1971: Novelist Merle Miller comes out in a New York Times Magazine essay entitled “What it Means to Be a Homosexual”.  He later says, “I don’t see any great rush of people lining up to declare themselves as homosexual.  Who is to say they should do so?  I think, however, it is rather important.  For one thing, you cannot demand your rights, civil or otherwise, if you are unwilling to say what you are.”

1982: Austin, TX voters reject, by an almost two-to-one margin, a ballot proposal that would have allowed housing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.