This Day in Queer History

On this day, Danish dancer Erik Bruhn was born. A legendary choreographer and artistic director, he shared a volatile 25-year romance with Rudolf Nureyev, two titans of ballet whose love matched the intensity of their art.

On this day, Hollywood revised its production code to allow films to treat "homosexuality and other sexual aberrations" with "care, discretion and restraint," cracking open the closet door for queer cinema.

On this day in 1970, bisexual rock icon Janis Joplin died at 27. One of the most electrifying performers of her era, she was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

On this day in 1973, Dr. Howard Brown came out publicly as gay. A former NYC Health Services Administrator and co-founder of the National Gay Task Force, his visibility shattered stereotypes and gave gay liberation a tremendous boost.

On this day in 1992, delegates at the Asian Lesbian and Gay Conference in Manila voted to create the Global Alliance Lesbian and Gay Asia, promoting solidarity among Asian sexual minorities across borders.

On this day, an Ontario court ruled that the province's Insurance Act must include same-sex couples in its definition of spouse, expanding legal recognition of queer partnerships in Canada.

On this day in 1997, gay historian and Shakespeare scholar A. L. Rowse died at 93. A proud homosexual in a pre-Wolfenden era, he wrote Homosexuals in History in 1977, reclaiming queer lives from erasure.