Prop 8 officially dead in California

As reported by the Los Angeles Times, the California Supreme Court cemented history refused today when they refused to revive Proposition 8, ending the last remaining legal challenge to same-sex marriage in the state.  Meeting in closed session, the state high court rejected arguments  by ProtectMarriage, Proposition 8’s sponsors, that only an appellate court could overturn … Read More

August 14 in LGBTQ History

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

August 12 in LGBTQ History

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

August 11 in LGBTQ History

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

August 10 in LGBTQ History

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

August 9 in LGBTQ History

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

August 8 in LGBTQ History

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

August 7 in LGBTQ History

1987: In London, more than 100 lesbians and gay men stage a kiss-in at Piccadilly Circus in defiance of the Sexual Offences Act, which decriminalized private sex acts between consenting adults but left public displays of same-sex affection a misdemeanor.

August 6 in LGBTQ History

1637: The Plymouth, Massachusetts court finds John Allexander and Thomas Roberts guilty of “often spending their seed one upon the other.”  The Plymouth crime of “sodomy” was not mentioned in connection with the case, for “sodomy,” then, required “penetration,” not mere emission, even if this emission was mutual, and “often.”  The class difference of the … Read More

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