Tom Daley, Frank Kameny, Jane Addams, John Gielgud, Klaus Mann, Binyavanga Wainaina

Born: Tom Daley (1994), Frank Kameny (1925)
Died: Jane Addams (1935), John Gielgud (2000), Klaus Mann (1949), Binyavanga Wainaina (2019)

Born on this day

A diving prodigy who came out at 19 with a YouTube video – and won Olympic gold while knitting between dives.

An astronomer whose dismissal helped turn the fight against anti-gay discrimination into a civil rights campaign.

A social reformer whose work for immigrant communities grew into an international campaign for peace.

The greatest Shakespearean voice of his generation was arrested in 1953 – and the audience gave him a standing ovation.

Thomas Mann’s son lived openly as a gay man in the 1920s, fought Nazism from exile and wrote “Mephisto”.

His writing challenged clichés about Africa and made room for new literary voices and openly queer lives.