Leonardo da Vinci (1452 –1519) was an Italian polymath, painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived. His genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal. Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the Renaissance Man, a man of "unquenchable curiosity" and "feverishly inventive imagination.” Among his works, the Mona Lisa is the most famous and most parodied portrait and The Last Supper the most reproduced religious painting of all time. Leonardo's drawing of the Vitruvian Man is also regarded as a cultural icon, being reproduced on items as varied as the euro coin, textbooks, and T-shirts. Leonardo is revered for his technological ingenuity. He conceptualized flying machines, an armored vehicle, concentrated solar power, an adding machine, and the double hull, also outlining a rudimentary theory of plate tectonics.
Dusty Springfield OBE (1939 –1999), was an English pop singer and record producer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s. With her distinctive sensual sound, she was an important blue-eyed soul singer and at her peak was one of the most successful British female performers, with six top 20 singles on the United States Billboard Hot 100 and sixteen on the United Kingdom Singles Chart from 1963 to 1989. Among the hits were "Wishin' and Hopin,'" "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me.” In the mid-1990s, owing to the inclusion of "Son of a Preacher Man" on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, interest in her early output was revived. From mid-1966 to the early 1970s Springfield lived in a domestic partnership with fellow singer Norma Tanega. In the 1970s and 1980s, Springfield became involved in several romantic relationships with women in Canada and the U.S. that were not kept secret from the gay and lesbian community. From late 1972 to 1978, Springfield had an "off and on" domestic relationship with Faye Harris, a U.S. photo journalist. In 1981 she had a six-month love affair with singer-musician Carole Pope of the rock band Rough Trade. In 1982 Springfield met an American actress, Teda Bracci, at an AA meeting – in April 1983 the pair moved in together and seven months later they exchanged vows at a wedding ceremony which was not legally recognized under California law. The pair had a "tempestuous" relationship and separated within two years.
1610: The Virginia Colony passes the earliest American sodomy law, dictating the death penalty for offenders. The law does not include women as potential sodomites.
1636: In the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Rev. John Cotton proposes the death penalty for sixteen crimes, including sodomy, which he calls “unnatural filthiness” defined as ‘carnal fellowship of man with man, or woman with woman.’ In 1641 The Bay Colony adopts the proposed law and makes sodomy a capital crime. In 1642 Connecticut follows suit. In 1647 Rhode Island passes the same law so does New Jersey in 1668, New Hampshire in 1680, Pennsylvania in 1718, Delaware in 1719.
1665: Conquered by the English in 1664, New Netherland becomes a proprietary colony of the Duke of York. The following year representatives from several towns enact laws that include the death penalty for sodomy between men over the age of fourteen.
1848: The first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, NY, passes the “Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions.” This convention launches several lesbians and bisexual women into the national limelight, most notably Susan B. Anthony.
1897: Havelock Ellis writes his famous ‘ Sexual Inversion’ about the great prevalence of sexual inversion in American cities. His book is the first to treat homosexuality impartially, but his observations are limited to men.
1914: In Portland, Oregon, a dictionary of criminal slang is published, in which the first printed use of the word ‘faggot’ referring to male homosexuals appears.
