This Day in Queer History

On this day, Raymond Radiguet was born. The French author, mentored and loved by Jean Cocteau, wrote his first masterpiece at fifteen and died of typhoid at twenty, leaving behind a brief, brilliant, and queer legacy.

On this day in 1967, Janis Joplin exploded onto the world stage at the Monterey Pop Festival. The bisexual rock icon, one of the most powerful white rock singers ever, died at just 27.

On this day, Jane Rule's second novel This Is Not for You was published. The Canadian writer devoted her life to lesbian-themed fiction and was buried on Galiano Island beside her beloved partner Helen Sonthoff.

On this day in 1982, lesbian author Djuna Barnes died at 90 in New York. Her novel Nightwood became a cult classic of lesbian fiction and a cornerstone of modernist literature.

On this day, Sally Ride became the first American woman in space aboard Challenger. After her death in 2012, the world learned she had shared 27 years with her partner, Tam O'Shaughnessy.

On this day, One Life to Live aired the first openly gay teen character on television. Ryan Phillippe played Billy Douglas, a high schooler coming out to his best friend, in a groundbreaking daytime storyline.

On this day, the exhibition Becoming Visible: The Legacy of Stonewall opened at the New York Public Library, tracing the rich history of lesbian and gay life through powerful, unorthodox artifacts.

On this day in 2006, Mary Cheney, lesbian daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, released her memoir My Turn. Her openness helped encourage her father's eventual public support for same-sex marriage.