1982: United States district court Judge Jerry Buchmeyer rules in Baker v. Wade that the sodomy law of the state of Texas violates the right to privacy and due process. 2004: Indiana Governor Joseph Kernan issues an executive order banning gender identity discrimination in the public sector.
1991: New Jersey governor James Florio issues an executive order prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination in the public sector.
1920: Officials at the Boise City Traction Company catch two men having sex in a restroom, having installed a spy hole from above. The men are convicted of sodomy. Officials had tried to cover the glory hole with wood or metal, but the coverings always ‘came off.’
1961: Police raid the Tay-Bush Inn in San Francisco. It was the largest gay bar raid in San Francisco history. 103 patrons were sent in seven patrol wagons to city jail and arrested on ‘lewd behavior’ charges. The arrested included actors, actresses, dancers, a state hospital psychologist, a bank manager, an artist and an Air … Read More
1952: Herb Ritts, gay photographer, is born.
1833: In London, Captain Nicholas Nicholls, 50, is sentenced to death on a charge of Sodomy. His sentence is protested by the anonymous poet who is writing Don Leon, purportedly an autobiographical poem by Lord Byron but actually by some contemporary who is remarkably familiar with the late poet’s love life. Don Leon is not … Read More
1981: Larry Kramer, whose 1978 novel Faggots took gay men to task for promiscuity in pre-AIDS New York, calls a meeting of concerned men in his Greenwich Village apartment. It is a precursor to the organization that will become Gay Men’s Health Crisis in New York. 1995: South Korea marks its first Pride Celebration with … Read More
1989: Keith Haring reveals he has HIV. Prices for his art soar as collectors anticipate his death. 2010: The Supreme Court of Mexico ruled in quick succession that Mexico City’s same-sex marriage law is constitutional, that the same marriages contracted in Mexico City must be recognized throughout Mexico, although no other state is required … Read More
1972: The Ohio Secretary of State refuses to grant articles of incorporation to the Greater Cincinnati Gay Society. Two years later, the Ohio Supreme Court upholds the decision, stating that even though homosexual acts are now legal in Ohio, “the promotion of homosexuality as a valid life style is contrary to the public policy of … Read More
1978: Representatives of 17 gay, predominantly male and European organizations found the International Lesbian and Gay Association at a meeting hosted by the English Campaign for Homosexual Equality in Coventry, England. 1991: Tom Duane, an openly gay candidate in a close race for a NYC West Side City Council seat, reveals he has HIV after … Read More