January 17 in LGBTQ History
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.