Hands Across Hawthorne was a rally held at the Hawthorne Bridge in
Portland, Oregon, on May 29, 2011, in response to an attack on a gay
male couple one week earlier for holding hands while walking across the
bridge. News of the attack spread throughout the Pacific Northwest and
the United States. According to the couple and the Portland Police
Bureau, a group of five men followed Brad Forkner and Christopher
Rosevear along the bridge before they were physically assaulted. The
assault was condemned by Portland's gay mayor, Sam Adams, and its police
chief, Mike Reese. The attack prompted volunteers from the Q Center, an
LGBT community center and non-profit organization, to form street
patrols to monitor Portland's downtown area. Several LGBT and human
rights organizations sponsored Hands Across Hawthorne in response to the
attack, linking hands across the entire span of the Hawthorne Bridge to
show solidarity. More than 4,000 people attended the rally.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hands_Across_Hawthorne>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1453:
With the conquest of Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire fell
to the Ottomans.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire>
1852:
Swedish operatic soprano Jenny Lind concluded a successful
concert tour of the U.S. under the management of showman P. T. Barnum.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Lind_tour_of_America,_1850%E2%80%9352>
1911:
English dramatist W. S. Gilbert of the songwriting duo Gilbert
and Sullivan died while saving a young woman from drowning in his lake.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._S._Gilbert>
1942:
Bing Crosby recorded his version of the song "White Christmas",
which went on to become the best-selling single of all time, with over
50 million copies sold.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Christmas_(song)>
1953:
New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary and Nepali-Indian Sherpa
mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first people to reach the summit
of Mount Everest.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_British_Mount_Everest_expedition>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
duodenum:
The first part of the small intestine, starting at the lower end of the
stomach and extending to the jejunum.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/duodenum>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society;
and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret
societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long
ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of
pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify
it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed
society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is
little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do
not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced
need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to
expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and
concealment. That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it is in
my control. And no official of my Administration, whether his rank is
high or low, civilian or military, should interpret my words here
tonight as an excuse to censor the news, to stifle dissent, to cover up
our mistakes or to withhold from the press and the public the facts they
deserve to know.
--John F. Kennedy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy>
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