Old Walnut Street Prison

“England and the Vices of Sodom,” ONE, May 1954, 4.

Essex Gazette

Europride Parade Held in Warsaw

Over 20,000 people marched in the Europride Parade, held in Warsaw Poland. It was the first time the parade had been held in Eastern Europe. A week of LGBT events preceded the parade.

Illinois Revises Criminal Code

Governor Otto Kerner of Illinois signs into law a major revision of the state’s criminal code. Among its provisions was a repeal of the statute criminalizing sodomy. This made Illinois the first state to eliminate criminal penalties for consensual…

First AIDS Walk Held in Los Angeles

The first AIDS Walk is held, organized by AIDS Project Los Angeles. Over the next decades, AIDS walks and runs would become a major fundraising tool of AIDS service organizations and an important means of raising public awareness of the epidemic.

National Capital Area Civil Liberties Union Challenges Federal Employment Ban

The National Capital Area Civil Liberties Union passes a resolution calling on the federal government to end its exclusion of individuals from federal employment based on homosexual behavior or preferences. It was the first branch of the American…

Karl Heinrich Ulrichs Speaks Out Against Gay Persecution

Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, a lawyer, addresses a national conference of German lawyers and judges in Munich. He speaks out against the persecution of people whose sexual nature is “opposed to common custom.” In speaking out like this, Ulrich, whose…

Montana Lesbian Coalition Conference Convenes

The Montana Lesbian Coalition Conference opens in Helena, Montana. The three-day conference offered a host of meetings, ranging from consciousness-raising sessions to workshops on values, education, and other topics.

Will and Grace Premieres on NBC

The television series Will and Grace has its premiere on NBC. The highly popular series played for eight seasons and won many Emmy awards. Coming in the wake of the coming out of Ellen Degeneres on her show Ellen in the previous year, Will and…

Fifth Annual Lesbian Writers Conference

The Fifth Annual Lesbian Writers Conference convenes in Chicago. The opening keynote address was delivered by Paula Christian, a popular “pulp novelist” of the 1950s and 1960s known for novels such as The Edge of Twilight and This Side of Love. …

Radclyffe Hall publishes The Well of Loneliness

English writer Radclyffe Hall’s novel, The Well of Loneliness, is published in the United States. Sympathetic to lesbian love, the novel quickly attracted a wide readership and also became the target of police action and state censorship. After a…

Variety Publishes Article on "Pansy Parlors"

Variety, the weekly magazine of the entertainment industry, publishes an article under the headline “Pansy Parlors – Tough Chicago Has Epidemic of Male Butterflies.” It described the rapid spread in Chicago of “boy joints,” gathering places for…

Society for Human Rights Publishes First "Gay Rights" Newsletter

The Society for Human Rights, founded in Chicago by Henry Gerber, receives a charter from the state of Illinois. It published two issues of Friendship and Freedom, the first “gay rights” newsletter in the United States.

San Francisco Mayor Vetoes First Domestic Partnership Law in U.S.

Responding to pressure from religious leaders in San Francisco, Mayor Diane Feinstein vetoes a bill passed by the city’s Board of Supervisors that would have extended to the domestic partners of city employees the same benefits received by the…

Le Katmandou Opens in Paris

Elula Perrin opens Le Katmandou in Paris. For the next two decades, it was the most popular lesbian social club and disco in Paris.

GLAAD Holds First Rally Outside New York Post

GLAAD [the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation] holds its first public rally outside the offices of the New York Post, a newspaper owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, to protest its homophobic coverage of the AIDS epidemic. 800 protesters…

The Children's Hour Opens in New York City

The Children’s Hour, a play by Lillian Hellman, opens in New York City. The play revolves around the accusation by a student that two teachers in the school are lesbians. The play received strongly positive reviews and was a hit on Broadway. The…

Boise Newspaper Starts Anti-Gay Panic

In an editorial titled “Crush the Monster,” the Idaho Daily Statesman, a newspaper in Boise, announces that the “evils of moral perversion prevail in Boise on an extensive scale.” The editorial sets off a public panic that lasts for over a year and…

Allen Schindler, Jr. Murdered in Hate Crime

U.S. Navy Petty Officer Allen Schindler, Jr. is brutally murdered by a fellow sailor in an anti-gay hate crime. Schindler had complained to his superiors of harassment and had come out to them, but they were slow to process his discharge. In the…