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| Before 1950 | 1950 to 1959 | 1960 to 1979 | 1980 to 2004 |
| 1960 First National lesbian conference sponsored by the Daughters of Bilitis |
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Daughters of Bilitis (D.O.B.) was founded in San Francisco, California in 1955. The name of the group comes from the book 'Song of Bilitis' by French author Pierre Louy, which contains love poems between women. In 1955, the group only had eight members. In the years to come, the group grew considerably. They soon started other US chapters, and even one in Australia. D.O.B. held their first national convention in San Francisco in 1960.
1961
Drag Performer, Jose Sarria, became the first openly gay person to campaign for public office. He performed drag shows at the Black Cat Cafe, a bohemian North Beach hangout that Sarria made famous by his high-camp performances. Jose used his Madame Butterfly persona to promote gay rights. In 1961 he ran for San Francisco city supervisor, but lost the election. Harvey Milk won the office 16 years later. Jose did receive 6,000 votes and raised awareness of "Gay Political Clout". Also in 1961, Illinois became the first state to decriminalize homosexuality by repealing its sodomy laws. The revised law took effect in 1962.
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1962
Mr. Baldwin was one of the most influential author's of his time. He was a supporter of black and gay civil rights. His novel portrays bisexuality and interracial relations. |
1964
Randy Wicker appeared on the Les Crane Show and was the first openly gay person to appear on national television. After his appearance he received numerous letters from gays and lesbians. |
1965
In 1965, homosexuals picketed the White House and Pentagon against discrimination in the military and for civil rights. |
1966
The 'Transsexual Phenomena' written by Harry Benjamin was released in 1966. The book defines what transsexual means, the differences between transsexuals and transvestites, and positive results from using surgery and hormone treatments. |
1967
March 7, 1967 CBS Special 'The Homosexuals' reported by Mike Wallace was very controversial for its time. The show contained extensive interviews with Dr. Charles Socarides, a homophobe and reparative therapist, a closeted gay man seated behind a potted plant, conservative members of the clergy, scenes from dark bars labeled the "homosexual underworld", and representatives from the Mattachine Society (including Jack Nichols who was fired from his hotel job the day after the program aired) The show represented homosexuality as an illness, the traditional view at the time, but did suggest that other viewpoints were possible. It exposed large television audiences to the subject and to openly gay people. Commercial time was filled with PSAs because no sponsors wanted involvement with the piece. Also in 1967, the first issue of 'The Advocate' was published. 300 copies of the 12 page magazine were printed and sold. It gave national and international coverage to gay and lesbian issues. The Oscar Wilde Bookstore, the first gay bookstore in the US, opened in NYC on Christopher Street. Its mission was to make gay and lesbian literature available to anyone who wanted it. |
1969
The Stonewall Riots began June 27, the day of Judy Garland's funeral. Leading up to the riots, police raids of gay bars and nightclubs had been prevalent. The Raid of the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, in NYC started off as usual, with plainclothes officers and one uniformed officer entering the bar under the pretences of examination of liquor license improprieties, and cleared the bar of its patrons. Patrons, now on the sidewalk, began throwing coins at the officers to make fun of the payoff system that was in place. The NYC gay bar scene was said to have been very corrupt and run by the Mafia, who operated a form of payola called gayola, paying off the police to look the other way. It's unclear as to what exactly sparked the events that followed, but the situation quickly deteriorated. Clashes between the police and bar patrons ensued. Many were injured from nightsticks, rocks and bottles. One teen lost two fingers from having his hand slammed in a police car door. Heterosexual folk singer, Dave Van Ronk was savagely beaten for being in the wrong place during the riots. Other district residents, many of whom were gay rushed to the scene compounding the confusion. Not all people on the scene were in support of the gay community. Some got into physical confrontations with supporters. Police barricaded themselves inside the bar. Patrons used a parking meter as a battering ram to gain entry and the fighting continued. A riot squad arrived and tried to break up the crowd with no success. The scene eventually calmed down. Protests were held each night for the five following nights to call attention to how police had treated the gay community. Within a year Gay Liberation organizations had been formed throughout the world. Gay Pride parades and marches are still held each year in June to commemorate Stonewall. |
1970
The seventies started out to be a decade of unrest on many fronts. African Americans had been embroiled in a long fight for civil rights. Women's Liberation was well underway and the political unrest over Vietnam was an everyday news event. This was going to be a decade of learning experiences as gay men and women had just come from a stand at Stonewall which increased their visibility. New groups were forming in the major cities which give the movement some organization and added their face to the fight for civil rights.
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In 1970 gay men and women marched in New York City to commemorate the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. This was first called 'Christopher Street Gay Liberation Day', and was the first Gay Pride parade in New York City. On the same day, San Francisco held its first Gay Pride Parade which they called 'Gay In'. The name and date for the event combined two significant events: the 'Stonewall Rebellion' and the 'Human Be-In'. Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho and Oregon repealed their sodomy laws in 1971. |
1973
A small victory was gained when the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its official list of mental disorders in 1973. |
1976
National news was made when Leonard Matlovich, an Air Force Technical Sergeant, who was a decorated Vietnam War veteran, publicly declared his homosexuality. He was given a "general" discharge and appeared on the cover of Time Magazine. Matlovich died in 1988, his tombstone reads: "A gay Vietnam Veteran. When I was in the military they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one." |
1976 brought more front-page news as the gay movement gained momentum. San Francisco's mayor George Moscone appointed Harvey Milk to the Board of Permit Appeals. Reneé Richards (neé Richard Raskin) had been an opthomologist and a moderately good tennis player before she transitioned in the mid '70s. In 1976 at age 52, she entered a women's tennis tournament where she was both read and recognized. The ensuing battle between Ms. Richards and the sporting authorities made headline news for several weeks. Ms. Richards went to court to defend her right to be recognized as female. The court ruled that transsexuals after full transition and sex reassignment surgery were legally the new sex. This established an important precedent, not just for sports, but for all aspects of civil and private life involving transsexual persons. After the controversy died down, Ms. Richards played tennis as a woman, in which it was discovered that her medical history did not give her an edge in performance. Later, she served as a coach for Martina Navratilova, a popular and well seeded women's tennis champion. Ms. Richards was often seen socializing with Ms. Navratilova and her lover, Rita Mae Brown, author of several popular novels including 'Ruby Fruit Jungle'. Reneé Richards wrote an autobiography entitled 'Second Serve'. Later a made for television movie by the same title was produced, starring Venessa Redgrave as Ms. Richards. At the time of this presentation, Dr. Richards continues to practice medicine in New York and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Pediatric Ophthalmology & Strabismus. |
Tom Waddell and his partner Charles Deaton were the first gay men to be featured in the "Couples" section of People Magazine. Tom Waddell later formed a group to create the first Gay Games, the Gay version of the Olympics. Presidential candidate Jimmy Carter announced that if he were elected he would issue executive orders banning discrimination against gays and lesbians in the military, housing, employment, and immigration. Then President Carter appointed lesbian Jill Schropp to the National Advisory Council on Women in 1979. |
1977
Harvey Milk became the first openly gay elected official in 1977 as he won a seat on the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco. The year also brought Anita Bryant to the forefront as she lead a campaign to repeal a gay rights ordinance in Dade County, Florida. 1978 saw more struggles as Harvey Milk and George Moscone were shot and killed in City Hall by Dan White. The sentencing of Dan White sparked a riot after the sentence was perceived as light. John Cloud writing about Harvey Milk in Time Magazine's '100 Hero's and Icon's' said "To be young and realize you were gay in the 1970's was to await an adulthood encumbered with dim career prospects, fake wedding rings and darkened bar windows. No one person could change all that, and not all the changes are complete. But a few powerful figures gave gay individuals the confidence they needed to stop lying, and none understood how his public role could affect private lives better than Milk". |
1979
October 14, 1979, saw the first gay march on Washington. Estimates indicated that there were between 100,000 and 200,000 people in attendance, but the event was largely ignored by the media. A new symbol emerged in early 1979, the rainbow flag. Proposition 6 (the Brigg's Initiative), which would have allowed gay and lesbian teachers to be fired based on their sexual orientation, was soundly defeated in California. Governor Ronald Reagan denounced the initiative. In 1979 the California Supreme Court made a landmark decision that public utility companies may not arbitrarily refuse to hire homosexuals, nor can they interfere with an employee's involvement in gay organizations. |
The decade ended with some hope as Steven Lachs was appointed as the first openly gay judge in California.
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The Lambda symbol was adopted in 1970 by the New York Gay Activists Alliance, and it became the symbol of their growing movement of Gay liberation. In 1974 the International Gay Rights Congress held in Edinburgh, Scotland, subsequently adopted the Lambda. The symbol became internationally popular within the Gay community. The pink triangle was resurrected by Gay liberation groups and also became a popular symbol.
