1970: The Advocate estimates there are approximately 6,817,000 gay men and lesbians living in the United States. 1971: The French leftist newspaper, Tout, edited by Jean-Paul Sartre, calls for complete sexual liberation in France, including the right of individuals to be freely and openly homosexual. French police begin massive seizures of the publication on the grounds that it is … Read More
1961: The United States Supreme Court denies certiorari to Frank Kameny’s petition to review the legality of his firing by the United States Army’s Map Service in 1957, bringing his four-year legal battle to a close. 1970: Twenty-three year old David Bowie marries nineteen year old American Mary Angela Barnett. A few years later, Bowie … Read More
1970: The film version of Matt Crowley’s play The Boys in the Band opens in New York, directed by William Friedkin. The director remarks, “I hope there are happy homosexuals. There just don’t happen to be any in my film.” 1977: Two years after having repealed its state sodomy laws, Arkansas’s state legislature votes to … Read More
1970: In the wee morning hours, New York City police raid a gay bar called the Snake Pit, arresting 167 patrons. At the police station, one of the arrestees, an Argentine national named Diego Vinales so feared the possibility of deportation that he leapt from a second-story window of the police station, impaling himself on … Read More
1969: Falsetto singer Tiny Tim, perceived by many to be gay because of his voice and mannerisms, marries his girlfriend, Miss Vicki on national television. 1970: Nine leaders of the women’s liberation movement – including Gloria Steinem and Susan Brownmiller – hold a press conference in NYC to express their “solidarity with the struggle of homosexuals … Read More
1970: A struggling young pianist and songwriter takes a day job performing at New York’s Continental Baths. His name is Barry Manilow.
1970: Lesbian painter Romaine Brooks, dies in Nice, France at age 96.