Queer History Timeline

Ellen DeGeneres and her television character, Ellen Morgan, come out. Ellen becomes the first show to feature a lesbian or gay lead character. The show is canceled the following year.

Audre Lorde is named State Poet of New York. She is a critically acclaimed novelist, poet, and essayist who was also politically active in the civil rights movements, a cofounder of The Kitchen Table Women of Color Press, and an editor of the lesbian journal “Chrysalis.”

Thomas Cannon wrote what may be the earliest published defense of homosexuality in English, “Ancient and Modern Pederasty Investigated and Exemplify’d.”

Massachusetts becomes the first U.S. state to legally recognize same-sex marriage.

US Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan issues a statement clarifying that students have the right to form gay-straight alliances (GSAs) under the Equal Access Act of 1984 in any public school that allows noncurricular student groups to form. Schools must also provide GSAs with the same opportunities as other groups to convene and access resources.

The David Ray Hate Crimes Prevention Act or David’s Law, was a bill first introduced in the US House of Representatives by Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee of Texas. It was designed to enhance federal enforcement of laws regarding hate crimes, and to specifically make sexual orientation, like race and gender, a protected class.

Marsha “Pay It No Mind” Johnson and Sylvia Rivera are co-founders of Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries

Laverne Cox is the first transgender woman to win an Emmy as an Executive Producer for Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word, a documentary. It aired on MTV.

President Obama signs the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes and Prevention Act, also known as the Matthew Shepard Act, into law. The law expands the 1969 US federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability, and becomes the first federal law to include legal protections for transgender people.

The Daughters of Bilitis (DOB), considered to be the first lesbian rights organization, is formed by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon in San Francisco, California. The group is conceived as a social alternative to lesbian bars, which were considered illegal and thus subject to raids and police harassment.

The US Department of Health and Human Services issues an official revision that shortens the deferral period for blood donation from men who have sex with men. In addition to shortening the deferral period from a life ban to 12 months, the new revision includes the statement that for the purposes of questioning, gender should be considered on a “self-identified and self-reported” basis.

Cincinnati votes to ban reparative/ conversion therapy of LGBTQ youth.

Attorney and transgender activist Kim Coco Iwamoto is elected to the state‐level Board of Education in Hawaii. She is the first openly transgender person to be elected to a state level office in the US.

Antinous, a 19-year-old man who was the Roman Emperor Hadrian’s favorite lover, mysteriously dies in the Roman province of Egypt. After finding out about Antinous’s death, Hadrian creates a cult that gave Antinous the status of a god and built several sculptures of him throughout the Roman Empire.

Austin City Council approves ordinance for single-stall bathrooms to be recognized as gender-neutral.

James Baldwin, African‐American novelist and intellectual, publishes his first novel, Giovanni’s Room, a critically acclaimed work that explores bisexuality, as well as intimate relationships between men.

Pedro Pablo Zamora (born Pedro Pablo Zamora y Díaz) was a CubanAmerican AIDS educator and television personality. As one of the first openly gay men with AIDS to be portrayed in popular media, Zamora brought international attention to HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ issues and prejudices through his appearance on MTV’s reality television series, The Real World: San Francisco.

The Food and Drug Administration approves Truvada to be taken as a daily preventative for those at risk of acquiring HIV as PrEP (PreExposure Prophylaxis). The Center for Disease Control notes that this is the first time a drug has been approved to prevent acquisition of sexually and intravenous transmission of HIV.

NYC expands the definition of “gender” to include protections for transgender and gender non-conforming people in employment, housing, and public accommodations in the NYC Human Rights Law.

Billy Tipton, a famous male jazz musician, dies. As a result, it becomes publicly known that Tipton was assigned female at birth but lived and identified as male for most of his adult life.

Thomas Jefferson revises Virginia law to make sodomy (committed by men or women) punishable by mutilation rather than death.

Bayard Rustin, noted civil rights activist and gay man, is the chief organizer behind the historic March on Washington, which culminates with Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

GLSEN conducts its first National School Climate Survey to assess the experiences of LGBTQ youth with regards to their experiences of school-based harassment and victimization, the frequency with which they heard homophobic language in their schools, and their overall comfort in school. The survey is the first of its kind to examine the specific experiences of LGBTQ-identified youth in schools nationally.

The US federally recognizes samesex marriages, extending federal benefits to couples in states that allow same-sex marriage. The Supreme Court strikes down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a law signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996 that prohibited same-sex couples from receiving federal marriage benefits.

MTV’s critically acclaimed series True Life airs an episode covering the topic of living and being genderqueer, bringing to light for many viewers at home (beyond the introduction to the world outside of the gender binary) how to properly use the singular “they” and other neopronouns.

The first memorial to the Nazi’s gay victims is unveiled at the Neuengamme concentration camp, a pink granite stone monument inscribed, “Dedicated to the Homosexual victims of National Socialism.”

The first “Gay Liberation Day March” is held in New York City.

The first lasting gay organization, the Mattachine Society, is formed in Los Angeles. They refer to themselves as a “homophile” group. The group exists for about a decade before splitting into smaller entities.

Blues singer Ma Rainey is arrested in her house in Harlem for having a lesbian party. Her protégé, Bessie Smith, bails her out of jail the following morning. Rainey and Smith were part of an extensive circle of lesbian and bisexual African‐American women in Harlem.

The Supreme Court rules that states are constitutionally required to issue marriage licenses to samesex couples, legalizing marriage equality in all 50 states.

Richard Cornish of the Virginia Colony is tried and hanged for sodomy.

When We Were Outlaws: a Memoir of Love and Revoluton by Jeanne Cordova, lesbian activist and pioneer in the fight for LGBTQ rights, is published.

Francis Bacon, a noted gay man who coined the term “masculine love,” publishes “The Advancement of Learning—an argument for empirical research and against superstition.” This deductive system for empirical research earned him the title “the Father of Modern Science.”

We’wha, a Zuni Native American from New Mexico, is received by U.S. President Grover Cleveland as a “Zuni Princess.” They are an accomplished weaver, potter, and the most famous Ihamana, a traditional Zuni gender role, now described as mixed-gender or Two-Spirit.

The Department of Education issues official guidance to clarify that transgender students are protected from discrimination under Title IX, a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against students on the bases of sex/gender in federally funded education programs and activities.

Compton Cafeteria Riot broke out at a San Francisco eatery when trans women were denied service and arrested for breaking gendered clothing laws.

The first known conviction for lesbian activity in North America occurs in March when Sarah White Norman is charged with “lewd behavior” with Mary Vincent Hammon in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

The first gay rights demonstration in the USA takes place on September 19th at the Whitehall Induction Center in New York City, protesting against discrimination in the military.

Soulforce, an organization committed to confronting religious‐ based hate, launches its first Equality Ride bus tour, visiting 33 colleges and universities that ban enrollment of openly LGBTQ students.

Henry Gerber forms the Society for Human Rights, the first gay group in the United States, but the group is quickly shut down.

Kelli Peterson founds the Gay/ Straight Alliance at East High School in Salt Lake City, Utah. The city school board bans all “non‐ curricular” student clubs in order to keep the group from meeting.

The Well of Loneliness, by Radclyffe Hall, is published in the US. This sparks great legal controversy and brings the topic of homosexuality to public conversation.

Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming college student, is brutally beaten by two young men, tied to a fence and left overnight. He dies six days later.

Christine Jorgensen is the first American who comes forward publicly about being transgender and speaks openly about her experiences with gender confirmation surgery and hormone replacement therapy. Her transition causes an international sensation, and for many, she is the first visible transgender person in the media.

Illinois becomes the first U.S. state to remove sodomy law from its criminal code.

Inspired by Black Lives Matter, students at the University of Missouri began the #ConcernedStudent1950 movement in response to racism, sexism, and other issues in the administration. The movement was led by queer-identified black students, such as student body president Payton Head.

Police raid the Stonewall Inn in New York City in the early hours of June 28. This leads to four days of struggle between police and LGBTQ people. Transgender people, LGBTQ people of color and youth are a major part of these “riots” that mark the birth of the modern LGBTQ movement.

President Obama dedicated the new Stonewall National Monument in Greenwich Village, Lower Manhattan, as the first US National Monument to honor the LGBTQ rights movement.

Tammy Baldwin became the first openly lesbian candidate ever elected to Congress, winning Wisconsin’s second congressional district seat over Josephine Musser.

The U.S. Supreme Court overturns sodomy laws, proclaiming rights to privacy and decriminalizing “homosexual” behavior.

Denmark becomes the first country in the world to legally recognize same-sex unions, after passing a bill legalizing “registered partnerships” in a 71–47 vote.

The board of the American Psychiatric Association votes 13‐0 to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders, the DSM‐II.

ACT UP, a direct-action activist group, is founded in the LGBT Community Center in New York City to bring attention to AIDS-related issues using civil disobedience.

The U.S. military policy “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” officially ends. This allows lesbian, gay, and bisexual people to serve openly in the military. The repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” does not lift regulations barring many transgender people from serving.

Harvey Milk becomes the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California when he wins a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Democrats are the first political party to add “gay rights” to their platform during this Democratic Convention.

Virginia Uribe begins Project 10, a program to support LGBTQ students in a Los Angeles high school. The project is eventually adopted by the entire Los Angeles School District.

Nearly 800 people are infected with GRID (Gay‐Related Immunodeficiency Disorder). The name is changed to AIDS by the year’s end.

Horizon Foundation creates the Gwen Arujo Memorial Fund for Transgender Eudcation in honor of Gwen Amber Arujo, a slain trans teenager. The fund’s purpose is to support school-based programs in the nine-county Bay Area that promotes understanding of transgender people and issues annual grants.