1988: The film adaptation of Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song Trilogy opens in the United States.

1978: Harvey Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone are assassinated by former City Supervisor Dan White.

2011: An independent arbiter rules that Baltimore County, Maryland must extend spousal benefits to the same-sex spouses of two police officers who legally married in other states.

1982: A California judge tosses Marilyn Barnett’s so-called “palimony” suit against tennis star Billie Jean King out of court.

2008: California voters ban same-sex marriage with Proposition 8, becoming the first U.S. state to do so after marriages had been legalized for same-sex couples. The amendment to California’s constitution passed by a margin of 52% to 47% and overturned the state supreme court’s ruling in May in favor of same-sex marriage.

1955: Three men are arrested in Boise, Idaho on charges of lewd conduct and sodomy, inciting a “moral panic” in Boise that resulted in 16 arrests, 15 convictions and almost 1,500 people being questioned.

1961: In Hollywood, the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) announces a revision of its production code. “In keeping with the culture, the mores and the values of our time,” the revision advises, “homosexuality and other sexual aberrations may now be treated with care, discretion and restraint.” The new ruling paves the way for the release of films like The Children’s Hour and Advise and Consent, but the MPPDA later amends the revision to specify that “sexual aberration” may be “suggested but not actually spelled out.”

1980: The Toronto Board of Education adopts a policy banning discrimination based on sexual orientation while adding a clause forbidding “proselytizing of homosexuality in the schools.” 1981: The film Mommie Dearest opens, simultaneously glorifying and condemning gay icon Joan Crawford. 2003: The bill to repeal Section 28 in the remaining parts United Kingdom (England and … Read More

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