Kentucky

Film Director

Gus Van Sant is an Academy Award nominated director and screenwriter whose films include “Good Will Hunting” and “Milk.” 

Van Sant was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the son of a traveling salesman. At an early age, he began producing semi-autobiographical Super-8 movies. 

In 1975, Van Sant graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design. After college, he moved to Los Angeles, where he developed a fascination with the city’s marginalized subcultures. 

With $20,000 in savings, he bankrolled most of his first film, “Mala Noche” (1985).  Shot in black and white, the ill-fated love story between two men earned Van Sant critical acclaim. The Los Angeles Times named “Mala Noche” the year’s best independent film.

Van Sant wrote and directed “Drugstore Cowboy” (1989), which received rave reviews and won an Independent Spirit Award for the screenplay. “My Own Private Idaho,” starring Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix as male hustlers, earned Van Sant another Independent Spirit Award. 

The success of Van Sant’s first major studio directing project, “To Die For” (1995), starring Nicole Kidman, established him as an A-List Hollywood director. His 1997 blockbuster, “Good Will Hunting,” starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including best director.

In 2003, Van Sant directed the controversial HBO film “Elephant,” based on the Columbine High School massacre. “Elephant” won the top prize (Palme d’Or) and the Award for Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival. 

In 2008, Van Sant directed “Milk,” the story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to become an elected official. The film, starring Sean Penn, was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including best director.  

The Advocate named Gus Van Sant one of its 2008 People of the Year.

First openly gay Episcopal bishop  

b. May 29, 1947 

“It’s not so much a dream as a calling from God.”

In 2003, The Rt. Rev.V. Gene Robinson was elected bishop of the diocese of New Hampshire, making him the first openly gay Episcopal bishop. His ordination caused a global rift within the Episcopal Church and led to international debate about the inclusion of gay clergy in church hierarchy. In the weeks leading up to his consecration, Robinson received hate mail and death threats, triggering the FBI to place him under 24-hour protection.

Gene Robinson grew up outside Lexington, Kentucky. The son of poor tobacco sharecroppers, he was raised without running water or indoor plumbing. He recalls his childhood as rustic and religious, with Sunday school and services at a small Disciples of Christ congregation.

Robinson earned his bachelor’s degree in American studies from the University of the South and his Master of Divinity from the Episcopal General Theological Seminary in New York. He was ordained a priest in 1973. 

Despite doubts about his sexual orientation, Robinson married in 1972. He and his wife moved to New Hampshire where they raised two daughters. Robinson worked as youth ministries coordinator for the seven dioceses of New England and cofounded the national Episcopal Youth Event. Robinson divorced his wife and came out in the mid-1980’s.

Robinson is the coauthor of three AIDS education curricula. In Uganda, he helped set up a national peer counseling program for AIDS educators working with religious institutions. 

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force honored Robinson with a Leadership Award in 2004.  In 2007, he received the Flag Bearer Award from Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) for leadership and inclusion in faith communities.

In 2008, Bishop Robinson and Mark Andrew, partners for more than 19 years, exchanged vows in a civil union ceremony in New Hampshire.