Herald, the Los Angeles Times and Entertainment Weekly. He began scriptwriting in the late 1990’s. In 1999, he made his first foray into television, creating the teen comedy series “Popular.” He wrote most of the show’s episodes.

In 2003, Murphy created “Nip/Tuck,” winner of the 2005 Golden Globe for best TV drama series. Murphy wrote and directed many episodes and served as executive producer for the show, which ran for seven seasons. “Nip/Tuck” earned him his first Emmy Award nomination for directing.

“Glee,” a groundbreaking musical comedy series created by Murphy, premiered in 2009. In its second season, the show became a pop culture phenomenon and one of the top-rated programs on television among young adults. That season, “Glee” received four Emmy Awards, including one for Murphy for outstanding directing for a comedy series.

For its honest depictions of LGBT characters and story lines, “Glee” also received the 2010 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comedy Series. The same year, Murphy directed Julia Roberts in a screenplay he co-wrote based on the book “Eat, Pray, Love.” The film grossed over $200 million worldwide.

Murphy serves on the National Advisory Board of the Young Storytellers Foundation, a Los Angeles area educational program that brings entertainment professionals into the classroom. 

Murphy lives in Los Angeles.