1970: In New York City, the Rockefeller Five appear in court, but their trial is postponed (charges are later dismissed). Daughters of Bilitis activist Isabel Miller (which is a pseudonym of Alma Routsong) is among the speakers at a rally held after their court appearance. 2011: The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth … Read More
1982: In France, the Age of Consent for same-sex acts is lowered from 21 to 15, the same as for heterosexual acts. 2010: Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker rules that Proposition 8, the 2008 referendum that banned same-sex marriage in California, violates the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. 2011: President Barack Obama signs a … Read More
1982: Twenty-eight-year-old gay Atlantan Michael Hardwick is arrested on sodomy charges after police-trying to serve a warrant for a minor traffic violation-show up at his home and find him in bed performing fellatio on a male companion. “I’m in bed with this guy,” says Hardwick later, “and I hear the door to my room open. … Read More
1986: Roy Cohn dies of AIDS in Bethesda, Maryland, asserting to his last breathe that he has liver cancer. 1995: U.S. President Bill Clinton signs Executive Order 12968, which bans discrimination based on “sexual orientation” as it establishes uniform policies for allowing government employees access to classified information.
1995: After refusing to allow the Gay and Lesbian Association of Zimbabwe to exhibit at a human rights book fair, President Robert Mugabe opens the fair with an attack on lesbians and gay men, saying they are alien to African traditions and that he doesn’t believe “they have any rights at all.” 1996: Representative … Read More
1940: The German Reich Commissar of the occupied Netherlands territories makes all sexual activities between men illegal. 1965: Lesbian and gay demonstrators picket the Pentagon to protest discrimination in the military. 1969: In New York City, militants separate from the more moderate homophile movement to form a counterculture-inspired group they vote to call the “Gay Liberation Front”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_Liberation_Front … Read More
1960: In France, the National Assembly adds homosexuality to a list of fleaux sociaux (“social plagues”) that the government is charged to combat. 2003: George W. Bush, sitting president of the United States, says he supports “codifying marriage in the United States as being between one man and one woman.”
1953: Tim Gunn, fashion guru and guide is born today. “Make it work!” 1978: The Village People’s first major hit, disco single “Macho Man”, begins a six-week run in the nation’s Top 40. It will eventually go gold. 1986: The Chicago City Council, by a vote of 30 to 18, defeats a proposed gay rights ordinance for the … Read More
1961: Illinois becomes the first U.S. state to repeal its sodomy law. 1988: A major, 175-picture retrospective of Robert Mapplethorpe’s photographs-“Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Moment”-opens at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.
1940: The Rev. Troy Perry, founder of the Metropolitan Community Church, is born. 1967: In the United Kingdom, nearly ten years after the publication of the Wolfenden Report, the Sexual Offenses Act takes effect, decriminalizing private homosexual acts in England and Wales. The age of consent for homosexual acts is set at 21, compared to 16 … Read More