1966-01-22 Police raid in South Africa

A headline in the Rand Daily Mail, a major South African newspaper, announces “350 in Mass Sex Orgy!” The article described a large gay party raided by the police in a suburb of Johannesburg. The incident led to proposals by the South African government to make male and female homosexuality an offense requiring compulsory imprisonment.

1966-01-31 Washington Post Series on Gay Life

The Washington Post begins a 5-part series titled “Those Others: A Report on Homosexuality.” It was the most extensive journalistic discussion of gay life to appear in the U.S. press to that point, and included quotations from homophile movement activists. The author wrote that there was “a need to reappraise our laws—and our attitudes.”