March 26 in LGBTQ History

1973: Gay playwright, Noel Coward, dies in Jamaica at the age of 73.

1975: After the local district attorney’s office rules that there are no county laws preventing two people of the same-sex from getting married, Boulder, Colorado county clerk Clela Rorex issues a marriage license to two gay men. It is the first same-sex marriage license issued in the United States. She says in a statement, “I don’t profess to be knowledgable about homosexuality or even understand it, but it’s not my business why people get married.  No minority should be discriminated against.”

1985: A 4-4 tie vote in the U.S. Supreme Court effectively overturns an Oklahoma law that would have banned homosexuals, or those defending or “promoting” the homosexual “lifestyle”, from teaching in the state’s public schools.

1990: Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt wins the Academy Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary. It is the second Oscar for gay filmmaker Rob Epstein, who received the first one six years previously, for The Times of Harvey Milk.

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