1974: The Lambda Rising Bookstore opens its doors in Washington, D.C., with a stock of three hundred titles and average sales of about $25 a day. By 1987, it has opened a second store, established a thriving mail-order business, offers more than twenty thousand titles, and has annual sales of $1.5 million. 2011: Cambridge, Massachusetts announces … Read More
1954: Alan Turing, considered to be the father of modern computer science, commits suicide by cyanide poisoning, 18 months after being given libido-reducing hormone treatment for a year as a punishment for homosexuality. He is only 41 years old. 1977: Florida Governor Reubin Askew signs a law prohibiting gay men and lesbians from adopting children. … Read More
2011: The Wyoming Supreme Court reverses a lower court ruling and allows a LGBT couple married in Canada to divorce. The ruling recognized same-sex marriage in Wyoming only in the context of divorce.
1981: The first official documentation of the condition to be known as AIDS is published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The L.A. Times reports the first mention of AIDS in the mainstream American press. 1983: Torch Song Trilogy-Harvey Fierstein’s poignant, autobiographical four-hour comedy about … Read More
1920: House of Representatives Subcommittee of the Committee on Military Affairs approves “Revisions to The Articles of War”, which criminalizes sodomy.
1980: Three local gay rights measures in California-in Davis, San Jose, and Santa Clara County are defeated in referendum elections. 1984: Harvey Fierstein wins his third Tony Award, this time for Best Book of a Musical for La Cage aux Folles. In open defiance of the Tonys’ executive producer-who had begged everyone to “please, please … Read More
1987: Michael Bennett, choreographer of A Chorus Line and Dreamgirls, dies of AIDS at the age of forty-four in Tucson, Arizona. 1989: Lambda Book Report presents the first Lambda Literary AWARDS as part of the American Booksellers Association convention in Washington, DC Armistead Maupin emcees; “Lammy” winners include Dorothy Allison, Paul Monette, Michael Nava, Karen … Read More
1880: The United States Census finds 63 men in 22 states incarcerated for “crimes against nature.”
1718: The death penalty for “sodomy and buggery” is instituted in Pennsylvania, bringing Pennsylvania into conformity with English statute and common law. The law remained in effect until 1786 when, after the Revolution, Pennsylvania legislators were the first to revoke the death penalty for sodomy. 1982: AIDS makes the front page for first time in … Read More
1431: Joan of Arc is burned at the stake for heresy. Among her “crimes” are cross-dressing and inappropriate relationships with women. 1968: Los Angeles Homophile groups organize a “gay-in” in Griffith Park. 1977: In an essay in Newsweek, applauding the efforts of Anita Bryant in Florida, columnist George Will condemns gay rights ordinances as “part … Read More