1973-01-27Arsonists set fire to the mother congregation of the MCC.

Arsonists in Los Angeles set fire to the building housing the mother congregation of the Metropolitan Community Church , an LGBT-friendly church founded by Reverend Troy Perry. In the 1970s, a number of the MCC’s meeting places around the United States were the target of arsonists.

1973-03-31Gay Academic Union forms in New York City

The first meeting of what becomes the Gay Academic Union takes place in New York City when a few faculty, graduate students, and writers meet to discuss how history and other kinds of research could benefit the gay liberation movement. Over the next few years, GAU conferences in New York bring many hundreds of people together from across the country and before long chapters form in many other cities.

1973-07-11Canadian Prime Minister acknowledges employment ban against homosexuals.

In a speech before the House of Commons, Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau publicly acknowledges that homosexuality has in fact prevented federal employees from receiving security clearances to handle classified documents and information and thus has seriously limited the career opportunities of many gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals.

1973-10-03Dr. Howard Brown comes out as gay

Dr. Howard Brown, a former Commissioner of Health for New York City, comes out in a speech to several hundred doctors at a symposium in New Jersey. Such a revelation by a public figure was still very rare in 1973, and Brown’s coming out later becomes a front-page story in the New York Times.

1973-11-23First National Conference of Gay Academic Union

The inaugural conference of the Gay Academic Union opens at John Jay College in New York City. It was the first national gathering in the U.S. of a broad range of LGBT professors, graduate students, writers, and independent researchers, with over 300 people attending. Speakers included Martin Duberman, Barbara Gittings, and Howard Brown, and the proceedings were later published as The Universities and the Gay Experience.

1973-12-11Gay Raider Disrupts the CBS Evening News

Mark Segal, a member of the Gay Raiders, a Philadelphia gay liberation group, disrupts Walter Cronkite’s CBS Evening News and forces the nationally televised show to black out for a few seconds. Segal was protesting CBS censorship of gay-related news. The demonstration led to an increase in coverage of gay news by Cronkite, who was one of the most popular news broadcasters of that era.

1973-12-15American Psychiatric Association Victory!

The Board of Trustees of the American Psychiatric Association votes to remove homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. This action, which eliminated the classification of homosexuality as a disease, followed several years of agitation by gay and lesbian activists, and was one of the first major victories of the young gay liberation movement.