1791: In France, the new law code, enacted as part of the French Revolution, effectively decriminalizes sodomy by including no mention of sex between consenting adults. 2004: California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signs “AB 2900,” a bill to unify all state anti-discrimination codes to match the California Fair Employment and Housing Act. In essence it adds … Read More
1992: The Kentucky Supreme Court issues its holding in Kentucky v. Wasson, invalidating the state’s sodomy law as unconstitutional. 2004: Nova Scotia becomes the sixth of Canada’s provinces or territories to have legal same-sex marriage. Neither the federal nor provincial governments opposed the lawsuit filed by three couples, one of whom had already been married … Read More
1970: On the CBS Television series Medical Center, a medical researcher announces, “I am a homosexual.” Although his “condition” is portrayed as unfortunate, the program is acclaimed as the first sympathetic treatment of a gay man in an American TV drama. 1998: The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Abel v. United States … Read More
1676: Governor Edmond Andros of New York issues an order extending the 1665 sodomy law of New York into what now are Pennsylvania and Delaware. 1965: Emmy winning actor, producer and writer, Scandal‘s Dan Bucatinsky is born in New York CIty. 2002: In Switzerland, voters in the canton of Zurich vote 63% to 37% to give … Read More
1955: In San Francisco, four lesbian couples, including Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, found the Daughters of Bilitis, the first homophile organization exclusively for women. 1982: The Oklahoma Supreme Court awards custody of two boys to their divorced gay father, declaring homosexuality isn’t in itself grounds for ruling a parent unfit. 1993: Married … with Children‘s Amanda Bearse talks … Read More
1958: In New York City, lesbians, including Barbara Gittings, hold the first Daughters of Bilitis New York meeting at the offices of the Mattachine Society of New York. The chapter is the first lesbian organization on the East Coast. 1973: In Houston, Billie Jean King defeats “male chauvinist” Bobby Riggs in tennis’ “Battle of the Sexes” … Read More
1964: Organized by activist Randy Wicker, a small group picketed New York City’s Whitehall Street Induction Center after the confidentiality of gay men’s draft records was violated. This action has been identified as the first gay rights demonstration in the United States. 1970: In Sydney, Australia, John Ware and Christabel Poll, founders of the newly … Read More
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
1972: M*A*S*H premieres on CBS introducing the world to Corp. Max Klinger, televisions first on-going transvestite (but still heterosexual) character. 1979: California Governor Jerry Brown appoints Stephen M. Lachs to the Los Angeles Superior Court making him the nation’s first openly gay judge. 1986: Arch-Conservative Antonin Scalia joins the U.S. Supreme Court. 2007: The Maryland … Read More
1994: At the insistence of the U.S., the United Nations suspends the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) from observer status because of allegations that ILGA’s members include groups that promote pedophilia. 2004: Manitoba becomes the fifth of Canada’s provinces or territories to have legal same-sex marriage. Neither the federal nor provincial governments opposed the … Read More