My Hair is Full of Secrets

I'm Shelley. She/Her. Over 40 and still fangirling. No side blogs, y’all, this is my thunder dome.

[seljepw]

Look. Sometimes I use tags as a Greek chorus, for ephemeral context.

Sometimes I use tags so I can find things on my own blog, later.

Most of the time, I use tags because I know some of y’all have things blocked and I don’t want to annoy my friends while we’re sitting on our bedroom floors playing dolls together.

It’s a balance.

And sometimes I get really excited about something and blurt it out without tags because I’m an awkward, weird kid and that shit runs deep.

[sometiktoksarevalid]

[hollanovtica]

[thekeymonster]

Floral Snail Dog - Botanimal Pet Portrait

If you like my art and want to help support me, I’m on Patreon, I have an Etsy Shop and I sell Prints.

[sua-sponte-deactivated20200331]

I’m watching that documentary “Before Stonewall” about gay history pre-1969, and uncovered something which I think is interesting.

The documentary includes a brief clip of a 1954 televised newscast about the rise of homosexuality. The host of the program interviewed psychologists, a police officer, and one “known homosexual”. The “known homosexual” is 22 years old. He identifies himself as Curtis White, which is a pseudonym; his name is actually Dale Olson.

So I tracked down the newscast. According to what I can find, Dale Olson may have been the first gay man to appear openly on television and defend his sexual orientation. He explains that there’s nothing wrong with him mentally and he’s never been arrested. When asked whether he’d take a cure if it existed, he says no. When asked whether his family knows he’s gay, he says that they didn’t up until tonight, but he guesses they’re going to find out, and he’ll probably be fired from his job as well. So of course the host is like …why are you doing this interview then? and Dale Olson, cool as cucumber pie, says “I think that this way I can be a little useful to someone besides myself.”

1954. 22 years old. Balls of pure titanium.

Despite the pseudonym, Dale’s boss did indeed recognize him from the TV program, and he was promptly fired the next day. He wrote into ONE magazine six months later to reassure readers that he had gotten a new job at a higher salary.

Curious about what became of him, I looked into his life a little further. It turns out that he ultimately became a very successful publicity agent. He promoted the Rocky movies and Superman. Not only that, but get this: Dale represented Rock Hudson, and he was the person who convinced him to disclose that he had AIDS! He wrote the statement Rock read. And as we know, Rock Hudson’s disclosure had a very significant effect on the national conversation about AIDS in the U.S.

It appears that no one has made the connection between Dale Olson the publicity agent instrumental in the AIDS debate and Dale Olson the 22-year-old first openly gay man on TV. So I thought I’d make it. For Pride month, an unsung gay hero.

[is-the-post-reliable]

RATING: RELIABLE

you can listen to the clip of the 1954 interview here and find him on wikipedia here

[twinklestarss]

(source)

[seljepw]

[the-irreverend]

And stay safe everyone!

[undead-knick-knack]

Gonna put one of these stickers on each of their foreheads

[revvethasmythh]

brennan: that was from real celtic folklore, the heir to the king being his nephew, because--

luis, nodding solemnly: because the king is always gay

brennan: yes, the king is exclusively gay

[beardedmrbean]

[datclassydame]

Can @raccoonmilf vouch for this? Super rad if true.

[raccoonmilf]

Yes it’s true

[just-tea-and-dragons]

From the private nightmares s2 decompression session

[moemai]

The twins !!! 🐦‍⬛🪶🐻🏹

Print available in my shop !

[ithinkthiswasabadidea]

I dont think he's had a relaxed day in his life tbh

[officialpenisenvy]

in my high school a few years ahead of me there was a polyamorous girl named luna who was dating a guy and a girl and the girl was named (i swear to god this is her birth name) marea. they were named moon and tide and they were lesbian lovers. i thought it was the most romantic fated thing ever as a tiny baby queer it would make me sigh in adoration. the boyfriend's name was frank

[mindhost]

Dutch longsword fencer Tosca Beuming

Photographed by Martin Philippo and Andress Kools

[reckless-glitch]

[ramblingandpie]

[Video description: Gritty is turning the crank on a flagpole to raise the Progress Pride Flag. He gesticulates angrily that the flag is not blowing in the wind, then gestures offscreen. The flag begins blowing. As Gritty begins raising the flag more, the camera pans out to show a man in a suit and sunglasses, looking like a stern Secret Service agent, is holding a leafblower that points at the flag. End description.]

[lethotep]

It's important to have at least two blorbos that fit into specific roles in your life

The blorbo you can look to in hard times, and ask yourself what they would do in a situation, and draw motivation from them on how to be better and stronger!

The blorbo you can look to in hard times, and remind yourself that no matter what happens, you probably aren't going to fuck your shit up as much as they did even if you actively tried