May 2 is the 123rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. If the ancient Mayans were correct, there are 233 days remaining until the end of time.
1776 France and Spain agree to give weapons to American rebels. Arming terrorists?!?
1833 Czar Nicolas bans public sale of serfs. Private sales for prurient interests are still okay.
1902 1st science fiction film is released, "A Trip To The Moon"
1909 Honus Wagner steals his way around bases in 1st inning against Cubs. Big deal, it’s the Cubs! Oh that’s right. The Cubs are the defending World Champions. <snicker>
1933 Gleichschaltung: Adolf Hitler bans trade unions.
1956 The balcony is now closed: US Methodist Church disallows race separation. Mighty white of ‘em.
1979 "Quadrophenia" premieres in London
1984 "Sunday in the Park with George" opens at Booth New York City for 604 performances
1729 Catherine the Great, hypersexual Empress and Autocrat of All the Russias
1519 Leonardo da Vinci, gay Florentine artist/scientist, cannot claim to have invented this
1957 Joseph McCarthy, closeted gay US Senator-R-Wisconsin/Anti-communist polemicist, has no shame, Senator.
In October 1952, Las Vegas Sun columnist Hank Greenspun wrote:
Joe McCarthy is a bachelor of 43 years. [...] He seldom dates girls and if he does he laughingly describes it as window dressing. It is common talk among homosexuals in Milwaukee who rendezvous in the White Horse Inn that Senator Joe McCarthy has often engaged in homosexual activities.
Another Greenspun article alleged:
The Young Republicans held a state convention in Wausua, Wis., at which Sen. McCarthy was an honored guest. During the convention, McCarthy spent the night with William McMahon, formerly an official of the Milwaukee County Young Republicans, in a Eausua hotel room, at which time, McCarthy and McMahon engaged in illicit acts with each other.
McCarthy briefly considered filing a suit but took no action, because it would have meant testifying about his sexual predilections. Instead, he married his research assistant Jeannie Kerr and they adopted a baby girl.
1972 J Edgar Hoover, closeted gay US head of FBI (1924-72)/cross dresser, just loooves his new robe.
1999 Oliver Reed, actor (Oliver!, Women in Love, The Three Musketeers, Tommy, Gladiator), is cast away
2002 John Nathan-Turner, gay English television producer (Dr. Who), does not regenerate
2011 Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI's most wanted man is killed by the United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan.