1970: Midnight Cowboy wins the Oscar for Best Picture, becoming the first (and only) X-rated film to do so. It is also the first major Hollywood film to feature an onscreen sexual encounter between two men. The film’s director, John Schlesinger, also gay, wins for Best Director. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnFoaj8utio] 1976: Civil rights crusader and U.S. Congresswoman Barbara … Read More
1955: Rob Epstein, Oscar-winning producer of The Times of Harvey Milk, Common Threads, and The Celluloid Closet is born in New Jersey. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL_vrb4-6_0]
2005: Kansas voters approve an amendment to the state constitution banning same-sex marriages and civil unions.
1971: Four “reformed” homosexuals go on The David Susskind Show to tout their conversions to heterosexuality and praise the therapy of sometime poet and literary critic Eli Siegel, whose doctrine of “Aesthetic Realism” teaches that homosexuality is the result of a distorted philosophical view of the world. Aesthetic Realists-who never use the word “homosexuality” but … Read More
1972: The U.S. Supreme Court effectively upholds a lower court ruling giving state governments the right to refuse employment to gay men and lesbians. The court had refused to review the case of an openly gay man turned down for a job at a Minnesota university library because of his homosexuality. 1975: New Mexico becomes … Read More
1976: The owner of a Hoboken, NJ dinner theater, the Clam Broth House, cancels an upcoming production of The Boys in the Band after learning that the play is about homosexuality. “The Clam Broth House is a family restaurant,” says manager Arthur Pelaez, “and I do not feel that this kind of play is the type … Read More
1970: The Advocate estimates there are approximately 6,817,000 gay men and lesbians living in the United States. 1971: The French leftist newspaper, Tout, edited by Jean-Paul Sartre, calls for complete sexual liberation in France, including the right of individuals to be freely and openly homosexual. French police begin massive seizures of the publication on the grounds that it is … Read More
1979: “In The Navy” begins a thirteen-week run in the nation’s Top 40. The U.S. Navy briefly considers using the song as a recruitment theme . . . until the full implications of the lyrics are explained. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InBXu-iY7cw] 1981: In an article in The Globe, First Lady Nancy Reagan says, “Women’s liberation and gay … Read More
1985: In a letter to ultra-conservative American Coalition for Family Values, former Los Angeles Police Chief and state assembly member Ed Davis responds against anti-gay politicians and pressure from the group that he take a public pledge refusing donation or endorsements from gay political groups. “I close this letter,” he says, “by asking you to … Read More
1976: By a vote of 6 to 3, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of Virginia’s sodomy laws. 1985: The Los Angeles Times comes out in favor of gay rights and urges the U.S. Supreme Court to take a stand on more gay-related issues. 1988: Georgetown University, the nation’s oldest Roman Catholic university, loses … Read More