9th September

Captain (William) Bligh, whom we are told had a crush on Fletcher Christian, born in 1754.

11th September

Novelist D.H. Lawrence, bom in Nottinghamshire, England, 1885.

12th September

The Soup Kitchen at the Hirschfeld Centre, Dublin, closes - to be replaced by a franchised coffee bar, 1983.

James Whale

14th September

Writer and lesbian feminist, Kate Millet, bom 1934.

18th September

The 1st Magnus Hirschfeld Award for outstanding contribution to Irish gay liberation is presented to Dr. Noel Browne, former Minister for Health, at the NGF AGM in Liberty Hall, Dublin, 1982.

19th September

Henry III, King of Poland and France, who was so effeminate that he wore full drag and makeup and frequently hid shrieking in cellars during thunderstorms, bom in Fontainbleau, 1551.

21st September

The Daughters of Bilitis, first lesbian organisation in the US, founded in San Francisco, by Phyllis Lyons and Del Martin, 1956.

23rd September

Emperor Augustus, born in Rome, 63 B.C.

25th September

Swiss philanthropist Jean Henri Dunant, founder of the Red Cross (his memoirs were mutilated and falsified by his family) bom in Geneva, 1828.

26th September

Radical feminist Andrea Dworkin bom in New Jersey, USA, 1946. Also the birthday of poet/critic T.S. Eliot (1888).

28th September

William II Rufus, one of William the Conqueror's two gay sons, bom 1056; and the painter Caravaggio, bom in the town from which he took his name, 1573.

29th September

The first lesbian organisation in Ireland -Liberation for Irish Lesbians - founded at the Resources Centre, Rathgar Road, Dublin, 1978.

30th September

Truman Capote, who once confided "I was a beautiful little boy... everyone had me - men, women, dogs and fire hydrants. I did it with everybody", born 1924.

3rd October

Gore Vidal, author, born in New York, 1925.

9th October

James Whale, director of Frankenstein and some of Hollywood's best horror films of the 1930's and who made no secret of his love affair with producer David Lewis - for which he never worked in Hollywood again - is commemorated today.