Today in LGBT History – March 13, 2017
Gay People Born On This Day…
1968 John Campbell, teenage hustler, British AIDS activist and one of the founders of the UK Coalition of People Living with HIV and AIDS (UKC). Diagnosed in 1988, he claimed to be the longest-surviving person with AIDS in the UK when he died of the disease in 2007 at age 39
1973 Eloy de Jong, Dutch singer, part of the Boysband ‘Caught in the Act’ which was very popular in Germany. Eloy was news when Stephen Gateley from the Irish boysband Boyzone came out and also announced that Eloy is his boyfriend.
Queer Events On This Day In History…
1906 Susan B. Anthony, American suffragette, abolitionist, and women’s rights advocate, dies at age 86 in Rochester, New York.
1979 The Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services refuses to grant a licence to Tri-Aid to run a gay group home.
1980 The Association of Gay Electors chooses George Hislop, a bath house owner, as the first openly gay candidate for Toronto’s city council. Hislop lost the fall 1980 election in a wave of media-inspired anti-gay bigotry, but subsequent openly gay candidates for Toronto’s city council were not targeted for their sexual orientation.
1984 California governor George Deukmejian vetoes a gay rights bill, saying the bill is unnecessary.
1985 Lambda Passages, the only gay bookstore in Miami, Florida, is closed by city officials for zoning violations.
1990 The New York state appellate court rules that the lover of a gay tenant who died of AIDS could not be evicted from their apartment.
1991 Paris is Burning premieres in United States theaters – The documentary shows New York’s drag scene in the 1980’s, focusing on balls and voguing.
1996 Golfer Muffin Spencer-Devlin, a member of the Ladies Professional Golfing Association (LPGA) which runs North American women’s golf tournaments, comes out during an interview with the US magazine, Sports Illustrated.
1998 In Arizona, Greenlee county superior court judge Alan Minker rules that Pima County could offer domestic partner benefits to same-sex couples.
2006 Britain’s Trade and Industry Secretary Alan Johnson unveils a government consultation paper which proposes that gays and lesbians be given wide-ranging protection from discrimination in the UK’s goods and services sector.
2007 Pope Benedict XVI, a former Nazi, orders Italian politicans to vote against proposed legislation which would give gay couples and unmarried straight couples limited civil recognition and legal rights.
2007 France’s highest court, le Cour de Cassation, upholds the annulment of the the first marriage by a gay couple in France stating that under French law marriage is only between a man and a woman. Stephane Charpin and Bertrand Charpentier were married during a 2004 civil ceremony in Begles, a town in the southwest Bordeaux region. The government immediately annulled the union and the case was appealed throught French legal system of this dominantly Catholic country.
Why does theOUTfront bring you a daily LGBT history update? We feel former California Senator Christine Kehoe says it best, “It gives us visibility and highlights the fact that LGBT people are everywhere. As Harvey Milk said, ‘The number one enemy of gay people everywhere, anytime, is invisibility.’ Invisibility is the most silencing, and dangerous thing to any culture or group of people. Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals are routinely marginalized and muted from popular culture. Invisibility means acquiescing to the notion that LGBT people don’t matter and that we don’t deserve the same rights and equal treatment under the law.
We owe a debt of gratitude to the pioneers who fought for our very existence. With LGBT history, we can highlight pioneers including Harvey Milk, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, Gloria Anzaldua, Bayard Rustin, Sheila James Kuehl and others who blazed the trails for our generation and future generations. Our responsibility is to ensure that we protect our achievements for equality in all facets of life, not just for the LGBT community, but for all Americans.
“It provides a window of reflection for what we’ve done and where we need to go. Sometimes we forget to recognize and acknowledge our heroes and all the significant events that have transpired. We should learn from our history so that we will have the necessary tools to move forward in achieving full equality.”
We could not agree more Christine, we could not agree more!
