Tag: Court Rulings

September 24 in LGBTQ History

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

September 23 in LGBTQ History

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

September 17 in LGBTQ History

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

September 11 in LGBTQ History

1961: KQED in San Francisco broadcasts The Rejected, the first made-for-television documentary about homosexuality on American television. 1976: California Appeals court upholds lewd conduct convictions of two men arrested for “kissing in public” in a parked car at a freeway rest stop. Both are ordered to register as sex offenders.

September 8 in LGBTQ History

1983: The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco rules that federal immigration authorities cannot prevent lesbians and gay men from entering the country purely on the basis of their sexuality. 2008: Rachel Maddow becomes the first openly gay anchor of a major prime-time news program in the United States as host of The Rachel … Read More

August 31 in LGBTQ History

1979: At the start of the Labor Day weekend at the Sri Ram Ashram near Benson, Arizona, the Spiritual Conference for Radical Fairies was organized as a ʺcall to gay brothersʺ by early gay rights advocates Harry Hay, John Burnside, Don Kilhefner, and Mitch Walker. It becomes the birthplace of The Radical Faeries. 2005: In … Read More

August 28 in LGBTQ History

1951: The Supreme Court of California rules in Stoumen v. Reilly that the mere congregation of homosexuals at a bar was not sufficient grounds for suspending the bar’s liquor license. The ruling came in the case of the Black Cat Bar, a San Francisco gay bar that was the target of a 15-year campaign by … Read More

July 19 in LGBTQ History

1848: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Co-organizer Lucretia Mott invite several hundred women to Seneca Falls, New York, for the first Women’s Rights Convention. About 100 sign a “Declaration of Sentiments” modeled on the U.S. Declaration of Independence. The document marks the beginning of organized feminism in the United States. 1921: The U.S. Senate Naval Affairs Committee issues … Read More

July 9 in LGBTQ History

1969: The Mattachine Society of New York invites activists to gather in Greenwich Village for the first “gay power” meeting. 1986: New Zealand repeals its laws prohibiting homosexual acts between consenting adults. 2008: The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Thomas Cook v. Robert Gates upholds the constitutionality of the U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, … Read More

July 8 in LGBTQ History

1980: The Democratic Rules Committee states that it will not discriminate against homosexuals. At their National Convention on August 11-14, the Democrats become the first political party to endorse a homosexual rights platform. 2010: United States District Court Judge Joseph L. Tauro rules in two separate cases that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act is … Read More

1 2 3 4 5