On this day in queerstory: actress Maria Schneider dies

A haunting moment came on February 3, 1975, when police raided Sauna Aquarius in Montreal, arresting thirty-six people under bawdyhouse laws in the lead-up to the 1976 Olympic Games. The raid marked the beginning of a string of policing actions targeting queer spaces in the city, igniting resistance among LGBTQ+ communities who had until then often faced harassment quietly or individually.

That same date carries cultural weight in French cinema: on February 3, 2011, Maria Schneider, the French actress best remembered for her role in Last Tango in Paris, died of breast cancer at 58 after publicly acknowledging her bisexuality. Her candid reflections on love, artistic freedom, and the exploitation she experienced on and off screen foregrounded debates around consent, gender, and sexuality in film long after her breakout performances.

Public celebrations of queer community on February 3 trace into the 21st century too. Hyderabad Queer Pride, one of India’s longest-running pride marches, was first held on 3 February 2013 after police had denied permission the previous year. The event marked Hyderabad as the 12th Indian city to hold a queer pride march and soon renamed itself Hyderabad Queer Swabhimana Pride (“self-respect pride”), anchoring queer visibility within local culture and political struggle.

February 3 also intersects with the annual rhythm of remembrance and education. In much of the United Kingdom, LGBTQ+ History Month programming ramps up in early February, with social gatherings, readings, talks, and community celebrations scheduled around this date as part of month-long efforts to centre forgotten and unsung queer histories.

In 1981, February 3 again rose in the record of resistance in North America. That year’s events triggered a cascade of police raids on gay bathhouses in Toronto—part of what would become known as Operation Soap—and while the large raids and protests occurred over the following days, the initial policing actions around early February catalysed what became Canada’s largest queer civil rights protests to that date.

The date also carries echoes of queer contributions to language and scholarship. Though not tied strictly to February 3, the ongoing Lavender Languages and Linguistics Conference—founded in 1993—continues to shape the study of queer language, gendered expression, and identity in academic contexts. Conference cycles and associated workshops frequently occur in early February, riffing on the symbolic start of LGBTQ+ History Month and underscoring how queer lives have shaped language itself.

Cultural and community memory also turns to annual social events scheduled around this date. Libraries, galleries, and queer organisations often host salons, photo exhibits, and themed gatherings on or around February 3 in celebration of LGBTQ+ History Month, from readings and performances to public art introductions designed to foreground queer artists and writers who have been marginalised by straight cultural canons.

Births of figures whose later prominence touches queer cultural worlds also cluster near February 3. February 2, 1991, marks the birth of TJ Osborne, who, on 3 February 2021, was widely reported as the first openly gay artist signed to a major country music label—a landmark moment for visibility in a genre historically resistant to queer narratives.

Even when queer events don’t make headline news at the moment, archival lists and commemorative calendars elevate February 3 into visibility. Whether it’s early pride marches in India, resistance to raids in Canada, artists whose careers intersect with bisexual or queer identity, or the naming of public events and gatherings in the UK’s LGBTQ+ History Month calendar, February 3 repeatedly crops up as a point of action, assertion, and documentation rather than erasure.