1971: More than two thousand protesters march on the steps of the Albany capitol building demanding an end to laws that discriminate against gays and lesbians.

1984: Claiming an “absence of compelling need” for such legislation, California governor George Deukmejian vetoes a gay rights bill that would have prohibited job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

1985: William Hoffman’s play about AIDS, As Is, opens at New York City’s Circle Rep Theater.  Less than six weeks later, Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart opens at the Public Theater. 1987: AIDS advocacy group ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) is formed in response to the devastating effects the disease has had on … Read More

1989: Noted gay artist Robert Mapplethorpe dies of AIDS in Boston at the age of 42.  Mapplethorpe’s work is later at the center of a major arts funding controversy in the United States.

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

1987: Vermont becomes the first state to hand out condoms to prisoners on request.