1977: Thelma Houston’s Don’t Leave Me This Way begins its 17-week top 40 run. It goes on to become a perennial gay anthem. 1991: Minnesota governor Arne Carlson issues an executive order banning sexual orientation discrimination in the public sector.
1985: People Magazine begins picking its annual “Sexiest Man Alive”
1972: The NYC Council vetoes a proposed gay rights ordinance that would have prohibited discrimination against gay men and lesbians in employment, housing and public accommodations.
1971: Look magazine includes a gay couple from Minnesota – Jack Baker and Mike McConnell as part of that week’s cover article on “The American Family”. Baker and McConnell are also noteworthy as they are the first same-sex couple in the U.S. to be granted a marriage license.
2005: Alameda County, California’s Board of Supervisors votes 4–0 to prohibit discrimination in public-sector employment, services and facilities based on gender identity.
1975: Norman Lear’s TV adaptation of Lanford Wilson’s “Hot l Baltimore” premieres on ABC. Though it features a diverse cast of characters, including two gay men and a latent lesbian, it lasts only five months. 1983: Noted gay director George Cukor dies at age 83 in Los Angeles.
One of our many fantastic consultants on The Lavender Effect is the Mazer Archives Director of Communications, Angela Brinskele. Here she gives a brief tour of the Mazer Archives for WeHo TV News. http://youtu.be/Mz3LughDvu0&rel=0
1978: NYC Mayor Ed Koch issues Executive Order 50 which forbid discrimination against gay men and lesbians in municipal government.
1973: The U.S. Supreme Court decides Roe v. Wade, legalizing abortion in the United States. Norma Leah McCorvey (aka “Jane Roe”) wrote of her sexual orientation in her 1994 autobiography, I Am Roe. A few years later she claims that she has converted to Christianity and is no longer a lesbian.
1966: Time magazine publishes an unsigned two-page article, “The Homosexual in America” which includes statements such as “Homosexuality is a pathetic little second-rate substitute for reality, a pitiable flight from life”