Connecticut

Born to Pakistani parents and raised in Connecticut, queer Muslim activist Faisal Alam has navigated the precarious terrain of clashing identities. From an early age, Alam felt a strong connection to his Islamic faith. He was an active member of Muslim youth groups as a way of engaging with his faith and his community; he became a model of Islam’s focus on goodwill and strong communal ties.

When Alam first recognized his queer identity, the seemingly irreconcilable disparity between being Muslim and being queer was devastating. Homosexuality is perceived as contemptuous, even criminal, in many Islamic societies. Alam said, “We really felt caught in between. The last thing you could do was call the mosque for help.”

From this inner conflict emerged Alam’s vow to help other struggling LGBT Muslims. “This level of schism in one’s life can only last for so long until it takes a toll on your body, your soul, your psyche,” he said. “The promise I made to God, to my creator, is that I would never let what happened to me ever happen again.”

At age 19, Alam created the Al-Fatiha Foundation for LGBT Muslims. Al-Fatiha—literally “the opening”—offered new possibilities for people who live at the intersection of Islam and queerness. What started as a tiny e-mail listserve blossomed into an international organization that held regular conferences and engagements for LGBT Muslims.

By striving to embrace these two identities and encouraging other to do the same, Faisal Alam challenges notions of identity and reflects the positive attributes of his communities.

Bibliography

Bibliography

Bart, Jeff. “Lecturer discusses gay Muslims, women leaders.” Purdue Exponent. Last modified April 12, 2012.http://www.purdueexponent.org/campus/article_e3b5d01d-72c9-5473-94f4-28156de6d518.html#user-comment-area

“Cyber Mecca.”The Advocate.March 14, 2000. e-book. http://books.google.com/books?id=E2QEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA27#v=onepage&q&f=false

Lee, Jinjoo. “Gay Muslim Activist Bucks Cultural Norm.” The Cornell Sun. Last modified April 19, 2012.http://cornellsun.com/blog/2012/04/19/gay-muslim-activist-bucks-cultural-norm/

Sachs, Susan. “Conference Confronts the Difficulties of Being Muslim and Gay.” May 30, 1999.http://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/30/nyregion/conference-confronts-the-difficulties-of-being-muslim-and-gay.html

Worth, Robert F. “Gay Muslims Face a Growing Challenge Reconciling Their Two Identities.” The New York Times. January 12, 2002.http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/13/nyregion/gay-muslims-face-a-growing-challenge-reconciling-their-two-identities.html

Web Pages

Website

Queer Muslim Revolution Blog

Personal Blog

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Cole Porter

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Songwriter

b. June 9, 1891
d. October 15, 1964

"In olden days a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking but now, God knows, anything goes."

Cole Porter grew up wealthy - his grandfather, James Omar Cole, was a prosperous coal and timber speculator. Porter began musical training during his early childhood. Despite his musical talents, however, Porter's grandfather envisioned an attorney's career for him and sent him to Yale University.

At Yale, Porter expanded his musical repertoire and composed 300 songs, including two football fight songs, "Yale Bulldog" and "Bingo Eli Yale", which are still played today. After one year at Harvard Law School, Porter chose to follow his true passion and transferred to Harvard's School of Music.

Porter enjoyed brief success in 1915 with his first song in a Broadway musical. A year later, his first full production, "See America First," closed after only two weeks.

After several other failures, Porter moved to Paris. The songs he wrote there, including "You Don't Know Paree" and "I Love Paris", reflect his affection for the city. In 1928, his first big hit, "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love," appeared in the musical "Paris."

Porter lived in an era of strict homosexuality taboos. Public knowledge of his sexuality, Porter feared, could compromise his success. Like many gay public figures, Porter married a woman for convenience. His wife, Linda Lee Thomas, may have been bisexual. The arrangement helped both Thomas and Porter. Thomas remained a socialite with a high-profile husband, while Porter hid his sexuality under the guise of a marriage.

Porter had relationships with talented men, including Boston socialite Howard Sturgess, architect Ed Tauch and choreographer Nelson Barclift, the inspiration for "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home to."

A horse riding accident in 1937 badly crippled Porter's legs. His condition left him in constant pain and required more than 30 surgeries. He continued to write songs, though his prominence waned until 1948, when he wrote "Kiss Me, Kate," one of his most famous works. The production earned the Tony Award for Best Musical, and Porter won the Tony for Best Composer and Lyricist.

His physical and emotional condition quickly deteriorated with the loss of his mother in 1952, his wife in 1954, and his amputated right leg in 1958. Porter never wrote again, and remained in relative seclusion until his own death, at age 73, in 1964.

Bibliography

Bibliography

Selected Works

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Renée Richards

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Transgender Pioneer

b. August 19, 1934

"I made the fateful decision to go and fight the legal battle to be able to play as a woman and stay in the public eye and become this symbol."

Dr. Renée Richards became a transgender icon in 1977 when she won a lawsuit against the United States Tennis Association. Richards sued the Association for its refusal to let her compete in the U.S. Open women's division following male-to-female gender reassignment surgery. In a landmark decision, the New York Supreme Court ruled in Richards's favor.

Richards started playing tennis at an early age. Ranked among the top-10 eastern national juniors, she won the Eastern Private Schools' Interscholastic singles title at age 15. She captained her high school tennis team at the Horace Mann School in New York City and Yale University's men's tennis team in 1954.

In 1959, Richards graduated from University of Rochester Medical School. After serving in the Navy as Lieutenant Commander, she pursued a career in ophthalmology and eye surgery while continuing to compete in tennis tournaments.

At the height of her tennis career, Richards ranked 20th in the nation. In her first tennis tournament as a female, she reached the semifinals in the U.S. Open women's doubles competition. Following retirement, Richards coached tennis star Martina Navratilova. In 2000, the U.S. Tennis Association inducted Richards into its Hall of Fame.

Richards has published two autobiographies: "Second Serve Renée" (1986), also a TV-movie, and "No Way Renée: The Second Half of My Notorious Life" (2007). She is a renowned eye surgeon and professor of ophthalmology at the New York University School of Medicine.

Bibliography

“The Second Half of My Life.” NPR: Talk of the Nation. February 8, 2007

Fee, Elizabeth, Theodore M. Brown and Janet Taylor. "One Size Does Not Fit All in the Transgender Community." Journal of Public Health, 93.6. June 2003

Selected Works

No Way Renée: The Second Half of My Notorious Life (2007)

Second Serve (1986)

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Annie Leibovitz

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Photographer

b. October 2, 1949

"A thing that you see in my pictures is that I was not afraid to fall in love with these people."

A master chronicler of popular culture for over 25 years, Annie Leibovitz came to international acclaim as the chief photographer for Rolling Stone Magazine. Today she is a highly sought after portrait photographer.

Leibovitz was born in Waterbury, Connecticut. The daughter of an Air Force Lieutenant, she moved frequently as a child. Leibovitz showed early interests in music and painting before discovering photography in college.

In 1970, Leibovitz began her first assignment with Rolling Stone Magazine shortly before graduating college. In addition to Rolling Stone, Leibovitz's work has been featured in The New York Times Magazine, Life Magazine, TIME Magazine, Esquire, Vogue and Vanity Fair. In 1991, she became the first woman exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Leibovitz's work is characterized by its unconventional and provocative nature. Her poignant photographs reveal a level of intimacy unseen in conventional portraits. Leibovitz's most notable photograph of John Lennon lying naked with Yoko Ono, demonstrates this unique style. She has photographed more celebrities than any other photographer.

In a 2004 interview with Newsweek, Leibovitz first recognized her 15-year romantic relationship with writer and critic Susan Sontag. Though the couple never lived together, their apartments were in view of each other. Intimate photos of Sontag, including those taken during her battle with cancer, are revealed in "A Photographer's Life: 1990-2005."

In 2001, at the age of 52, Leibovitz gave birth to her first child, Sarah Leibovitz. Her twins, Susan (named after Sontag) and Samuel, were born to a surrogate mother in 2005. She and her children live in New York.

Bibliography

Bibliography

Selected Works

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Larry Kramer

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Playwright/AIDS Activist

b. June 25, 1935

d. May 27, 2020

"We're all going to go crazy, living this epidemic every minute, while the rest of the world goes on out there, all around us, as if nothing is happening, going on with their own lives and not knowing what it's like, what we're going through. We're living through war, but where they're living it's peacetime, and we're all in the same country."

Larry Kramer is an award-winning playwright, commentator and pioneering AIDS activist.

After graduating from Yale University in 1957, Larry Kramer began his professional life in the film industry. He co-produced and co-wrote "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush," which became the number one film in Britain. He wrote the screenplay for and produced "Women in Love," based on D. H. Lawrence's novel. The film received three Academy Award nominations, including Best Screenplay.

"Faggots," Kramer's 1978 novel, continues to be one of the best selling of all gay-themed novels. "The Normal Heart," his 1985 play about the early years of the AIDS epidemic, holds the record as the longest-running play at Joseph Papp's Public Theater in New York.

His non-fiction book "Reports from the Holocaust: The Making of an AIDS Activist," published in 1989, is an important record of AIDS activism.

Kramer's 1992 play "The Destiny of Me" was awarded an Obie, the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Play, and the Hull-Warriner Award by the Dramatists' Guild.

Kramer was a founder of the AIDS advocacy organization Gay Men's Health Crisis. In 1987, he helped found ACT-UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power).

Kramer is a recipient of the Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is the first creative artist and the first openly gay person to be honored by a Public Service Award from Common Cause.

Susan Sontag said of him, "Larry Kramer is one of America's most valuable troublemakers. I hope he never lowers his voice."

Bibliography

Selected works by Larry Kramer:

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John Boswell

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Historian

b. March 20, 1947

d. December 24, 1994

"It is possible to change ecclesiastical attitudes toward gay people and their sexuality because the objections to homosexuality are not biblical, they are not consistent, they are not part of Jesus' teaching; and they are not even fundamentally Christian."

John Boswell was an esteemed historian who argued that homosexuality has always existed, that it has at times enjoyed wide social acceptance, and that the Church historically allowed same-sex unions.

John Boswell was a gifted medieval philologist who read more than fifteen ancient and modern languages. After receiving his PhD from Harvard in 1975, he joined the history faculty at Yale University.

Boswell was an authority on the history of Jews, Muslims, and Christians in medieval Spain. He helped to found the Lesbian and Gay Studies Center at Yale in 1987. In 1990 he was named the A. Whitney Griswold Professor of History.

In 1980 Boswell published the book for which he is best known: "Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century." In this groundbreaking study, Boswell argued against "the common idea that religious belief-Christian or other-has been the cause of intolerance in regard to gay people." The book was named one of the New York Times ten best books of 1980 and received both the American Book Award and the Stonewall Book Award in 1981.

Boswell's second book on homosexuality in history was "The Marriage of Likeness: Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe," published in 1994. In it he argues that the Christian ritual of adelphopoiia ("brother-making") is evidence that prior to the Middle Ages, the Church recognized same-sex relationships. Boswell's thesis has been embraced by proponents of same-sex unions, although it remains controversial among scholars.

John Boswell converted to Roman Catholicism as an undergraduate at the College of William and Mary, and remained a devout Catholic for the rest of his life. He was an effective teacher and popular lecturer on several topics, including his life journey as an openly gay Christian man.

Boswell died of AIDS-related illness on Christmas Eve in 1994 at age 47.

Bibliography

Bibliography:

Schlager, Bernard, Profile of John Boswell, Religious Archives Network

Selected works by John Boswell:

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Philip Johnson

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Architect

b. July 8, 1906
d. January 25, 2005

"The job of the architect today is to create beautiful buildings. That's all."

Proportion, minimalism and geometry were elements Philip Johnson combined to create his masterpieces, which include iconic New York buildings. It seemed destined that Johnson, the descendant of Huguenot Jacques Cortelyou, who designed the town plan of New Amsterdam (later renamed New York), would leave an indelible mark on the city.

A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Johnson studied philosophy and history at Harvard. His education was regularly interrupted by long trips to Europe where he saw architecture that influenced his designs.

At New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), he co-curated an exhibition that tracked recent trends in building. The show, "The International Style: Architecture Since 1922," included Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe and provided the official introduction of modern architecture to the United States.

During the Great Depression, Johnson pursued a career in journalism abroad. He subsequently enlisted in the U.S. Army. After his military service, Johnson enrolled in the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he realized his passion for architecture.

Philip Johnson's work is characterized by innovation. In a career spanning almost 60 years, he developed a reputation for flexibility and foresight.

Johnson founded the Department of Architecture and Design at MoMA and served as a trustee of the museum. He was awarded an American Institute of Architects Gold Medal (1978) and the first-ever Pritzker Architecture Prize (1979).

The Glass House (1949), which he designed for himself, is a modest 56-foot-by-32-foot rectangle with exterior walls made almost entirely of glass. The building, in New Canaan, Connecticut, incorporates the bucolic setting as an integral part of the home's ambiance.

His other seminal works are the New York State Pavilion for the World's Fair (1964), MoMA's east wing and sculpture garden (1964), Pennzoil Place in Houston (1975), and the Sony Building in New York City (1984).

The architect shared the last 40 years of his life with his partner, David Whitney, who died only months after Johnson.

Bibliography

Bibliography

Goldberger, Paul. “Philip Johnson, Architecture’s Restless Intellect, Dies at 98.” The New York Times. January 27, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/27/arts/design/27johnson.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&position=

Lacayo, Richard. “Splendor in the Grass.” Time. June 28, 2007
http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1638456,00.html

“Philip Johnson.” Legacy. July 2, 2008
http://www.legacy.com/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=3087991

Stern, Robert A.M. “Philip Johnson.” Architectural Record. July 2, 2008
http://archrecord.construction.com/people/profiles/archives/0505johnsonProfile_stern.asp

Articles

Filler, Martin. “ART; The Architect of a Master Builder’s Store of Art.” The New York Times. June 2, 1996
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B02E5D71E39F931A35755C0A960958260

Mason, Christopher. “Behind the Glass Wall.” The New York Times. June 7, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/07/garden/07glass.html?scp=1&sq=behind%20the%20glass%20wall&st=cse

Smith, Roberta. “ART REVIEW; Philip Johnson and the Modern: A Loving Marriage.” The New York Times. June 7, 1996
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE5DF1639F934A35755C0A960958260&scp=1&sq=philip%20johnson%20and%20the%20modern%20&st=cse

“Times Topics: Philip Johnson.” The New York Times.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/j/philip_johnson/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=philip%20johnson&st=cse

Buildings

The Glass House (1949)
http://philipjohnsonglasshouse.org/

Trump International Hotel and Tower (1971)
http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=trumpinternationalhoteltower-newyorkcity-ny-usa

IDS Tower (1973)
http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=idstower-minneapolis-mn-usa

Pennzoil Place (1975)
http://www.emporis.com/ge/wm/cx/?id=102407

Crystal Cathedral (1980)
http://www.emporis.com/ge/wm/cx/?id=118794

Wells Fargo Center (1983)
http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=wellsfargocenter-denver-co-usa

One PPG Place (1984)
http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/cx/?id=ppgplace-pittsburgh

Sony Building (1984)
http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=sonytower-newyorkcity-ny-usa

Puerta de Europa (1996)
http://www.emporis.com/ge/wm/cx/?id=101520

The Urban Glass House (2006)
http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=streeturbanglasshouse-newyorkcity-ny-usa

Other Resources

American Masters: Philip Johnson
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/johnson_p.html

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