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”
1960: U.S. Court of Federal Claims overturns the Other Than Honorable discharge issued by the Air Force to Fannie Mae Clackum for her alleged homosexuality. This is the first known instance of a homosexuality-related discharge being successfully fought, although the case turned on due process issues and did not affect the military’s policy of excluding … Read More
1976: The Vatican calls homosexuality “a serious depravity” that “can in no case be approved of” in its newly released “Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics” 1982: On the syndicated “Helen Gurley Brown Show”, the host (and Cosmopolitan editor) asks National Gay Task Force director Lucia Valeska, “Is it true that gay people are … Read More
1977: Miami becomes the first major Southern U.S. city to pass a gay rights ordinance, despite highly publicized opposition from Floridan orange juice spokesperson Anita Bryant.
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 … Read More
1967: The Louisiana Supreme Court rules that the state’s statutory ban on “unnatural carnal copulation” applies to women engaged in oral sex with other women.
1976: The Vatican calls homosexuality “a serious depravity” that “can in no case be approved of” in its newly released “Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics” 1982: On the syndicated “Helen Gurley Brown Show”, the host (and Cosmopolitan editor) asks National Gay Task Force director Lucia Valeska, “Is it true that gay people are … Read More
1958: In the landmark case One, Inc. v. Olesen, the United States Supreme Court rules in favor of the First Amendment rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) magazine “One: The Homosexual Magazine.” 1983: A lesbian couple, Zandra Rolon and Deborah Johnson, are refused service when they try to sit in the romantic … Read More
1977: The Advocate reveals that the CIA has been collecting information on some three hundred thousand people who have been arrested in the U.S. for committing homosexual acts. 1981: Premiering tonight on ABC, Dynasty, featuring gay character Steven Carrington, cat fights and more shoulder pads than have ever been seen on TV before. 2000: The … Read More