IT’S LGBTQIA+ PRIDE MONTH! PRIDE HISTORY PT. 2

IT’S LGBTQIA+ PRIDE MONTH!

UNFORTUNATELY, PRIDE FESTIVALS AROUND THE COUNTRY WERE CANCELED BECAUSE OF THE COVID-19 VIRUS.

This year I feel we need to look back on the history of the LGBTQIA+ movement and see how far we have come.

 

  • 1972: 
    • Sweden became the first country in the world to allow transgender people to legally change their sex and provided free hormone therapy.
    • Baker v. Nelson, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that state law limits marriage to opposite-sex couples and that this limitation does not violate the U.S. Constitution.
    • East Lansing and Ann Arbor, Michigan, and San Francisco, California became the first cities in the U.S. to pass a gay rights ordinance. 

  • 1973: 

    • The American Psychiatric Association declared that homosexuality was not a psychiatric disorder.

    • Maryland became the first state to ban same-sex marriage.
  • 1974: 
    • Chile allowed a transgender person to legally change her name and gender after undergoing gender-affirming surgery.
    • Kathy Kozachenko became the first openly gay American elected to public office when she won a seat on the Ann Arbor, Michigan City Council 
    • Elaine Noble became the first openly gay candidate elected to a state office when she was elected to the Massachusetts State legislature. 
  • 1975: 
    • The U.S. Civil Service Commission announced it will no longer exclude homosexuals from government employment. 
    • Minneapolis, Minnesota became the first U.S. city to protect LGBTQIA+ people by amending its local nondiscrimination law. 
    • The first federal gay rights bill was introduced to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.

  • 1977: Anita Bryant founded “Save Our Children,” and started organizing opposition to the LGBT movement.

  • 1978: Harvey Milk, gay San Francisco city supervisor and Mayor George Moscone were murdered in City Hall by former city supervisor Dan White.

  • 1979: Over 100,000 people took part in the first March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay rights.
  • 1980: The Democratic Party of the United States became the first political party to add “gay rights” to their platform during the Democratic National Convention.

  • 1981: Doctors identify the first cases of what they termed “Gay-Related Immune Deficiency” (GRID). Later the name was changed to AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).

  • 1982: Wisconsin passed the first lesbian and gay rights bill in the U.S.
  • 1985: The first memorial to the Nazi’s gay victims was unveiled at the Neuengamme concentration camp, a pink granite stone monument inscribed, “Dedicated to the Homosexual Victims of National Socialism.”

  • 1986: Bowers v. Hardwick, the Supreme Court ruled that the constitution allows states to pass and enforce sodomy laws targeting homosexuals.