queered timeline
[part two: the 20th century]

1906

Germany's Homosexual conspiracy

An editorial by Maximilian Harden, publisher of Berlin's Die Zukunft, warns of the danger presented by the homosexual conspiracy, forming "a comradeship . . . which brings together men of all creeds, states, and classes. These men are to be found everywhere, in the army and navy, in newspaper offices, behind teacher's desks, even in courtrooms." His editorial gives support to a public reaction against the growing gay movement.

1908

The Intermediate Sex published

Sex researcher, Edward Carpenter's ground breaking text is released in England. Carpenter idealizes the concept of friendship, "comrade attachment," and homosexuality.

1909

Kentucky charges two with oral sex

Two black men are accused of oral sex with one another, but they could not be convicted when the judge found no law on the books. He urged lawmakers to remedy this situation. Many states soon outlawed oral sex.

1912

German Reichstag polled

Candidates for the upcoming election were asked their views on gay issues by the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee. Of the 96 respondents, 91 favored gay rights.

1913

Russian double agent is homosexual

Alfred Redl, head of Austrian Intelligence was exposed as a Russian double agent and homosexual. Redl shot himself after his arrest. This widely publicized case gave prominence to the notion homosexuals were security risks.

1917

Soviet Unions abolishes anti-gay laws

In a move closer to their socialist views, the new revolutionary government of the Soviet Union throws out the tsarist laws opposing homosexuals and homosexual acts.

1919

Institute of Sexology founded

Magnus Hirschfeld, a publicly acknowledged homosexual, founds the Institute in his huge palace in Berlin. The Institute devoted itself to civil rights for women and gay people, legalized contraception and abortion, sex education, and confidential treatment of STDs (sexually transmitted diseases). The Institute combined the world's first sex counseling center, a museum, and an ongoing educational events series.

This same year, Hirschfeld co starred with then German actor, Conrad Viedt in the film, Anders als die Andern. Different from the Others was the first film to offer a gay-positive perspective to motion picture audiences.

1920

Collected thoughts on homosexuality published

Natalie Barney's Pensées d'une amazone is a collection of thoughts on homosexuality, including references to Whitman, Ulrichs, Symonds and Wilde.

1921

Proust's Sodome et Gomorrhe

Despite its stereotyped ideas, Sodome contributed to the demystification of homosexuality in France and elsewhere. It was noted for its depiction of homosexuality as a social world rather than a few isolated individuals.

Theater des Eros, the first gay theater company, is founded in Berlin.

1922

Soviet Union and 'crimes against nature'

Despite protests from many, the Soviets reintroduce "crime against nature" statutes. The process of criminalizing homosexuals is fully completed by 1933 under Josef Stalin.

The God of Vengeance, a play by Sholom Asch featuring a lesbian relationship, is produced in Provincetown. It is the first play on an American stage to depict gay or lesbian characters. Vengeance created an outcry the next year when it reached Broadway.

1924

Society for Human Rights

Henry Gerber and six others from Chicago, incorporates the SHR as the first nonprofit homosexual organization in the United States. It lasted less than six months when Chicago police force it to dissolve.

André Gide, in If It Die, becomes the first major figure of this century to makes his homosexuality public.

1928

The Well of Loneliness

Radclyffe Hall's lesbian theme novel, calling for "merciful toleration" of inverts is published in England.

1933

Gay press banned in Germany

On January 30, the Nazis shut down the burgeoning gay press.

May 6 and 10, Magnus Hirschefeld's Institute for Sexology is raided by Nazis. On the last day, an estimated 12,000 books, periodicals and other documents in the Institute's library are burned. Irreplaceable manuscripts from Karl Heinrich Ulrichs and Krafft-Ebbing are destroyed. This marks the end of Germany's early gay rights movement.

The group Der Kreis is formed in Switzerland. It would last 35 years as an aggressive, active supporter of gay rights.

1934

Queer Nazis arrested across Germany

Ernst Röhm and other Nazi leaders known, or believed to have been homosexual, are arrested and murdered on Hitler's orders. Expanding it's anti-gay efforts, the Nazis round up gay people from German-occupied countries, sending them to concentration camps. In the camps, each persecuted minority is identified with a particular symbol, gays are forced to wear an inverted pink triangle.

1935

Nazi anti-gay laws

Expanding on the sodomy laws, kissing and embraces between men are not criminal offenses. The most fantastic 'bias crime' against gay women and men was the criminalization of gay fantasies!

1941-1945

America in World War Two

Millions of young men and young women are forced into sex-segregated environments, where many discover their gay feelings are not restricted to just themselves.

1945

Athletic Model Guild

In Los Angeles, Bob Mizer founds the AMG, which becomes a leading source for erotic male photography — published, however as physique and physical culture periodicals.

1947

Vice-Versa begins publication

The first lesbian magazine in the United States is started by Lisa Ben, a pseudonym (and an anagram for "lesbian")

1948

Kinsey reports on sex habits

Releasing his much anticipated study, the U.S. is shocked to learn 4-percent of the men interviewed were "exclusively homosexual" and another 37% of the American male population had had a homosexual experience in the adult lives.

Gored Vidal's novel, The City and the Pillar is published, receiving widespread attention. This book marks the beginning of a post-war surge in gay writing.

1950

Androgynes Anonymous

A gay support and advocacy group founded by Harry Hay, Chuck Rowland and Bob Hull in Los Angeles. The next year it's name is changed to the Mattachine Society.

Sen. McCarthy and the commie threat

Heading a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Un-American Activities, Sen. McCarthy reported homosexuals are particularly subject to blackmail, emotionally unstable, and of weak "moral" fiber. A purge of lesbian and gay men from government and military employment follows.

1952

ONE Inc.

The founders of this early gay advocacy group hold their first meeting in Los Angeles, CA.

1953

ONE begins publishing it's magazine, the first gay publication in U.S.

Mattachine Society is split by political differences at a conference in May. Newer members demand (and gets) the resignation of founders and others who were affiliated with the Communist Party. They threaten to turn their names over to the FBI. The now de-politicized group all but disappears in Los Angeles, gaining new members around the country, especially in San Francisco.

1955

Mattachine Review premieres

The monthly periodical of the Mattachine Society first appears in January.

Daughters of Bilitis formed in San Francisco by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyons. It is the first national lesbian organization in the U.S. The DOB combine educational and social goals. Some chapters are still active.

A major anti-gay witch hunt in Boise, Idaho results in the questioning of over 1,000 men (in a city of 40,000 at the time). Nine are sentenced to prison terms of up to 15 years each.

1956

Church of ONE Brotherhood

Although lasting only a year, this is the first document gay church. It was founded by Chuck Rowland, a former member of Mattachine Society.

In San Francisco, the Daughters of Bilitis begins publishing its magazine, The Ladder.

1957

Wolfenden Report

The British government's committee releases its findings on homosexuality and prostitution. Recommending legalization of homosexual acts between consenting adults, the British Medical Association gives the report further credibility by endorsing it. The catholic Church, emphasizing homosexuality is a sin, recommends decriminalization. The nationwide debate that ensued ended three years later when the recommendations were defeated in the House of Commons by a two-to-one margin.

In the U.S., the American Civil Liberties Union, agreeing with the government in classifying gays as security risks, refuses to pursue gay rights cases.

1961

First to repeal sodomy laws

Illinois passes legislation repealing its sodomy laws.

First televised special on homosexuals aired in San Francisco. Guests on the show, titled,"The Rejected" included noted anthropologist, Margaret Mead.

Jose Sarria runs for a city supervisor position in San Francisco. Sarria is believed to be the first openly gay person to run for public office in the United States.

1962

Bieber study blames mothers

In a well-publicized study, Dr. Irving Bieber claims his scientific analysis of homosexuals lays the blame in large part on seductive mothers and hostile fathers.

1964

Society for Individual Rights

SIR is founded by disgruntled member of the League for Civil Education, another gay organization. By year's end, Vector Magazine appears and soon becomes a leading advocacy group on the west coast.

1965

U.S. State Department picketed

The Daughters of Bilitis , Mattachine Society and other groups, march in front of the State Department protesting its security policy. Public demonstrations calling for homosexual rights were held by another gay group, ECHO, at the Civil Service Commission, the Pentagon, the White House, and in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

1966

Delegates gather

Forty delegates from various local and regional groups meet in Kansas City to form a national umbrella group, the North American Conference of Homophile Organizations (NACHO). It dissolves in 1970.

Dick Leitsch, president of Mattachine Society-New York challenges the New York state liquor regulations stating that any meeting of three or more homosexuals in a bar was considered grounds for suspension of the bar's liquor license. Prepared to go to court, Leitsch never got the chance. Realizing it would never hold up in court, the New York Liquor Authority changed its policy when the test began.

In San Francisco, radical street people form Vanguard, a new kind of gay liberation group bringing anarcho-communist politics into the gay rights movement.

1967

British legalizes homosexual acts

Although homosexual activities between consent adults is legalized, the law excludes those in the military and police forces.

Columbia University (NY) student, Robert Martin, receives a charter for the Student Homophile League; the first such organization on a college campus.

The cop show, N.Y.P.D. debuts September 5 with a story about a blackmail ring preying on gays.

A CBS Special Report, "The Homosexual" airs. Mike Wallace, as commentator, reports "the average homosexual, if there be such, is promiscuous. he is not interested in, nor capable of, a lasting relationship like that of a heterosexual marriage. His sex life, his love life, consists of a series of chance encounters at the clubs and bars he inhabits, and even on the streets."

In an about-face, the ACLU calls for an end to anti-gay laws. In security cases, the burden of proof should be on the government to prove a gay employee was a security risk.

1968

Der Kreis folds

Formed 35 years earlier, Der Kreis is replaced by the new Swiss Organization of Homosexuals (or Club 68), with its younger leaders. Many gay organizations in the U.S. experienced similar shifts to a more radical leadership.

Metropolitan Community Church is founded, becoming the leading gay church across the U.S.

1969

Stonewall Riot

Some call it a rebellion, some a disturbance, others call it for what is was; an all out riot between angry gay women and men, and the New York City Police.

1970

NOW purges lesbos

The National Organization for Women removed member Rita Mae Brown among other lesbians. A year later, NOW acknowledges the "oppression of lesbians as a legitimate concern of feminism."

In July, the Gay Liberation Front of the Tr-Cities (Albany, NY area) obtains what is believed to be the first telephone listing to include the word "Gay."

The country's first legislative hearings on gay rights, (called by Assemblymen Franz Lichter, Tony Oliveri and Steve Solarz), is held in November at the New York Bar Association.

1971

Canadian march

The first gay march on the Canadian Parliament takes places in Ottawa.

The first statewide gay rights march in the U.S. is held in Albany, NY with some 3,500 people appearing at the state capitol.

1972

Openly gay at Democratic Convention

Jim Foster address the Democratic National Convention

"That Certain Summer," airs on network television, the first drama to focus on gay issues. In the made-for-TV movie, a young man learns his divorced father is gay.

1974

National Gay Task Force forms

The NGTF forms in New York City under the direction of Dr. Bruce Voeller, and becomes a leading force in the gay movement.

American Psychiatric Association removes homosexuality from it's official diagnostic manual of mental illnesses.

The U.S. gets it's first openly gay elected officials —

• Kathy Kozachenko elected to Ann Arbor (MI) city council
• Elaine Noble elected to Massachusetts state legislature. Noble was first elected, the sitting Minnesota state senator, Allan Spear declares his homosexuality.

A Marcus Welby, M.D. episode titled, "The Outraged," portrays a high school teacher who sexually assaults one of his students. Hearing of the plot in advance, the Gay media Task Force (in New York and California) coordinated a major nationwide protest. ABC ran the show, but some local affiliates refused to air it, while others allowed time for rebuttal by gay advocates. This was the first time the gay community exercised its power in response to prejudicial coverage.

1975

Air Force discharges gay man

Leonard Matlovich's appearance on the cover of Time magazine following his discharge from the U.S. Air Force for being homosexuality, shattered many popular gay stereotypes.

Ernest O. Reaugh is appointed by New York state senator Manfred Ohrenstein to act as liaison to the gay community.

1976

Police officers urged to Come Out

For the first time anywhere, the San Francisco (CA) Police Department officially urge gay officers to come out.

1977

First official delegation at White House

Acting as community liaison in the Jimmy Carter administration, Midge Costanza receives the first official lesbian and gay delegation.

Anti-gay singer Anita Bryant starts a highly emotional campaign to repeal the Dade County (FL) gay rights ordinance. Taking on massive proportions, it mobilized the gay community and anti-gay forces nationwide. The ordinance was repealed by a 2-to-1 margin. As late as 1997, Dade County was still embroiled in it's gay rights fight.

Ellen Barrett is ordained in New York, as the first openly lesbian Episcopalian priest.

Harvey Milk, the first openly gay official in a major city, is elected to san Francisco Board of Supervisors. He was endorsed by the mainstream newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, but not by many local gay activists.

1978

Civil Service Reform Act

Barring discrimination against gay people in civilian positions of the federal government, the CSRA becomes law.

San Francisco mayor George Moscone and city supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated by Dan White. Milk becomes the first modern-day gay martyr.

1979

First openly gay judge

California governor Jerry Brown appoints Stephen Lachs to the State Superior court. The next three gay judges appointed in the U.S. were also Brown appointees.

October 14 marks the date of the first 'National March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights.' An estimated 50,000 to 100,000 supporters attend. Up to that time, it was the largest such march ever held.

1980

Holland denounces others laws

In an unusually strong official statement, the government of Holland informs those of Ireland and New Zealand it considers their anti-gay laws to be unacceptable.

Rhode Island high school student Aaron Fricke takes a male date to his prom. When the school attempted to stop him, a court order forced them to back down. The nationwide publicity provided moral support and a positive role model for hundreds of thousands of gay teenagers.

"The simple, obvious thing would have been to go to the senior prom with a girl. But that would have been a lie — a lie to my self, to the girl, and to all the other students. What I wanted to do was to take a male date. But . . . such honesty is not always easy." [See Reflections of a Rock Lobster: A Story About Growing Up Gay]

Mel Boozer's name is put in nomination for the vice-presidency at the Democratic National Convention. He told the convention, "I know what it means to be called a nigger, and to be called a faggot. The difference is none." The convention also includes some 75 openly gay delegates, largest of any such convention to date.

1981

GRID cases announced by CDC

On June 5, the Centers for disease Control announced five previously health gay men in Los Angeles had been diagnosed with pneumocystis carnii pneumonia. PCP is a rare disease unknown in people with healthy immune systems. This is the first official warning of what would become the AIDS epidemic. GRID stands for 'Gay Related Immune Disorder.'

Mary Morgan, a California governor Jerry Brown appointee, becomes the first open lesbian judge in the U.S.

In Strasbourg, the Council of Europe is lobbied by the International Gay Association. The Council votes overwhelmingly to encourage member countries to pass gay civil rights legislation. Calling for the abolishing of laws against homosexual acts, job discrimination, eliminating discriminatory child-custody laws. It also called for destruction of police files on gays.

1982

Wisconsin passes gay Rights Law

Rep. David Clarenbach's lengthy efforts passes into law with Republican governor, Lee S. Dreyfus' signature on the bill. Dreyfus expressed his belief in the "fundamental republican principle" of restricted government interference in the lives of citizens.

First international Gay Games, with 1300 athletes from 22 countries, is held in Kezar stadium in San Francisco (CA). Organizer Dr. Tom Waddell was forced to change the event's name from the Gay Olympics to the Gay Games after the U.S. Olympic Committee brought suit.

1983

Openly gay mayors

Santa Cruz and Laguna Beach, California elected openly gay mayors

U.S. Congressman Gerry Studds becomes the first national political figure to openly and unapologetically acknowledge he is gay.

1984

First openly gay Republican elected

Robert Ebersole, the town clerk in Lunenberg, Massachusetts comes out and is re-elected.

1985

Supreme Court strikes down law

Oklahoma's law banning favorable mention of homosexuality in schools is found unconstitutional interference with free speech.

1986

States Rights Upheld

The Supreme Court upholds the right of states to legislate against gay sex between consenting adults.

Pacific Bell settles with the National Gay Rights Advocates, compensating individuals discriminated by PacBell because they were gay. The suit had begun 11 years earlier when several gay job applicants learned they had been rejected for positions because the company policy discriminated against openly gay people. The approximate $5-million settlement was the largest single settlement in the history of gay rights litigation to date.

1987

Local television station airs condom ads.

San Francisco 's KRON agrees to run condom ads, although networks refused them in light of the spreading AIDS and STD cases. A CBS spokesperson the condom ads would be "intrusive to the morals and religious beliefs of many of our viewers."

In March, AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT-UP) forms in New York to advocate a more confrontational style to AIDS activism.

In May, the Danish Parliament bans discrimination against lesbians and gay men.

Threatened with a boycott, Delta AIrlines apologizes for past homophobia and announces it will not discriminate against passengers with AIDS. The airline troubles started in 1986 when its attorney argued the life of a gay passenger killed in an airline crash, was worth less money than a heterosexual passenger ... because the gay passenger might have had AIDS.

U.S. Congressman barney franks comes out in the Boston Globe. The first elected to a national office to come out by choice, Frank noted the case of Lunenberg (MA) town clerk Robert Ebersole, three years earlier as a factor in his own Coming Out.

As one New York Times employee put it "we're inching into the twentieth century.' This comment came out the newspaper agreed the word "gay" was acceptable to use as an adjective.

A U.S. Court of Appeals orders the Army to reinstate Miriam ben-Shalom. In 1976, she had been discharged after stating she was lesbian.

Washington D.C. witnessed the largest gay and lesbian gathering on October 10 and 11 of that year. Marching for gay civil rights and more action against AIDS, it was estimated 200,00 to 600,00 people attended the march.

That same weekend, the Names Project unveiled its quilt of 2,000 panels commemorating a person who died of AIDS (now number over 41,000).

Two days later the largest civil disobedience action since the Vietnam war took place as 600 demonstrators allowed themselves to be arrested on the steps of the Supreme Court in protest of the court's ruling to uphold state sodomy laws.

1988

Black Gay Conference

The National Black Gay and Lesbian Conference in Los Angeles (CA) draws over 400 participants, making it the largest such gathering ever. Organizers successfully included mainstream black organizations such as the Urban League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in conference activities.

Nearly 200 gay and lesbian leaders attend a "War Conference" to plan goals and strategies for the movement.

In February, the Los Angeles Times profiles the Lambda Delta Lambda sorority at UCLA. A month later, the first gay fraternity receives official recognition from the school

Svend Robinson becomes the first member of the Canadian parliament to come out.

In June, the president's commission on AIDS surprises observers with the tone of its final report... it urged the federal government to ban discrimination against people with HIV, and to protect the confidentiality of status information. When President Reagan announced his strategies for fighting AIDS on August 2, he ignored most of the committee's recommendations.

During the summer, the U.S. Public Health Service brochure Understanding AIDS is mailed to every household in the country.

On September 12, the U.S. Army finally reinstates Sergeant Miriam ben-Shalom after being held in contempt of court for its refusal to do so earlier. She was the first openly gay person ever re-enlisted by the U.S. military.

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