Timeline Cars
Return to home
1730 Jul 21,
States of Holland put a death penalty on "sodomy."
(MC, 7/21/02)
1805 Louisiana passed legislation
against sodomy. The law was upheld in 2002.
(SFC, 11/23/02, p.A5)
1810 May 21, Charles Chevalier
d'Eon de Beaumont (81), French spy, cross dresser, died.
(MC, 5/21/02)
1825 Karl Heinrich (d.1895), later
considered as the 1st gay activist, was born. In 2002 Roberto Massari,
Italian publisher, dedicated a new wine, Rosso Gayardo, to him.
(SFC, 1/30/03, p.D6)
1850 California passed anti-sodomy
legislation in its “crime against nature” law.
(SSFC, 5/11/08, Books p.4)
1861 British colonial rulers
framed an anti-homosexuality law for India.
(Reuters, 7/7/06)
1894 French poet Pierre Louys
(1870-1925) authored “The Songs of Bilitis” (1894) a book of lesbian
love poetry.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Songs_of_Bilitis)
1904 Aug 10, Dutch newspaper Volk
fired gay journalist Jacob de Cock.
(MC, 8/10/02)
1906 The 1st gay periodical "Der
Eigene" was published.
(SSFC, 6/17/01, DB p.66)
1908 San Francisco's 1st drag bar
opened.
(SFC, 11/21/03, p.A1)
1909 Jan 15, In San Francisco
police arrested Miss Frances Smith, attired in a jaunty sailor costume,
and Miss May Burke as they strolled down Montgomery street. Smith was
charged with masquerading in male attire and Burke was charged with
vagrancy.
(SSFC, 1/10/10, DB p.42)
1909 California legalized the
sterilization of convicted sodomites.
(SSFC, 5/11/08, Books p.4)
1915 California expanded the
definition of sodomy to include fellatio and cunnilingus.
(SSFC, 5/11/08, Books p.4)
1926 May 30, Christine Jorgensen,
pioneer transsexual, was born.
(MC, 5/30/02)
1928 Radclyffe Hall (b.1880-1943)
published "The Well of Loneliness," a novel intended as a cry about the
plight of "congenital inverts," her term for lesbians. A Bow Street
magistrate declared the novel to be obscene. It caused a big stir in
England and a trial for obscenity. In 1999 Diana Souhami published "The
Trials of Radclyffe Hall."
(SFEC, 8/8/99, BR p.1)(SFC, 7/14/06,
p.A2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radclyffe_Hall)
1933 Charles Henri Ford (d.2002 at
94) authored "The Young and Evil," considered by some to be the 1st gay
novel. It was based on Ford’s adventures in Greenwich Village and was
banned in the US until the 1960s.
(SFC, 10/1/02, p.A18)
1940 Jul 31, Reich's Kommissar
Seyss-Inquart banned homosexuals.
(MC, 7/31/02)
1943 Radclyffe Hall (b.1880),
English author of the lesbian classic "The Well of Loneliness" (1928),
died. The book was the subject of an obscenity trial in Britain which
resulted in all copies being ordered destroyed.
(AP, 9/29/09)
1950 The Mattachine Society, the
first openly gay organization in the US, was founded in Los Angeles.
Henry Hay (d.2002 at 90) was one of the original founders and won the
1999 vote to serve as grand marshal for the SF Pride Parade. In 1990
Stuart Timmons authored the biography "The Trouble with Harry Hay."
(SFEC, 6/13/99, DB p.35)(SFC, 10/25/02, p.A21)
1953 Apr 27, President Dwight D.
Eisenhower signed Executive Order 10450: Security Requirements for
Government Employment. The order listed "sexual perversion" as a
condition for firing a federal employee and for denying employment to
potential applicants. Homosexuality, moral perversion, and communism
were categorized as national security threats; the issue of homosexual
federal workers had become a dire federal personnel policy concern.
(http://tinyurl.com/3bblwc)
1954 Jun 7, Alan Turing (b.1912),
English mathematician, died of suicide. Turing, a homosexual, was
convicted in 1952 of gross indecency and forced to take estrogen
injections. In 2006 David Leavitt authored ”The Man Who Knew Too Much:
Alan Turing and the Invention of the Computer. In 2009 British PM
Gordon Brown apologized for the "inhumane" treatment of Alan Turing.
(www.turing.org.uk/turing/)Econ, 7/8/06, p.79)(AP,
9/11/09)
1955 Oct, Del Martin (1921-2008),
Phyllis Lyon and 6 other SF women founded the Daughters of Bilitis, the
1st national lesbian organization. It was named after “The Songs of
Bilitis” (1894) a book of lesbian love poetry by French poet Pierre
Louys.
(SFC, 6/23/00, p.A26)(SFC, 8/28/08,
p.A1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daughters_of_Bilitis)
1965 Jose Sarria became the 1st
openly gay person to run for public office in the US. He received 5,600
votes in his run for SF supervisor.
(SFC, 2/21/05, p.B5)
1965 Jose Sarria founded The San
Francisco Imperial Court, the oldest SF gay organization. He proclaimed
himself Empress Jose I, widow of Emperor Joshua Norton (d.1880).
(SFEM,10/19/97, DB p.32)
1965 Dr. Judd Marmor (d.2003 at
93) authored "Sexual Inversion." It questioned the prevailing views on
homosexuality.
(SFC, 12/18/03, p.A25)
1968 Apr 14, The gay-themed play,
"The Boys in the Band" by Mart Crowley, opened off Broadway at Theater
Four and set a new genre. A film version was released in 1970.
(AP, 4/14/08)(WSJ, 8/28/96,
p.A10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boys_in_the_Band)
1968 Quentin Crisp (1908-1999),
English gay writer born as Denis Pratt, authored his autobiography:
"The Naked Civil Servant." In 1975 The Naked Civil Servant was
broadcast on British and American television and made both actor John
Hurt and Crisp himself into stars.
(SFC, 11/22/99, p.C4)(WSJ, 7/14/00,
p.W11)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quentin_Crisp)
1969 Jun 28, In the early hours 8
police officers raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's
Greenwich Village. Police raided the bar because it had refused to pay
an increase in bribery. This led to a clash in what came to be called
The Stonewall Rebellion, an incident considered the birth of the
homosexual rights movement. Some 400 to 1,000 patrons rioted against
police for 3 days The event was described by gay historian Martin
Duberman in his book “Stonewall” (1993).
(SFEC, 7/21/96, DB p.32)(AP, 6/27/97)(AP,
6/27/08)(SFC, 6/22/09, p.E1)(SFC, 6/26/09, p.F3)
1971 Mar 10, In France a group of
homosexuals of both sexes disrupted a live general public radio show,
devoted to “Homosexuality, that painful problem,” and put the
newly-born gay movement on the French political map.
(http://tinyurl.com/5hafjv)
1971 The Bay Area Reporter
(B.A.R.), a gay community publication, was begun by Bob Ross (d.2003 at
69) and Paul Bentley.
(SFC, 12/12/03, p.A29)
1972 Apr 24, Natalie Clifford
Barney (b.1876), lesbian writer and US expatriate, died in Paris. In
2002 Suzanne Rodriguez authored "Wild Heart, A Life: Natalie Clifford
Barney’s Journey From Victorian America to the Literary Salons of
Paris."
(SSFC, 10/27/02,
p.M6)(www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7157)
1972 The film "Elevator Girls in
Bondage" was written and directed by Michael Kalmen (d.2003) and
featured the SF drag troupe the Cockettes.
(SFC, 7/15/03, p.A18)
1972 Walter C. Righter, an
Episcopal Bishop, broke a tie and voted in favor of ordaining women in
the Episcopal Church. In 1998 he published "A Pilgrim’s Way: The
Personal Story of the Episcopal Bishop Charged with Heresy for
Ordaining a Gay Man Who Was in a Committed Relationship."
(SFEC, 6/28/98, BR
p.9)(http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n9_v50/ai_n27531797)
1972-1974 Some 20,000 gay people moved to San
Francisco during this period.
(SFC, 11/21/03, p.A1)
1973 Mar 26, Noel Coward (b.1899),
English gay playwright, died. He was called "The Master" and his work
included "The Vortex," "Hay Fever," "Private Lives," "Brief Encounter"
and "Blithe Spirit." In 1970 he was given knighthood. "Noel Coward: A
Biography" by Philip Hoare was published in 1996. Another biography, "A
Talent to Amuse" by Sheridan Morley, published in 1974, was
recommended. In 2007 Barry Day edited “The Letters of Noel Coward.”
(WSJ, 8/15/96, p.A10)(SFEC, 8/25/96, BR p.9)(WSJ,
11/10/07, p.W8)
1973 Jul 1, Maryland declared that
only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid in the state.
(SFC, 9/19/07, p.A3)(http://tinyurl.com/5ygqvd)
1973 Montana initiated a ban on
homosexual sex.
(SFC, 7/3/97, p.A3)
1974 Dec, Allan Spear (1937-2008),
Minnesota state senator, announced that he was gay, becoming only one
of two openly gay legislators in the country.
(SFC, 10/14/08, p.B5)
1974 This year's edition of the
"Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (DSM), 1st
published in 1952, removed homosexuality from its list of disorders.
(WSJ, 12/3/96, p.A1)(SFC, 12/18/03, p.A25)
1975 Jul 3, The US Civil Service
Commission adopted new suitability regulations devoid of the previous
language about "immoral" conduct or "sexual perversion." This voided
Pres. Eisenhower’s 1953 executive order on firing gays.
(www.fedglobe.org/news/12now_history.html)
1975 Oct 22, Matlovich, who
appeared in his Air Force uniform on the cover of Time magazine,
challenged the ban against homosexuals in the US military. He was given
a "general" discharge by the Air Force after publicly declaring his
homosexuality. NBC subsequently made a TV movie of his story. His suit
dragged on until 1980 when a federal judge ordered Matlovich
reinstated. Instead of re-entering the Air Force, Matlovich accepted a
settlement of $160,000. Matlovich became a gay rights activist and dies
of AIDS in 1988."
(MC, 10/22/01)(www.glinn.com/news/tline5.htm)
1975 Clela Rorex, Boulder, Colo.,
county clerk, allowed 6 same-sex couples to wed after changing the
license application to read "person" rather than "male" and "female."
(SFC, 2/14/04, p.A1)
1976 May 24, The SF Chronicle
published the 1st installment of "Tales of the City" by Armistead
Maupin.
(SFC, 5/1/01,
p.A1)(www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/27/sunday/main3756171.shtml)
1976 Aug 27, Transsexual Renee
Richards was barred from competing in US Tennis Open in Forest
Hills, NY.
(www.nytimes.com/packages/html/sports/year_in_sports/08.27.html)
1977 Jun 7, Anita Bryant led a
successful crusade against Miami gay rights law.
(http://thecastro.net/parade/parade/parade.html)
1977 Jun 8, Some 5,000 marched
through downtown to protests an anti-gay rights vote in Miami. Voters
in Dade County had repealed a gay-rights ordnance.
(SFC, 6/8/02, p.G8)
1978 Jun 25, Some 240,000 people
took part in the 7th SF Gay Freedom Parade.
(SFC, 6/20/03, p.E2)
1978 Aug 20, The Castro Village
held its 5th annual street fair for an estimated 20,000 people.
(SFC, 8/15/03, p.E9)
1978 Oct 22, In SF Episcopal
priest William Barcus III revealed his homosexuality before a
supportive congregation at the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin on Union
Street during a sermon criticizing Proposition 6, the Briggs Initiative.
(SFC, 10/17/03, p.E9)
1978 Nov 8, Jerry Brown was
re-elected as governor of California. Republican Mike Curb was elected
Lt. Gov. State voters rejected restrictions on gay and lesbian teachers
in the 1st statewide plebiscite on such an issue.
(SFC, 11/7/03, p.E3)
1978 Dr. Fritz Klein (1933-2006),
Austrian-born American researcher in bisexuality, published his Klein
Grid, an expansion of the Kinsey Scale that measures human sexuality.
(SFC, 6/1/06, p.B7)
1979 Mar 31, A bachelor party
involving several young SF police officers ended in a scrap when
drunken revelers invaded a lesbian bar called Peg's Place on Geary.
(SFC, 3/26/04, p.F5)
1979 Apr 9, Some 300 lesbians and
gay men competed with 6,500 other applicants for 600 SF police jobs.
There were no openly gays officers at the time.
(SFC, 4/9/04, p.F10)
1979 Jun 24, An estimated 300,000
people attended the 8th annual SF Gay Freedom Day Parade with about
80,000 in the procession.
(SFC, 6/18/04, p.F2)
1979 Aug 3, INS inspectors at the
SF Int’l. Airport stopped 2 male Mexican nationals because their bags
contained cosmetics. The INS soon issued a new directive temporarily
halting its agents from turning back foreign visitors suspected of
being homosexuals.
(SFC, 8/13/04, p.F4)
1979 Oct 14, In Washington, DC,
some 100,000 gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and supporters marched in
celebration of gay pride and demanded equal rights for homosexuals
under the law.
(SFC, 10/15/04, p.F13)
1980-1990 Herbert Baumeister (1947-1996), an
Indianapolis businessman, killed 16 men, most of them gay, and dumped
them in the woods behind his home and along rural roads in Indiana and
Ohio. Baumeister committed suicide in Canada at age 49.
(www.mayhem.net/Crime/morg9804.html)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb_Baumeister)
1981 Aug 28, The US national
Centers for Disease Control, noting a high incidence of Kaposi's
sarcoma and pneumocystis in homosexual men, announced a medical task
force had been formed to find out why. It was later determined the
increased number of illnesses was caused by AIDS.
(AP, 8/28/01)
1981 Vito Russo authored “The
Celluloid Closet,” in which he decoded Hollywood films for queer
content.
(SFC, 10/15/04, p.F1)
1981 Alan P. Bell (d.2002) led a
Kinsey study that suggested that homosexuals are born with that
predisposition and not influenced by traumatic experiences during
childhood development.
(SFC, 5/28/02, p.A18)
1981 Larry Kramer helped found the
Gay Men’s Health Crises in NYC. He later split with the group and
founded ACT UP (1987) to press for a more forceful response to AIDS.
His work included the novel "Faggots" (1978) and the play The Normal
Heart."
(SFC, 7/10/97, p.A10)
1984 Jun 24, In San Francisco the
12th annual Lesbian/Gay Freedom Parade drew an estimated 300,000
observers and participants.
(SSFC, 6/21/09, DB p.50)
1984 The US Methodist General
Conference passed a ban on “self-avowed practicing homosexuals.”
(SFC, 12/27/04, p.A3)
1985 Willie Walker (1949-2004)
helped found the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society
in San Francisco.
(SFC, 10/22/04, p.B7)
1986 Jun 30, The Supreme Court, in
Bowers v. Hardwick, ruled 5-4 that states could outlaw homosexual acts
between consenting adults. This upheld a Georgia law against sodomy.
However, the nation's highest court effectively reversed this decision
in 2003 in Lawrence v. Texas.
(Econ, 4/3/04, p.87)(AP, 6/30/07)
1986 Richard Plant (d.1998) wrote
"The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War Against Homosexuals."
(www.holocaust-trc.org/homosx.htm)
1986 The film “Desert Hearts” was
adopted from the Jane Rule novel “Desert of the Heart.” It was the
story of 2 women falling in love. The screenplay was by Natalie Cooper
(d.2004).
(SFC, 10/28/04, p.B7)
1986 Mike Bowers, Attorney-General
of Georgia, successfully defended the state’s anti-sodomy law before
the US Supreme Court.
(SFC, 6/6/97, p.A14)
1987 Aug 24, Bayard Rustin
(b.1912), gay civil rights activist, died of cardiac arrest. In 2003 a
documentary of his life by Nancy Kates: "Brother Outsider: The Life of
Bayard Rustin," was aired on PBS TV. He was the chief architect of the
1963 march on Washington. In 2003 John D'Emilio authored "Lost Prophet:
The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin."
(SFC, 1/16/03, p.E1)(SSFC, 8/31/03, p.M3)
1988 Feb 10, A 3-judge panel of
the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco struck down the
Army's ban on homosexuals, saying gays were entitled to the same
protection against discrimination as racial minorities. The ruling was
later set aside by the full appeals court.
(AP, 2/10/97)
1988 Mar 7, Divine, [Harris
Milstead], female impersonator (Pink Flamingos), died.
(MC, 3/7/02)
1988 Alan Hollinghurst authored
his 1st novel, “The Swimming Pool Library.” Edmund White later
described it as the best book about gay life yet written by an English
author.
(Econ, 4/17/04, p.82)
1988 Israel repealed its
anti-sodomy laws. The laws had not been enforced for 30 years.
(www.tau.ac.il/law/aeyalgross/Danilowitz.htm)
1989 May 3, Christine Jorgensen
(b.1926), Denmark-born 1st transsexual (1952), died in California. Her
book “Christine Jorgensen: A Personal Autobiography” was published in
1967, and its film adaptation was released in 1970 as The Christine
Jorgensen Story.
(www.glbtq.com/arts/jorgensen_c.html)
1989 May 26, Danish parliament
allowed legal marriage among homosexuals.
(www.wayoflife.org/fbns/pushing.htm)
1989 Oct 1, In Copenhagen,
Denmark, 11 homosexual couples were married. It was the first time any
country allowed such marriages.
(SFC, 5/26/96, Z1 p.6)(SFC, 12/12/98, p.B3)
1990 Feb 8, CBS television
temporarily suspended Andy Rooney for his anti-gay and anti-black
remarks in a gay magazine interview.
(HN, 2/8/99)(MC, 2/8/02)
1990 Prof. Theodore Sarbin
(1911-2005) of UC Berkeley co-wrote the report “Gays in Uniform: The
Pentagon’s Secret Reports.” The report prompted Pres. Clinton’s policy
of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
(SFC, 9/3/05, p.B4)
1990 Episcopal Bishop Walter
Righter of Iowa ordained Rev. Barry Stopfel, who publicly proclaimed
his long-term gay relationship with a lover. The Bishop was later
charged with heresy under a 1979 church resolution and then acquitted.
(SFC, 5/16/96, p.A-11)
1990 Rainaldo Arenas (b.1943), gay
writer, took his own life in the US after suffering from AIDS. He left
Cuba during the 1980 Mariel boatlift. His books included "Before Night
Falls" (1993) and "The Color of Summer" the 4th of 5 called the
"Pentagonia" a "secret history of Cuba." In 2000 the film version of
Before Night Falls was directed by Julian Schnabel
(SFEC, 7/30/00, BR p.4)(SSFC, 12/17/00, DB p.49)
1990 In Russia the Moscow Union of
Lesbians and Gays was founded.
(SFC, 6/23/96, BR, p.6)
1991 Jun 4, Lesbian priest
Elizabeth Carl was ordained in Episcopal Church.
(MC, 6/4/02)
1992 Sarah Pettit (25) co-founded
Out magazine. Pettit died Jan 22, 2003. Out was sold to LPI in 2000.
(SFC, 1/23/03, p.A18)
1993 Apr 14, A U.S.
government-funded study said that of 3,321 men surveyed, only 1.1
percent identified themselves as exclusively homosexual, a finding
disputed by gay activists.
(AP, 4/14/98)
1993 Apr 16, President Clinton
received gay and lesbian activists in the Oval Office for a one-hour
meeting.
(AP, 4/16/98)
1993 Apr 25, Hundreds of thousands
of gay rights activists and their supporters marched in Washington,
D.C., demanding equal rights and freedom from discrimination.
(AP, 4/25/98)
1993 May 3, American sailor Terry
M. Helvey confessed to stomping to death Allen Schindler, a homosexual
shipmate, but told his court-martial in Japan that he was drunk and did
not plan the killing. Helvey was later sentenced to life in prison.
(AP, 5/3/98)
1993 May 11, The Senate Armed
Services Committee heard emotional testimony from Marine Col. Fred
Peck, who affirmed his love for his homosexual son, Scott, while
reiterating his opposition to lifting the ban on openly gay servicemen.
(AP, 5/11/98)
1993 Jul 19, President Clinton
announced a compromise allowing homosexuals to serve in the military,
but only if they refrained from all homosexual activity, under a
compromise dubbed "don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue."
(HN, 7/19/98)(AP, 7/19/08)
1993 Tel Aviv began hosting an
annual gay pride parade.
(SFC, 6/8/02, p.A12)
1994 Feb 20, Pope John Paul II
demanded juristic discrimination of homosexuals.
(MC, 2/20/02)
1994 Jun 26, Hundreds of thousands
of homosexuals gathered in New York City to commemorate the 25th
anniversary of the Stonewall Inn riot, considered the birth of the
gay-rights movement.
(AP, 6/26/99)
1994 Aug 20, Archbishop Quarracino
wanted all homosexuals to leave Argentina.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1996 Mar 27, The Gay’s Hill
Baptist Church in Millen, Ga., burned down. Arson was suspected and
investigations by the FBI and ATF were later begun.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A16)
1996 Apr 14, "A History of Queer
Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area" by Susan Stryker and Jim Van
Buskirk was reviewed.
(SFC, 4/14/96, BR, p.1)
1996 May 8, South Africa approved
a National Constitution that guaranteed equal rights for all races.
Zulu nationalists and white extremists boycotted the parliament vote
and the entire process. The Constitution contained a clause that
prevented discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
(SFC, 5/8/96, p.A-19)(WSJ, 5/9/96, p.A-1)(SFEC,
9/6/98, p.A22)
1996 May 20, The Supreme Court
struck down, 6-3, a Colorado constitutional amendment banning laws that
protect homosexuals from discrimination. In another decision, the court
curtailed, 5-4, huge jury awards aimed at punishing or deterring
misconduct.
(WSJ, 5/21/96, p.A-1)(AP, 5/20/97)
1996 Jun 1, The bodies of Julianne
Williams (24) and Laura Winans (26) were found in Shenandoah National
Park, a week after they were last seen alive. Their hands were bound
and their throats were slashed. On Apr 10, 2002 Darrel David Rice (34)
of Maryland was indicted for the murders along with hate charges.
(SFC, 4/11/02, p.A15)
1996 Sep 10, The US Senate dealt a
double defeat to gay-rights activists, voting to reject same-sex
marriage in federal law (Defense of Marriage Act - DOMA) by a vote of
85-14. It also rejected (50-49) a separate bill that would have barred
job discrimination against gays.
(WSJ, 9/11/96, p.A1)(AP, 9/10/97)
1997 Apr 30, ABC aired the "coming
out" of the title character in the sitcom "Ellen," played by Ellen
DeGeneres.
(AP, 4/30/98)
1997 May 1, The TV show Ellen
captured 42 million viewers to hear the Ellen character, played by
Ellen DeGeneres, announce that she was a lesbian.
(SFC, 5/2/97, p.C1)
1997 Jul 2, A federal judge in New
York ruled that the military policy, "don’t ask, don’t tell," is
unconstitutional and only serves to cater to the biases of many
heterosexuals.
(SFC, 7/3/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul 2, A Montana court voided
a 24-year-old ban on homosexual sex, concluding that the government has
no business meddling in the sexual activity of consenting adults.
(SFC, 7/3/97, p.A3)
1997 Aug 20, In Jamaica prison
guards walked off their jobs after a commissioner suggested that guards
and prisoners use condoms to prevent AIDS. Anti-gay violence broke out
and within a week 16 inmates were killed and 20 injured at Kingston’s
Gen’l. Penitentiary and St. Catherine District Prison.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.A4)
1997 Dec 17, In New Jersey a
settlement was reached that allows gay and unmarried couples to adopt
children.
(WSJ, 12/18/97, p.A1)
1997 China decriminalized
homosexuality. The Chinese Classification and Diagnostic Criteria of
Mental Disorders removed homosexuality from its list of mental
illnesses on April 20, 2001.
(Econ, 6/20/09,
p.43)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_China)
1997 The Tasmanian parliament
repealed its anti-gay laws.
(SSFC, 1/23/05, p.E6)
1998 Feb 6, Washington became the
27th state to ban same-sex marriages.
(SFC, 2/7/98, p.A3)
1998 May 9, In Britain the Israeli
transsexual, Dana International (Yaron Cohen), won the annual
Eurovision Song Prize with the song "Diva."
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.D5)(SFEC, 7/20/98, p.A9)
1998 Aug 1, The 5th quadrennial
Gay Games began in Amsterdam with some 15,000 competitors.
(SFEC, 8/2/98, p.A2)
1998 Aug 9, In London, England,
the 13th Anglican Lambeth Conference, which had opened on July 18,
closed. The 749 bishops present declared that homosexual acts were
incompatible with scripture, but that gays were loved by God.
(Econ, 3/29/08,
p.50)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambeth_Conferences)
1998 Oct 7, In Laramie, Wyo.,
Matthew Shepard (22), a gay student at the University of Wyoming, was
found beaten, burned and tied to a wooden ranch fence. Police arrested
Russel Arthur Henderson (21) and Aaron McKinney for attempted murder,
kidnapping and robbery. Also picked up as accessories to the charges
were Chastity Vera Pasley (20) and Kristen Leann Price (18). Shepard
died Oct 12. Pasley was sentenced in 1999 to 15-24 months in jail for
lying to police and destroying evidence. [See Oct 12] Henderson and
McKinney were later convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
(SFC, 10/10/98, p.A3)(SFC, 10/13/98, p.A1)(SFC,
5/22/99, p.A11)(AP, 10/7/99)
1998 Oct 12, Matthew Shepard (21),
a gay student at the University of Wyoming, died in fort Collins,
Colorado, five days after he was beaten and lashed to a fence; two men
were charged with his murder. Russell Henderson later pleaded guilty to
murder and kidnapping; a second suspect, Aaron McKinney, was convicted
of felony murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery. McKinney was
sentenced to 2 life terms.
(SFC, 10/13/98, p.A1)(AP, 10/12/99)(SFC, 11/4/99,
p.A1)(SFC, 11/5/99, p.A1)
1998 A South Africa court struck
down the law against sodomy.
(SSFC, 5/25/03, p.A12)
1999 Apr 5, In Laramie, Wyo.,
Russell Henderson pleaded guilty to kidnapping and felony murder in the
death of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student.
(AP, 4/5/00)
1999 Apr 30, In London a bomb
exploded at the Admiral Duncan pub, a gay bar in Soho. 2-3 people were
killed and over 70 wounded. David Copeland (24) was convicted for the
bombing in 2000.
(SFC, 5/1/99, p.A1)(AP, 4/30/00)(SFC, 7/1/00, p.A14)
1999 May 7, A jury in Pontiac,
Mich., announced a $25 million verdict against the producers of the
Jenny Lind TV Show over the 1995 segment that led to the murder of
Scott Amedure by Jonathan Schmitz. Amedure, a gay man, was shot to
death after revealing a crush on Jonathan Schmitz, a fellow guest on
the talk show. Time Warner planned to appeal.
(SFC, 5/8/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/10/99, p.B8)(AP, 5/7/00)
1999 Nov 3, In Laramie, Wyoming,
Aaron McKinney (22) was convicted of murder in the October 6-7, 1998,
beating of gay Wyoming college student Matthew Shepard (21). Shepard
died on October 12, 1998, at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins,
Colorado. McKinney and Russell Henderson, who pleaded guilty to
kidnapping and murder, were sentenced to life in prison. McKinney had
faced the possibility of being sentenced to death by lethal injection.
A deal was reached after Shepard’s parents agreed to accept two life
terms in prison for their son’s killer.
(AP,
11/3/00)(www.cnn.com/US/9911/03/gay.attack.verdict.01/)
1999 Dec 11, Agreeing with his
wife, President Clinton told CBS Radio his 1993 "don’t ask, don’t tell"
policy on gays in the military wasn’t working, and he pledged to work
with the Pentagon to find a way to fix it.
(AP, 12/11/00)
1999 Dec 20, The Vermont Supreme
Court ruled that homosexual couples were entitled to the same benefits
and protections as wedded couples of the opposite sex.
(SFC, 12/21/99, p.A1)(AP, 12/20/00)
2000 Jan 12, Forced to act by a
European court ruling, the British government ended its ban on gay men
and women serving in the armed forces.
(SFC, 1/13/00, p.A1)(AP, 1/12/01)
2000 Jan 31, Atlanta Braves
pitcher John Rocker was suspended by baseball commissioner Bud Selig
for disparaging foreigners, homosexuals and minorities in a Sports
Illustrated interview.
(AP, 1/31/01)
2000 Mar 16, The Vermont state
House of Representatives voted 76-69 for a bill to give same-sex
couples all the rights and responsibilities granted to married
heterosexuals.
(SFEC, 4/2/00, p.A6)
2000 Apr 18, In his first game
back following a 12-game suspension for making disparaging remarks
about minorities, gays and immigrants, Atlanta’s John Rocker pitched a
scoreless ninth inning in a 4-to-3, 12-inning victory over Philadelphia.
(AP, 4/18/01)
2000 Apr 25, In Vermont the
Legislature approved civil unions for homosexuals and Gov. Howard Dean
promised to sign the legislation effective July 1.
(SFC, 4/26/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr 29, In Washington DC some
1000 gay and lesbian couples proclaimed their love at the Lincoln
Memorial as part of the events leading to the 4th annual Millennium
March the next day.
(SFEC, 4/30/00, p.A13)
2000 Apr 30, The 4th annual gay
rights rally, billed as the Millennium March, was held in Washington
DC. The crowd in the national Mall was estimated from 200-750 thousand.
(SFEC, 4/30/00, p.A13)(AP, 4/30/01)
2000 Jul 1, Vermont’s civil unions
law, which granted gay couples most of the rights, benefits and
responsibilities of marriage, went into effect.
(AP, 7/1/01)
2000 Jul 1-9, In Italy the World
Pride int’l. gay pride festival opened in Rome.
(SFEC, 6/4/00, p.C14)(SFEC, 7/2/00, p.A17)
2000 Jul 7, In West Virginia 2
teenagers (17) in Grant Town confessed to killing Arthur Warren Jr.
(26), a gay man. They beat him to death and then drove over his body
several times to make it look like a hit-and-run.
(SFC, 7/8/00, p.A4)(SFC, 7/24/00, p.A3)
2000 Sep 14, US Government
scientists narrowly rejected a proposal to ease the ban on gay male
blood donors, citing uncertainty over whether the move would increase
the AIDS risk to the nation's blood supply.
(AP, 9/14/01)
2000 Bob Guter launched the online
Web zine Bent: A Journal of Crip/Gay Voices.
(SSFC, 2/29/04, p.M2)
2001 Mar 31, In the Netherlands
legislation enacted in 2000 to legalize gay marriages went into effect
at midnight.
(SFC, 3/31/01, p.A10)
2001 Apr 30, The SF Board of
Supervisors passed a measure 9-2 to allow city employees medical
benefits for a sex change.
(SFC, 5/1/01, p.A1)
2001 May 11, In Cairo, Egypt,
authorities arrested 52 males aboard a riverboat restaurant for
homosexual activities. [see Sep 18]
(SFC, 9/19/01, p.B4)
2001 Jul 10, The White House
backed off a plan to let religious groups that receive federal money,
such as the Salvation Army, ignore local laws that ban discrimination
against gays and lesbians.
(AP, 7/10/02)
2001 Robert Aldritch authored
"Who’s Who in Gay and Lesbian History."
(SSFC, 3/23/03, p.M4)
2002 Jun 5, In Sweden legislators
voted to let same-sex couples adopt children.
(SFC, 6/6/02, p.A10)
2002 Jun 7, In Jerusalem hundreds
of gay activists held their 1st gay pride parade.
(SFC, 6/8/02, p.A12)
2002 Jul 5, The Arkansas state
Supreme Court ruled that a law banning sexual relations between people
of the same sex was an unconstitutional invasion of privacy.
(SFC, 7/6/02, p.A5)
2002 Jul 12, In Canada an Ontario
court ruled that refusing legal recognition to gay and lesbian
marriages is unconstitutional.
(SFC, 7/13/02, p.A14)
2002 Sep 10, In South Africa the
highest court ruled that gay couples have the right to adopt children
and laws that prevent them from doing so violate their constitutional
rights.
(AP, 9/10/02)
2002 Oct 4, In Newark, Ca, Eddie
Araujo (17) was beaten to death after he showed up at a party dressed
as a girl (Gwen Araujo). His body was dumped in a shallow grave in the
Sierra. Jose Merel, Michael Magidson and Jaron Nabors were later
charged in the slaying. In 2004 a judge declared a mistrial after
jurors deadlocked over the issue of premeditation.
(SFC, 10/18/02, p.A21)(SFC, 10/19/02, p.A1)(SFC,
6/23/04, p.A1)
2002 Nov 2, Gay Games VI opened in
Sydney, Australia, before some 40,000 spectators.
(SSFC, 11/3/02, p.A13)
2002 Nov 20, A Louisiana Circuit
Court of Appeals ruled that the state’s 197-year-old sodomy law does
not discriminate against gays and lesbians.
(SFC, 11/23/02, p.A5)
2002 Dec 17, In New York Gov.
George Pataki signed a bill extending civil rights protections to gays
and lesbians in the state.
(SFC, 12/18/02, p.A3)
2002 Noelle Howey authored "Dress
Codes: Of Three Girlhoods – My Mother’s, My Father’s and Mine."
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.M1)
2003 Jan 4, Clonaid, the company
that claims to have produced the first human clone, said a second child
was born to a Dutch lesbian Jan 3.
(AP, 1/5/03)(SSFC, 1/5/03, p.A22)
2003 Jan 30, Belgium officially
recognized gay marriages.
(SFC, 1/31/03, p.A9)
2003 Apr 30, Eric Gupton (b.1960),
founding member of the Black theater troupe Pomo Afro Homos, died in SF
of complications from AIDS. The group’s breakthrough first show was
titled “Fierce Love: Stories From black Gay Life” (1990).
(SFC, 2/18/08, p.E1)
2003 Jun 7, In a national first,
New Hampshire Episcopalians elected the Reverend V. Gene Robinson, an
openly gay man, as their next bishop.
(AP, 6/7/04)
2003 Jun 10, Toronto, Canada,
issued North America's 1st full marriage licenses to same sex couples
after a judge knocked down Canada's legal definition of marriage, the
union of a man and a woman, as a violation of the country's Charter of
Rights and Freedoms.
(SFC, 6/11/03, p.A7)
2003 Jun 11, The Canadian
government said that gay marriages performed in the central province of
Ontario over the last two days were legal for now but refused to rule
out taking measures later to invalidate them.
(Reuters, 6/11/03)
2003 Jun 26, The US Supreme court
struck down a Texas sodomy law and proclaimed that gay Americans have a
right to private sexual relations.
(SFC, 6/27/03, p.A1)
2003 Jun 29, SF held its 33rd
annual SF Gay Pride parade on Market St.
(SSFC, 6/28/03, p.A2)
2003 Jul 17, The leaders of an
Australian Christian church voted to allow homosexuals to become
priests, drawing protest from within the congregation.
(AP, 7/17/03)
2003 Jul 31, The Vatican issued a
proclamation that condemned government recognition of gay and lesbian
unions.
(SFC, 8/1/03, p.A1)
2003 Sep 8, In NYC Harvey Milk
High School for gay, bisexual and transgender kids opened in Greenwich
Village. It was named after the San Francisco supervisor killed
in 1978.
(SFC, 9/9/03, p.A1)
2003 Sep 18, A law against
"promotion" of homosexuality was removed from the British statute
books, after more than a decade of gay-rights protests.
(AP, 9/18/03)
2003 Sep 19, Gov. Davis signed
AB205, a California domestic partners bill.
(SFC, 9/20/03, p.A1)
2003 Nov 1, Taipei, Taiwan, held
the Chinese world's 1st gay pride parade.
(USAT, 2/5/04, p.1A)
2003 Nov 7, The New Hampshire
Supreme Court ruled that a lesbian affair did not constitute adultery
under state law.
(SFC, 11/8/03, p.A2)
2003 Nov 18, The Massachusetts
Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that a ban on same sex marriage is illegal.
Lawmakers were given 180 days to allow gay marriages.
(SFC, 11/19/03, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/19/03, p.A1)
2003 Dec 19, An Ontario court
ruled that the Canadian government discriminated against same-sex
couples by denying pension benefits to survivors whose partners died
before 1998. Benefits were made retro-active to April 17, 1985.
(SSFC, 12/21/03, p.A14)
2003 Robert Aldritch authored
"Colonialism and Homosexuality."
(SSFC, 3/23/03, p.M4)
2003 Nan Alamilla Boyd authored
"Wide-Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965."
(SSFC, 6/28/03, p.M1)
2004 Jan 21, Ohio lawmakers gave
final approval to a measure banning gay marriage and prohibiting state
employees from getting benefits for domestic partners. Gov. Bob Taft
said he would sign it pending a legal review.
(SFC, 1/22/04, p.A1)
2004 Jan 26, Cleveland City Hall
began a domestic partner's registry, the 1st in the nation created by
voters.
(SFC, 1/27/04, p.A3)
2004 Feb 12, Some 90 gay and
lesbian couples wed in San Francisco. Over the next few days some 2,000
took their vows.
(SFC, 2/13/04, p.A1)(WSJ, 2/17/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 20, Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger directed the California state attorney general to take
immediate legal steps to stop SF from granting marriage licenses to gay
couples.
(AP, 2/21/04)(SFC, 2/21/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 21, Bill Lockyer,
California state Attorney General, rebuffed Gov. Schwarzenegger's
demand to force an end to same-sex marriages in SF, calling the
directive political rhetoric.
(SSFC, 2/22/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 22, A giant wedding
reception was held at the SF Hyatt Regency honoring the thousands of
same-sex couples married over the previous 11 days.
(SFC, 8/13/04, p.A16)
2004 Feb 24, Pres. Bush called for
a constitutional amendment to ban marriage between members of the same
sex.
(SFC, 2/25/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 27, Bill Lockyer,
California state Attorney General, asked the California Supreme Court
to stop SF officials from issuing same-sex marriage licenses and
invalidate the 3,400 gay and lesbian weddings that have taken place at
City Hall since Feb 12. The justices halted the weddings the following
month.
(SFC, 8/13/04, p.A16)(AP, 2/27/05)
2004 Mar 2, NY state filed charges
against the mayor of New Paltz for marrying gay couples.
(WSJ, 3/3/04, p.A1)
2004 Mar 29, Massachusetts
lawmakers approved a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay
marriage and legalize civil unions, sending the issue to the next
legislative session.
(AP, 3/29/05)
2004 Apr 20, An Oregon judge
ordered a halt to same sex marriages. He also ordered official
recognition of marriages already held in Multnomah County.
(SFC, 4/21/04, p.A3)
2004 May 17, Transsexuals were
cleared to compete in the Olympics for the first time.
(AP, 5/17/05)
2004 Jun 5, France's first gay
marriage was performed in the southwest city of Bordeaux. On July 27 it
was officially declared void by a court but the two homosexual men
involved immediately said they would appeal the ruling.
(AP, 7/27/04)
2004 Jul 10, New Jersey began
issuing documents for domestic partnerships.
(SSFC, 7/11/04, p.A3)
2004 Jul 14, The US Senate
scuttled a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. 48 senators
voted to advance the measure, 12 short of the 60 needed, and 50 voted
to block it.
(AP, 7/14/05)
2004 Sep 18, Louisiana voters
overwhelmingly approved a state constitutional amendment banning
same-sex marriages and civil unions.
(AP, 9/19/04)
2004 Sep 24, Nova Scotia became
the sixth Canadian province or territory to allow gay marriages when
the provincial Supreme Court ruled that banning such unions was
unconstitutional.
(AP, 9/24/04)
2004 Oct 1, Spain's Socialist
government approved a controversial law that would give gay and lesbian
couples the same right to marry, divorce and adopt children as
heterosexuals.
(Reuters, 10/1/04)
2004 Oct 5, A Louisiana state
judge threw out the new constitutional amendment banning gay marriage
because it also banned civil unions.
(SFC, 10/6/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct, Fanny An Eddy, Sierra
Leone’s best known lesbian, was found murdered.
(Econ, 10/9/04, p.42)
2004 Nov 2, Gay marriage curbs won
in all 11 US states where they were on ballots.
(WSJ, 11/3/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 5, In Canada Saskatchewan
became the country’s 7th jurisdiction to allow homosexuals to wed.
(SFC, 11/5/04, p.A3)
2004 Dec 9, Canada's highest court
said the government can redefine marriage to include same-sex couples,
but it added that religious officials cannot be forced to perform
unions against their beliefs.
(AP, 12/9/04)
2004 Dec 30, Arkansas vowed to
appeal after a judge struck down a 1999 rule barring the state from
placing a foster child in any household with a gay member.
(WSJ, 12/31/04, p.A1)
2004 J.L. King authored "On the
Down Low: A Journey Into the Lives of 'Straight' Black Men Who Sleep
With Men."
(AP, 7/24/09)
2004 Graham Robb authored
"Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century."
(SSFC, 2/1/04, p.M2)(Econ, 1/10/04, p.74)
2005 Jan 1, A new California law
took effect giving gay couples who register as domestic partners nearly
the same responsibilities and benefits as married spouses.
(AP, 1/1/05)
2005 Feb 1, The Canadian
government introduced its contentious same-sex marriage bill in
Parliament, seeking to legalize gay marriage nationwide over the
objections of the Roman Catholic Church and other conservative clergy.
(AP, 2/2/05)
2005 Feb 21, The British
government said same-sex partners will be able to enter into civil
unions from December, joining gays in parts of Europe and the United
States in obtaining many of the rights enjoyed by married people.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 24, Anglican leaders
forced a suspension of the US Episcopal Church and Canadian adherents
due to same sex marriages and ordaining gay clergy.
(WSJ, 2/25/05, p.A1)
(AP, 3/15/05)
2005 Mar 14, San Francisco
Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer declared California’s ban on
same-sex marriage unconstitutional.
(SFC, 3/15/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 14, The Oregon Supreme
Court nullified nearly 3,000 marriage licenses issued in 2004 to
same-sex couples in Portland’s Multnomah County.
(SFC, 4/15/05, p.A6)
2005 Apr 20, Gov. Jodi Rell signed
legislation making Connecticut the 2nd state after Vermont to offer
civil unions to gay couples.
(SFC, 4/21/05, p.A3)
2005 May 12, A US federal judge
struck down a Nebraska gay-marriage ban that barred benefit sharing and
same-sex foster parents.
(WSJ, 5/13/05, p.A1)
2005 May 29, In Brazil almost 2
million gay men, lesbians, transvestites and their supporters, many in
lavish Carnival costumes and waving rainbow-colored flags, paraded in
Sao Paulo to celebrate gay pride and call for the legalization of civil
unions between homosexuals.
(AP, 5/30/05)
2007 May, Australia’s Victorian
state civil and administrative tribunal ruled that the Peel Hotel in
the southern city of Melbourne could exclude patrons based on their
sexuality.
(Reuters, 5/28/07)
2005 Jun 26, Toronto, Canada,
celebrated its 25th annual Pride Parade, one of the world's largest gay
and lesbian festivals under a blistering sun. NYC and SF also hosted
large parades as did other cities around the world.
(AP, 6/26/05)
2005 Jun 26, An Israeli court
ruled that Jerusalem's gay pride parade could proceed as planned and
ordered the city's mayor to pay $6,500 out of his own pocket for trying
to stop it.
(AP, 6/26/05)
2005 Jun 28, Canada's House
of Commons passed legislation, drafted by PM Paul Martin, to legalize
gay marriage in spite of fierce opposition from Conservatives and
religious leaders. It would become only the third country in the world
to legalize gay marriage.
(AP, 6/29/05)
2005 Jun 30, Viacom launched Logo,
a gay oriented TV show.
(SFC, 6/30/05, p.E1)(Econ, 7/2/05, p.59)
2005 Jun 30, Spain’s Parliament
voted 187-147 to legalize gay marriages, defying conservatives and
clergy making Spain the 3rd country to allow same-sex unions nationwide.
(AP, 6/30/05)(WSJ, 7/1/05, p.A1)
2005 Jul 4, The General Synod of
the United Church of Christ, meeting in Georgia, endorsed same-sex
marriage with a resolution that called for equal marriage rights for
all.
(SFC, 7/5/05, p.A3)
2005 Jul 20, Canada legalized gay
marriage, becoming the world's 4th nation to grant full legal rights to
same-sex couples.
(AP, 7/20/05)
2005 Jul 19, Iran publicly
executed two teenagers accusing them of raping a 13-year-old boy and
having gay sex, according to Iran's ISNA news agency.
(AP, 7/22/05)
2005 Aug 16, A university
professor in Shanghai said is he is offering China's first class on
homosexuality and gay culture and that several hundred students have
applied for the 100 openings.
(AP, 8/17/05)
2005 Frederic Mitterand (b.1947),
the nephew of former French Pres. Francois Mitterand, authored his
autobiographical novel “The Bad Life” (French: La mauvaise vie), which
became a best seller. In the book he details his "delight" whilst
visiting the male brothels of Bangkok, and writes, "I got into the
habit of paying for boys ... The profusion of young, very attractive
and immediately available boys put me in a state of desire I no longer
needed to restrain or hide."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Mitterrand)
2006 Jun 29, The Arkansas Supreme
Court ruled that Arkansas cannot ban gays from becoming foster parents,
because there is no link between their sexual orientation and a child’s
well-being.
(SFC, 6/30/06, p.A20)
2006 Sep 15, Alberto Linero (27)
and Alberto Sanchez (24) both privates in the Spanish air force,
exchanged vows in a reception room at Seville's town hall, in the first
known wedding among same-sex members of the military since Spain
legalized gay marriage last year.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Nov 2, In Denver, Colo., Rev.
Ted Haggard, a leading evangelist and outspoken opponent of gay
marriage, gave up his post as president of the National Association of
Evangelicals while a church panel investigates allegations he paid a
man for sex. Haggard later confessed he was guilty of sexual immorality.
(AP, 11/3/06)(AP, 11/2/07)
2006 Nov 30, South Africa became
the first country in Africa, and only the fifth in the world, to
legalize same sex marriages.
(AP, 11/30/06)
2006 Dec 21, New Jersey Gov. Jon
Corzine signed legislation giving same-sex couples all the rights and
responsibilities of marriage under state law, but not the title.
(SFC, 12/22/06, p.A4)
2007 Mar 28, A small group of Arab
lesbians quietly defied Islamist protesters and a social taboo to
gather at a rare public conference in Haifa, Israeli. It was organized
by Aswat, an organization for Arab lesbians with members in Israel, the
West Bank and Gaza Strip.
(AP, 3/28/07)
2007 Jun 10, In Brazil millions of
people packed the streets of Sao Paulo for what organizers said was the
world's largest gay pride parade, dancing and waving rainbow flags in a
carnival-like atmosphere to condemn homophobia, racism and sexism.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Aug 21, Hundreds of people
held an anti-gay protest in Uganda's capital, denouncing what they
called an "immoral" lifestyle and demanding the deportation of an
American journalist writing about gay rights in the deeply conservative
country.
(AP, 8/21/07)
2007 Aug 28, A day after reports
surfaced of his June arrest at the Minneapolis airport, Sen. Larry
Craig, R-Idaho, told a news conference the only thing he had done wrong
was to plead guilty after a police complaint of lewd conduct in a men's
room; Craig also declared, "I am not gay. I never have been gay."
(AP, 8/28/08)
2007 Sep 18, Maryland’s highest
court, in a 4-3 decision, upheld a law defining marriage as a union
between a man and a woman and said the 1973 ban on gay marriage does
not discriminate on the basis of gender and does not deny any
fundamental rights.
(SFC, 9/19/07, p.A3)
2007 Oct 5, Colombia’s
Constitutional Court ruled that gays may add their partners to health
insurance plans.
(SSFC, 10/7/07, p.A5)
2007 Nov 21, Michigan’s Gov.
Jennifer Granholm issued an order that bars discrimination against
state workers based on their "gender identity or expression," which
protects the rights of those who behave, dress or identify as members
of the opposite sex.
(AP, 11/22/07)
2008 Jan 1, In New Hampshire
Dozens of gay and lesbian couples entered into civil unions in the
early moments of New Year's Day as a new state law legalized the
partnerships.
(AP, 1/1/08)
2008 Apr 9, Singapore's Media
Development Authority, which regulates and censors media and the arts,
said it fined StarHub S$10,000 (3,675 pounds) for airing a commercial
for a song that featured "romanticized scenes" of lesbians kissing and
portrayed the relationship as "acceptable."
(AP, 4/9/08)
2008 May 15, The California
Supreme Court affirmed the right of same-sex couples to marry.
(SFC, 5/16/08, p.A1)
2008 May 15, Gambia’s Pres. Yahya
Jammeh ordered homosexuals to leave the country and in a televised
speech threatened to cut off the head of anyone discovered to be gay.
(SFC, 6/3/08, p.A3)
2008 May 27, Germany unveiled a
memorial to the Nazis' long-ignored gay victims, a monument that also
aims to address ongoing discrimination by confronting visitors with an
image of a same-sex couple kissing.
(AP, 5/27/08)
2008 May 31, In Latvia about 400
gay men and women and their supporters held a parade in Riga,
accompanied by a strong police presence and chants and insults from
anti-gay activists.
(AP, 5/31/08)
2008 Jun 1, Gay rights activists
held small, scattered protests in Moscow, flouting repeated refusals
from city authorities for permission to hold parades or demonstrations.
(AP, 6/1/08)
2008 Jun 3, Greece's first gay
weddings were held when two couples, abetted by a sympathetic local
mayor, defied the threat of criminal charges and the wrath of the
Orthodox church to tie the knot on the tiny Aegean island of Tilos.
(Reuters, 6/3/08)
2008 Jun 6, An official said Cuba
has authorized sex-change operations and will offer them free for
qualifying citizens.
(AP, 6/7/08)
2008 Jun 17, Norway passed a new
equality law granting gay couples the same rights as heterosexuals to
marry, adopt and undergo artificial insemination.
(AP, 6/17/08)
2008 Jun 20, In Saudi Arabia
religious police arrested 21 allegedly homosexual men and confiscated
large amounts of alcohol at a large gathering of young men at a rest
house in Qatif.
(AP, 6/21/08)
2008 Jun 24, Cuba's Roman Catholic
Church protested the communist government's growing support of gay
rights, including a daylong event raising awareness against homophobia
and a law allowing sex-change operations.
(AP, 6/25/08)
2008 Jun 27, Leaders of the
Presbyterian Church in the US, meeting in San Jose, Ca., overturned a
ban on the ordination of gays and lesbians.
(SFC, 6/28/08, p.A2)
2008 Jun 28, In Bulgaria
extremists throwing rocks, bottles and gasoline bombs attacked the
capital's first gay pride parade which included some 150 participants.
(AP, 6/28/08)
2008 Jun 29, Malaysia's de facto
opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim took refuge at the Turkish embassy due
to fears he could be assassinated after fresh accusations of sodomy.
(AP, 6/29/08)
2008 Jun 29, In India several
hundred gay rights supporters took to the streets of Calcutta,
Bangalore and New Delhi to call for an end to discrimination in a
society where intolerance is widespread. The marches came days before
the Delhi High Court is expected to hear arguments on overturning
Section 377 of the penal code, a law against homosexual sex that dates
to the British colonial era with punishment of up to 10 years in prison.
(AP, 6/29/08)(Econ, 7/5/08, p.51)
2008 Aug 18, Argentina announced
its first nationwide gay-rights measure: granting same-sex couples the
right to claim their deceased partners' pensions.
(AP, 8/19/08)
2008 Oct 10, The Connecticut
Supreme Court voted 4-3 to give gay and lesbian couples the right to
marry ruling that civil unions fell short of giving them full equality.
It became the 3rd state to legalize such unions.
(SFC, 10/11/08, p.A6)(WSJ, 10/11/08, p.A7)
2008 Oct 10, Portugal's Parliament
voted by a large majority against proposals to allow same-sex marriages
in the mostly Roman Catholic country.
(AP, 10/10/08)
2008 Nov 4, California voters put
a stop to gay marriage, creating uncertainty about the legal status of
18,000 same-sex couples who tied the knot during a four-month window of
opportunity opened by the state's highest court. On Nov 19 the
California state Supreme Court agreed to decide on the legality of the
Proposition 8 measure. It was later reported that opponents and
supporters had pumped a total of $85 million in to the measure. State
voters approved Proposition 2 for improved treatment of farm animals.
Voters also approved Proposition 1A, a $9.5 billion bond for high-speed
rail service from SF to LA. Marin and Sonoma voters approved Measure Q
for a quarter cent sales tax increase to build and operate a commuter
train for Cloverdale to Larkspur. Prop. 11, a measure to overhaul state
redistricting rules, passed as the final tally was completed 3 weeks
later.
(AP, 11/6/08)(SFC, 11/5/08, p.A17)(SFC, 11/6/08,
p.A17, B1)(SFC, 11/20/08, p.A1)(SFC, 11/27/08, p.A1)(SFC, 2/3/09, p.B1)
2008 Nov 12, A judge cleared the
way for gay marriage to begin in Connecticut, a victory for advocates
stung by California's referendum that banned same-sex unions in that
state.
(AP, 11/12/08)
2008 Nov 19, The New Jersey Office
of the Attorney General said online dating service eHarmony has agreed
to create a new website for gays and lesbians as part of a settlement
with a gay man in New Jersey.
(Reuters, 11/19/08)
2008 Nov 24, Adel Hussein was
sentenced six months in jail by a court in Irbil, capital of the
Kurdish-ruled region, for violating a public decency law by writing a
story about homosexuality. The case centered on an April 2007 article
Hussein wrote for the independent weekly Hawlati that detailed the
physical effects of homosexual sex.
(AP, 12/3/08)
2008 Nov 30, In Haiti a dozen men
in T-shirts declaring "I am gay" and "I am living with HIV/AIDS"
marched with hundreds of other demonstrators through St. Marc in what
organizers called the Caribbean nation's first openly gay march.
(AP, 12/1/08)
2008 Dec 8, In Brazil Police chief
Paulo Fernando Fortunato reported that 13 gay men were killed in a park
in suburban Sao Paulo between February 2007 and August 2008.
(AP, 12/8/08)
2008 Dec 13, A woman (28) in the
San Francisco Bay area was jumped by four men, taunted for being a
lesbian, repeatedly raped and left naked outside an abandoned apartment
building in Richmond.
(AP, 12/23/08)
2008 Dec 15, Hungary's
Constitutional Court annulled a law giving rights to domestic partners
because it would diminish the importance of marriage.
(AP, 12/15/08)
2008 William N. Eskridge Jr.
authored Dishonorable Passions: Sodomy Laws in America, 1861-2003.
(SSFC, 5/11/08, Books p.4)
2009 Jan 6, In Senegal 9 men,
including a prominent activist, were convicted of homosexual acts and
sentenced to eight years in prison. Senegal, a primarily Muslim nation
in West Africa, is one of 38 countries on the continent that
criminalize homosexual acts.
(AP, 1/8/09)
2009 Jan 16, British pop star Boy
George (47) was sentenced to 15 months in jail for imprisoning a
Norwegian male escort (29) after a nude photoshoot. The singer and disc
jockey, who stood trial under his real name George O'Dowd, admitted to
police to handcuffing Audun Carlsen to his bed on April 28, 2007, as he
investigated the Norwegian's alleged tampering with his computer.
(AFP, 1/16/09)
2009 Jan 21, In Portland, Oregon,
officials said they would begin a criminal investigation into newly
elected Mayor Sam Adams (45), who admitted shortly after taking office
on January 1 that he had lied during his campaign about a sexual
relationship with a much younger gay man.
(WSJ, 1/24/08, p.A4)
2009 Jan 28, In Iceland both
parties of the new coalition government supported the appointment of
social affairs minister Johanna Sigurdardottir (66), an openly gay
former air hostess, as interim prime minister.
(SFC, 1/29/09, p.A8)(Econ, 5/2/09, p.52)
2009 Feb 22, In Brisbane,
Australia, Father Peter Kennedy (71), a rebel Catholic priest who was
sacked for blessing gay couples and allowing women to preach, defied
his archbishop and led mass.
(AFP, 2/22/09)
2009 Mar 24, It was reported that
the Moroccan government has begun a clampdown on what it sees as
threats to the kingdom's religious and moral foundations, with Shiite
Islam and gays particularly targeted.
(AFP, 3/24/09)
2009 Mar 26, Serbian lawmakers
approved a law against discrimination due to race, religion, gender,
sexual orientation or other factors despite opposition from
conservatives, including the Serbian Orthodox Church, and nationalists.
(AP, 3/26/09)
2009 Apr 1, Sweden’s Parliament
adopted a new law giving same sex couples the same marriage rights as
heterosexuals, becoming the 5th European country to allow gay marriage.
(SFC, 4/2/09, p.A2)
2009 Apr 3, The Iowa Supreme Court
issued a unanimous ruling finding that the state's same-sex marriage
ban violates the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian couples,
making Iowa the third state where gay marriage is legal.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 2, An Iraqi military
spokesman said the government will next week start paying Sunni
paramilitary groups in the Baghdad area despite weekend clashes with
one of the units. In Baghdad two gunmen firing from a car killed an
Iraqi army officer in the Mansour district. One of the gunmen was
killed and the other captured. Militants hurled a grenade at an
American patrol on Palestine Street in east Baghdad, wounding two
civilians. In Mosul a roadside bomb exploded near a small restaurant
frequented by police, wounding four of them and a civilian. A US
aircraft attacked a group of men believed to be members of a
government-allied Sunni paramilitary group as they were planting a
roadside bomb at night north of Baghdad, killing one and wounding two.
Two gay men were killed Sadr City by relatives who were shamed by their
behavior, after a leading cleric repeatedly condemned homosexuality.
The killings come weeks after Iraqi police found four bodies near Sadr
City with the word pervert written on their chests.
(AP, 4/2/09)(AP, 4/3/09)(AP, 4/4/09)
2009 Apr 7, Jack Wrangler (b.1946
as John Robert Stillman), porn star and musical theater producer, died
in Manhattan. He appeared in over 30 gay sex films and 20 straight
films including “The Devil in Miss Jones” (1982).
(SFC, 4/10/09, p.B5)
2009 Apr 22, In Connecticut a
decade-long battle for marriage equality ended when the General
Assembly voted to update the state's marriage laws to conform with a
landmark court ruling allowing gay and lesbian couples to tie the knot.
(AP, 4/23/09)
2009 Apr 27, Iowa counties began
processing same-sex marriage applications.
(WSJ, 4/27/09, p.A1)
2009 May 1, Britain awarded the
role of national poet laureate to Carol Ann Duffy (53), the first woman
to hold a post that has been filled by William Wordsworth, Alfred Lord
Tennyson and Ted Hughes. Duffy, a gay woman, has published more than 30
books, plays and children's stories as well as poems that mix
accessible modern language with traditional forms.
(AP, 5/1/09)(SFC, 5/2/09, p.A3)
2009 May 5, The District of
Columbia Council gave final approval to legislation that recognizes
same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. The law became effective on
July 7.
(SFC, 5/6/09, p.A5)(SFC, 7/8/09, p.A4)
2009 May 6, Maine's Gov. John
Baldacci signed a freshly passed bill approving gay marriage, making it
the fifth state to approve the practice and moving New England closer
to allowing it throughout the region.
(AP, 5/6/09)
2009 May 12, In Peru a new law
went into effect that says officers will be fired for taking bribes and
abusing detainees. It also said police officers who "damage the image"
of law enforcement by engaging in homosexual behavior can lose their
jobs.
(AP, 5/14/09)
2009 May 13, In Uruguay the
defense ministry confirmed that Minister Jose Bayardi had signed a
decree lifting a ban on people with “open sexual deviations,” that had
been imposed by the military dictatorship (1973-1985). The new decree
stated that sexual orientation will no longer be considered a reason to
prevent people from entering military service.
(SFC, 5/14/09, p.A2)
2009 May 16, In Cuba President
Raul Castro's daughter led hundreds of Cuban gays in a street dance to
draw attention to gay rights on the island.
(AP, 5/16/09)
2009 May 16, In Russia riot police
violently broke up several gay rights demonstrations in Moscow, hauling
away scores of protesters hours before the Russian capital hosted the
major Eurovision international pop music competition.
(AP, 5/16/09)
2009 May 16, The gay community in
tightly controlled Singapore held its first-ever rally, taking
advantage of looser laws on public gatherings to call for equality.
(AP, 5/16/09)
2009 May 23, The Church of
Scotland voted in favor of appointing an openly gay minister, the
latest case involving sexuality to create a division in the Anglican
Communion. The church's ruling body voted 326 to 267 to support the
appointment of the Rev. Scott Rennie (37), who was previously married
to a woman and is now in a relationship with a man.
(AP, 5/24/09)
2009 Jun 3, New Hampshire became
the sixth state to legalize gay marriage in a move that reflects the
state's changing demographics from reliably Republican and conservative
to younger and more liberal.
(AP, 6/3/09)
2009 Jun 13, In China a colorful
show of drag queens dressed in Chinese opera costumes was one of the
festivities that marked Shanghai's gay pride, the first in China where
homosexuality remains largely hidden.
(AP, 6/13/09)
2009 Jun 13, In Italy tens of
thousands of gay rights activists demanding rights for same-sex couples
marched through the streets of Rome on Saturday in a gay pride parade.
(AP, 6/13/09)
2009 Jun 17, A White House
official said President Barack Obama, whose gay and lesbian supporters
have grown frustrated with his slow movement on their priorities, is
extending benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees but
stopping short of a guarantee of full health insurance.
(AP, 6/17/09)
2009 Jun 19, US census officials
announced that same-sex married couples would be counted for the first
time in the 2010 census.
(Econ, 6/27/09, p.38)
2009 Jun 26, Ireland recognized
the legal rights of same-sex couples for the first time in a civil
partnership bill that gave people in long-term relationships many of
the statutory rights of married couples.
(AP, 6/26/09)
2009 Jun 27, In Ireland some
12,000 people marched in this year’s Gay Pride Parade in downtown
Dublin.
(SSFC, 6/28/09, p.A4)
2009 Jun 28, In India hundreds of
gay rights supporters waved flags and danced past traffic during
marches through three Indian cities to celebrate gay pride and call for
the decriminalization of homosexuality in this deeply conservative
country.
(AP, 6/28/09)
2009 Jul 2, A top Indian court
issued a landmark ruling that decriminalized gay sex between consenting
adults by declaring a colonial-era ban on homosexuality
unconstitutional. The decision applied only to the territory of the
capital, New Delhi.
(AFP, 7/2/09)(SFC, 7/3/09, p.A5)
2009 Jul 14, Lithuania's
Parliament approved a censorship bill that sharply curbs the spreading
of public information that lawmakers say could harm the mental,
physical, intellectual and moral development of youngsters. The bill
comes into law on March 2010 at the latest.
(www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4487209,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf)
2009 Jul 23, E. Lynn Harris
(b.1955), pioneer of gay black fiction, died while promoting his latest
book in Los Angeles. Long before the secret world of closeted black gay
men came to light in America, Harris introduced a generation of black
women to the phenomenon known as the "down low." His debut "Invisible
Life" (1994) was a coming-of-age story that dealt with the then-taboo
topic.
(AP, 7/24/09)
2009 Aug 1, Australia's
centre-left ruling party voted for national recognition of same-sex
unions but stopped short of lifting a ban on gay marriage.
(AFP, 8/1/09)
2009 Aug 1, In Tel Aviv, Israel, a
gunman shot and killed two people at a youth club in the worst ever
attack on homosexuals in Israel. The dead were identified as a man (26)
who was a counselor at the center and a girl (17). Eleven people were
wounded, four of them seriously.
(AP, 8/2/09)
2009 Aug 17, Human Rights Watch
said Iraqi militiamen are torturing and killing gay men with impunity
in a systematic campaign that has spread from Baghdad to several other
cities.
(AP, 8/17/09)
2009 Aug 27, Uruguay lawmakers
approved a bill allowing gay and lesbian couples to adopt. The 99-seat
Chamber or Representatives passed the bill 40-13, with the remaining
members absent. The law, still needing Senate approval, was supported
by socialist President Tabare Vazquez's Broad Front coalition, which
has already legalized gay civil unions and ended a ban on homosexuals
in the armed forces.
(AP, 8/28/09)
2009 Sep 9, In Jamaica John A.
Terry (65), Britain’s honorary consul in Montego Bay, was found
strangled in bed with a note denouncing him as a homosexual.
(Econ, 9/19/09, p.49)(AP, 10/3/09)
2009 Sep 9, Uruguay’s Senate gave
final approval for gay and lesbian couples to adopt children, making it
the first country in Latin America to do so. The executive branch will
decide when the law takes effect.
(SFC, 9/10/09, p.A2)
2009 Sep 24, Emile Norman
(b.1918), pioneering gay artist, died in Monterey, Ca..
(SFC, 9/26/09, p.A12)
2009 Oct 10, Stephen Gately (33),
a singer with the Irish boy band Boyzone, died while visiting Spain’s
island of Mallorca. He made headlines a decade ago when he came out as
gay.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 11, Thousands of gay and
lesbian activists marched from the White House to the Capitol,
demanding that President Barack Obama keep his promises to allow gays
to serve openly in the military and allow same-sex marriages.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 22, More than 8 million
people watched British National Party leader Nick Griffin slam Islam as
a wicked faith, express his disgust at homosexuals and defend the Ku
Klux Klan on its "Question Time" program.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 25, In Italy 4 policemen
were questioned for allegedly attempting to blackmail opposition leader
Piero Marrazzo (51). The case centered on widespread media reports that
a video shows the center-left politician in the company of a
transsexual in a Rome apartment.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 28, President Barack
Obama signed a defense bill into law containing a new provision to pay
Taliban fighters who renounce the insurgency. The defense also bill
killed some costly weapons projects and expanded war efforts. In a
major civil rights change, the law also made it a federal hate crime to
assault people based on sexual orientation.
(Reuters, 10/27/09)(AP, 10/29/09)
2009 Nov 11, The Australian
Capital Territory, home to the nation's parliament, became the first
Australian region to legalize civil partnership ceremonies for same-sex
couples, in a move supporters hoped would spark national momentum.
(AFP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 16, In Argentina 2 men
were granted a marriage license in Buenos Aires, breaking ground in a
country and region where laws ban gay marriage.
(AP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 13, In Puerto Rico the
dismembered body of college student Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado (19) was
discovered along a road in the interior town of Cayey. Lopez was widely
known as a volunteer for organizations advocating HIV prevention and
gay rights. Suspect Juan Martinez Matos (26), was soon arrested and
allegedly confessed to killing Lopez and mutilating his body. He was
charged with first-degree murder and weapons violations and jailed on
$4 million bond.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 30, An Argentine judge
issued an order blocking the continent's first gay marriage scheduled
for Dec 1. National Judge Marta Gomez Alsina ordered the wedding
blocked until the issue can be considered by the Supreme Court.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 10, In California the
Assembly’s Democratic Caucus selected openly gay Latino Democrat John
Perez from Los Angeles as the lower house’s leader. He was expected to
be voted in as the 68th Assembly speaker in January.
(SFC, 12/11/09, p.A1)
2009 Dec 10, Austria’s parliament
passed legislation allowing same-sex couples to enter into civil
unions. The bill was slated to become law on Jan 1.
(SFC, 12/11/09, p.A2)
2009 Dec 21, Mexico City lawmakers
made the city the first in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage,
a change that will give homosexual couples more rights, including
allowing them to adopt children.
(AP, 12/21/09)
2009 Dec 27, In Malawi officials
arrested 2 men for celebrating their engagement to each other in a
ceremony on Dec 26. Stevem Monjeza (26) and Tiwonge Chimbalanga (20)
were charged with indecency and could get 5 to 14 years in jail if
convicted.
(SFC, 12/30/09, p.A2)(SFC, 1/19/10, p.A2)
2009 Dec 28, In Argentina two men
succeeded in becoming Latin America's first same-sex married couple.
Gay rights activists Jose Maria Di Bello (41) and Alex Freyre (39) took
their civil ceremony to the capital of Argentina's Tierra del Fuego
province, where a sympathetic governor backed their bid to make Latin
American history.
(AP, 12/29/09)
2009 Dec 29, Mexico City enacted
Latin America's first law recognizing gay marriage and said it hopes to
attract same-sex couples from around the world to wed.
(AP, 12/29/09)
2010 Jan 1, About 15 New Hampshire
gay couples braved the cold to exchange vows outside the Statehouse in
Concord, as the state joined Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts and
Vermont in allowing gay marriage.
(SFC, 1/1/10, p.A5)
2010 Jan 8, Portugal's parliament
passed a bill that would make the predominantly Catholic nation the
sixth in Europe to permit gay marriage.
(AP, 1/8/10)
2010 Jan 15, Chinese police in
Beijing shut down what would have been the country’s first-ever gay
pageant an hour before it was set to begin, highlighting the enduring
sensitivity surrounding homosexuality and the struggle by gays to find
mainstream acceptance.
(AP, 1/15/10)
2010 Jan 19, In Cuba Mariela
Castro, the daughter of pres. Raul Castro and head of the Center for
Sex Education, said Cuba has begun performing state-sponsored
sex-change operations. The government had lifted a longtime ban on the
procedure in 2007.
(SFC, 1/20/10, p.A2)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = Cars
End of file