1981: The NYC Gay Men’s Chorus becomes the first openly gay musical group to play at Carnegie Hall with their Christmas concert.

1987: Having raided and closed down The Detour the night before, Los Angeles police raid and shut down the One Way, over alleged violations to the city’s fire ordinance.

1636: The Plymouth Colony (present-day Massachusetts) issues the first complete legal code in the colonies. “Sodomy, rapes, buggery” constitute one of eight categories of crimes punishable by death.

1959: Russell Wolden, running for mayor of San Francisco as a Democrat, accuses the incumbent of welcoming and collaborating with the city’s “sex deviates.” His tactic backfires: the city’s newspapers accuse him of irresponsible mudslinging, and he loses in the next month’s elections.

1970: Colombia changes “homosexual behavior” from a felony into a misdemeanor, and the maximum penalty is reduced to three years. 1987: The Homomonument, a memorial to LGBT victims of the Nazis, is dedicated at Amsterdam, Netherlands.

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.

1979: Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King win the women’s doubles championship at Wimbledon. 1986: The United States Supreme Court denies certiorari in the case of Baker v. Wade, thereby refusing to review a constitutional challenge to the sodomy law of Texas. 1987: Arizona gay activist Ed Buck begins a recall effort to have Arizona governor Evan Mecham-known … Read More