1979: San Francisco swears in its first openly gay police officers. Within a year, one out of every seven new recruits is LGBT. –Source: Rutledge, Leigh W. The Gay Decades: From Stonewall to the Present : The People and Events That Shaped Gay Lives. New York, NY: Plume, 1992. Print.
2008: Same-sex marriages begin to be officially performed in Connecticut.
1950: In Los Angeles, Harry Hay, Rudi Gernreich, Dale Jennings, Bob Hull and Chuck Rowland, hold the first meeting of the Mattachine Society. 1985: NBC airs “An Early Frost” starring Aidan Quinn. It’s the first made-for-TV movie about AIDS.
1985: Terry Sweeney, arguably the first openly gay performer on network television, joins the cast of Saturday Night Live, where he quickly gains national attention for his hilarious impersonation of First Lady Nancy Reagan. 1989: Variety reverses an earlier policy and begins listing the surviving same-sex partners (listed as “longtime companions”) in the obituaries of … Read More
1977: Having run unsuccessfully for public office three times before, Harvey Milk becomes the first openly gay person elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Shortly before election day, MIlk was quoted as saying, “I think of the fourteen-year-old boy or girl in Des Moines who realizes his or her own homosexuality. The parents throw … Read More
1978: Proposition 6 (aka The Briggs Initiative) which would have banned gays, lesbians, and possibly anyone who supported gay rights, from working in California’s public schools is defeated in California, 59% to 41%. 1990: Gay Activist and film historian Vito Russo, author of the book and subsequent film “The Celluloid Closet” who is described by friends as “one of … Read More
1976: Patrick Dennis, author of “Auntie Mame” dies at the age of 55 in NYC. 1984: California voters decided to turn a previously unincorporated portion of Los Angeles into the nation’s first “Gay City”, West Hollywood. An estimated 40% of the population is LGBTQ.
1973: The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of Florida’s sodomy laws.
1980: Barney Frank (D, Mass.) is elected to his first term in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Massachusetts’s 4th congressional district. He continues to serve to this day and has announced his retirement from Congress at the conclusion of his term in 2013.
1975: Kennedy’s Children, by gay playwright Robert Patrick, opens on Broadway at the John Golden Theatre. It runs for 72 performances. The Lavender Effect is very proud to have had Robert (who now lives in Los Angeles) participate in our Queer Time Capsule at Models of Pride 2012. 1975: The Wall Street Journal runs a front page … Read More