Happy January Birthdays!

Born This Way On This Day

January isn’t just the start of a new year and fresh resolutions—it’s also a time to celebrate the birthdays of some LGBTQ historical heroes and Queer Pioneers:

• 01-01 = E. M. Forster (1879-1970) = English writer

• 01-01 = J. Edgar Hoover (1895-1972) = American law office and 1st FBI Director

• 01-01 = James Hormel (1933-2021) = American philanthropist and diplomate

• 01-01 = Joe Orton (1933-1967) = English playwright

• 01-01 = Martine Rothblatt (1954- ) = American lawyer, author, and entrepreneur

• 01-01 = Toupie Lowther (1874-1944) = English tennis player

• 01-02 = Charles Beaumont (1929-1967) = American writer

• 01-02 = Christopher Durang (1949-2024) = American playwright

• 01-02 = Lynn Ann Conway (1938- ) = American scientist, engineer, and activist

• 01-02 = M. Carey Thomas (1857-1935) = American educator and linguist

• 01-02 = Todd Haynes (1961- ) = American filmmaker

• 01-02 = William Haines (1900-1973) = American film actor and interior designer

• 01-03 = Bruce LaBruce (1964- ) = Canadian filmmaker

• 01-03 = Dorothy Arzner (1897-1979) = American film director

• 01-04 = Dot-Marie Jones (1964- ) = American actor and arm wrestler

• 01-04 = Gianni Vattimo (1936- ) = Italian philosopher and politician

• 01-04 = Marsden Hartley (1877-1943) = American painter and poet

• 01-04 = Michael Stipe (1960- ) = American singer-songwriter

• 01-05 = Alvin Ailey (1931-1989) = American dancer, director, and choreographer

• 01-06 = Gábor Szetey (1968- ) = Hungarian politician

• 01-06 = Joan of Arc (1412-1431) = French martyr and saint (d. 1431)

• 01-06 = Kate McKinnon (1984- ) = American actor and comedian

• 01-06 = Nancy Ruth (1942- ) = Canadian Senator

• 01-06 = Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) = French writer and philosopher

• 01-07 = Caster Semenya (1991- ) = South African runner and activist

• 01-07 = Chester Kallman (1921-1975) = American poet, librettist, and translator

• 01-07 = Christian Louboutin (1963- ) = French footwear designer

• 01-07 = Jann Wenner (1946- ) = American Rolling Stone co-founder

• 01-07 = Michaela Jaé Rodriguez (1991- ) = American actor

• 01-07 = Michael Sam (1990- ) = American football player

• 01-08 = Cynthia Erivo (1987- ) = British actor and singer

• 01-08 = David Bowie (1947-2016) = British singer-songwriter and actor

• 01-08 = Edward Perry Warren (1860-1928) = American art collector and curator

• 01-08 = Gilbert Passmore (1942- ) = British artist (Gilbert & George)

• 01-08 = Jack Andraka (1997- ) = American inventor, scientist, and researcher

• 01-08 = Kerwin Mathews (1926-2007 ) = American actor

• 01-08 = Nacho Duato (1942- ) = Spanish dancer and choreographer

• 01-08 = Prince Albert Victor (1864-1892) = English royal

• 01-08 = Winnaretta Singer (1865-1943) = American heiress

• 01-09 = Simone De Beauvoir (1908-1986) = French philosopher and writer

• 01-09 = William Johnson Cory (1823-1892) = English classical scholar and poet

• 01-10 = Sal Mineo (1939-1976) = American actor

• 01-11 = Alexander Hamilton (1755 or 1757-1804) = Nevisian-American general, economist, politician, and 1st United States Secretary of the Treasury

• 01-11 = Bayard Taylor (1825-1878) = American poet, critic and translator

• 01-11 = Eva Le Gallienne (1899-1991) = English actor, producer and director

• 01-12 = Edith Cooper (1862-1913) = English poet

• 01-12 = Jack London (1876-1916) = American novelist and journalist

• 01-12 = John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) = American painter and academic

• 01-12 = Kieron Richardson (1986- ) = English actor

• 01-12 = Patsy Kelly (1910-1981) = American actor

• 01-13 = Al-Hakam II (915-976) = Caliph of Córdoba, patron of arts and sciences

• 01-13 = Charles Nelson Reilly (1931-2007) = American actor and comedian

• 01-13 = Charlotte Charke (1713-1760) = English actor and playwright

• 01-13 = Edmund White (1940- ) = American writer

• 01-13 = Horatio Alger, Jr. (1832-1899) = American writer

• 01-13 = Matthew Bourne (1960- ) = English choreographer and director

• 01-13 = Nate Silver (1978- ) = American statistician, journalist, and writer

• 01-13 = Rip Taylor (1931-2019) = American actor and comedian

• 01-13 = Yannis Tsarouchis (1910-1989) = Greek artist

• 01-14 = Alice Nkom (1945- ) = Cameroonian lawyer

• 01-14 = Cecil Beaton (1904-1980) = English photographer, diarist, and designer

• 01-14 = Holland Taylor (1943- ) = American actor and playwright

• 01-14 = Shepard Smith (1964- ) = American tv host and journalist

• 01-14 = Yukio Mishima (1925-1970) = Japanese writer, actor, and model

• 01-15 = Ivor Novello (1893-1951) = Welsh singer-songwriter and actor

• 01-15 = Molière (1622-1673) = French playwright, actor, and poet

• 01-16 = George Kelly (1887-1974) = American writer, director, and actor

• 01-16 = Julie Anne Peters (1952-2023) = American writer

• 01-16 = Susan Sontag (1933-2004) = American writer and critic

• 01-17 = Dale McCormick (1947) = American politician

• 01-17 = Hugh Steers (1962-1995) = American painter

• 01-17 = Indya Moore (1995- ) = American actor and model

• 01-17 = Ronald Firbank (1886-1926) = English writer

• 01-18 = Betty Berzon (1928-2006) = American author and psychotherapist

• 01-18 = Cary Grant (1904-1986) = English actor

• 01-18 = Marci Bowers (1958- ) = American gynecologist and surgeon

• 01-18 = Maulik Pancholy (1974- ) = American actor

• 01-18 = Mike Michaud (1955- ) = American Democratic congressman (Maine)

• 01-18 = Seamus O'Regan (1971- ) = Canadian broadcast journalist and politician

• 01-19 = Jakub Jankto (1996- ) = Czech professional footballer

• 01-19 = Janis Joplin (1943-1970) = American rock singer-songwriter

• 01-19 = Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995) = American novelist and short-story writer

• 01-20 = Colin Clive (1900-1937) = British theatre and film actor

• 01-20 = Pat Parker (1944-1989) = American poet and activist

• 01-21 = Christian Dior (1905-1957) = French fashion designer

• 01-21 = Cristóbal Balenciaga (1895-1972) = Spanish fashion designer

• 01-21 = Duncan Grant (1885-1978) = Scottish painter

• 01-21 = Janis Sidovský (1968- ) = Czech producer

• 01-22 = Elaine Noble (1944- ) = American politician and activist

• 01-22 = Francis Bacon (1909-1992) = British painter

• 01-22 = Lord Byron (1788-1824) = British poet

• 01-22 = Ondrej Nepela (1951-1989) = Slovak figure skater

• 01-22 = Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) = English philosopher and statesman

• 01-23 = Franklin Pangborn (1889-1958) = American actor

• 01-23 = Irene Sharaff (1910-1993) = American costume designer

• 01-23 = Luisa Casati (1881-1957) = Italian aristocrat and patron of the arts

• 01-24 = Edith Emerson (1888-1981) = American artist, writer, and curator

• 01-24 = Frederick the Great (1712-1786) = Prussian king and military leader

• 01-24 = Hadrian (76-138) = Roman emperor

• 01-25 = Aaron Fricke (1962) = American activist and author

• 01-25 = Aya Kamikawa (1968- ) = Japanese politician and write

• 01-25 = Peter Tatchell (1967- ) = British human rights activist

• 01-25 = Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) = English writer

• 01-25 = W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) = English writer

• 01-26 = Angela Davis (1944- ) = American activist and academic

• 01-26 = Ellen DeGeneres (1958- ) = American actor and stand-up comedian

• 01-27 = Alan Cumming (1965- ) = Scottish actor, advocate for LGBTQ rights

• 01-27 = Eric Radford (1985- ) = Canadian pairs figure skater

• 01-27 = Anyda Marchant (1911-2006) = Brazilian lawyer, publisher, and writer

• 01-28 = Charles George Gordon (1833-1885) = British Army officer

• 01-28 = Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (1873-1954) = French novelist

• 01-28 = Marnie McBean (1968- ) = Canadian rower

• 01-28 = Mickalene Thomas (1971- ) = American artist

• 01-29 = Christian VII (1749-1808) = King of Denmark and Norway

• 01-29 = Edward Irenaeus Prime-Stevenson (1858-1942) = American writer

• 01-29 = Gia Carangi (1960-1986) = American model

• 01-29 = Greg Louganis (1960- ) = American Olympic diver and author

• 01-29 = Sara Gilbert (1975- ) = American actor and talk show co-host

• 01-30 = Claudia Brind-Woody (1955- ) = American business executive

• 01-30 = Helen G. James (1928- ) = American physical therapist and veteran

• 01-30 = Howard Sturgis (1855-1920) = English writer

• 01-30 = Stewart McKinney (1931-1987) = American politician

• 01-31 = Czeslaw Walek (1975- ) = Czech lawyer and LGBT activist

• 01-31 = Derek Jarman (1942-1994) = English artist, filmmaker, and activist

• 01-31 = Lewis Vernon Harcourt (1863-1922) = British politician

• 01-31 = Patricia Velásquez (1971- ) = Venezuelan actor and model

• 01-31 = Philip Glass (1937- ) = American composer

• 01-31 = Portia de Rossi (1973- ) = Australian actor

• 01-31 = Tallulah Bankhead (1902-1968) = American actor