1972 Democratic Party convention

Jim Foster of California and Madeline Davis of New York become the first openly gay and lesbian delegates to address a national convention of the Democratic Party, which was meeting in Miami. “We come to you affirming our pride,” Foster declared in…

Canadian 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…

Monique Wittig

Monique Wittig, Writer and Feminist Theorist

Joan Biren

Vito Russo

Vito Russo, Activist and Film Historian

George Cukor

Leonard Matlovich

Leonard Matlovich, Air Force Veteran and Activist

Sylvia Rivera

Sylvia Rivera, Transgender Activist

Celluloid Closet Is Published

The Celluloid Closet, by Vito Russo, is published. Russo’s book told the history of how Hollywood portrayed gays and lesbians in film from the silent era through the 1970s. Covering over 300 films, it was deeply critical of the film industry’s…

Swedish legal reform

A law criminalizing blackmail goes into effect in Sweden. A major motivation for adopting the law by the Social Democratic government was to protect homosexuals, who were recognized as one of the primary targets of blackmailers.

Stonewall Riots

In the early morning hours of Saturday, New York City police raid the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village. Patrons fought back against the police and rioting ensued, continuing for several nights. The Stonewall Riots are credited with…

Lawrence v. Texas

In the case of Lawrence v. Texas, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled all state sodomy statutes unconstitutional. Writing for the majority in a 6-3 decision, Justice Anthony Kennedy described the laws as interfering with “transcendent…

Lorraine Hansberry

Lorraine Hansberry in the early 1960s (Photo credit: Corbis Bettman, courtesy of Tracy Strain)

Lorraine Hansberry: An Interview with Documentary Filmmaker Tracy Heather Strain by Judith Smith

An interview with a documentary filmmaker who received a National Endowement for the Humanities grant in support of the first full-length documentary feature on Lorraine Hansberry. The interview was conducted by a consulting humanities scholar on the…

Family Protection Act introduced in US Senate

Roger Jepsen, an Iowa Republican, introduces into the US Senate a bill titled The Family Protection Act. Among its provisions, the bill would have denied all federal funds, including Social Security and veteran benefits, to anyone who was gay,…

First performance of the play Coming Out!

Coming Out!, a play by Jonathan Ned Katz, had its first performance at The Firehouse, the headquarters of the Gay Activists Alliance in Manhattan. With dialogue drawn entirely from historical documents, Coming Out! brought LGBT history alive in a…

Protest March in Sao Paolo

After the police arrest over 1500 gay men, transwomen, and prostitutes in downtown Sao Paolo as part of a “clean up” effort, 500 people publicly demonstrate to protest the police action. Marching through the streets of the city, they chanted “Down…

A member of President Reagan's cabinet speaks out on AIDS.

At the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Denver, Colorado, Secretary of Health and Human Services Margaret Heckler became the first member of Ronald Reagan’s Cabinet to deliver a speech on AIDS. In her speech, she acknowledged “the excellent work…

Voters repeal gay rights law

Voters in Dade County, Florida overwhelmingly approve a ballot measure to repeal the county’s gay rights ordinance that prohibited discrimination. The campaign, led by former beauty queen and singer Anita Bryant, leads to similar successful…

First report on AIDS in the United States

In its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the Centers for Disease Control in the United States describes five cases of gay men in Los Angeles suffering from “pneumocystis pneumonia.” This proved to be the first report on what would later be…