Gay History, Lesbians, Transgender Timeline (LGBTQ)

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1533        Britain's Buggery Act passed during the reign of Henry VIII. The statute made buggery a capital offense. The act remained in force until it was repealed and replaced by the Offences against the Person Act 1828. Buggery remained a capital offence until 1861.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buggery_Act_1533)(Econ., 12/19/20, p.69)

1730        Jul 21, States of Holland put a death penalty on "sodomy."
    (MC, 7/21/02)

1805        Louisiana passed legislation against sodomy. The law was upheld in 2002.
    (SFC, 11/23/02, p.A5)

1810        May 21, Charles Chevalier d'Eon de Beaumont (81), French spy, cross dresser, died.
    (MC, 5/21/02)

1825        Karl Heinrich (d.1895), later considered as the 1st gay activist, was born. In 2002 Roberto Massari, Italian publisher, dedicated a new wine, Rosso Gayardo, to him.
    (SFC, 1/30/03, p.D6)

1850        California passed anti-sodomy legislation in its “crime against nature” law.
    (SSFC, 5/11/08, Books p.4)

1861        British colonial rulers framed an anti-homosexuality law for India.
    (Reuters, 7/7/06)

1864        Jamaican law banned sex relations between men.
    (SFC, 8/30/14, p.A2)

1867        Lawyer and civil servant Heinrich Ulrichs addressed the Association of German Jurists calling for a repeal of antisodomy laws.
    (SSFC, 11/16/14, p.P2)

1871        Germany codified its antisodomy laws under “Paragraph 175” of the penal code.
    (SSFC, 11/16/14, p.P2)

1885        In Germany Berlin police Commissioner Leopold von Meerscheidt-Hullessem created the police Dept. of Homosexuals to prosecute cases under Paragraph 175.
    (SSFC, 11/16/14, p.P2)

1889        In San Francisco the Russian Orthodox Church and episcopal complex at 1713-15 Powell burned down. Some parishioners suspected that Bishop Vladimir had burned it down for insurance money. The bishop accused nihilists that included Dr. Russel, vice-president of the Greco-Russian-Slavonian Benevolent Society. Russel accused the bishop of being a pederast but prosecutors refused to pursue the case. In 1997 Terence Emmons authored “Alleged Sex and Threatened Violence: Doctor Russel, Bishop Vladimir, and the Russians in San Francisco, 1887-1892.”
    (SFC, 4/19/14, p.C2)

1894        French poet Pierre Louys (1870-1925) authored “The Songs of Bilitis” (1894) a book of lesbian love poetry.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Songs_of_Bilitis)

1896        In Germany Magnus Hirschfield under a pseudonym published the pamphlet "Sappho und Sokrates," that examined same sex love.
    (SFEC, 6/15/97, DB p.47)

1897        In Germany Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (SHC) to study homosexuality and help win support for gay rights.
    (SSFC, 11/16/14, p.P2)

1904        Aug 10, Dutch newspaper Volk fired gay journalist Jacob de Cock.
    (MC, 8/10/02)

1906        The 1st gay periodical "Der Eigene" was published.
    (SSFC, 6/17/01, DB p.66)

1908        San Francisco's 1st drag bar opened.
    (SFC, 11/21/03, p.A1)

1909        Jan 15, In San Francisco police arrested Miss Frances Smith, attired in a jaunty sailor costume, and Miss May Burke as they strolled down Montgomery street. Smith was charged with masquerading in male attire and Burke was charged with vagrancy.
    (SSFC, 1/10/10, DB p.42)

1909        California legalized the sterilization of convicted sodomites.
    (SSFC, 5/11/08, Books p.4)

1911        Jan 10, Rear Admiral Buttervant Barry (1849-1938), commander in chief of the US Pacific fleet, was discovered in his quarters on the flagship West Virginia engaged in a liaison with a cabin boy. Admiral Barry, in lieu of resigning or suicide, retired on Jan 13.
    (SSFC, 1/9/11, DB p.42)(www.arlingtoncemetery.net/ebbarry.htm)

1915        California expanded the definition of sodomy to include fellatio and cunnilingus.
    (SSFC, 5/11/08, Books p.4)

1923        Homosexuality was made legal in Turkey. It was also legalized in the Ottoman Empire from the mid-nineteenth century.
    (AFP, 8/4/16)

1926        May 30, Christine Jorgensen, pioneer transsexual, was born.
    (MC, 5/30/02)

1928        Radclyffe Hall (b.1880-1943) published "The Well of Loneliness," a novel intended as a cry about the plight of "congenital inverts," her term for lesbians. A Bow Street magistrate declared the novel to be obscene. It caused a big stir in England and a trial for obscenity. In 1999 Diana Souhami published "The Trials of Radclyffe Hall."
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radclyffe_Hall)(SFEC, 8/8/99, BR p.1)(SFC, 7/14/06, p.A2)

1933        Charles Henri Ford (d.2002 at 94) authored "The Young and Evil," considered by some to be the 1st gay novel. It was based on Ford’s adventures in Greenwich Village and was banned in the US until the 1960s.
    (SFC, 10/1/02, p.A18)
1933        The Black Cat Café, a San Francisco Tenderloin bar driven out of business in 1921, reopened at 710 Montgomery under Charles Ridley, the same manager who had run the original. In 1945 it was sold to Sol Stouman and began to attract a clientele of homosexuals. In 1947 Jose Sarria (1922-2013) began hanging out there and gained a reputation for performing female impersonations. In 1998 Michael R. Gorman authored “The Empress Is a Man: Stories from the Life of Jose Sarria.”
    (SFC, 11/8/14, p.C1)
1933        Denmark legalized gay sex, but it took nearly eight decades before gay people could marry.
    (Econ., 11/21/20, p.48)

1936        British authorities banned homosexual acts in Palestine.
    (AP, 6/12/15)

1940        Jul 31, Reich's Kommissar Seyss-Inquart banned homosexuals.
    (MC, 7/31/02)

1943        Radclyffe Hall (b.1880), English author of the lesbian classic "The Well of Loneliness" (1928), died. The book was the subject of an obscenity trial in Britain which resulted in all copies being ordered destroyed.
    (AP, 9/29/09)

1948        Axel Axgil (1915-2011), born Axel Lundahl-Madsen, was among the founding members of gay rights group LGBT Danmark.
    (AP, 10/30/11)

1950        Rules for discharging US homosexual service members were established in the Uniform Code of Military Service and signed by Pres. Harry Truman.
    (SFC, 12/23/10, p.A8)

1950        The Mattachine Society, the first openly gay organization in the US, was founded in Los Angeles. Henry Hay (d.2002 at 90) was one of the original founders and won the 1999 vote to serve as grand marshal for the SF Pride Parade. In 1990 Stuart Timmons authored the biography "The Trouble with Harry Hay."
    (SFEC, 6/13/99, DB p.35)(SFC, 10/25/02, p.A21)

1951        California’s high court ruled in Stoumen vs. Reilly on behalf of San Francisco’s Black Cat café and against the Board of Equalizaiton declaring that gays were entitled to gather in public.
    (SFC, 11/15/14, p.C2)
1951        Jordan banned homosexual acts.
    (AP, 6/12/15)   

1953        Apr 27, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed Executive Order 10450: Security Requirements for Government Employment. The order listed "sexual perversion" as a condition for firing a federal employee and for denying employment to potential applicants. Homosexuality, moral perversion, and communism were categorized as national security threats; the issue of homosexual federal workers had become a dire federal personnel policy concern.
    (http://tinyurl.com/3bblwc)

1954        Jun 7, Alan Turing (b.1912), English mathematician, died of suicide. Turing, a homosexual, was convicted in 1952 of gross indecency and forced to take estrogen injections. In 2006 David Leavitt authored ”The Man Who Knew Too Much: Alan Turing and the Invention of the Computer. In 2009 British PM Gordon Brown apologized for the "inhumane" treatment of Alan Turing.
    (www.turing.org.uk/turing/)Econ, 7/8/06, p.79)(AP, 9/11/09)

1955        Oct, Del Martin (1921-2008), Phyllis Lyon and 6 other SF women founded the Daughters of Bilitis, the 1st national lesbian organization. It was named after “The Songs of Bilitis” (1894) a book of lesbian love poetry by French poet Pierre Louys.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daughters_of_Bilitis)(SFC, 6/23/00, p.A26)(SFC, 8/28/08, p.A1)

1956        San Francisco’s Alcohol Beverage Control Board convened a hearing at which agents testified that that patrons of the Black Cat café had solicitid them after which the board revoked its liquor license.
    (SFC, 11/15/14, p.C2)

1958        Nov 1, Jack Dobbins (30) was murdered in Charleston, S.C., for having allegedly made sexual advances. John Mahon (18), the confessed killer, used a brass candlestick and was later acquitted after using a  gay panic defense.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candlestick_murder)

1958        Authorities in Paraguay under Alfredo Stroessner arrested 108 people "of dubious moral conduct" who were subjected to public derision.
    (Reuters, 4/5/19)

1961        Sep 14, SF vice squad stage an early morning raid at the Tay-Bush Inn, a restaurant at Bush and Taylor, and jailed 103 people. All but 14 were men accused of dancing together and kissing. Of 242 patrons 139 escaped. Police arrested 103 of an estimated 242 patrons in the “biggest action of its kind.” Charges against all but 2 of those arrested were later dropped (1st source says August 14).
    (SSFC, 8/14/11, DB p.42)(SFC, 6/21/13, p.C3)

1962        In San Francisco Bernard Mayes (1929-2014), a gay British Episcopal worker-priest priest and founding station manager of KQED, started the first suicide hotline in the US.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Mayes)(SFC, 10/29/14, p.E11)

1963        Ocr 31, In San Francisco the Black Cat café, located in the Canessa Building at 708-710 Montgomery St., closed down for the last time as the state Supreme Court refused to hear its case and lower courts refused to reinstate its liquor license because it catered to homosexuals.
    (SFC, 11/15/14, p.C2)

1965        Jose Sarria became the 1st openly gay person to run for public office in the US. He received 5,600 votes in his run for SF supervisor.
    (SFC, 2/21/05, p.B5)
1965        Jose Sarria founded The San Francisco Imperial Court, the oldest SF gay organization. He proclaimed himself Empress Jose I, widow of Emperor Joshua Norton (d.1880).
    (SFEM,10/19/97, DB p.32)

1965        Dr. Judd Marmor (d.2003 at 93) authored "Sexual Inversion." It questioned the prevailing views on homosexuality.
    (SFC, 12/18/03, p.A25)

1967        Jul 27, The British Sexual Offenses Act received royal assent. It partially decriminalized sexual behavior between consenting males over 21. Elements of the indecency legislation remained in place until 2003, including anti-gay restrictions relating to the age of consent, the military, and sex under various circumstances. The event was later described in the film: "A Bill Called William." The age of consent for homosexual acts was reduced to 16 in 1998.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_Offences_Act_1967)(SFEC, 6/15/97, DB p.49)(SFC, 6/23/98, p.A10)(AP, 1/16/13)(Econ., 12/19/20, p.69)

1968        Apr 14, The gay-themed play, "The Boys in the Band" by Mart Crowley, opened off Broadway at Theater Four and set a new genre. A film version was released in 1970.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boys_in_the_Band)(AP, 4/14/08)(WSJ, 8/28/96, p.A10)

1968        Quentin Crisp (1908-1999), English gay writer born as Denis Pratt, authored his autobiography: "The Naked Civil Servant." In 1975 The Naked Civil Servant was broadcast on British and American television and made both actor John Hurt and Crisp himself into stars.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quentin_Crisp)(SFC, 11/22/99, p.C4)(WSJ, 7/14/00, p.W11)

1969        Jun 19, The Kinsey Institute said it has selected the SF Bay Area for the most extensive investigation into homosexuality ever conducted. A pool of 5,000 homosexuals would be interviewed for the 3-year project budgeted at $575,000.
    (SSFC, 6/16/19, DB p.38)

1969        Jun 28, In the early hours 8 police officers raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village. Police raided the bar because it had refused to pay an increase in bribery. This led to a clash in what came to be called The Stonewall Rebellion, an incident considered the birth of the homosexual rights movement. Some 400 to 1,000 patrons rioted against police for 3 days The event was described by gay historian Martin Duberman in his book “Stonewall” (1993).
    (SFEC, 7/21/96, DB p.32)(AP, 6/27/97)(AP, 6/27/08)(SFC, 6/22/09, p.E1)(SFC, 6/26/09, p.F3)

1969        Dec 31, In San Francisco the Cockettes, an avant garde psychedelic hippie theater group recently founded by Hibiscus (George Edgerly Harris III), took the stage at the Palace Theater in North Beach. The group folded in 1972, but returned for a show in 2020.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cockettes)(SFC, 1/3/20, p.A1)

1969        Germany decriminalized homosexuality.
    (Reuters, 3/22/17)

1970        Jun 28, San Francisco’s first official Gay Pride event centered on a “Gay-in” gathering at Golden Gate Park.
    (SFC, 6/18/16, p.C4)
1970        Jun 28, In NYC the Christopher Street Liberation Day, the first Pride march, took place a year after the 1969 uprisings at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar, which were led by trans women of color.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_pride)

1971        Mar 10, In France a group of homosexuals of both sexes disrupted a live general public radio show, devoted to “Homosexuality, that painful problem,” and put the newly-born gay movement on the French political map.
    (http://tinyurl.com/5hafjv)

1971        Apr 1, In San Francisco the Bay Area Reported published its first issue as a community and culture publication. It was begun by Bob Ross (d.2003 at 69) and Paul Bentley. Over the next 45 years it evolved to become a local news source and advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights.
    (SFC, 12/12/03, p.A29)(SFC, 6/25/16, p.A9)

1971        In San Francisco Chuck Holmes (1945-2000) founded Falcon Studios. His pioneering movies later enshrined him in the history of adult entertainment as the “godfather of gay porn.”
    (SSFC, 6/21/15, p.C10)

1972        Apr 24, Natalie Clifford Barney (b.1876), lesbian writer and US expatriate, died in Paris. In 2002 Suzanne Rodriguez authored "Wild Heart, A Life: Natalie Clifford Barney’s Journey From Victorian America to the Literary Salons of Paris."
    (SSFC, 10/27/02, p.M6)(www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7157)

1972        Jun 25, San Francisco’s first Gay Pride Parade, called the Christopher Street West Parade, attracted some 2000 participants and 15,000 spectators. Mayor Alioto refused to proclaim "Gay Liberation Day."
    (SFEC, 5/23/99, Z1 p.4)(SFC, 6/18/16, p.A1)

1972        The film "Elevator Girls in Bondage" was written and directed by Michael Kalmen (d.2003) and featured the SF drag troupe the Cockettes.
    (SFC, 7/15/03, p.A18)

1972        Walter C. Righter, an Episcopal Bishop, broke a tie and voted in favor of ordaining women in the Episcopal Church. In 1998 he published "A Pilgrim’s Way: The Personal Story of the Episcopal Bishop Charged with Heresy for Ordaining a Gay Man Who Was in a Committed Relationship."
    (SFEC, 6/28/98, BR p.9)(http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n9_v50/ai_n27531797)

1972-1974    Some 20,000 gay people moved to San Francisco during this period.
    (SFC, 11/21/03, p.A1)

1973        Mar 26, Noel Coward (b.1899), English gay playwright, died. He was called "The Master" and his work included "The Vortex," "Hay Fever," "Private Lives," "Brief Encounter" and "Blithe Spirit." In 1970 he was given knighthood. "Noel Coward: A Biography" by Philip Hoare was published in 1996. Another biography, "A Talent to Amuse" by Sheridan Morley, published in 1974, was recommended. In 2007 Barry Day edited “The Letters of Noel Coward.”
    (WSJ, 8/15/96, p.A10)(SFEC, 8/25/96, BR p.9)(WSJ, 11/10/07, p.W8)

1973        Jun 24, In New Orleans an arson attack on the Upstairs Lounge, a gay bar, consumed 32 members of the gay-friendly Metropolitan Community Church.
    (Econ, 12/24/16, p.104)

1973        Jul 1, Maryland declared that only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid in the state.
    (SFC, 9/19/07, p.A3)(http://tinyurl.com/5ygqvd)

1973        Lesbian activist Alix Dobkin (1940-2021) broke new ground with her album "Lavender Jane Loves Women." It was the first album recorded and distributed by women for women.
    (SSFC, 6/6/21, p.F1)

1973        Montana initiated a ban on homosexual sex.
    (SFC, 7/3/97, p.A3)

1974        Jan 13, Salvador Novo (b.1904), gay Mexican writer, poet and official chronicler of Mexico City, died.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador_Novo)

1974        Jan 27, In San Francisco Gerald Kavanaugh (50) was found dead on Ocean Beach with 16 stab wounds. He was the first of at least five gay victims stabbed to death over the next year and a half by a serial killer, dubbed the Doodler, for his pattern of sketching victims in diners and bars before asking them to have sex.
    (SFC, 2/7/19, p.A9)

1974        Mar 5, In Britain Roy Jenkins (1920-2003) began serving as Home Secretary under PM Harold Wilson. In his 23 months on the job he enacted reforms that included legalizing homosexuality and abortion, legislating for no-fault divorce, banning racial discrimination and abolishing censorship in the theater.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Jenkins)(Econ, 9/12/15, p.53)

1974        Dec, Allan Spear (1937-2008), Minnesota state senator, announced that he was gay, becoming only one of two openly gay legislators in the country.
    (SFC, 10/14/08, p.B5)

1974        This year's edition of the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (DSM), 1st published in 1952, removed homosexuality from its list of disorders.
    (WSJ, 12/3/96, p.A1)(SFC, 12/18/03, p.A25)

1975        Jun 4, In San Francisco Harald Gullberg was found stabbed to death in the area of Golden Gate Park. He was the 5th gay man stabbed to death by the Doodler serial killer over the last year and a half.
    (SFC, 2/7/19, p.A9)

1975        Jul 3, The US Civil Service Commission adopted new suitability regulations devoid of the previous language about "immoral" conduct or "sexual perversion." This voided Pres. Eisenhower’s 1953 executive order on firing gays.
    (www.fedglobe.org/news/12now_history.html)

1975        Oct 22, Matlovich, who appeared in his Air Force uniform on the cover of Time magazine, challenged the ban against homosexuals in the US military. He was given a "general" discharge by the Air Force after publicly declaring his homosexuality. NBC subsequently made a TV movie of his story. His suit dragged on until 1980 when a federal judge ordered Matlovich reinstated. Instead of re-entering the Air Force, Matlovich accepted a settlement of $160,000. Matlovich became a gay rights activist and dies of AIDS in 1988."
    (MC, 10/22/01)(www.glinn.com/news/tline5.htm)

1975        John Embry (d.2010 at 83) founded Drummer, a gay leather lifestyle magazine, and ran it until 1986. In 1986 Tony DeBlase and partner Dr. Andrew Charles moved from Chicago to San Francisco and purchased the Drummer family of magazines from Alternate Publishing.
    (SFC, 11/16/10, p.C4)(www.leatherarchives.org/exhibits/deblase/drummer/drum.htm)
1975        Clela Rorex, Boulder, Colo., county clerk, allowed 6 same-sex couples to wed after changing the license application to read "person" rather than "male" and "female."
    (SFC, 2/14/04, p.A1)

1976        May 24, The SF Chronicle published the 1st installment of "Tales of the City" by Armistead Maupin.
    (SFC, 5/1/01, p.A1)(www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/27/sunday/main3756171.shtml)

1976        Aug 27, Transsexual Renee Richards was barred from competing in US Tennis Open  in Forest Hills, NY.
    (www.nytimes.com/packages/html/sports/year_in_sports/08.27.html)

1976        Rev. John McNeil (1925-2015) authored “The Church and the Homosexual.”
    (SFC, 10/1/15, p.D2)

1977        Jun 7, Anita Bryant led a successful crusade against Miami gay rights law.
    (http://thecastro.net/parade/parade/parade.html)

1977        Jun 8, Some 5,000 marched through downtown to protests an anti-gay rights vote in Miami. Voters in Dade County had repealed a gay-rights ordnance.
    (SFC, 6/8/02, p.G8)

1977        The Log Cabin Republicans, a California group of gay conservatives, formed to oppose the Briggs Initiative, an unsuccessful 1978 ballot initiative that attempted to ban gay teachers from schools.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Log_Cabin_Republicans)(SSFC, 6/20/21, p.E4)

1978        Jun 24, In Australia a peaceful march was held in Sidney as a protest for gay rights and the decriminalization of homosexuality. The protest was marred by police brutality with 53 people arrested in subsequent scuffles. The march also sparked the annual Sidney Mardi Gras parade that grew into a major tourist spectacle.
    (Reuters, 3/3/18)

1978        Jun 25, Some 240,000 people took part in the 7th SF Gay Freedom Parade.
    (SFC, 6/20/03, p.E2)

1978        Aug 20, The Castro Village held its 5th annual street fair for an estimated 20,000 people.
    (SFC, 8/15/03, p.E9)

1978        Oct 22, In SF Episcopal priest William Barcus III revealed his homosexuality before a supportive congregation at the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin on Union Street during a sermon criticizing Proposition 6, the Briggs Initiative.
    (SFC, 10/17/03, p.E9)

1978        Nov 8, Jerry Brown was re-elected as governor of California. Republican Mike Curb was elected Lt. Gov. State voters rejected restrictions on gay and lesbian teachers in the 1st state-wide plebiscite on such an issue.
    (SFC, 11/7/03, p.E3)

1978        Arthur Evans (1942-2011) authored “witchcraft and the Gay Counterculture.” It traced homophobic attitudes to the Middle Ages.
    (SFC, 10/1/11, p.C4)
1978        Dr. Fritz Klein (1933-2006), Austrian-born American researcher in bisexuality, published his Klein Grid, an expansion of the Kinsey Scale that measures human sexuality.
    (SFC, 6/1/06, p.B7)
1978        Gilbert Baker (1951-2017), gay artist and activist, designed the eight-colored banner that flew over the Pride festivities in San Francisco. Within a year he agreed to drop two colors because fabrics and dyes in pink and turquoise weren’t always readily available. The six-color flag became globally recognized as a symbol of the LGBT community.
    (SFC, 4/1/17, p.C1)

1979        Mar 31, A bachelor party involving several young SF police officers ended in a scrap when drunken revelers invaded a lesbian bar called Peg's Place on Geary.
    (SFC, 3/26/04, p.F5)

1979        Apr 9, Some 300 lesbians and gay men competed with 6,500 other applicants for 600 SF police jobs. There were no openly gays officers at the time.
    (SFC, 4/9/04, p.F10)

1979        Apr 15, The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a San Francisco gay theater group, made their debut.
    (SFC, 3/17/99, p.A6)(SFC, 3/29/18, p.E1)

1979        Jun 24, An estimated 300,000 people attended the 8th annual SF Gay Freedom Day Parade with about 80,000 in the procession.
    (SFC, 6/18/04, p.F2)

1979        Aug 3, INS inspectors at the SF Int’l. Airport stopped 2 male Mexican nationals because their bags contained cosmetics. The INS soon issued a new directive temporarily halting its agents from turning back foreign visitors suspected of being homosexuals.
    (SFC, 8/13/04, p.F4)

1979        Oct 14, In Washington, DC, some 100,000 gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and supporters marched in celebration of gay pride and demanded equal rights for homosexuals under the law.
    (SFC, 10/15/04, p.F13)

1980        Jun 27, The San Francisco 133rd Police Academy graduating class included 2 gay men.
    (SFC, 6/24/05, p.F7)

1980        The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) began efforts to fight for LGBT rights.
    (SFC, 7/12/17, p.A5)

1980-1990    Herbert Baumeister (1947-1996), an Indianapolis businessman, killed 16 men, most of them gay, and dumped them in the woods behind his home and along rural roads in Indiana and Ohio. Baumeister committed suicide in Canada at age 49.
    (www.mayhem.net/Crime/morg9804.html)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb_Baumeister)

1981        Aug 28, The US national Centers for Disease Control, noting a high incidence of Kaposi's sarcoma and pneumocystis in homosexual men, announced a medical task force had been formed to find out why. It was later determined the increased number of illnesses was caused by AIDS.
    (AP, 8/28/01)

1981        Vito Russo (1946-1990), gay activist, authored “The Celluloid Closet” in which he decoded Hollywood films for queer content. A film version, released in 1996, was made by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman.
    (SFC, 10/15/04, p.F1)(SSFC, 7/10/11, p.G5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vito_Russo)
1981        Alan P. Bell (d.2002) led a Kinsey study that suggested that homosexuals are born with that predisposition and not influenced by traumatic experiences during childhood development.
    (SFC, 5/28/02, p.A18)
1981        Larry Kramer helped found the Gay Men’s Health Crises in NYC. He later split with the group and founded ACT UP (1987) to press for a more forceful response to AIDS. His work included the novel "Faggots" (1978) and the play The Normal Heart."
    (SFC, 7/10/97, p.A10)

1981        Colombia decriminalized gay sex.
    (Econ., 8/8/20, p.47)

1982        Edmund White (b.1940) authored the novel “A Boy’s Own Story.” It became a classic of the gay coming-out narrative. 
    (Econ, 1/23/16, p.76)
1982        Pres. Reagan in a defense directive said “homosexuality is incompatible with military service.” Under the declaration service members who said they were gay or engaged in homosexual acts were discharged.
    (SFC, 12/23/10, p.A8)
1982        The Homosexual Offences Order (Northern Ireland) 1982, No. 1536 (N.I. 19) decriminalized homosexual acts between consenting adults in Northern Ireland.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexual_Offences_(Northern_Ireland)_Order_1982)

1984        Jun 24, In San Francisco the 12th annual Lesbian/Gay Freedom Parade drew an estimated 300,000 observers and participants.
    (SSFC, 6/21/09, DB p.50)

1984        Aug 31, San Francisco 19 plainclothes police officers raided Lord Jim’s bar at 1500 Broadway and arrested the owner. Patrons and employees were detained for up to 90 minutes as police checked for warrants. Attorney William Barfield, one of those detained, later filed 5 of six damage claims totaling 375,000 against the city. Proposed settlements in 1988 included $63,500 for a dozen people in the first batch of lawsuits.
    (SSFC, 9/20/09, DB p.50)(SSFC, 10/13/12, DB p.46)

1984        Susie Bright began editing “On Our Backs,” the first lesbian erotica magazine. She had helped found the project and continued editing the magazine to 1991.
    (SSFC, 3/27/11, p.G1)

1984        The US Methodist General Conference passed a ban on “self-avowed practicing homosexuals.”
    (SFC, 12/27/04, p.A3)

1985        Apr 21, The Public Theater staged Larry Kramer’s play about AIDS: “The Normal Heart.” In 2011 the show made its debut on Broadway.
    (Econ, 5/7/11, p.92)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Normal_Heart)

1985        Willie Walker (1949-2004) helped found the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society in San Francisco.
    (SFC, 10/22/04, p.B7)

1986        Mar 7, The film “Desert Hearts,” directed by Donna Deitch (b.1945), was released. This was the first feature film to depict a lesbian love story in a generally mainstream vein, with positive and respectful themes. It was based on Jane Rule’s novel “Desert of the Heart” (1964) and became a pinnacle of LGBTQ cinema.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Deitch)(SFC, 9/1/17, p.E5)

1986        Jun 30, In a 5-4 decision, the US Supreme Court ruled that states could outlaw homosexual acts between consenting adults. Mike Bowers in Bowers v. Hardwick, successfully defended Georgia's anti-sodomy law on the grounds that the state legislature, as representatives of the people of Georgia, had enacted it. However, the nation's highest court effectively reversed this decision in 2003 in Lawrence v. Texas.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowers_v._Hardwick)(Econ, 4/3/04, p.87)(AP, 6/30/07)(SFC, 6/30/21, p.A10)

1986        Judith C. Brown authored "Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy," a fact-based story on Benedetta Carlini.  In 2021 Paul Verhoeven directed "Benedetta." a film based on Brown's book.
    (SFC, 12/3/21, p.D2)
1986        Richard Plant (d.1998) wrote "The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War Against Homosexuals."
    (www.holocaust-trc.org/homosx.htm)

1986        The film “Desert Hearts” was adopted from the Jane Rule novel “Desert of the Heart.” It was the story of 2 women falling in love. The screenplay was by Natalie Cooper (d.2004).
    (SFC, 10/28/04, p.B7)

1986        Mike Bowers, Attorney-General of Georgia, successfully defended the state’s anti-sodomy law before the US Supreme Court.
    (SFC, 6/6/97, p.A14)

1987        May 5, In San Francisco the 21st Street Baths at 3244 21st St. turned off its steam room and shut down its adult movie theater in response to the AIDS epidemic. The building was razed in 1996.
    (SSFC, 5/13/12, p.42)(http://tinyurl.com/77xoonh)

1987        Aug 24, Bayard Rustin (b.1912), gay civil rights activist, died of cardiac arrest. In 2003 a documentary of his life by Nancy Kates: "Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin," was aired on PBS TV. He was the chief architect of the 1963 march on Washington. In 2003 John D'Emilio authored "Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin."
    (SFC, 1/16/03, p.E1)(SSFC, 8/31/03, p.M3)

1987        Sep 16, Pope John Paul II visited San Francisco and drew the largest protests of his US tour as homosexuals, feminists and Jews protested outside Mission Dolores Basilica.
    (SSFC, 9/16/12, DB p.46)

1987        In San Francisco the gay-oriented Stud bar opened at Ninth and Harrison streets. It was forced to close in 2020 amidst loss of revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic.
    (SFC, 5/22/20, p.C1)

1988        Feb 10, A 3-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco struck down the Army's ban on homosexuals, saying gays were entitled to the same protection against discrimination as racial minorities. The ruling was later set aside by the full appeals court.
    (AP, 2/10/97)

1988        Mar 7, Divine, [Harris Milstead], female impersonator (Pink Flamingos), died.
    (MC, 3/7/02)

1988        Alan Hollinghurst authored his 1st novel, “The Swimming Pool Library.” Edmund White later described it as the best book about gay life yet written by an English author.
    (Econ, 4/17/04, p.82)

1988        Israel repealed its anti-sodomy laws. The laws had not been enforced for 30 years.
    (www.tau.ac.il/law/aeyalgross/Danilowitz.htm)

1989        May 3, Christine Jorgensen (b.1926), Denmark-born 1st transsexual (1952), died in California. Her book “Christine Jorgensen: A Personal Autobiography” was published in 1967, and its film adaptation was released in 1970 as The Christine Jorgensen Story.
    (www.glbtq.com/arts/jorgensen_c.html)

1989        May 26, Danish parliament allowed legal marriage among homosexuals.
    (www.wayoflife.org/fbns/pushing.htm)

1989        Oct 1, In Copenhagen, Denmark, 11 homosexual couples were married. It was the first time any country allowed such marriages.
    (SFC, 5/26/96, Z1 p.6)(SFC, 12/12/98, p.B3)

1990        Feb 8, CBS television temporarily suspended Andy Rooney for his anti-gay and anti-black remarks in a gay magazine interview.
    (HN, 2/8/99)(MC, 2/8/02)

1990        Apr 23, Pres. George H. W. Bush signed the Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990. It required the Attorney General to collect data on crimes committed because of the victim's race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity. The bill was the first federal statute to "recognize and name gay, lesbian and bisexual people.”
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_Crime_Statistics_Act)(Econ, 12/10/16, p.33)

1990        Dec 7, Reinaldo Arenas (b.1943), gay writer, took his own life in the US after suffering from AIDS. He left Cuba during the 1980 Mariel boatlift. His books included “Before Night Falls” (1993) and “The Color of Summer” the 4th of 5 called the “Pentagonia” a “secret history of Cuba.” In 2000 the film version of Before Night Falls was directed by Julian Schnabel.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinaldo_Arenas)(SFEC, 7/30/00, BR p.4)(SSFC, 12/17/00, DB p.49)

1990        Eric Orner debuted his comic strip “The Mostly Unfabulous Life of Ethan Green” in a gay community paper in Boston. In 2015 the strip was compiled in “The Completely Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green.”
    (SFC, 3/28/15, p.E1)
1990        Prof. Theodore Sarbin (1911-2005) of UC Berkeley co-wrote the report “Gays in Uniform: The Pentagon’s Secret Reports.” The report prompted Pres. Clinton’s policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
    (SFC, 9/3/05, p.B4)
1990        Episcopal Bishop Walter Righter of Iowa ordained Rev. Barry Stopfel, who publicly proclaimed his long-term gay relationship with a lover. The Bishop was later charged with heresy under a 1979 church resolution and then acquitted.
    (SFC, 5/16/96, p.A-11)
1990        The National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) was founded by Leroy Aarons (d.2004) and 6 other journalists in San Francisco.
    (SFC, 9/4/10, p.E2)
1990        In Russia the Moscow Union of Lesbians and Gays was founded.
    (SFC, 6/23/96, BR, p.6)

1991        Jun 4, Lesbian priest Elizabeth Carl was ordained in Episcopal Church.
    (MC, 6/4/02)

1991         Frances 'Franco' Stevens (23) launched "Denueve," a glossy lifestyle magazine for lesbians, after raising funds by taking cash out on credit cards and betting on the horses. The magazine had to change its name following a lawsuit from French actress Catherine Deneuve and in 2010 Stevens sold the magazine after an accident left her disabled. She bought it back 10 years later.
    (Reuters, 6/4/21)

1992        Mar 30, Debra Chasnoff (1957-2017) won an Oscar for her documentary “Deadly Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons and Our Environment,” an expose of GE’s production of nuclear weapons. Chasnoff came out as a lesbian by thanking her female partner, Kim Klausner.
    (SSFC, 11/12/17, p.C1)

1992        Sarah Pettit (25) cofounded Out magazine. Pettit died Jan 22, 2003. Out was sold to LPI in 2000.
    (SFC, 1/23/03, p.A18)
1992        US Pres. candidate Bill Clinton promised to lift the ban against homosexual military service members.
    (SFC, 12/23/10, p.A8)

1993        Apr 14, A U.S. government-funded study said that of 3,321 men surveyed, only 1.1 percent identified themselves as exclusively homosexual, a finding disputed by gay activists.
    (AP, 4/14/98)

1993        Apr 16, President Clinton received gay and lesbian activists in the Oval Office for a one-hour meeting.
    (AP, 4/16/98)

1993        Apr 25, Hundreds of thousands of gay rights activists and their supporters marched in Washington, D.C., demanding equal rights and freedom from discrimination.
    (AP, 4/25/98)

1993        May 3, American sailor Terry M. Helvey confessed to stomping to death Allen Schindler, a homosexual shipmate, but told his court-martial in Japan that he was drunk and did not plan the killing. Helvey was later sentenced to life in prison.
    (AP, 5/3/98)

1993        May 11, The Senate Armed Services Committee heard emotional testimony from Marine Col. Fred Peck, who affirmed his love for his homosexual son, Scott, while reiterating his opposition to lifting the ban on openly gay servicemen.
    (AP, 5/11/98)

1993        Jun, In San Francisco hundreds of thousands marched in the Lesbian/Gay Freedom Day Parade behind a banner proclaiming 1993 as "the year of the queer".
    (SSFC, 6/3/18, DB p.54)d

1993        Jul 19, President Clinton announced a compromise allowing homosexuals to serve in the military, but only if they refrained from all homosexual activity, under a compromise dubbed "don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue."
    (HN, 7/19/98)(AP, 7/19/08)

1993        Dec 31, Samuel Morris Steward (b.1909), also known by the pen name Phil Andros, died. He was a novelist and tattoo artist later based in Oakland, California. His “Stud File” ran to more than 4,600 encounters with over 800 men. In 2010 Justin Spring authored “Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist, and Sexual Renegade.”
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Andros)(SSFC, 8/22/10, p.F1)(Econ, 8/14/10, p.70)

1993        Rev. Eugene Lumpkin, a member of the SF Human Rights Commission, spoke against the homosexual lifestyle and quoted scripture that it was abomination against God. He later stated in a TV interview he agreed with a biblical statement that "a man who sleeps with a man should be put to death." Mayor Jordan quickly fire Rev. Lumpkin from the HRC. Lumpkin filed suit on the basis of freedom of speech and religion but his case was lost.
    (SFC, 12/2/97, p.A16)
1993        Ireland this year decriminalized homosexuality and suicide.
    (Econ, 6/27/15, p.17)(Econ 6/10/17, p.55)
1993        Tel Aviv began hosting an annual gay pride parade.
    (SFC, 6/8/02, p.A12)
1993        Norway legalized gay marriages.
    (SFC, 6/28/96, p.A14)

1994        Feb 19, Derek Jarman, British film-maker and artist, died in London of AIDS-related illness. Jarman was outspoken about homosexuality, his public fight for gay rights, and his personal struggle with AIDS. His books included the autobiography "Dancing Ledge" (1984) and  two volumes of diaries "Modern Nature" and "Smiling in Slow Motion".
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Jarman)

1994        Feb 20, Pope John Paul II demanded juristic discrimination of homosexuals.
    (MC, 2/20/02)

1994        Jun 26, Hundreds of thousands of homosexuals gathered in New York City to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn riot, considered the birth of the gay-rights movement.
    (AP, 6/26/99)

1994        Aug 20, Archbishop Quarracino wanted all homosexuals to leave Argentina.
    (MC, 8/20/02)

1995        Sweden granted registered partnership becoming the third country to legally recognize same-sex unions, after Denmark and Norway.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_Sweden)   

1996        Mar 27, The Gay’s Hill Baptist Church in Millen, Ga., burned down. Arson was suspected and investigations by the FBI and ATF were later begun.
    (SFC, 6/11/96, p.A16)

1996        Apr 14, "A History of Queer Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area" by Susan Stryker and Jim Van Buskirk was reviewed.
    (SFC, 4/14/96, BR, p.1)

1996        Apr 18, The new SF Main Public Library opened. It included the new James C. Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center.
    (SFC, 4/14/96, EM, p.22)(SFC, 6/22/16, p.A1)

1996        May 8, South Africa approved a National Constitution that guaranteed equal rights for all races. Zulu nationalists and white extremists boycotted the parliament vote and the entire process. The Constitution contained a clause that prevented discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
    (SFC, 5/8/96, p.A-19)(WSJ, 5/9/96, p.A-1)(SFEC, 9/6/98, p.A22)

1996        May 20, The Supreme Court struck down, 6-3, a Colorado constitutional amendment banning laws that protect homosexuals from discrimination. In another decision, the court curtailed, 5-4, huge jury awards aimed at punishing or deterring misconduct.
    (WSJ, 5/21/96, p.A-1)(AP, 5/20/97)

1996        Jun 1, The bodies of Julianne Williams (24) and Laura Winans (26) were found in Shenandoah National Park, a week after they were last seen alive. Their hands were bound and their throats were slashed. On Apr 10, 2002 Darrel David Rice (34) of Maryland was indicted for the murders along with hate charges.
    (SFC, 4/11/02, p.A15)

1996        Sep 10, The US Senate dealt a double defeat to gay-rights activists, voting to reject same-sex marriage in federal law (Defense of Marriage Act - DOMA) by a vote of 85-14. It also rejected (50-49) a separate bill that would have barred job discrimination against gays.
    (WSJ, 9/11/96, p.A1)(AP, 9/10/97)

1997        Apr 30, ABC aired the "coming out" of the title character in the sitcom "Ellen," played by Ellen DeGeneres.
    (AP, 4/30/98)

1997        May 1, The TV show Ellen captured 42 million viewers to hear the Ellen character, played by Ellen DeGeneres, announce that she was a lesbian.
    (SFC, 5/2/97, p.C1)

1997        Jul 2, A federal judge in New York ruled that the military policy, "don’t ask, don’t tell," is unconstitutional and only serves to cater to the biases of many heterosexuals.
    (SFC, 7/3/97, p.A1)
1997        Jul 2, A Montana court voided a 24-year-old ban on homosexual sex, concluding that the government has no business meddling in the sexual activity of consenting adults.
    (SFC, 7/3/97, p.A3)

1997        Aug 20, In Jamaica prison guards walked off their jobs after a commissioner suggested that guards and prisoners use condoms to prevent AIDS. Anti-gay violence broke out and within a week 16 inmates were killed and 20 injured at Kingston’s Gen’l. Penitentiary and St. Catherine District Prison.
    (SFC, 8/26/97, p.A4)

1997        Dec 17, In New Jersey a settlement was reached that allows gay and unmarried couples to adopt children.
    (WSJ, 12/18/97, p.A1)

1997        China decriminalized homosexuality. The Chinese Classification and Diagnostic Criteria of Mental Disorders removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses on April 20, 2001.
    (Econ, 6/20/09, p.43)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_China)

1997        The Tasmanian parliament repealed its anti-gay laws.
    (SSFC, 1/23/05, p.E6)

1998        Feb 6, Washington became the 27th state to ban same-sex marriages.
    (SFC, 2/7/98, p.A3)

1998        Apr 27, Florida teenagers Bryan Donahue and William Dodge (aged 17 and 16) beat and kicked to death a gay man, Steven Goedereis (29), who had called one of them "beautiful." The teenagers were convicted of 2nd and 3rd degree murder in 1999.
    (http://tinyurl.com/yb7asxzd)(SFC, 6/15/99, p.A6)

1998        May 9, In Britain the Israeli transsexual, Dana International (Yaron Cohen), won the annual Eurovision Song Prize with the song "Diva."
    (SFC, 5/11/98, p.D5)(SFEC, 7/20/98, p.A9)

1998        Aug 1, The 5th quadrennial Gay Games began in Amsterdam with some 15,000 competitors.
    (SFEC, 8/2/98, p.A2)

1998        Aug 9, In London, England, the 13th Anglican Lambeth Conference, which had opened on July 18, closed. The 749 bishops present declared that homosexual acts were incompatible with scripture, but that gays were loved by God.
    (Econ, 3/29/08, p.50)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambeth_Conferences)

1998        Oct 7, In Laramie, Wyo., Matthew Shepard (22), a gay student at the University of Wyoming, was found beaten, burned and tied to a wooden ranch fence. Police arrested Russel Arthur Henderson (21) and Aaron McKinney for attempted murder, kidnapping and robbery. Also picked up as accessories to the charges were Chastity Vera Pasley (20) and Kristen Leann Price (18). Shepard died Oct 12. Pasley was sentenced in 1999 to 15-24 months in jail for lying to police and destroying evidence. [See Oct 12] Henderson and McKinney were later convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
    (SFC, 10/10/98, p.A3)(SFC, 10/13/98, p.A1)(SFC, 5/22/99, p.A11)(AP, 10/7/99)

1998        Oct 12, Matthew Shepard (21), a gay student at the University of Wyoming, died in fort Collins, Colorado, five days after he was beaten and lashed to a fence; two men were charged with his murder. Russell Henderson later pleaded guilty to murder and kidnapping; a second suspect, Aaron McKinney, was convicted of felony murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery. McKinney was sentenced to 2 life terms.
    (SFC, 10/13/98, p.A1)(AP, 10/12/99)(SFC, 11/4/99, p.A1)(SFC, 11/5/99, p.A1)

1998        In Romania the last person jailed for being gay walked free.
    (SFC, 8/23/21, p.A4)
1998        A South Africa court struck down the law against sodomy.
    (SSFC, 5/25/03, p.A12)

1999        Apr 5, In Laramie, Wyo., Russell Henderson pleaded guilty to kidnapping and felony murder in the death of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student.
    (AP, 4/5/00)

1999        Apr 30, In London a bomb exploded at the Admiral Duncan pub, a gay bar in Soho. Three people were killed and over 70 wounded. David Copeland (24) was convicted for the bombing in 2000.
    (SFC, 5/1/99, p.A1)(AP, 4/30/00)(SFC, 7/1/00, p.A14)(Econ, 12/24/16, p.103)

1999        May 7, A jury in Pontiac, Mich., announced a $25 million verdict against the producers of the Jenny Lind TV Show over the 1995 segment that led to the murder of Scott Amedure by Jonathan Schmitz. Amedure, a gay man, was shot to death after revealing a crush on Jonathan Schmitz, a fellow guest on the talk show. Time Warner planned to appeal.
    (SFC, 5/8/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/10/99, p.B8)(AP, 5/7/00)

1999        Nov 3, In Laramie, Wyoming, Aaron McKinney (22) was convicted of murder in the October 6-7, 1998, beating of gay Wyoming college student Matthew Shepard (21). Shepard died on October 12, 1998, at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado. McKinney and Russell Henderson, who pleaded guilty to kidnapping and murder, were sentenced to life in prison. McKinney had faced the possibility of being sentenced to death by lethal injection. A deal was reached after Shepard’s parents agreed to accept two life terms in prison for their son’s killer.
    (AP, 11/3/00)(www.cnn.com/US/9911/03/gay.attack.verdict.01/)

1999        Nov 14, Peter Wildeblood,  Anglo-Canadian journalist, novelist, playwright and gay rights campaigner, died in Victoria, British Columbia. He was one of the first men in the UK to publicly declare his homosexuality.  His book "Against the Law" (1955), detailed his experiences at the hands of the law and the British establishment, brought to light the appalling conditions in HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs, and encouraged campaigns for prison reform and for reform of law regarding homosexuality.
    (Econ., 8/8/20, p.14)

1999        Dec 11, Agreeing with his wife, President Clinton told CBS Radio his 1993 "don’t ask, don’t tell" policy on gays in the military wasn’t working, and he pledged to work with the Pentagon to find a way to fix it.
    (AP, 12/11/00)

1999        Dec 20, The Vermont Supreme Court ruled that homosexual couples were entitled to the same benefits and protections as wedded couples of the opposite sex.
    (SFC, 12/21/99, p.A1)(AP, 12/20/00)

1999        Chile decriminalized gay sex.
    (Econ, 5/26/12, p.40)

2000        Jan 12, Forced to act by a European court ruling, the British government ended its ban on gay men and women serving in the armed forces.
    (SFC, 1/13/00, p.A1)(AP, 1/12/01)

2000        Jan 31, Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker was suspended by baseball commissioner Bud Selig for disparaging foreigners, homosexuals and minorities in a Sports Illustrated interview.
    (AP, 1/31/01)

2000        Mar 6, California voters passed Prop. 22, the gay marriage ban authored by Sen. Pete Knight (d.2004), and Prop. 1A, an approval of Indian gaming rights. Prop. 1A enabled tribes to negotiate compacts with the state to operate casinos with slot machines and house banking.
    (SFC, 3/9/00, p.A1)(SSFC, 6/1/03, p.D6)

2000        Mar 16, The Vermont state House of Representatives voted 76-69 for a bill to give same-sex couples all the rights and responsibilities granted to married heterosexuals.
    (SFEC, 4/2/00, p.A6)

2000        Apr 18, In his first game back following a 12-game suspension for making disparaging remarks about minorities, gays and immigrants, Atlanta’s John Rocker pitched a scoreless ninth inning in a 4-to-3, 12-inning victory over Philadelphia.
    (AP, 4/18/01)

2000        Apr 25, In Vermont the Legislature approved civil unions for homosexuals and Gov. Howard Dean promised to sign the legislation effective July 1.
    (SFC, 4/26/00, p.A1)

2000        Apr 29, In Washington DC some 1000 gay and lesbian couples proclaimed their love at the Lincoln Memorial as part of the events leading to the 4th annual Millennium March the next day.
    (SFEC, 4/30/00, p.A13)

2000        Apr 30, The 4th annual gay rights rally, billed as the Millennium March, was held in Washington DC. The crowd in the national Mall was estimated from 200-750 thousand.
    (SFEC, 4/30/00, p.A13)(AP, 4/30/01)

2000        Jul 1, Vermont’s civil unions law, which granted gay couples most of the rights, benefits and responsibilities of marriage, went into effect.
    (AP, 7/1/01)
2000        Jul 1-9, In Italy the World Pride int’l. gay pride festival opened in Rome.
    (SFEC, 6/4/00, p.C14)(SFEC, 7/2/00, p.A17)

2000        Jul 7, In West Virginia 2 teenagers (17) in Grant Town confessed to killing Arthur Warren Jr. (26), a gay man. They beat him to death and then drove over his body several times to make it look like a hit-and-run.
    (SFC, 7/8/00, p.A4)(SFC, 7/24/00, p.A3)

2000        Sep 9, Chuck Holmes (b.1945) founder of Falcon Studios in San Francisco, died from liver failure, a complication of AIDS. His estate provided a $1 million endowment that would help establish the SF LGBT Community Center.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Holmes_%28entrepreneur%29)

2000        Sep 14, US Government scientists narrowly rejected a proposal to ease the ban on gay male blood donors, citing uncertainty over whether the move would increase the AIDS risk to the nation's blood supply.
    (AP, 9/14/01)

2000        Bob Guter launched the online Web zine Bent: A Journal of Crip/Gay Voices.
    (SSFC, 2/29/04, p.M2)

2001        Mar 6, It was reported that Chinese psychiatrists have decided to stop classifying homosexuality as a mental illness.
    (SFC, 3/6/01, p.A11)

2001        Mar 31, In the Netherlands legislation enacted in 2000 to legalize gay marriages went into effect at midnight.
    (SFC, 3/31/01, p.A10)

2001        Apr 30, The SF Board of Supervisors passed a measure 9-2 to allow city employees medical benefits for a sex change.
    (SFC, 5/1/01, p.A1)

2001        May 11, Cairo authorities arrested 52 males aboard a riverboat restaurant for homosexual activities. 23 of the men were later convicted and sentenced to prison terms of one to five years for immoral behavior and contempt of religion.
    (SFC, 9/19/01, p.B4)(SSFC, 11/2/14, p.A3)

2001        Jul 10, The White House backed off a plan to let religious groups that receive federal money, such as the Salvation Army, ignore local laws that ban discrimination against gays and lesbians.
    (AP, 7/10/02)

2001        Sep 18, In Cairo a 15-year-old boy was sentenced to 3 years in prison for practicing homosexuality.
    (SFC, 9/19/01, p.B4)

2001        Nov 14, Jonathan Franzan won the national Book Award in fiction for "The Corrections." Andrew Solomon, gay psychiatrist, won the non-fiction award for "The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression."
    (SFC, 11/15/01, p.A2)(Econ, 12/22/12, p.132)

2001        Robert Aldritch authored "Who’s Who in Gay and Lesbian History."
    (SSFC, 3/23/03, p.M4)
2001        Romania decriminalized homosexuality while reforming its laws to qualify for membership in the EU.
    (SFC, 8/23/21, p.A4)

2002        Jun 5, In Sweden legislators voted to let same-sex couples adopt children.
    (SFC, 6/6/02, p.A10)

2002        Jun 7, In Jerusalem hundreds of gay activists held their 1st gay pride parade.
    (SFC, 6/8/02, p.A12)

2002        Jul 5, The Arkansas state Supreme Court ruled that a law banning sexual relations between people of the same sex was an unconstitutional invasion of privacy.
    (SFC, 7/6/02, p.A5)

2002        Jul 12, In Canada an Ontario court ruled that refusing legal recognition to gay and lesbian marriages is unconstitutional.
    (SFC, 7/13/02, p.A14)

2002        Sep 10, In South Africa the highest court ruled that gay couples have the right to adopt children and laws that prevent them from doing so violate their constitutional rights.
    (AP, 9/10/02)

2002        Oct 4, In Newark, Ca, Eddie Araujo (17) was beaten to death after he showed up at a party dressed as a girl (Gwen Araujo). His body was dumped in a shallow grave in the Sierra. Jose Merel, Michael Magidson and Jaron Nabors were later charged in the slaying. In 2004 a judge declared a mistrial after jurors deadlocked over the issue of premeditation.
    (SFC, 10/18/02, p.A21)(SFC, 10/19/02, p.A1)(SFC, 6/23/04, p.A1)

2002        Nov 2, Gay Games VI opened in Sydney, Australia, before some 40,000 spectators.
    (SSFC, 11/3/02, p.A13)

2002        Nov 20, A Louisiana Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the state’s 197-year-old sodomy law does not discriminate against gays and lesbians.
    (SFC, 11/23/02, p.A5)

2002        Dec 17, In New York Gov. George Pataki signed a bill extending civil rights protections to gays and lesbians in the state.
    (SFC, 12/18/02, p.A3)

2002        Noelle Howey authored "Dress Codes: Of Three Girlhoods – My Mother’s, My Father’s and Mine."
    (SSFC, 6/9/02, p.M1)
2002        Romania decriminalized homosexuality as it prepared to join the EU.
    (AP, 2/19/18)
2002        Taiwan’s army began admitting gay and bisexual recruits.
    (Econ, 12/3/16, p.34)

2003        Jan 4, Clonaid, the company that claims to have produced the first human clone, said a second child was born to a Dutch lesbian Jan 3.
    (AP, 1/5/03)(SSFC, 1/5/03, p.A22)

2003        Jan 30, Belgium officially recognized gay marriages.
    (SFC, 1/31/03, p.A9)

2003        Apr 30, Eric Gupton (b.1960), founding member of the Black theater troupe Pomo Afro Homos, died in SF of complications from AIDS. The group’s breakthrough first show was titled “Fierce Love: Stories From black Gay Life” (1990).
    (SFC, 2/18/08, p.E1)

2003        Jun 7, In a national first, New Hampshire Episcopalians elected the Reverend V. Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, as their next bishop.
    (AP, 6/7/04)

2003        Jun 10, Toronto, Canada, issued North America's 1st full marriage licenses to same sex couples after a judge knocked down Canada's legal definition of marriage, the union of a man and a woman, as a violation of the country's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
    (SFC, 6/11/03, p.A7)

2003        Jun 11, The Canadian government said that gay marriages performed in the central province of Ontario over the last two days were legal for now but refused to rule out taking measures later to invalidate them.
    (Reuters, 6/11/03)

2003        Jun 26, The US Supreme court, in Lawrence v. Texas, struck down a Texas sodomy law and proclaimed that gay Americans have a right to private sexual relations. The court ruled 6-3 that laws prohibiting sexual acts between members of the same sex are unconstitutional. In 2012 Dale Carpenter authored “Flagrant conduct: The Story of Lawrence v. Texas.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_v._Texas)(SFC, 6/27/03, p.A1) (SSFC, 3/18/12, p.F1)

2003        Jun 29, SF held its 33rd annual SF Gay Pride parade on Market St.
    (SSFC, 6/28/03, p.A2)

2003        Jul 17, The leaders of an Australian Christian church voted to allow homosexuals to become priests, drawing protest from within the congregation.
    (AP, 7/17/03)

2003        Jul 31, The Vatican issued a proclamation that condemned government recognition of gay and lesbian unions.
    (SFC, 8/1/03, p.A1)

2003        Sep 8, In NYC Harvey Milk High School for gay, bisexual and transgender kids opened in Greenwich Village. It  was named after the San Francisco supervisor killed in 1978.
    (SFC, 9/9/03, p.A1)

2003        Sep 18, A law against "promotion" of homosexuality was removed from the British statute books, after more than a decade of gay-rights protests.
    (AP, 9/18/03)

2003        Sep 19, Gov. Davis signed AB205, a California domestic partners bill.
    (SFC, 9/20/03, p.A1)

2003        Nov 1, In Taipei, Taiwan, some 500 people marched in the Chinese world's 1st gay pride parade. In 2012 some 65,000 marched in the event.
    (USAT, 2/5/04, p.10A)(Econ, 1/25/14, p.52)

2003        Nov 7, The New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled that a lesbian affair did not constitute adultery under state law.
    (SFC, 11/8/03, p.A2)

2003        Nov 18, The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that a ban on same sex marriage is illegal. Lawmakers were given 180 days to allow gay marriages.
    (SFC, 11/19/03, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/19/03, p.A1)

2003        Dec 19, An Ontario court ruled that the Canadian government discriminated against same-sex couples by denying pension benefits to survivors whose partners died before 1998. Benefits were made retroactive to April 17, 1985.
    (SSFC, 12/21/03, p.A14)

2003        Robert Aldritch authored "Colonialism and Homosexuality."
    (SSFC, 3/23/03, p.M4)
2003        Nan Alamilla Boyd authored "Wide-Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965."
    (SSFC, 6/28/03, p.M1)
2003        Armenia decriminalized homosexuality, but many in the country resisted recognizing LGBT rights.
    (AP, 4/27/19)

2004        Jan 21, Ohio lawmakers gave final approval to a measure banning gay marriage and prohibiting state employees from getting benefits for domestic partners. Gov. Bob Taft said he would sign it pending a legal review.
    (SFC, 1/22/04, p.A1)

2004        Jan 26, Cleveland City Hall began a domestic partner's registry, the 1st in the nation created by voters.
    (SFC, 1/27/04, p.A3)

2004        Feb 12, SF Mayor Gavin Newsom authorized the county clerk to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in defiance of state law. Some 90 gay and lesbian couples were wed and over the next few days some 2,000 took their vows. Del Martin (d.2008) and Phyllis Lyon (d.2020) became the first same-sex couple to be married in the city. They had to do it over again in 2008 after a court ruling.
    (SFC, 2/13/04, p.A1)(WSJ, 2/17/04, p.A1)(SFC, 6/27/15, p.A12)(SFC, 5/5/21, p.B5)

2004        Feb 20, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger directed the California state attorney general to take immediate legal steps to stop SF from granting marriage licenses to gay couples.
    (AP, 2/21/04)(SFC, 2/21/04, p.A1)

2004        Feb 21, Bill Lockyer, California state Attorney General, rebuffed Gov. Schwarzenegger's demand to force an end to same-sex marriages in SF, calling the directive political rhetoric.
    (SSFC, 2/22/04, p.A1)

2004        Feb 22, A giant wedding reception was held at the SF Hyatt Regency honoring the thousands of same-sex couples married over the previous 11 days.
    (SFC, 8/13/04, p.A16)

2004        Feb 24, Pres. Bush called for a constitutional amendment to ban marriage between members of the same sex.
    (SFC, 2/25/04, p.A1)

2004        Feb 27, Bill Lockyer, California state Attorney General, asked the California Supreme Court to stop SF officials from issuing same-sex marriage licenses and invalidate the 3,400 gay and lesbian weddings that have taken place at City Hall since Feb 12. The justices halted the weddings the following month.
    (SFC, 8/13/04, p.A16)(AP, 2/27/05)

2004        Mar 2, NY state filed charges against the mayor of New Paltz for marrying gay couples.
    (WSJ, 3/3/04, p.A1)

2004        Mar 11, The California Supreme Court halted gay weddings in San Francisco for at least a few months while it decides whether they are legal. SF responded by suing the state in Superior Court contending that the state ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.
    (AP, 3/12/04)(SFC, 3/12/04, p.A1)(SFC, 6/27/15, p.A12)

2004        Mar 12, In California six unwed gay couples filed suit in Superior Court challenging the state’s marriage law on constitutional grounds. The suit was later consolidated with a SF suit filed a day earlier.
    (SFC, 6/27/15, p.A12)

2004        Mar 29, Massachusetts lawmakers approved a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and legalize civil unions, sending the issue to the next legislative session.
    (AP, 3/29/05)

2004        Apr 20, An Oregon judge ordered a halt to same sex marriages. He also ordered official recognition of marriages already held in Multnomah County.
    (SFC, 4/21/04, p.A3)

2004        May 17, Transsexuals were cleared to compete in the Olympics for the first time.
    (AP, 5/17/05)

2004        Jun 5, France's first gay marriage was performed in the southwest city of Bordeaux. On July 27 it was officially declared void by a court but the two homosexual men involved immediately said they would appeal the ruling.
    (AP, 7/27/04)

2004        Jul 10, New Jersey began issuing documents for domestic partnerships.
    (SSFC, 7/11/04, p.A3)

2004        Jul 14, The US Senate scuttled a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. 48 senators voted to advance the measure, 12 short of the 60 needed, and 50 voted to block it.
    (AP, 7/14/05)

2004        Aug 12, California’s Supreme Court struck down San Francisco’s attempt to legalize same-sex marriages, saying Mayor Newsome had illegally defied state law. 3955 marriages recorded between Feb 12 and Mar 11 were voided.
    (SFC, 8/13/04, p.A1)(SFC, 6/27/15, p.A13)

2004        Sep 18, Louisiana voters overwhelmingly approved a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages and civil unions.
    (AP, 9/19/04)

2004        Sep 24, Nova Scotia became the sixth Canadian province or territory to allow gay marriages when the provincial Supreme Court ruled that banning such unions was unconstitutional.
    (AP, 9/24/04)

2004        Oct 1, Spain's Socialist government approved a controversial law that would give gay and lesbian couples the same right to marry, divorce and adopt children as heterosexuals.
    (Reuters, 10/1/04)

2004        Oct 5, A Louisiana state judge threw out the new constitutional amendment banning gay marriage because it also banned civil unions.
    (SFC, 10/6/04, p.A3)

2004        Oct, Fanny An Eddy, Sierra Leone’s best known lesbian, was found murdered.
    (Econ, 10/9/04, p.42)

2004        Nov 2, Gay marriage curbs won in all 11 US states where they were on ballots.
    (WSJ, 11/3/04, p.A1)
2004        Nov 2, Some 66% of Utah voters approved Amendment 3 to the state constitution and in effect banned same-sex marriage.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_Constitutional_Amendment_3)

2004        Nov 5, In Canada Saskatchewan became the country’s 7th jurisdiction to allow homosexuals to wed.
    (SFC, 11/5/04, p.A3)

2004        Nov 15, New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey stepped down from office amid rumors of that he was about to be sued for sexual harassment. Senate Pres. Richard Codey, also a Democrat, served out the final year of McGreevy’s term. McGreevey left office three months after admitting that he had had an extramarital affair with his homeland security advisor, Golan Cipel. Upon publicly revealing his homosexuality on August 12, 2004, McGreevey became the first and, to date, the only openly gay state governor in United States history.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_McGreevey)(SFC, 11/9/04, p.A2)(Econ, 7/1/06, p.27)

2004        Dec 9, Canada's highest court said the government can redefine marriage to include same-sex couples, but it added that religious officials cannot be forced to perform unions against their beliefs.
    (AP, 12/9/04)

2004        Dec 30, Arkansas vowed to appeal after a judge struck down a 1999 rule barring the state from placing a foster child in any household with a gay member.
    (WSJ, 12/31/04, p.A1)

2004        J.L. King authored "On the Down Low: A Journey Into the Lives of 'Straight' Black Men Who Sleep With Men."
    (AP, 7/24/09)
2004        Graham Robb authored "Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century."
    (SSFC, 2/1/04, p.M2)(Econ, 1/10/04, p.74)
2004        Japan enacted a law stating that people wishing to register a gender change must have their original reproductive organs removed and have a body that "appears to have parts that resemble the genital organs" of the gender they want to register.
    (AP, 3/20/19)
2004        Taiwan passed a landmark education act that opened the way for tolerance of sexual identity to be taught even in primary school.
    (Econ, 12/3/16, p.34)

2005        Jan 1, A new California law took effect giving gay couples who register as domestic partners nearly the same responsibilities and benefits as married spouses.
    (AP, 1/1/05)

2005        Feb 1, The Canadian government introduced its contentious same-sex marriage bill in Parliament, seeking to legalize gay marriage nationwide over the objections of the Roman Catholic Church and other conservative clergy.
    (AP, 2/2/05)

2005        Feb 21, The British government said same-sex partners will be able to enter into civil unions from December, joining gays in parts of Europe and the United States in obtaining many of the rights enjoyed by married people.
    (AP, 2/21/05)

2005        Feb 24, Anglican leaders forced a suspension of the US Episcopal Church and Canadian adherents due to same sex marriages and ordaining gay clergy.
    (WSJ, 2/25/05, p.A1)
    (AP, 3/15/05)

2005        Mar 14, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer declared California’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.
    (SFC, 3/15/05, p.A1)

2005        Apr 14, The Oregon Supreme Court nullified nearly 3,000 marriage licenses issued in 2004 to same-sex couples in Portland’s Multnomah County.
    (SFC, 4/15/05, p.A6)

2005        Apr 20, Gov. Jodi Rell signed legislation making Connecticut the 2nd state after Vermont to offer civil unions to gay couples.
    (SFC, 4/21/05, p.A3)

2005        May 12, A US federal judge struck down a Nebraska gay-marriage ban that barred benefit sharing and same-sex foster parents.
    (WSJ, 5/13/05, p.A1)

2005        May 29, In Brazil almost 2 million gay men, lesbians, transvestites and their supporters, many in lavish Carnival costumes and waving rainbow-colored flags, paraded in Sao Paulo to celebrate gay pride and call for the legalization of civil unions between homosexuals.
    (AP, 5/30/05)

2005        Jun 26, Toronto, Canada, celebrated its 25th annual Pride Parade, one of the world's largest gay and lesbian festivals under a blistering sun. NYC and SF also hosted large parades as did other cities around the world.
    (AP, 6/26/05)
2005        Jun 26, An Israeli court ruled that Jerusalem's gay pride parade could proceed as planned and ordered the city's mayor to pay $6,500 out of his own pocket for trying to stop it.
    (AP, 6/26/05)

2005        Jun 28, Canada's  House of Commons passed legislation, drafted by PM Paul Martin, to legalize gay marriage in spite of fierce opposition from Conservatives and religious leaders. It would become only the third country in the world to legalize gay marriage.
    (AP, 6/29/05)

2005        Jun 30, Viacom launched Logo, a gay oriented TV show.
    (SFC, 6/30/05, p.E1)(Econ, 7/2/05, p.59)
2005        Jun 30, Spain’s Parliament voted 187-147 to legalize gay marriages, defying conservatives and clergy making Spain the 3rd country to allow same-sex unions nationwide.
    (AP, 6/30/05)(WSJ, 7/1/05, p.A1)

2005        Jul 4, The General Synod of the United Church of Christ, meeting in Georgia, endorsed same-sex marriage with a resolution that called for equal marriage rights for all.
    (SFC, 7/5/05, p.A3)

2005        Jul 17, Sir Edward Heath (b.1916), PM of England (1970-1974), died. He led England into what is now the EU but lost the Conservative Party leadership to Margaret Thatcher.  In 2017 police said he would have been interviewed under caution over seven allegations of sexual assault dating between 1961 and 1992, relating to five boys and two adult men.
    (AP, 7/17/05)(SFC, 7/18/05, p.B6)(Econ, 7/23/05, p.80)(AFP, 10/5/17)

2005        Jul 20, Canada legalized gay marriage, becoming the world's 4th nation to grant full legal rights to same-sex couples.
    (AP, 7/20/05)

2005        Jul 19, Iran publicly executed two teenagers accusing them of raping a 13-year-old boy and having gay sex, according to Iran's ISNA news agency.
    (AP, 7/22/05)

2005        Aug 16, A university professor in Shanghai said is he is offering China's first class on homosexuality and gay culture and that several hundred students have applied for the 100 openings.
    (AP, 8/17/05)

2005        Sep 29, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill to give same sex couples the right to marry in the state.
    (SFC, 6/27/15, p.A13)

2005        American gay film star Tab Hunter authored "Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star."
    (SFC, 7/10/18, p.A6)
2005        Frederic Mitterand (b.1947), the nephew of former French Pres. Francois Mitterand, authored his autobiographical novel “The Bad Life” (French: La mauvaise vie), which became a best seller. In the book he details his "delight" whilst visiting the male brothels of Bangkok, and writes, "I got into the habit of paying for boys ... The profusion of young, very attractive and immediately available boys put me in a state of desire I no longer needed to restrain or hide."
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Mitterrand)

2006        Feb 4, In South Africa Zoliswa Nkonyana (19), a lesbian, was stoned, kicked and stabbed to death just meters (yards) from her Cape Town home. In 2011 four men were convicted of her murder.
    (www.tac.org.za/userfiles/Zoliswa%20Nkonyana%20Joint%20Statement.pdf)(AFP, 10/7/11)

2006        Jun 29, The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that Arkansas cannot ban gays from becoming foster parents, because there is no link between their sexual orientation and a child’s well-being.
    (SFC, 6/30/06, p.A20)

2006        Sep 15, Alberto Linero (27) and Alberto Sanchez (24) both privates in the Spanish air force, exchanged vows in a reception room at Seville's town hall, in the first known wedding among same-sex members of the military since Spain legalized gay marriage last year.
    (AP, 9/15/06)

2006        Oct 5, In California a state appeals court ruled 2-1 that gays and lesbians have no constitutional right to marry in California.
    (SFC, 10/6/06, p.A1)

2006        Nov 2, In Denver, Colo., Rev. Ted Haggard, a leading evangelist and outspoken opponent of gay marriage, gave up his post as president of the National Association of Evangelicals while a church panel investigates allegations he paid a man for sex. Haggard later confessed he was guilty of sexual immorality.
    (AP, 11/3/06)(AP, 11/2/07)
2006        Nov 2, In Tennessee 81% of voters approved a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in the state.
    (SFC, 6/27/15, p.A13)

2006        Nov 30, South Africa became the first country in Africa, and only the fifth in the world, to legalize same sex marriages.
    (AP, 11/30/06)

2006        Dec 21, New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine signed legislation giving same-sex couples all the rights and responsibilities of marriage under state law, but not the title.
    (SFC, 12/22/06, p.A4)

2006        Virginia voters in a referendum passed a ban on gay marriage.
    (Econ, 2/22/14, p.24)

2007        Mar 16, In San Francisco Ruby Ordenana (27), a transgender prostitute, was brutally killed. Her naked body was found in the Potrero Hill area near I-280. In 2009 DNA evidence tied her murder to Donzell Francis. In the interim Francis raped and brutalized at least 3 other transgender prostitutes. In 2010 SF prosecutors filed murder charges against Francis (41), who was already serving a 17-year prison sentence for another sexual assault.
    (SFC, 11/21/09, p.A1)(SFC, 4/28/10, p.C2)

2007        Mar 28, A small group of Arab lesbians quietly defied Islamist protesters and a social taboo to gather at a rare public conference in Haifa, Israeli. It was organized by Aswat, an organization for Arab lesbians with members in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
    (AP, 3/28/07)

2007        May 1, John Browne, head of BP PLC, resigned after Britain’s highest legal body triggered the release of documents detailing his relationship with a former lover. In 2014 he authored “The Glass Closet.”
    (WSJ, 5/2/07, p.A1)(Econ, 5/31/14, p.62)

2007        May, Australia’s Victorian state civil and administrative tribunal ruled that the Peel Hotel in the southern city of Melbourne could exclude patrons based on their sexuality.
    (Reuters, 5/28/07)

2007        Jun 10, In Brazil millions of people packed the streets of Sao Paulo for what organizers said was the world's largest gay pride parade, dancing and waving rainbow flags in a carnival-like atmosphere to condemn homophobia, racism and sexism.
    (AP, 6/10/07)

2007        Aug 21, Hundreds of people held an anti-gay protest in Uganda's capital, denouncing what they called an "immoral" lifestyle and demanding the deportation of an American journalist writing about gay rights in the deeply conservative country.
    (AP, 8/21/07)

2007        Aug 28, A day after reports surfaced of his June arrest at the Minneapolis airport, Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, told a news conference the only thing he had done wrong was to plead guilty after a police complaint of lewd conduct in a men's room; Craig also declared, "I am not gay. I never have been gay."
    (AP, 8/28/08)

2007        Sep 7, The California Legislature, for the 2nd time in three years, approved a bill to give same-sex couples the right to marry. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it.
    (SFC, 6/27/15, p.A14)

2007        Sep 18, Maryland’s highest court, in a 4-3 decision, upheld a law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman and said the 1973 ban on gay marriage does not discriminate on the basis of gender and does not deny any fundamental rights.
    (SFC, 9/19/07, p.A3)

2007        Oct 5, Colombia’s Constitutional Court ruled that gays may add their partners to health insurance plans.
    (SSFC, 10/7/07, p.A5)

2007        Nov 21, Michigan’s Gov. Jennifer Granholm issued an order that bars discrimination against state workers based on their "gender identity or expression," which protects the rights of those who behave, dress or identify as members of the opposite sex.
    (AP, 11/22/07)

2008        Jan 1, In New Hampshire Dozens of gay and lesbian couples entered into civil unions in the early moments of New Year's Day as a new state law legalized the partnerships.
    (AP, 1/1/08)

2008        Feb 12, Brandon McInerney (14) shot and killed Larry King, a gay classmate in Ventura County, Ca. On Nov 21, 2011, McInerney pleaded guilty to the murder charge, as well as one count each of voluntary manslaughter and use of a firearm. On Dec 19 McInerney was sentenced to 21 years in prison. 
    (SFC, 8/12/11, p.C5)(AP, 11/21/11)(AP, 12/19/11)

2008        Apr 9, Singapore's Media Development Authority, which regulates and censors media and the arts, said it fined StarHub S$10,000 (3,675 pounds) for airing a commercial for a song that featured "romanticized scenes" of lesbians kissing and portrayed the relationship as "acceptable."
    (AP, 4/9/08)

2008        May 15, The California Supreme Court affirmed the right of same-sex couples to marry.
    (SFC, 5/16/08, p.A1)
2008        May 15, Gambia’s Pres. Yahya Jammeh ordered homosexuals to leave the country and in a televised speech threatened to cut off the head of anyone discovered to be gay.
    (SFC, 6/3/08, p.A3)

2008        May 27, Germany unveiled a memorial to the Nazis' long-ignored gay victims, a monument that also aims to address ongoing discrimination by confronting visitors with an image of a same-sex couple kissing.
    (AP, 5/27/08)

2008        May 31, In Latvia about 400 gay men and women and their supporters held a parade in Riga, accompanied by a strong police presence and chants and insults from anti-gay activists.
    (AP, 5/31/08)

2008        Jun 1, Gay rights activists held small, scattered protests in Moscow, flouting repeated refusals from city authorities for permission to hold parades or demonstrations.
    (AP, 6/1/08)

2008        Jun 3, Greece's first gay weddings were held when two couples, abetted by a sympathetic local mayor, defied the threat of criminal charges and the wrath of the Orthodox church to tie the knot on the tiny Aegean island of Tilos.
    (Reuters, 6/3/08)

2008        Jun 6, An official said Cuba has authorized sex-change operations and will offer them free for qualifying citizens.
    (AP, 6/7/08)

2008        Jun 17, Norway passed a new equality law granting gay couples the same rights as heterosexuals to marry, adopt and undergo artificial insemination.
    (AP, 6/17/08)

2008        Jun 20, In Saudi Arabia religious police arrested 21 allegedly homosexual men and confiscated large amounts of alcohol at a large gathering of young men at a rest house in Qatif.
    (AP, 6/21/08)

2008        Jun 24, Cuba's Roman Catholic Church protested the communist government's growing support of gay rights, including a daylong event raising awareness against homophobia and a law allowing sex-change operations.
    (AP, 6/25/08)

2008        Jun 27, Leaders of the Presbyterian Church in the US, meeting in San Jose, Ca., overturned a ban on the ordination of gays and lesbians.
    (SFC, 6/28/08, p.A2)

2008        Jun 28, In Bulgaria extremists throwing rocks, bottles and gasoline bombs attacked the capital's first gay pride parade which included some 150 participants.
    (AP, 6/28/08)

2008        Jun 29, Malaysia's de facto opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim took refuge at the Turkish embassy due to fears he could be assassinated after fresh accusations of sodomy.
    (AP, 6/29/08)

2008        Jun 29, In India several hundred gay rights supporters took to the streets of Calcutta, Bangalore and New Delhi to call for an end to discrimination in a society where intolerance is widespread. The marches came days before the Delhi High Court is expected to hear arguments on overturning Section 377 of the penal code, a law against homosexual sex that dates to the British colonial era with punishment of up to 10 years in prison.
    (AP, 6/29/08)(Econ, 7/5/08, p.51)

2008        Jul 16, In Turkey Ahmet Yildiz, a gay Kurd, was allegedly killed by his father for besmirching the family honor. In 2011 the film “Zenne Dancer,” based on his story, won 5 awards at the Golden Orange Film Festival.
    (Econ, 10/22/11, p.64)(http://ahmetyildizismyfamily.blogspot.com/)

2008        Aug 18, Argentina announced its first nationwide gay-rights measure: granting same-sex couples the right to claim their deceased partners' pensions.
    (AP, 8/19/08)

2008        Oct 10, The Connecticut Supreme Court voted 4-3 to give gay and lesbian couples the right to marry ruling that civil unions fell short of giving them full equality. It became the 3rd state to legalize such unions.
    (SFC, 10/11/08, p.A6)(WSJ, 10/11/08, p.A7)
2008        Oct 10, Portugal's Parliament voted by a large majority against proposals to allow same-sex marriages in the mostly Roman Catholic country.
    (AP, 10/10/08)

2008        Nov 4, California voters put a stop to gay marriage, creating uncertainty about the legal status of 18,000 same-sex couples who tied the knot during a four-month window of opportunity opened by the state's highest court. On Nov 19 the California state Supreme Court agreed to decide on the legality of the Proposition 8 measure. It was later reported that opponents and supporters had pumped a total of $85 million in to the measure. State voters approved Proposition 2 for improved treatment of farm animals. Voters also approved Proposition 1A, a $9.5 billion bond for high-speed rail service from SF to LA. Marin and Sonoma voters approved Measure Q for a quarter cent sales tax increase to build and operate a commuter train for Cloverdale to Larkspur. Prop. 11, a measure to overhaul state redistricting rules, passed as the final tally was completed 3 weeks later. 
    (AP, 11/6/08)(SFC, 11/5/08, p.A17)(SFC, 11/6/08, p.A17, B1)(SFC, 11/20/08, p.A1)(SFC, 11/27/08, p.A1)(SFC, 2/3/09, p.B1)
2008        Nov 4, Arkansas voters passed a measure blocking the adoption of children by unmarried couples. John McCain won the state by 20 points over Barack Obama. Arkansas voters approved a state lottery by a 63% margin. In 2010 a Circuit Court judge in Little Rock struck down the measure on adoption, saying it infringed on a person’s right to privacy.
    (SSFC, 11/9/08, p.A5)(Econ, 11/22/08, p.45)(SFC, 4/17/10, p.A4)

2008        Nov 12, A judge cleared the way for gay marriage to begin in Connecticut, a victory for advocates stung by California's referendum that banned same-sex unions in that state.
    (AP, 11/12/08)

2008        Nov 19, The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General said online dating service eHarmony has agreed to create a new website for gays and lesbians as part of a settlement with a gay man in New Jersey.
    (Reuters, 11/19/08)

2008        Nov 24, Adel Hussein was sentenced six months in jail by a court in Irbil, capital of the Kurdish-ruled region, for violating a public decency law by writing a story about homosexuality. The case centered on an April 2007 article Hussein wrote for the independent weekly Hawlati that detailed the physical effects of homosexual sex.
    (AP, 12/3/08)

2008        Nov 30, In Haiti a dozen men in T-shirts declaring "I am gay" and "I am living with HIV/AIDS" marched with hundreds of other demonstrators through St. Marc in what organizers called the Caribbean nation's first openly gay march.
    (AP, 12/1/08)

2008        Dec 3, In California Theodore Neff (66) was found strangled to death as his house on San Pablo Bay burned. Within days police arrested Alejandro Hernandez Rivera (24), a male prostitute, in a sting operation. Neff’s golden flute was in Rivera’s car. In 2010 Rivera was convicted of 1st degree murder and sentenced to 33 years in prison.
    (SFC, 9/21/10, p.A1)(SFC, 10/5/10, p.C1)(SFC, 12/6/11, p.C3)

2008        Dec 8, In Brazil Police chief Paulo Fernando Fortunato reported that 13 gay men were killed in a park in suburban Sao Paulo between February 2007 and August 2008.
    (AP, 12/8/08)

2008        Dec 13, A woman (28) in Richmond, Ca., was jumped by four men, taunted for being a lesbian, repeatedly raped and left naked outside an abandoned apartment building. In early January police arrested 2 men and 2 teens on suspicion of the gang-rape. On Dec 18, 2013, Humberto Salvador (36), the ringleader of the gang rape, was convicted of multiple charges in the case. Robert Ortiz (20) still awaited trial. Darrell Hodges (20) was already sentenced to 24 years. Josue Gonzalez, who testified against Salvador, was awaiting sentencing for carjacking and robbery.
    (AP, 12/23/08)(AP, 1/2/09)(SFC, 12/19/13, p.C3)

2008        Dec 15, Hungary's Constitutional Court annulled a law giving rights to domestic partners because it would diminish the importance of marriage.
    (AP, 12/15/08)

2008        William N. Eskridge Jr. authored Dishonorable Passions: Sodomy Laws in America, 1861-2003.
    (SSFC, 5/11/08, Books p.4)
2008        Britain enacted a law protecting transgender people at work.
    (Reuters, 6/17/15)

2009        Jan 6, In Senegal 9 men, including a prominent activist, were convicted of homosexual acts and sentenced to eight years in prison. Senegal, a primarily Muslim nation in West Africa, is one of 38 countries on the continent that criminalize homosexual acts.
    (AP, 1/8/09)

2009        Jan 16, British pop star Boy George (47) was sentenced to 15 months in jail for imprisoning a Norwegian male escort (29) after a nude photoshoot. The singer and disc jockey, who stood trial under his real name George O'Dowd, admitted to police to handcuffing Audun Carlsen to his bed on April 28, 2007, as he investigated the Norwegian's alleged tampering with his computer.
    (AFP, 1/16/09)

2009        Jan 21, In Portland, Oregon, officials said they would begin a criminal investigation into newly elected Mayor Sam Adams (45), who admitted shortly after taking office on January 1 that he had lied during his campaign about a sexual relationship with a much younger gay man.
    (WSJ, 1/24/08, p.A4)

2009        Jan 28, In Iceland both parties of the new coalition government supported the appointment of social affairs minister Johanna Sigurdardottir (66), an openly gay former air hostess, as interim prime minister.
    (SFC, 1/29/09, p.A8)(Econ, 5/2/09, p.52)

2009        Feb 22, In Brisbane, Australia, Father Peter Kennedy (71), a rebel Catholic priest who was sacked for blessing gay couples and allowing women to preach, defied his archbishop and led mass.
    (AFP, 2/22/09)

2009        Mar 24, It was reported that the Moroccan government has begun a clampdown on what it sees as threats to the kingdom's religious and moral foundations, with Shiite Islam and gays particularly targeted.
    (AFP, 3/24/09)

2009        Mar 26, Serbian lawmakers approved a law against discrimination due to race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or other factors despite opposition from conservatives, including the Serbian Orthodox Church, and nationalists.
    (AP, 3/26/09)

2009        Apr 1, Sweden’s Parliament adopted a new law giving same sex couples the same marriage rights as heterosexuals, becoming the 5th European country to allow gay marriage.
    (SFC, 4/2/09, p.A2)

2009        Apr 3, The Iowa Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling finding that the state's same-sex marriage ban violates the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian couples, making Iowa the third state where gay marriage is legal.
    (AP, 4/3/09)

2009        Apr 2, An Iraqi military spokesman said the government will next week start paying Sunni paramilitary groups in the Baghdad area despite weekend clashes with one of the units. In Baghdad two gunmen firing from a car killed an Iraqi army officer in the Mansour district. One of the gunmen was killed and the other captured. Militants hurled a grenade at an American patrol on Palestine Street in east Baghdad, wounding two civilians. In Mosul a roadside bomb exploded near a small restaurant frequented by police, wounding four of them and a civilian. A US aircraft attacked a group of men believed to be members of a government-allied Sunni paramilitary group as they were planting a roadside bomb at night north of Baghdad, killing one and wounding two. Two gay men were killed Sadr City by relatives who were shamed by their behavior, after a leading cleric repeatedly condemned homosexuality. The killings come weeks after Iraqi police found four bodies near Sadr City with the word pervert written on their chests.
    (AP, 4/2/09)(AP, 4/3/09)(AP, 4/4/09)

2009        Apr 7, Jack Wrangler (b.1946 as John Robert Stillman), porn star and musical theater producer, died in Manhattan. He appeared in over 30 gay sex films and 20 straight films including “The Devil in Miss Jones” (1982).
    (SFC, 4/10/09, p.B5)

2009        Apr 22, In Connecticut a decade-long battle for marriage equality ended when the General Assembly voted to update the state's marriage laws to conform with a landmark court ruling allowing gay and lesbian couples to tie the knot.
    (AP, 4/23/09)

2009        Apr 27, Iowa counties began processing same-sex marriage applications.
    (WSJ, 4/27/09, p.A1)

2009        May 1, Britain awarded the role of national poet laureate to Carol Ann Duffy (53), the first woman to hold a post that has been filled by William Wordsworth, Alfred Lord Tennyson and Ted Hughes. Duffy, a gay woman, has published more than 30 books, plays and children's stories as well as poems that mix accessible modern language with traditional forms.
    (AP, 5/1/09)(SFC, 5/2/09, p.A3)

2009        May 2, In Senegal Madieye Diallo's, a gay man, died of HIV AIDS. His body had only been in the ground for a few hours when a mob descended on the weedy cemetery with shovels. They yanked out the corpse, spit on its torso, dragged it away and dumped it in front of the home of his elderly parents.
    (AP, 4/12/10)

2009        May 5, The District of Columbia Council gave final approval to legislation that recognizes same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. The law became effective on July 7.
    (SFC, 5/6/09, p.A5)(SFC, 7/8/09, p.A4)

2009        May 6, Maine's Gov. John Baldacci signed a freshly passed bill approving gay marriage, making it the fifth state to approve the practice and moving New England closer to allowing it throughout the region.
    (AP, 5/6/09)

2009        May 12, In Peru a new law went into effect that says officers will be fired for taking bribes and abusing detainees. It also said police officers who "damage the image" of law enforcement by engaging in homosexual behavior can lose their jobs.
    (AP, 5/14/09)

2009        May 13, In Uruguay the defense ministry confirmed that Minister Jose Bayardi had signed a decree lifting a ban on people with “open sexual deviations,” that had been imposed by the military dictatorship (1973-1985). The new decree stated that sexual orientation will no longer be considered a reason to prevent people from entering military service.
    (SFC, 5/14/09, p.A2)

2009        May 16, In Cuba President Raul Castro's daughter led hundreds of Cuban gays in a street dance to draw attention to gay rights on the island.
    (AP, 5/16/09)
2009        May 16, In Russia riot police violently broke up several gay rights demonstrations in Moscow, hauling away scores of protesters hours before the Russian capital hosted the major Eurovision international pop music competition.
    (AP, 5/16/09)
2009        May 16, The gay community in tightly controlled Singapore held its first-ever rally, taking advantage of looser laws on public gatherings to call for equality.
    (AP, 5/16/09)

2009        May 23, The Church of Scotland voted in favor of appointing an openly gay minister, the latest case involving sexuality to create a division in the Anglican Communion. The church's ruling body voted 326 to 267 to support the appointment of the Rev. Scott Rennie (37), who was previously married to a woman and is now in a relationship with a man.
    (AP, 5/24/09)

2009        Jun 3, New Hampshire became the sixth state to legalize gay marriage in a move that reflects the state's changing demographics from reliably Republican and conservative to younger and more liberal.
    (AP, 6/3/09)

2009        Jun 13, In China a colorful show of drag queens dressed in Chinese opera costumes was one of the festivities that marked Shanghai's gay pride, the first in China where homosexuality remains largely hidden.
    (AP, 6/13/09)
2009        Jun 13, In Italy tens of thousands of gay rights activists demanding rights for same-sex couples marched through the streets of Rome on Saturday in a gay pride parade.
    (AP, 6/13/09)

2009        Jun 17, A White House official said President Barack Obama, whose gay and lesbian supporters have grown frustrated with his slow movement on their priorities, is extending benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees but stopping short of a guarantee of full health insurance.
    (AP, 6/17/09)

2009        Jun 19, US census officials announced that same-sex married couples would be counted for the first time in the 2010 census.
    (Econ, 6/27/09, p.38)

2009        Jun 26, Ireland recognized the legal rights of same-sex couples for the first time in a civil partnership bill that gave people in long-term relationships many of the statutory rights of married couples.
    (AP, 6/26/09)

2009        Jun 27, In Ireland some 12,000 people marched in this year’s Gay Pride Parade in downtown Dublin.
    (SSFC, 6/28/09, p.A4)

2009        Jun 28, In Honduras Vicky Hernández (26), a trans woman, was fatally shot on the night of a coup d'état. In 2021 an international court began examining whether the government was complicit in the killing.
    (Axios, 6/17/21)
2009        Jun 28, In India hundreds of gay rights supporters waved flags and danced past traffic during marches through three Indian cities to celebrate gay pride and call for the decriminalization of homosexuality in this deeply conservative country.
    (AP, 6/28/09)

2009        Jul 2, A top Indian court issued a landmark ruling that decriminalized gay sex between consenting adults by declaring Section 377 of a colonial-era ban on homosexuality unconstitutional. The decision applied only to the territory of the capital, New Delhi. In December 2013 two Supreme Court judges overturned the ruling. In 2018 the top court said it would re-examine its earlier decision.
    (AFP, 7/2/09)(SFC, 7/3/09, p.A5)(Econ, 10/11/14, p.29)(SFC, 1/9/18, p.A2)

2009        Jul 14, Lithuania's Parliament approved a censorship bill that sharply curbs the spreading of public information that lawmakers say could harm the mental, physical, intellectual and moral development of youngsters. The bill comes into law on March 2010 at the latest.
    (www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4487209,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf)

2009        Jul 23, E. Lynn Harris (b.1955), pioneer of gay black fiction, died while promoting his latest book in Los Angeles. Long before the secret world of closeted black gay men came to light in America, Harris introduced a generation of black women to the phenomenon known as the "down low." His debut "Invisible Life" (1994) was a coming-of-age story that dealt with the then-taboo topic.
    (AP, 7/24/09)

2009        Aug 1, Australia's centre-left ruling party voted for national recognition of same-sex unions but stopped short of lifting a ban on gay marriage.
    (AFP, 8/1/09)
2009        Aug 1, In Tel Aviv, Israel, a gunman shot and killed two people, a man (26), who was a counselor at the center, and a girl (17) at a youth club. This was initially considered as the worst ever attack on homosexuals in Israel. Eleven people were wounded, four of them seriously. In 2013 police arrested 4 suspects in connection with the killing and said the shooting was no longer being considered as a hate crime.
    (AP, 8/2/09)(AP, 6/7/13)

2009        Aug 17, Human Rights Watch said Iraqi militiamen are torturing and killing gay men with impunity in a systematic campaign that has spread from Baghdad to several other cities.
    (AP, 8/17/09)

2009        Aug 27, Uruguay lawmakers approved a bill allowing gay and lesbian couples to adopt. The 99-seat Chamber or Representatives passed the bill 40-13, with the remaining members absent. The law, still needing Senate approval, was supported by socialist President Tabare Vazquez's Broad Front coalition, which has already legalized gay civil unions and ended a ban on homosexuals in the armed forces.
    (AP, 8/28/09)

2009        Sep 9, In Jamaica John A. Terry (65), Britain’s honorary consul in Montego Bay, was found strangled in bed with a note denouncing him as a homosexual.
    (Econ, 9/19/09, p.49)(AP, 10/3/09)
2009        Sep 9, Uruguay’s Senate gave final approval for gay and lesbian couples to adopt children, making it the first country in Latin America to do so. The executive branch will decide when the law takes effect.
    (SFC, 9/10/09, p.A2)

2009        Sep 24, Emile Norman (b.1918), pioneering gay artist, died in Monterey, Ca.
    (SFC, 9/26/09, p.A12)

2009        Oct 10, Stephen Gately (33), a singer with the Irish boy band Boyzone, died while visiting Spain’s island of Mallorca. He made headlines a decade ago when he came out as gay.
    (AP, 10/11/09)

2009        Oct 11, Thousands of gay and lesbian activists marched from the White House to the Capitol, demanding that President Barack Obama keep his promises to allow gays to serve openly in the military and allow same-sex marriages.
    (AP, 10/11/09)

2009        Oct 22, More than 8 million people watched British National Party leader Nick Griffin slam Islam as a wicked faith, express his disgust at homosexuals and defend the Ku Klux Klan on its "Question Time" program.
    (AP, 10/23/09)

2009        Oct 25, In Italy 4 policemen were questioned for allegedly attempting to blackmail opposition leader Piero Marrazzo (51). The case centered on widespread media reports that a video shows the center-left politician in the company of a transsexual in a Rome apartment.
    (AP, 10/25/09)

2009        Oct 28, President Barack Obama signed a defense bill into law containing a new provision to pay Taliban fighters who renounce the insurgency. The defense also bill killed some costly weapons projects and expanded war efforts. In a major civil rights change, the law also made it a federal hate crime to assault people based on sexual orientation.
    (Reuters, 10/27/09)(AP, 10/29/09)

2009        Nov 11, The Australian Capital Territory, home to the nation's parliament, became the first Australian region to legalize civil partnership ceremonies for same-sex couples, in a move supporters hoped would spark national momentum.
    (AFP, 11/11/09)

2009        Nov 16, In Argentina 2 men were granted a marriage license in Buenos Aires, breaking ground in a country and region where laws ban gay marriage.
    (AP, 11/17/09)

2009        Nov 13, In Puerto Rico the dismembered body of college student Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado (19) was discovered along a road in the interior town of Cayey. Lopez was widely known as a volunteer for organizations advocating HIV prevention and gay rights. Suspect Juan Martinez Matos (26), was soon arrested and allegedly confessed to killing Lopez and mutilating his body. He was charged with first-degree murder and weapons violations and jailed on $4 million bond.
    (AP, 11/18/09)

2009        Nov 30, An Argentine judge issued an order blocking the continent's first gay marriage scheduled for Dec 1. National Judge Marta Gomez Alsina ordered the wedding blocked until the issue can be considered by the Supreme Court.
    (AP, 12/1/09)

2009        Dec 10, In California the Assembly’s Democratic Caucus selected openly gay Latino Democrat John Perez from Los Angeles as the lower house’s leader. He was expected to be voted in as the 68th Assembly speaker in January.
    (SFC, 12/11/09, p.A1)
2009        Dec 10, Austria’s parliament passed legislation allowing same-sex couples to enter into civil unions. The bill was slated to become law on Jan 1.
    (SFC, 12/11/09, p.A2)

2009        Dec 21, Mexico City lawmakers made the city the first in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage, a change that will give homosexual couples more rights, including allowing them to adopt children.
    (AP, 12/21/09)

2009        Dec 27, In Malawi officials arrested 2 men for celebrating their engagement to each other in a ceremony on Dec 26. Stevem Monjeza (26) and Tiwonge Chimbalanga (20) were charged with indecency and could get 5 to 14 years in jail if convicted.
    (SFC, 12/30/09, p.A2)(SFC, 1/19/10, p.A2)

2009        Dec 28, In Argentina two men succeeded in becoming Latin America's first same-sex married couple. Gay rights activists Jose Maria Di Bello (41) and Alex Freyre (39) took their civil ceremony to the capital of Argentina's Tierra del Fuego province, where a sympathetic governor backed their bid to make Latin American history.
    (AP, 12/29/09)

2009        Dec 29, Mexico City enacted Latin America's first law recognizing gay marriage and said it hopes to attract same-sex couples from around the world to wed.
    (AP, 12/29/09)

2009        Joel Simkhai created Grindr, a dating app for the iPhone that allowed gay men to find one another. The application used GPS technology to allow gay men to find one another within walking distance.
    (SFC, 3/19/10, p.F1)

2010        Jan 1, About 15 New Hampshire gay couples braved the cold to exchange vows outside the Statehouse in Concord, as the state joined Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts and Vermont in allowing gay marriage.
    (SFC, 1/1/10, p.A5)

2010        Jan 8, Portugal's parliament passed a bill that would make the predominantly Catholic nation the sixth in Europe to permit gay marriage.
    (AP, 1/8/10)

2010        Jan 15, Chinese police in Beijing shut down what would have been the country’s first-ever gay pageant an hour before it was set to begin, highlighting the enduring sensitivity surrounding homosexuality and the struggle by gays to find mainstream acceptance.
    (AP, 1/15/10)

2010        Jan 19, In Cuba Mariela Castro, the daughter of pres. Raul Castro and head of the Center for Sex Education, said Cuba has begun performing state-sponsored sex-change operations. The government had lifted a longtime ban on the procedure in 2007.
    (SFC, 1/20/10, p.A2)

2010        Feb 13, In Indonesia contestants took part in the Social Cultural Transvestite Queen beauty pageant in Banda Aceh, Aceh province. The transvestite beauty pageant was held for the first time in the country's only province that officially adopted Islamic sharia law.
    (AP, 2/14/10)

2010        Feb 27, In Australia thousands of people in lavish costumes and various states of undress danced and partied their way through Sydney's streets, in the annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade.
    (AP, 2/27/10)

2010        Mar 4, Throngs of Mexico City gay and lesbian couples registered for marriage licenses, the day Latin America's first gay-marriage law took effect.
    (AP, 3/4/10)

2010        Mar 8, In California GOP State Sen. Roy Ashburn (55) announced that he was gay on a Kern County radio station. 5 days earlier he was arrested near a gay bar in Sacramento on suspicion of drunk driving.
    (SFC, 3/10/10, p.A1)

2010        Mar 9, In Washington, DC, same sex couple began to marry as the district became the 6th place in the US to conduct same sex marriages.
    (SFC, 3/10/10, p.A10)

2010        Mar 11, In Mexico 2 glowing brides in matching white gowns and four other same-sex couples made history in Mexico City as they wed under Latin America's first law that explicitly approves gay marriage.
    (AP, 3/11/10)

2010        Mar 20, An estimate of gay men marrying heterosexual women in China was put at 90% as compared to 15-20% in the US.
    (Econ, 3/20/10, p.48)

2010        Mar 24, Indonesian police ordered the cancellation of a conference of Asian gay activists, saying it could prompt violent protests by conservative Muslim groups.
    (AP, 3/24/10)

2010        Mar 25, The US Dept. of Defense announced stricter guidelines for discharging gay and lesbian service members allowing only generals to approve discharges.
    (SFC, 3/26/10, p.A6)

2010        Apr 8, The Philippine Supreme Court overturned a decision barring a gay rights group from contesting national elections in May and recognized it as a legitimate political party for the first time.
    (AP, 4/8/10)

2010        Apr 15, The White House released a statement by Obama instructing his Health and Human Services secretary to draft rules requiring hospitals that receive Medicare and Medicaid payments to grant all patients the right to designate people, including gay and lesbian partners, who can visit and consult with them at crucial moments.
    (AP, 4/16/10)

2010        Apr 19, In Puerto Rico the naked body of Ashley Santiago Ocasio (31), born as Juan Antonio), was found at his home in the town of Corozal. Rico Ashley Santiago Ocasio (31), a transgender beauty salon owner with high cheekbones and a flair for fashion, had been shot in the head. Her car was missing and there were no signs of a break-in.
    (www.dosmanzanas.com/tag/ashley-santiago)(AP, 4/25/10)

2010        May 7, A Lithuanian appeals court said a gay pride parade in Vilnius can go ahead as planned this weekend, overturning a ban imposed by a lower court that cited security concerns.
    (AP, 5/7/10)

2010        May 8, Opponents of Lithuania's first gay pride parade threw smoke bombs and tried to break through a barrier but were stopped by police firing tear gas.
    (AP, 5/8/10)

2010        May 15, In Cuba hundreds of gay and lesbian activists, some dressed in drag and others sporting multicolored flags representing sexual diversity, marched and danced through the streets of Havana along with the daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro as part of a celebration aimed at eliminating homophobia around the world.
    (AP, 5/15/10)

 2010        May 17, Portugal’s Pres. Anibal Cavaco Silva said he would not veto a new law allowing same-sex marriages because majority liberal lawmakers would only override his decision.
    (SFC, 5/18/10, p.A3)

2010        May 18, In Malawi a gay couple, arrested after throwing a party to celebrate their engagement in this conservative southern African country, were convicted of unnatural acts and gross indecency. On May 20 a judge sentenced the couple to the maximum 14 years in prison with hard labor under Malawi's anti-gay legislation. On May 29 President Bingu wa Mutharika announced a pardon and ordered their release. 
    (AP, 5/18/10)(AP, 5/20/10)(AP, 5/29/10)

2010        May 22, In Slovakia authorities in Bratislava called off the country’s first-ever gay pride parade following attacks by neo-Nazis.
    (SSFC, 5/23/10, p.A6)

2010        May 26, In Morocco Islamists were outraged by the visit of gay pop star Elton John, while the royal palace, government and his many fans backed his appearance in Rabat.
    (AP, 5/27/10)

2010        May 29, In Russia 2 Gay Pride parades were held without arrests in Moscow, the first time the notoriously intolerant Russian authorities have not intervened since the inaugural attempt to hold the event in the capital in 2006.
    (AP, 5/29/10)

2010        Jun 2, President Barack Obama expanded benefits for same-sex partners of federal employees, a move likely to be welcomed by gay rights activists who have questioned his commitment to their causes.
    (Reuters, 6/2/10)

2010        Jun 6, In Brazil millions of gays and lesbians jammed several of Sao Paulo's main avenues for the 14th annual gay pride parade in South America's largest city.
    (AP, 6/7/10)

2010        Jun 7, In Portugal a lesbian couple wed in the country’s first same-sex ceremony since the predominantly Catholic country introduced a law allowing gay marriage last month.
    (AP, 6/7/10)

2010        Jun 8, Britain’s Anglican Communion suspended US Episcopalians from serving on ecumenical bodies because of the election of lesbian Rev. Canon Mary Glasspool as an assistant bishop in Los Angeles on June 5.
    (SFC, 6/9/10, p.A2)

2010        Jun 19, In Germany tens of thousands of gays, lesbians and other revelers marched and danced in downtown Berlin for the German capital's annual gay pride celebration, which featured a colorful parade through the heart of the city.
    (AP, 6/19/10)

2010        Jun 24, The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that European law does not require countries to grant same-sex couples the right to marry, even if some states have already done so. The ECHR is part of the Council of Europe, which promotes democracy and the rule of law among its 47 member states.
    (Reuters, 6/25/10)

2010        Jun 26, In Mexico City thousands of people took part in a gay pride parade, celebrating the city's historic decision six months ago to become the first city in Latin America to allow same-sex marriage.
    (AFP, 6/27/10)

2010        Jun 27, San Francisco held its 40th annual Gay Pride Parade undeterred by a fatal shooting the previous evening in the Castro neighborhood.
    (SFC, 6/28/10, p.A1)
2010        Jun 27, Iceland's PM Johanna Sigurdardottir (68) married her partner under a new law legalizing same-sex marriage in the country.
    (AP, 6/28/10)

2010        Jul 8, US District Court Judge Joseph Tauro ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which bars the federal government from recognizing gay marriage, is unconstitutional.
    (www.aolnews.com/tag/Joseph-Tauro/)

2010        Jul 15, Argentina legalized same-sex marriage, becoming the first country in Latin America to grant gays and lesbians all the legal rights, responsibilities and protections that marriage brings to heterosexual couples.
    (AP, 7/15/10)

2010        Jul 17, In Poland thousands of gays and lesbians from around Europe marched through Warsaw to demand equal rights and more tolerance toward homosexuals.
    (AP, 7/17/10)

2010        Jul 21, In Argentina Pres. Cristina Fernandez signed a new law making Argentina the first country in Latin America to legalize marriage for same-sex couples.
    (AP, 7/22/10)

2010        Jul 29, Thousands of Israelis marched calmly in Jerusalem's longest gay pride parade despite opposition from anti-gay demonstrators.
    (AP, 7/29/10)

2010        Jul, In Derby, England, a group of Muslim men handed out leaflets calling for homosexuals to be "punished" and given the death sentence outside and near the Jamia Mosque in Rosehill Street. They also put the leaflets through people's letterboxes in the neighborhood. In 2012 Ihjaz Ali (42), Mehboob Hussain (45), Umar Javed (38), Razwan Javed (27), and Kabir Ahmed (28), are accused of stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation, denied the charges.
    (AFP, 1/10/12)

2010        Aug 4, US Federal Judge Vaughn Walker struck down California's same-sex marriage ban as an unconstitutional violation of gay couples' civil rights, but a pending appeal of the landmark ruling could prevent gay weddings from resuming in the state any time soon.
    (AP, 8/5/10)(Econ, 8/7/10, p.30)
2010        Aug 4, A Sudanese court sentenced 19 young Muslim men to 30 lashes and a fine for breaking moral codes by wearing women's clothes and makeup, a case exposing Sudanese sensitivity toward homosexuality.
    (Reuters, 8/4/10)

2010        Aug 10, Mexico's Supreme Court ruled that all 31 states must recognize same-sex marriages performed in the capital, though its decision does not force those states to begin marrying gay couples in their territory.
    (AP, 8/11/10)

2010        Aug 16, Mexico's Supreme Court voted to uphold a Mexico City law allowing adoptions by same-sex couples, drawing jubilant cheers from gay advocacy groups and angry protests from Roman Catholic Church representatives.
    (AP, 8/16/10)

2010        Aug 31, Spanish police said that for the first time they have broken up a human-trafficking gang that brought men to the country to work as prostitutes, providing them with Viagra, cocaine and other stimulant drugs to be available for sex with other men 24 hours a day. Authorities arrested 14 people, mainly Brazilians, on suspicion of running the organization and another 17 alleged prostitutes for being in Spain illegally.
    (AP, 8/31/10)

2010        Sep 9, A US federal judge in southern California ruled that the US military’s ban on openly gay service members is unconstitutional under the First Amendment. Judge Virginia Phillips ruled for the plaintiffs, a group of gay activists know as the Log Cabin Republicans.
    (SFC, 9/9/10, p.A9)(Econ, 10/16/10, p.40)

2010        Sep 16, Israel's Supreme Court ordered the Jerusalem city government to provide more than $120,000 in funding for a prominent gay community center. It was reported that Israeli government offices, that provide a wide array of public services, are pulling the plug on online payments on the Jewish Sabbath and holidays, creating a potential new source of friction between the religious and secular in the Jewish state.
    (AP, 9/16/10)

2010        Sep 22, Rutgers Univ. freshman Tyler Clementi jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge. On Sep 19 his roommate and another student had used a webcam to view Clementi having sex with another man. Roommate Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei were soon charged with invasion of privacy. On April 20, 2011, Ravi was charged with a hate crime and accused of deleting tweets and texts to cover his tracks. On May 21, 2012, Ravi was sentenced to 30 days in jail and 3 years probation. Ravi was also ordered to get counseling and to pay $10,000 toward a program to help victims of bias crimes.
    (SFC, 4/21/11, p.A9)(SFC, 2/25/12, p.A8)(SFC, 5/22/12, p.A6)

2010        Sep 28, Seth Walsh (13), a California middle school student, died in the hospital, days after he attempted to take his own life after reportedly enduring relentless bullying.
    (www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20018025-504083.html)

2010        Oct 1, Moscow police detained several gay rights opponents at the first sanctioned gay rights protest in years. Former Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, fired on Sep 28, had compared gay people to the devil and forbade gay rights rallies.
    (SFC, 10/2/10, p.A2)

2010        Oct 3, In NYC a potential recruit for the Latin King Goonies street gang and 2 other men were beaten and sodomized for their sexual contacts. 8 suspects were later arrested and one more was sought in the gruesome assaults. 2 more suspects were charged on Oct 12.
    (SFC, 10/9/10, p.A7)(SSFC, 10/10/10, p.A10)(AP, 10/13/10)

2010        Oct 10, In Serbia a gay rights parade in Belgrade descended into violence as thousands of police deployed to protect marchers clashed with gangs of anti-gay protesters, sparking riots, injuries and dozens of arrests.
    (Reuters, 10/10/10)

2010        Oct 12, A US federal judge ordered an immediate halt to military discharges under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. District Judge Virginia Phillips of Riverside, Ca., had ruled the 1993 law unconstitutional on Sep 9.
    (SFC, 10/13/10, p.A1)

2010        Oct 20, The US Ninth circuit Court of Appeals granted the Obama administration’s request for a temporary stay allowing military authorities to resume discharging openly gay and lesbian troops after a one week halt.
    (SFC, 10/21/10, p.A6)

2010        Nov 1, In Uganda a controversial newspaper in Kampala published photos, names and home addresses of gay Ugandans, the second time the paper has done so, prompting a rights group to seek a legal injunction against the publication.
    (AP, 11/1/10)

2010        Nov 6, In Argentina thousands marched in a Gay Pride parade, celebrating the country's status as the first in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage and vowing to campaign for new rights for transgender people. More than 500 same-sex couples have been married since President Cristina Fernandez signed the law on July 21. The theme of the parade was "let's go for more," specifically, a "gender identity" law to enable individuals to change their gender on birth certificates and identity cards.
    (AP, 11/7/10)

2010        Nov 7, In Spain Pope Benedict XVI consecrated a world monument to family, the Sagrada Familia church, but faced a gay kiss-in protest before he attacked abortion and defended male-female marriage.
    (AFP, 11/7/10)

2010        Nov 9, Londoners Tom Freeman (26) and Katherine Doyle (26), after having their application to form a civil partnership rejected by officials at their local town hall in Islington, north London, said they will go to court to win the right. They were being backed by gay rights activists, who hope a ruling that allows straight couples the right to a civil partnership would mean, in turn, that gay couples have the right to wed.
    (AP, 11/9/10)

2010        Nov 10, In Malaysia "Dalam Botol" (In A Bottle), a Malay-language film, earned applause from movie bloggers invited to its first public screening, three months before its scheduled nationwide release. It is about a man who gets a sex change operation because he thought it would satisfy his male lover, but ends up regretting it. Censors now say depictions of homosexuality are no longer barred, as long as being gay isn't condoned.
    (AP, 11/11/10)

2010        Nov 12, The US Supreme Court allowed the Pentagon to continue preventing openly gay people from serving in the military while a federal appeals court reviews the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
    (AP, 11/13/10)

2010        Nov 14, In Brazil a gay youth, Douglas Igor Marques Luiz (19), was shot by men in military uniforms in Rio de Janeiro following mammoth gay pride parade. 2 sergeants were arrested on Nov 18. An army statement says one of the suspects acknowledged shooting Luiz.
    (AP, 11/17/10)(AP, 11/18/10)

2010        Nov 28, Kenya’s PM Raila Odinga said homosexuals who are found in the midst of sex acts will be arrested. Odinga's spokesman said in a statement later that night that the prime minister was quoted out of context.
    (AP, 11/29/10)

2010        Dec 1, The Illinois Legislature voted to legalize civil unions.
    (SFC, 12/2/10, p.A13)

2010        Dec 10, The Brazilian government said gay couples in stable relationships are entitled the same social security pension benefits enjoyed by heterosexual couples.
    (SFC, 12/11/10, p.A2)

2010        Dec 15, Human Rights Watch said Iranians convicted for same-sex activities are on death row and awaiting hanging, including several who were minors when arrested.
    (AP, 12/15/10)

2010        Dec 18, In a historic vote for gay rights, the US Senate agreed to do away with the military's 17-year ban on openly gay troops and sent President Barack Obama legislation to overturn the Clinton-era policy known as "don't ask, don't tell."
    (AP, 12/19/10)

2010        Dec 22, President Barack Obama fulfilled a campaign promise and signed a landmark law repealing the ban on gay men and women serving openly in the armed services.
    (AP, 12/22/10)

2010        Dec 24, Thailand film director Tanwarin Sukkhapisit said she plans to appeal a decision by the National Film Board that her film, "Insects in the Backyard," cannot not be shown in Thailand because it is immoral and pornographic. The movie was about a transgender father struggling to raise two children.
    (AP, 12/24/10)

2010        Leila J. Rupp authored “Sapphistries: A Global History of Love Between Women.”
    (SSFC, 2/14/10, p.F5)
2010        Iowa’s Supreme Court struck down a ban on gay marriage. Anti-gay-marriage groups targeted three judges and all 3 lost their seats.
    (Econ, 11/24/12, p.32)

2011        Jan 8, Investigators told Brazil’s G1 news website that 2 brothers have been charged with killing their father, a local Afro-Brazilian religious leader, by knocking him out with sleeping pills and then burying him alive in Maranhao state. The brothers told police their father was a violent man who drank too much and didn't accept their homosexuality.
    (AP, 1/8/11)

2011        Jan 7, In NYC Carlos Castro (65), a gay Portuguese TV reporter, was found castrated and bludgeoned to death at the InterContinental Hotel. His young boyfriend, model Renato Seabra (21) was arrested by police.
    (SSFC, 1/9/11, p.A11)

2011        Jan 26, In Uganda David Kato, a prominent gay rights activist whose picture was published by an anti-gay newspaper next to the words "Hang Them," was bludgeoned to death. Police said that his sexual orientation had nothing to do with the killing and that one "robber" had been arrested. On Nov 10 Enoch Nsubuga (22) was sentenced to 30 years in jail for the brutal slaying. Nsubuga claimed that he had been reacting to unwanted demands for sex.
    (AP, 1/27/11)(Econ, 2/12/11, p.96)(AFP, 11/11/11)

2011        Jan 28, France's top constitutional watchdog ruled that law prohibiting gay marriage does not violate the constitution, all but challenging parliament to debate overturning the ban.
    (AP, 1/28/11)

2011        Feb 1, Derek Rawcliffe (89), the first Church of England bishop to be open about his homosexuality, died. Rawcliffe disclosed his homosexuality on television in 1995, when he was serving as an honorary bishop in Ripon and Leeds diocese. He was dismissed the following year for conducting blessings of same-sex couples.
    (AP, 2/11/11)

2011        Feb 10, A new Thai airline reported the hiring of transsexual ladyboys as flight attendants, aiming at a unique identity to set itself apart from competitors as it sets out for the skies. PC Air, a charter airline set to start operations on Asian routes in April, has thus far chosen 4 ladyboys, along with 19 female and 7 male flight attendants.
    (Reuters, 2/10/11)

2011        Feb 14, A Swiss court said an Iranian man convicted of heroin trafficking will be expelled and returned to his home country, even though the man claimed that he could be persecuted for being homosexual.
    (AFP, 2/14/11)

2011        Feb 16, Hawaii lawmakers approved a bill to allow civil unions from same-sex couples. Gov. Neil Abercrombie planned to sign it and civil unions would begin Jan 1, 2012.
    (SFC, 2/17/11, p.A6)

2011        Feb 17, Britain's government said gay couples are to be allowed civil partnership ceremonies in churches, erasing some of the last remaining distinctions between gay partnerships and traditional marriages.
    (AP, 2/17/11)

2011        Feb 23, The Obama administration decided to stop defending a 1996 federal law banning marital benefits for same-sex couples.
    (SFC, 2/24/11, p.A1)

2011        Mar 2, The US Supreme Court, in an endorsement of free speech, decided 8-1 that anti-gay protesters, who picket funerals of US soldiers, cannot be sued.
    (SFC, 3/3/11, p.A5)
2011        Mar 2, In St. Lucia three gay men from Atlanta were beaten and robbed after masked bandits broke into their mountain rental home in Soufriere. Police later arrested two suspects in the assault and looked for three more.
    (AP, 3/14/11)

2011        Mar 5, In Australia hundreds of thousands of revelers crammed inner Sydney streets for one of the world's premier gay and lesbian parades.
    (AP, 3/5/11)

2011        Mar 31, South Korea's Constitutional Court upheld a military law banning homosexual behavior, saying the need to maintain discipline takes precedence over individual sexual freedom.
    (AFP, 3/31/11)

2011        Mar, In Cameroon Roger Jean-Claude Mbede was arrested in connection with the text message and convicted the following month under a law that imposes up to five years in prison for homosexual acts. He received a three-year sentence. Mbede (34) died on Jan 10, 2014, after his family removed him from a hospital where he had been seeking treatment for a hernia.
    (AP, 1/12/14)

2011        Apr 14, Zimbabwe President Mugabe condemned gay "filth" in Europe, as he lambasted Western powers for maintaining their asset freeze and travel ban on him and his inner circle. Mugabe also said the government would go ahead with the takeover of foreign companies.
    (AP, 4/14/11)(Reuters, 4/14/11)

2011        Apr 18, Hungary's center-right-dominated parliament adopted a socially and fiscally conservative new constitution, with 262 votes in favor, 44 against and one member abstaining. It included a ban on gay marriage protection of the life of a fetus from conception.
    (AFP, 4/18/11)(SFC, 4/19/11, p.A2)

2011        Apr 19, A Malaysian official said authorities have sent 66 Muslim schoolboys identified by teachers as effeminate to a four-day camp where they will receive counseling on masculine behavior to discourage them from being gay.
    (AP, 4/19/11)

2011        Apr 24, In South Africa the body of Noxolo Nogwaza (24) was found in a drainage ditch choked with trash and high reeds. The lesbian activist had been repeatedly stabbed with broken glass, and beaten so severely with chunks of concrete that her teeth had been knocked out.
    (AP, 5/10/11)(http://wherethegirlsgo.com/tag/noxolo-nogwaza/)

2011        May 5, Brazil's high court ruled that same-sex civil unions must be recognized, a decision welcomed as a watershed by gay activists who also hope it will cool rising violence against homosexuals in Latin America's most populous nation.
    (AP, 5/6/11)

2011        May 10, The Court of Justice of the EU ruled that gay couples in civil partnerships should enjoy the same rights as heterosexual married couples.
    (SFC, 5/11/11, p.A2)

2011        May 14, Cubans held a short but colorful parade celebrating sexual diversity to mark the International Day Against Homophobia.
    (AP, 5/14/11)

2011        May 25, Brazil's Pres. Dilma Rousseff suspended an anti-homophobia campaign that had been planned to begin at schools this year because she thought the videos and pamphlets weren't appropriate for children.
    (AP, 5/25/11)
2011        May 25, Grenada's director of public prosecution said a 41-year-old man was charged with having sex with an unidentified 17-year-old man. The Caribbean island had a law against homosexual acts on the books but was rarely enforced. A 2010 United Nations report said the penalty on most Caribbean islands, including Grenada, is up to 10 years in prison, although Barbados and Guyana have life imprisonment.
    (AP, 5/25/11)

2011        May 28, Moscow police arrested more than 30 people trying to hold two unauthorized gay-rights demonstrations in the capital.
    (AP, 5/28/11)

2011        May 31, The South African Human Rights Commission said South Africa's ambassador to Uganda, a country criticized for threatening the rights of gays, has been found guilty of hate speech for an anti-gay column he wrote before his appointment. Jon Qwelane  was ordered to apologize and pay a fine of 100,000 rand (about $14,000) that the human rights commission will donate to a gay rights organization.
    (AP, 5/31/11)

2011        Jun 1, Illinois became the 6th US state to allow civil unions or their equivalent.
    (SFC, 6/2/11, p.A6)

2011        Jun 6, Syrian American lesbian blogger Amina Arraf was allegedly last seen in Damascus after being bundled into a car by 3 men in civilian clothes. On June 13 this story was revealed as a hoax and a 40-year old American man living in Scotland apologized for posing as Arraf.
    (SFC, 6/8/11, p.A2)(SFC, 6/14/11, p.A2)

2011        Jun 11, Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s proclamation, issued on June 6, continued to evoke controversy. The governor, who declared that August 6th should be a “day of prayer and fasting for our nation’s challenges,” invited other governors to join him at an evangelical Christian prayer service, sponsored by groups that include the American Family Association, known for its opposition to gay rights and its condemnation of homosexuality.
            (NYT, 6/12/11, p. A31)
2011        Jun 11, Pop star Lady Gaga performed at a large gay pride rally at Rome’s Circus Maximus. She also used the appearance to speak out in favor of full equality for gay men and lesbians, and to denounce countries that show intolerance to those who are different.
            (AP, 6/11/11)(AFP, 6/11/11)

2011        Jun 13, A 20-judge US federal bankruptcy court unanimously declared that a law denying federal benefits to same-sex couples is unconstitutional.
    (SFC, 6/15/11, p.A1)

2011         Jun 14, In California US District Judge James Ware has upheld the ruling made by another judge, Vaughn Walker, which overturned a ban on gay marriage. In August 2010, Walker ruled that California’s Proposition 8 discriminated against gay people. Opponents of gay marriage appealed, saying Walker should have recused himself because he is gay and thus unable to be impartial. But Judge Ware rejected the appeal, saying that with such logic, a female judge could not rule on any cases where a woman was seeking legal relief, and a minority judge could not rule on civil rights cases.     
            (LAT, 6/14/11)(Reuters, 6/14/11)

2011        Jun 19, Liechtenstein 69% of voters backed a new law giving gay and lesbian couples the right to formally register their partnerships.
    (SFC, 6/20/11, p.A2)

2011        Jun 21, The World Health Organization (WHO) urged governments to eliminate laws criminalizing sexual activity between consenting men, as part of an effort to ensure they get equal access to HIV prevention and treatment.
    (AP, 6/21/11)

2011        Jun 24, New York became the sixth and largest state in the country to legalize gay marriage, breathing life into the national gay rights movement that had stalled over a nearly identical bill here two years ago. Pending any court challenges, legal gay marriages can begin in NY by late July after Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed his bill into law just before midnight. It would be effective on July 24.
    (AP, 6/25/11)(Econ, 7/2/11, p.22)

2011        Jun 25, In Paris tens of thousands turned out for a gay pride parade. In Germany thousands packed downtown Berlin for the 33rd annual CSD (Christopher Street Day) festival, an annual European LGBT celebration and demonstration held in various cities across Europe for the rights of LGBT people.
    (SSFC, 6/26/11, p.A10)
2011        Jun 25, Russian police detained 14 gay rights activists trying to hold an unsanctioned demonstration in St. Petersburg, as well as one person suspected of attacking the protesters.
    (AP, 6/25/11)

2011        Jun 26, In Brazil hundreds of thousands of people danced and wore costumes in the streets of Sao Paulo to celebrate gay pride and call for an end to homophobia.
    (AP, 6/27/11)

2011        Jun 27, A Brazilian state judge approved what the court said is the nation's first gay marriage. Sao Paulo state Judge Fernando Henrique Pinto ruled two men could convert their civil union into a full marriage.
    (AP, 6/27/11)

2011        Jul 4, In Pakistan some 28,000 people escaped Kurram in a mass exodus after the offensive was launched, with the army saying that artillery and fighter jets had swung into action to drive out "terrorists." Hundreds of Islamists held rallies in major cities to denounce a gay rights event hosted last month by the United States embassy.
    (AP, 7/5/11)(AFP, 7/4/11)

2011        Jul 5, A bill to require California public schools to teach the historical accomplishments of gay men and lesbians passed the state Legislature on a vote of 49-25, without a single Republican supporting it.
    (Reuters, 7/5/11)

2011        Jul 14, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill making California the first state in the nation to add lessons about gays and lesbians to social studies classes in public schools.
    (AP, 7/15/11)

2011        Jul 22, Pres. Obama formally certified that gays will be able to serve openly in the US military in 60 days as the controversial 17-year policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell” is repealed.
    (SFC, 7/23/11, p.A4)

2011        Jul 24, Wedding fever hit New York, as hundreds of gay and lesbian couples lined up to be married on the first day that same-sex marriage was legal in the state.
    (Reuters, 7/24/11)

2011        Jul 25, In India some 3,000 eunuchs met in Kolkata to draft a strategy to highlight the poverty, discrimination and sexual abuse faced by them. The term eunuch is used in India to describe transvestites, transsexuals and others who identify themselves as neither male nor female but as a members of a third gender.
    (AP, 7/25/11)

2011        Aug 13, In Cuba a gay man and a woman whose sex-change operation was paid for by the state were married in Havana.
    (SSFC, 8/14/11, p.A5)
2011        Aug 13, The Czech Republic’s first gay pride parade was held in Prague under strong police guard as some 3,000 gays and lesbians marched through the city center.
    (SSFC, 8/14/11, p.A5)

2011        Aug 14, In Nepal hundreds of gay, lesbian, transgender people marched with supporters in the southern town of Narayanghat to demand equal rights under a new constitution the country is in the process of writing.
    (AP, 8/14/11)

2011        Aug 26, Cameroon authorities charged four people aged 17 to 46 with homosexuality and remanded them in custody. Homosexuality is outlawed in Cameroon and those arrested risk five years in prison.
    (AFP, 8/27/11)

2011        Sep 4, Iran executed three men for homosexuality. They were hanged in the south-western city of Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan province.
    (Econ, 2/4/12, p.63)(http://tinyurl.com/3jkjmyn)

2011        Sep 13, A Thailand court ordered the military to stop labeling transgender people as being mentally ill in a decision praised by activists.
    (AP, 9/13/11)

2011        Sep 15, Australia’s government said Australian passports will now have three gender options: male, female and indeterminate, under new guidelines to remove discrimination against transgender and intersex people.
    (AP, 9/15/11)

2011        Sep 20, The US military’s 17-year old “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, regarding sexual orientation, officially ended.
    (SFC, 9/21/11, p.A1)

2011        Sep 19, Jamey Rodemeyer (14), of Williamsville, NY, took his life after what his parents claim was years of bullying because of struggles with his sexuality. On Sep 25 Lady Gaga performed a tribute to Rodemeyer at the iheartradio music festival.
    (http://tinyurl.com/6k7qs22)

2011        Sep 27, The US Census Bureau released figures indicating that same-sex households had increased by 80% over the past decade.
    (SFC, 9/28/11, p.A1)

2011        Oct 1, Russian police detained dozens of anti-gay protesters and gay rights activists during a gay pride rally in central Moscow.
    (AP, 10/1/11)

2011        Oct 2, Uganda’s first gay bar, the Sappho Islands, was padlocked by the landlord, who said the bar was noisy and attracted "strange" people.
    (AP, 10/6/11)

2011        Oct 7, In South Africa 4 men were convicted of murdering a lesbian in Cape Town, in a case that dragged on for five years and heightened concerns about "corrective rape" targeting gay women. In 2006 The men stoned, kicked and stabbed to death Zoliswa Nkonyana (19) just meters (yards) from her home.
    (AFP, 10/7/11)

2011        Oct 8, In Wisconsin Scott Anderson (56) was ordained as the first US Presbyterian church gay minister at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Madison.
    (AP, 10/9/11)

2011        Oct 29, In Denmark Axel Axgil (96), whose struggle for gay rights helped make Denmark the first country to legalize same-sex partnerships, died in Copenhagen.
    (AP, 10/30/11)
2011        Oct 29, In Taiwan thousands of gay rights supporters marched through Taipei, its ninth annual gay rights parade, calling for increased tolerance and the enactment of anti-discrimination legislation.
    (AP, 10/29/11)

2011        Nov 3, Malaysia’s deputy national police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said a decision to halt the three-year-old "Seksualiti Merdeka" (Sexuality Freedom) festival set for November 9-13 has come after Muslims called for it to be banned. Organizers slammed the move as proof of the repression homosexuals face in the socially conservative Muslim country.
    (AFP, 11/3/11)

2011        Nov 8, In Poland a transsexual woman and an openly gay man took seats in the newly elected parliament, historic firsts that reflect profound social change in this traditionally Roman Catholic country. Both belong to Palikot's Movement, a new progressive party that became the third-largest party in parliament in the Oct. 9 election.
    (AP, 11/8/11)

2011        Nov 12, In South Africa renowned cricket writer Peter Roebuck (55) was about to be detained over the alleged sexual assault of a Zimbabwean man when he plunged to his death.
    (AFP, 11/14/11)

2011        Nov 14, Brazil’s Federal Register noted that the government for the first time has granted a foreign citizen the right to live permanently in the country based on a same-sex relationship with a Brazilian citizen.
    (AP, 11/14/11)

2011        Nov 20, In India a fire blazed through a makeshift tent in east Delhi where eunuchs, a community of castrated men, transvestites and transsexuals, had gathered to honor deceased friends. 15 people were killed.
    (AP, 11/21/11)

2011        Nov 22, A Cameroon court sentenced three gay men, arrested in July, to five years imprisonment and a fine, the heaviest sentence provided by local law, which bans homosexuality.
    (AFP, 11/23/11)

2011        Nov 29, Nigeria's Senate voted to criminalize gay marriage, gay advocacy groups and same-sex public displays of affection, the latest legislation targeting a minority already facing discrimination in Africa's most populous nation. The bill must be passed by Nigeria's House of Representatives and signed by President Goodluck Jonathan before becoming law.
    (AP, 11/29/11)

2011        Nov 30, Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies approved a bill allowing all transvestites and transsexuals to be recognized by the gender of their choice.
    (AP, 11/30/11)

2011        Dec 3, In the Philippines more than 1,000 gays, lesbians and transgenders marched in Manila to demand equal rights, an end to discrimination, and more support for AIDS programs.
    (AP, 12/3/11)

2012        Jan 12, Canada’s government abruptly argued that the same-sex marriages of many foreigners who wed in Canada are not valid, a move that stunned the gay community and could affect thousands of couples.
    (Reuters, 1/12/12)

2012        Jan 20, Malaysian prosecutors filed a notice of appeal against the acquittal of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim on sodomy charges, sending the long-running divisive case back to court.
    (AFP, 1/20/12)

2012        Jan 26, Ecuador’s health ministry said it will investigate and act forcefully against any clinics found to be trying to force homosexuals to change their sexual orientation.
    (SFC, 1/27/12, p.A2)

2012        Feb 7, The 9th Circuit Court in California struck down as unconstitutional the state's voter-passed ban on gay marriage, ruling 2-1 that it violates the rights of gay Californians.
    (AP, 2/7/12)(SFC, 2/8/12, p.A1)

2012        Feb 13, Washington state Gov. Chris Gregoire signed into law a measure that makes his state the seventh to legalize same-sex marriage, effective June 7. Opponents almost immediately filed a referendum to challenge the new law, meaning voters likely will have the final say.
    (AP, 2/14/12)

2012        Feb 14, A Ugandan minister raided and shut down a workshop run by homosexual rights activists in Entebbe, days after a draconian anti-gay bill was reintroduced.
    (AFP, 2/15/12)

2012        Feb 16, The New Jersey Assembly passed legislation (42-33) legalizing same-sex marriage, sending the bill to Republican Governor Chris Christie, a possible vice-presidential candidate. Gov. Christie vetoed the measure the next day.
    (Reuters, 2/16/12)(AP, 2/17/12)

2012        Feb 18, In Arizona Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu resigned as a volunteer co-chair of Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's campaign in Arizona after he was accused of threatening a former male lover with deportation to Mexico if he talked about their relationship.
    (Reuters, 2/19/12)

2012        Feb 24, The Interamerican Court of Human Rights condemned the Chilean government for denying Magistrate Karen Atala custody of her three daughters because she is a lesbian. Atala filed a complaint with the Interamerican Commission of Human Rights in Nov. 2004 after Chile's Supreme Court decided to give custody of her daughters to her ex-husband because she is lesbian.
    (AP, 3/21/12)

2012        Mar 1, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley signed into a law a bill to legalize same-sex marriage.
    (SFC, 3/2/12, p.A8)

2012        Mar 2, Norman St John-Stevas (82), a gay British academic and Conservative politician died.
    (Econ, 3/10/12, p.70)

2012        Mar 3, In Chile Daniel Zamudio (24), a gay man, suffered severe head trauma and a broken right leg in a beating in Santiago. A swastika was drawn on the victim's chest by the unidentified assailants, leading to speculation that neo-Nazis may have attacked him. Doctors put him into an induced coma while treating his head trauma.
    (AP, 3/6/12)

2012        Mar 10, Iraqi security and hospital sources said at least 14 youths have been stoned to death in Baghdad in the past three weeks in what appears to be a campaign by Shi'ite militants against youths wearing Western-style "emo" clothes and haircuts. Officials and human rights groups said Iraqi teenagers widely perceived to be gay are being brutally killed in Baghdad with Shiite militias distributing lists of targets warning of further assaults.
    (Reuters, 3/10/12)(AFP, 3/11/12)

2012        Mar 11, In Russia a law took effect in St. Petersburg which, in part prohibits "the propaganda of homosexuality and pedophilia among minors. Gay rights activists said it would criminalize even reading, writing or speaking about gay, lesbian, or transgender people. Violations carry hefty fines up to $16,700.
    (http://tinyurl.com/7pwa2zk)

2012        Mar 14, Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) filed suit against Scott Lively of the Abiding Truth Ministries at a Massachusetts court, claiming he pushed Ugandan officials to crack down on homosexuals.
    (AFP, 3/16/12)

2012        Mar 16, A New Jersey jury found former Rutgers student Dharun Ravi guilty on all counts for using a webcam to spy on his roommate, Tyler Clementi, having a gay sexual encounter in 2010. Clementi's case gained national attention when he committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge Sept. 22, 2010.
    (www.nytimes.com/2012/03/17/nyregion/defendant-guilty-in-rutgers-case.html)

2012        Mar 21, In Dominica two California men on a gay cruise of the Caribbean were arrested on the Celebrity Summit cruise ship on suspicion of indecent exposure and "buggery," a term equivalent to sodomy on the island. The next day John Robert Hart (41) and Dennis Jay Mayer (43) of Palm Springs pleaded guilty. Chief Magistrate Evaline Baptiste ordered the men to pay a nearly $900 fine after calling them "rogues and vagabonds." They made no comment after the hearing and police drove the men to the airport after they were released.
    (AFP, 3/22/12)(AFP, 3/23/12)

2012        Mar 27, In Chile Daniel Zamudio, a young gay man, died following a March 3 attack in Santiago. Attackers had brutally beaten him and carved swastikas into his body. The suspects included Raul Alfonso Lopez (25); Alejandro Axel Angulo Tapia (26); Patricio Ahumada Garay (25); and Fabian Mora Mora (19). On Oct 28, 2013, Garay was sentenced to life in prison.
    (AP, 3/29/12)(SFC, 10/29/13, p.A2)

2012        Apr 3, Guyana said it is launching a national debate on whether to eliminate its death penalty and overhaul laws that discriminate against gays, lesbians and transgender people.
    (AP, 4/4/12)

2012        Apr 4, Chile's Congress passed an anti-discrimination law following the killing of a gay man whose attackers beat him and carved swastikas into his body.
    (AP, 4/4/12)

2012        Apr 6, In Indiana Richard Leon Finkbinder (39) was arrested  and charged with coercing 2 teenage boys into performing online sex acts for him by threatening to post on gay porn sites videos he secretly made of them.
    (SFC, 4/10/12, p.A12)

2012        Apr 8, In South Africa Andreas Derleth, a towering German who lives in New Zealand, took the title of Mr Gay World. He beat out 21 other men, including the first black African contestants. Most of the contestants came from Europe and the Americas, with none from the Muslim world and few from Africa and Asia.
    (AFP, 4/9/12)

2012        Apr 20, In Israel the Conservative Jewish Seminary said it will allows gays and lesbians to become rabbis.
    (SFC, 4/21/12, p.A2)

2012        Apr 21, Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh warned foreign diplomats his country would not be "bribed" with aid to accept homosexuality.
    (AFP, 4/22/12)

2012        May 8, North Carolinians voted to change the state constitution to say that the only valid "domestic legal partnership" in the state is marriage between a man and a woman. The amendment passed 61 to 39 percent, making North Carolina the 29th state with a gay marriage ban in its constitution.
    (http://tinyurl.com/d8r8f2t)

2012        May 9, President Barack Obama announced his support for gay marriage and boosted the hopes of gay rights groups around the world. Opponents denounced his switch as a shameless appeal for votes.
    (AP, 5/9/12)
2012        May 9, Argentina’s senate passed a gender identity law giving people the freedom to change their legal and physical gender identity simply because they want to, without having to undergo judicial, psychiatric and medical procedures beforehand.
    (AFP, 5/10/12)

2012        May 14, Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee issued an executive order that the state will recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.
    (SFC, 5/15/12, p.A6)

2012        May 19, The NAACP passed a resolution endorsing same-sex marriage as a civil right and opposing any efforts "to codify discrimination or hatred into the law."
    (AP, 5/19/12)
2012        May 19, In Malaysia a Canadian Muslim gay activist launched her controversial new book on liberal Islam despite a government minister's attempts to shut down the event. Irshad Manji launched "Allah, Liberty and Love" at a hastily arranged event in Kuala Lumpur after two other venues pulled out of hosting her. Her previous internationally acclaimed book, "The Trouble with Islam Today," was already banned in Malaysia.
    (AFP, 5/19/12)

2012        May 27, In Russia gay activists tried to stage two demonstrations in Moscow to demand the right to hold a gay pride parade in the Russian capital, but they were blocked first by Orthodox Christian opponents and then by police, who detained a total of about 40 people from both sides.
    (AP, 5/27/12)

2012        May 31, A US federal appeals court in Boston declared that the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutionally denies federal benefits to married gay couples, a groundbreaking ruling all but certain to wind up before the US Supreme Court.
    (AP, 5/31/12)

2012        May, Malawi's president Joyce Banda announced that she wants to repeal laws against homosexual acts, going against a trend in a continent in which gays are being increasingly singled out for prosecution. Traditionalists and religious leaders condemned her, saying she was trying to please Western donor nations. They argued that homosexuality is alien to Malawi's cultural and religious values.
    (AP, 11/8/12)

2012        Jun 2, In Latvia several hundred activists from the Baltic states and neighboring countries braved rain and hail to participate in an annual parade in defense of gay and lesbian rights. The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have largely proven to be intolerant toward gays and lesbians despite having joined the European Union in 2004.
    (AFP, 6/2/12)

2012        Jun 3, In Utah nearly 300 Mormons marched in a gay pride parade in Salt Lake City, holding signs that read "God Loves His Children" in a unique display of support from believers of a religious tradition that has long opposed homosexuality.
    (Reuters, 6/3/12)

2012        Jun 7, Denmark's Parliament approved a law allowing same-sex couples to get married in formal church weddings, effective June 15, instead of the short blessing ceremonies that the state's Lutheran Church currently offers.
    (AP, 6/7/12)

2012        Jun 20, Uganda’s minister for ethics and integrity, Simon Lokodo, said Uganda will ban 38 nongovernmental organizations for spreading homosexuality.
    (AFP, 6/20/12)

2012        Jun 22, Uganda’s government said in a statement that it does not discriminate against people "of a different sexual orientation." It was signed by Ethics Minister Simon Lokodo, the official accused by gay activists of orchestrating a hate campaign that includes breaking up gay conferences and threatening to expel civil society groups he says promote homosexuality.
    (AP, 6/22/12)

2012        Jun 23, In Texas 2 women were found lying in "knee-deep" grass in a park in Portland. Mollie Judith Olgin (19) was pronounced dead at the scene. Her girlfriend, Mary Christine Chapa (18), was hospitalized with a single gunshot wound to the head.
    (http://tinyurl.com/7qto9p6)

2012        Jun 24, San Francisco held its 42nd gay pride parade with more than 200 floats making their way down Market Street.
    (AP, 6/25/12)

2012        Jun 26, The US Pentagon for the first time in its history celebrated “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Month.”
    (SFC, 6/27/12, p.A8)

2012        Jun 30, In Utah a group of about 150 Mormons quit their church in a mass resignation ceremony in Salt Lake City in a rare display of defiance ending decades of disagreement for some over issues ranging from polygamy to gay marriage.
    (Reuters, 6/30/12)

2012        Jul 2, CNN’s Anderson Cooper, the host of “AC360,” confirmed that he is gay.
    (SFC, 7/3/12, p.E3)

2012        Jul 6, The British government hoisted the rainbow flag symbolizing gay pride over one of its ministries for the first time.
    (AFP, 7/6/12)

2012        Jul 7, In Massachusetts Democratic Representative Barney Frank wed his longtime partner, James Ready, becoming the first sitting congressman to enter into a same-sex marriage.
    (Reuters, 7/7/12)

2012        Jul 12, Chile's President Sebastian Pinera signed an anti-discrimination law following the killing of a gay man beaten by attackers who carved swastikas into his body.
    (AP, 7/12/12)

2012        Jul 21, In San Diego, Ca., active US service members marched for the first time in full uniform at the city’s Gay Pride Parade.
    (SSFC, 7/22/12, p.A6)

2012        Jul 25, Scotland’s government announced plans to bring forward legislation allowing same-sex couples to marry, making it the first part of the UK to do so.
    (AFP, 7/25/12)

2012        Jul 27, The Vatican named Oakland, Ca., Bishop Salvatore Cordileone (56), a leader in the fight against same-sex marriage, as the new archbishop of San Francisco.
    (SFC, 7/28/12, p.A1)

2012        Jul 31, Gore Vidal (b.1925), American author, screenwriter and playwright, died at his home in Hollywood Hills. His 1948 work “The City and the Pillar” explored gay life in America. His 25 novels included “Lincoln” (1984) and “Myra Breckenridge” (1968). In 2015 Jay Parini authored “Empire of Self: A Life of Gore Vidal.”
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gore_Vidal)(SFC, 8/1/12, p.A10) (Econ, 8/11/12, p.82)(Econ, 8/22/15, p.70)

2012        Aug 5, Communist Vietnam’s first gay pride parade took place in the capital Hanoi with dozens of cyclists displaying balloons and rainbow flags streaming through the city's streets.
    (AFP, 8/5/12)

2012        Aug 11, Two women tied the knot in Taiwan's first same-sex Buddhist wedding, a move rights groups hope will help make the island become the first place in Asia to legalize gay marriage.
    (AFP, 8/11/12)

2012        Aug 22, Minnesota Democrat state Rep. Kerry Gauthier (56) dropped his re-election bid following reports of his sexual encounter with a 17-year-old boy.
    (SFC, 8/22/12, p.A6)

2012        Aug 28, US Republicans emphatically approved a toughly worded party platform at their national convention that would ban all abortions and gay marriages, reshape Medicare into a voucher-like program and cut taxes to energize the economy and create jobs.
    (AP, 8/29/12)

2012        Sep 4, A US federal judge ordered Massachusetts’ state prison officials to provide a taxpayer-funded sex-reassignment surgery to Robert Kosilek, a transgender inmate serving life in prison for the murder of his wife in 1990.
    (AP, 9/4/12)

2012        Sep 13, In Uganda British producer David Cecil appeared in court charged with "disobeying lawful orders" from the Uganda Media Council, which says he staged "The River and the Mountain," a play about being gay in Uganda, in Kampala last month despite orders to the contrary.
    (AP, 9/13/12)

2012        Sep 29, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB1172 banning controversial therapy practices that attempt to change the sexual orientation of minors.
    (SSFC, 9/30/12, p.A1)

2012        Oct 3, Serbia's police banned a gay pride march in Belgrade, citing security concerns but also complying with a request from Serbia's Christian Orthodox church.
    (AP, 10/3/12)

2012        Oct 18, In Northern Ireland a Belfast judge ruled that unmarried and same-sex couples should be allowed to adopt children, overturning a 1987 adoption law that discriminated against both groups.
    (AP, 10/18/12)

2012        Oct 24, In Senegal a judge sentenced a well-known journalist to four years in prison for acts of homosexuality, illegal possession of arms and battery. Jupiter Ndiaye was arrested on Oct. 10 after getting into a fight with his male partner. The court said that Ndiaye used a knife and stabbed his partner in the stomach.
    (AP, 10/24/12)

2012        Nov 6, Maine and Maryland became the first states to approve same sex marriage by popular vote.
    (SFC, 11/7/12, p.A10)

2012        Nov 10, In Liberia a few hundred people representing the Christian and Muslim faiths and civil society organizations gathered in Monrovia to launch a campaign to press the government to ban same-sex marriage.
    (AP, 11/10/12)

2012        Nov 17, In France groups opposed to President Francois Hollande's plans to legalize gay marriage and gay adoptions took to the streets. Large groups marched in Paris, Lyon and Toulouse.
    (AP, 11/18/12)

2012        Nov 25, In India hundreds of gay rights activists marched through New Delhi to demand that they be allowed to lead lives of dignity in the coun try’s deeply conservative society.
    (AP, 11/25/12)

2012        Nov 27, Four gay men accused a New Jersey nonprofit, Jews Offering New Alternatives to Healing,” of fraud for selling “conversion therapy” that falsely promised to make them straight.
    (SFC, 11/28/12, p.A5)

2012        Dec 14, Chile's government apologized to a lesbian judge who was denied custody of her three daughters in 2004 because she is gay. Chile said it will pay Magistrate Karen Atala $70,000 and grant her medical and psychological treatment.The ruling followed Chile's approval this year of an anti-discrimination law.
    (AP, 12/14/12)

2012        Dec 17, A Cameroon appeals court upheld a three-year sentence against a man found guilty of homosexual conduct for sending a text message to another man saying: "I'm very much in love with you."
    (AP, 12/17/12)

2012        Dec 21, Pope Benedict XVI pressed his opposition to gay marriage, denouncing what he described as people manipulating their God-given identities to suit their sexual choices — and destroying the very "essence of the human creature" in the process.
    (AP, 12/21/12)

2012        Dec 29, Maine’s same-sex marriage law went into effect.
    (SSFC, 12/30/12, p.A9)

2012        Linda Hirshman authored “Victory: The Triumphant Gay Revolution.”
    (SSFC, 6/17/12, p.F1)
2012        San Francisco became the first US city to cover the cost of gender reassignement surgeries for its uninsured residents after the Board of Supervisors approved legislation encouraging the city’s health department to remove exclusion of such surgeries from its code.
    (SSFC, 11/18/12, p.C1)
2012        Pakistan officially recognized transgender as a third gender.
    (AP, 3/28/18)

2013        Jan 1, Gay marriage became legal in Maryland, the first state south of the Mason-Dixon Line on New Year's Day.
    (AP, 1/1/13)

2013        Jan 4, The Church of England confirmed that its House of Bishops, one of its most senior bodies, has ended an 18-month moratorium on the appointment of gays in civil partnerships as bishops. The decision was made in late December.
    (Reuters, 1/4/13)

2013        Jan 7, A Cameroon court overturned the conviction of two men who were sentenced for five years in prison for "looking gay" and ordering Bailey's Irish Cream. The two men had already spent more than a year in jail where they were subjected to abuse from guards and other prisoners.
    (AP, 1/7/13)

2013        Jan 13, Hollywood actress Jodie Foster confirmed long-running speculation that she is gay by coming out at the Golden Globes awards, but joked she wouldn't be holding a news conference to discuss her private life.
    (Reuters, 1/13/13)
2013        Jan 13, In France some 300,000 people marched toward the Eiffel Tower from three different points in the city to protest against President Francois Hollande’s plan to legalize gay marriage.
    (AP, 1/13/13)
2013        Jan 13, Four women went topless in St. Peter's Square to protest the Vatican's opposition to gay marriage. Police quickly took the women away.
    (AP, 1/13/13)

2013        Jan 15, Europe's top court said religious freedom is a right but not an absolute one, ruling that British Airways discriminated against a devoutly Christian employee by making her remove her crucifix, but backing a UK charity that fired a marriage counselor who refused to give sex therapy to gay couples.
    (AP, 1/15/13)

2013        Jan 21, President Barack Obama took the oath of office for his second term before a crowd of hundreds of thousands, urging the nation to set an unwavering course toward prosperity and freedom for all its citizens. Obama's inaugural address marked the first time a president used the occasion to praise progress on gay rights.
    (AP, 1/21/13)(Reuters, 1/21/13)

2013        Jan 25, The British government published a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, and said lawmakers will get their first vote on it in Parliament next month.
    (AP, 1/25/13)
2013        Jan 25, Russian police detained 20 gay rights campaigners and militant Orthodox Christian activists near the country's parliament as it overwhelmingly backed a bill that would ban "homosexual propaganda."
    (AP, 1/25/13)

2013        Jan 26, Ontario's Liberals chose Kathleen Wynne (59), a former Cabinet minister, to become the province's first female premier and first openly gay leader of a Canadian province.
    (Reuters, 1/26/13)

2013        Jan 27, In France thousands of supporters of a government-sponsored bill, that would legalize marriage and adoption for same-sex couples, marched in Paris.
    (AP, 1/27/13)

2013        Jan, Belarus police began going after gays, raiding their clubs and locking up clubbers overnight, and summoning gay activists for questioning in response to a decision by gay activists across the country to try to legally register their rights organization, GayBelarus.
    (AP, 2/15/13)

2013        Feb 3, President Barack Obama encouraged the Boy Scouts of America to end its ban on gay members and leaders, days before the group is expected to vote on the controversial and long-standing rule.
    (Reuters, 2/3/13)

2013        Feb 6, Faced with intense pressure from two flanks, the Boy Scouts of America said it needed more time for consultations before deciding whether to move away from its policy of excluding gays as scouts or adult leaders.
    (AP, 2/7/13)

2013        Feb 11, US Defense Sec. Leon Panetta extended additional military benefits to gay and lesbian couples.
    (SFC, 2/12/13, p.A5)
2013        Feb 11, Uganda deported, David Cecil (35), a British theatre producer charged with staging a play about homosexuality. A court threw out a case against Cecil last month.
    (Reuters, 2/12/13)

2013        Feb 19, Germany’s highest court ruled that one member of a civil partnership should be able to adopt the partner’s stepchild or adopted child.
    (SFC, 2/20/13, p.A2)

2013        Mar 1, In  Poland Lech Walesa said in a television interview that he believes gays have no right to sit on the front benches in Parliament and, if represented at all, should sit in the back, "and even behind a wall."
    (AP, 3/3/13)

2013        Mar 12, The Archdiocese of Los Angeles reached a $10 million settlement with 4 men who said they were abused by former priest Michael Baker.
    (SFC, 3/14/13, p.A6)

2013        Mar 13, New Zealand lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favor of a bill allowing same-sex marriage, all but assuring that it will soon become law.
    (AP, 3/13/13)

2013        Mar 16, In Somalia al-Shabab fighters stoned to death a man for allegedly forcing a 13-year-old boy to have sex with him.
    (AP, 3/21/13)

2013        Mar 18, Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced her support for gay marriage, putting her in line with other potential Democratic presidential candidates on a social issue that is rapidly gaining public approval.
    (AP, 3/18/13)

2013        Mar 21, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signed a bill recognizing same-sex civil unions. The law takes effect May 1.
    (SFC, 3/22/13, p.A7)
2013        Mar 21, Justin Welby, the new Archbishop of Canterbury was formally enthroned after using a radio interview to back Church of England positions on homosexuality, which include opposition to same-sex marriage.
    (AP, 3/21/13)
2013        Mar 21, Human Rights Watch and three local organizations released a report saying suspected homosexuals in Cameroon have been tortured and raped in prison.
    (AP, 3/21/13)

2013        Mar 22, A British judge upheld a decision to ban a Christian group from placing adverts on London buses that suggested people could be cured of homosexuality.
    (AP, 3/22/13)

2013        Apr 2, In Arizona the Bisbee City Council approved an ordinance recognizing civil unions for same-sex couples. State Attorney General Tom Horne said the next day that he would go to court to block the artist’s community’s ordinance.
    (SFC, 4/4/13, p.A6)

2013        Apr 7, In France Wilfred De Bruijn was beaten unconscious near his home in central Paris, sustaining five fractures in his head and face, abrasions and a lost tooth. His boyfriend, who was also beaten up, said he witnessed three to four men shouting "Hey, look they're gays," before they attacked. A photo of the victim went viral on social media.
    {France, Gays}
    (AP, 4/10/13)

2013        Apr 8, In Amsterdam President Vladimir Putin defended Russia's treatment of homosexuals, as 1,000 gay rights activists waved pink and orange balloons and blasted out dance music to press home their protest.
    (Reuters, 4/8/13)

2013        Apr 10, Uruguay lawmakers voted to legalize same-sex marriage.
    (SFC, 4/11/13, p.A4)

2013        Apr 12, The French Senate voted to legalize same-sex marriage, putting a landmark bill on track to become law by summer.
    (AP, 4/12/13)

2013        Apr 17, New Zealand lawmakers voted 77 to 44 in favor of the gay-marriage bill on its third and final reading. New Zealand thus became the 13th in the world and the first in the Asia-Pacific region to legalize same-sex marriage.
    (AP, 4/17/13)

2013        Apr 19, The Boy Scouts of America proposed lifting a ban on gay scouts but maintaining a prohibition on gay adults from leading troops.
    (Reuters, 4/19/13)

2013        Apr 21, In France tens of thousands of demonstrators took to sunny Paris boulevards to protest the expected passage this week of a bill legalizing gay marriage.
    (AP, 4/21/13)

2013        Apr 22, As Nevada legislators emotionally debated a move toward same-sex marriage, Sen. Kelvin Atkinson rose to his feet and declared, "I'm gay." Atkinson says that he quickly picked up hundreds of new friends on Facebook and followers on Twitter.
    (AP, 4/24/13)

2013        Apr 23, France legalized gay marriage after a wrenching national debate that exposed deep conservatism in the nation's heartland and triggered huge protests that tapped into deep discontent with the Socialist government.
    (AP, 4/23/13)

2013        Apr 29, NBA beteran basketball player Jason Collins (34) announced that he was gay, smashing through one of the final frontiers in US sports with a frank personal statement and winning warm praise as a groundbreaker.
    (Reuters, 4/29/13)
2013        Apr 29, The Catholic Church in Brazil said it has excommunicated Father Roberto Francisco Daniel for defending homosexuality, open marriage and other practices counter to Church teaching in online videos.
    (Reuters, 4/30/13)

2013        May 2, Rhode Island became the nation's 10th state to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed as Gov. Lincoln Chafee signed the bill into law.
    (AP, 5/3/13)

2013        May 7, Delaware’s state senate voted 12-9 to allow same-sex marriage. Within an hour Gov. Jack Markell signed it into law making Delaware the 11th US state to support same-sex marriage.
    (AP, 5/8/13)

2013        May 10, In Russia a 23-year-old man was brutally beaten and left to die by his companions in Volgograd after drunkenly telling them he was gay. A former schoolmate of the victim and another man were soon arrested for the killing.
    (AP, 5/13/13)

2013        May 13, Hong Kong's top court granted a transgender woman the right to marry her boyfriend in a watershed ruling that falls short of allowing same-sex marriage.
    (AP, 5/13/13)

2013        May 14, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton signed a bill allowing gay couples to marry. This made Minnesota the 12th US state to permit same-sex marriages.
    (SFC, 5/14/13, p.A5)
2013        May 14, Brazil’s National Council of Justice said that the country’s notary publics must register same-sex civil unions as marriages if the couple requests it.
    (AP, 5/14/13)

2013        May 17, In Georgia thousands of anti-gay protesters, including Orthodox priests, occupied a central street in Tbilisi, with some threatening to lash with stinging nettles any participant in a gay pride parade which was to take place there.
    (AP, 5/17/13)

2013        May 18, In NYC  Elliot Morales (33) fired a fatal shot point-blank into a man's face on a Manhattan street. Morales was arrested on the edge of the New York University campus.
    {NYC, Gays, Murder, USA}
    (AP, 5/18/13)
2013        May 18, French President Francois Hollande signed a law authorizing gay marriage and adoption by same-sex couples. This means the first gay marriages may be celebrated in France within about 10 days.
    (AP, 5/18/13)

2013        May 20, A Moroccan court convicted two men of homosexuality and public indecency, and sentenced each to four months in prison, in the latest case against gays in this North African nation.
    (AP, 5/21/13)

2013        May 23, In Texas local leaders of the Boy Scouts of America voted to open their ranks to openly gay boys for the first time in 103 years.
    (AP, 5/23/13)

2013        May 25, Russian police arrested at least 30 gay rights campaigners and Christian Orthodox vigilantes in Moscow as gay-rights campaigners and their opponents clashed at an unsanctioned rally in Moscow.
    (AP, 5/25/13)
2013        May 25, In Kiev, Ukraine, between 50 and 100 gay rights activists staged the ex-Soviet nation's first-ever gay pride parade under heavy police presence.
    (AP, 5/25/13)

2013        May 26, In France thousands of people protested in central Paris against the country’s new gay marriage law.
    (AP, 5/26/13)
2013        May 26, The Palm d’Or of the 66th Cannes Film Festival went to “Blue Is the Warmest Color: The Life of Adele,” a tender lesbian romance by Tunisian director Abdellatif Kechiche.
    (SFC, 5/27/13, p.A2)

2013        May 29, Vincent Autin (40) and his partner, Bruno Boileau (30) became the first gay couple to marry in France.
    (AP, 5/29/13)

2013        May 30, Nigeria's House of Representatives voted to ban gay marriage and outlaw any groups actively supporting gay rights, endorsing a measure that also calls for 10-year prison sentences for any "public show" of affection by a same-sex couple.
    (AP, 5/30/13)

2013        May 31, The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America elected its first openly gay bishop to a six-year term at an annual assembly in Southern California.
    (AP, 6/1/13)

2013        Jun 6, A German high court in Karlsruhe granted homosexual civil unions the same tax breaks as heterosexual married couples.
    (SFC, 6/7/13, p.A2)

2013        Jun 11, Russia’s State Duma voted 434-0 with one abstention to approve Kremlin-backed legislation which imposes hefty fines for holding gay pride rallies or providing information about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community to minors.
    (AP, 6/11/13)

2013        Jun 26, The US Supreme Court struck down a federal law barring the recognition of same-sex marriage in a split decision, ruling that the law violates the rights of gays and lesbians and intrudes into states' rights to define and regulate marriage. Justices ruled 5-4 that sponsors of California’s Prop 8, a ban on same sex marriage, had no right to represent the state in federal court. The court also struck down a key provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
    (SFC, 6/26/13, p.AX1)

2013        Jun 28, The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco lifted an injunction it had imposed in September, 2010, that had blocked a federal judge’s ruling, alowing same-sex marriages to resume for the first time since Prop. 8 prohibited them in November 2008.
    (SFC, 6/29/13, p.A1)
2013        Jun 28, Dominican Republic religious groups said they are outraged by the nomination of US ambassador James Brewster, an openly gay man, to the conservative country.
    (AP, 6/28/13)

2013        Jun 29, Russian police arrested several gay rights activists and Russian nationalists who confronted them at a rally in St. Petersburg that was declared illegal under a new law against "gay propaganda."
    (AP, 6/29/13)

2013        Jun 30, San Francisco’s 43rd annual LGBT Parade drew a crowd estimated at 1.2 million people.
    (SFC, 7/1/13, p.A1)
2013        Jun 30, The Kremlin said Pres. Putin has singed into law a measure that stigmatizes gay people and bans giving any information about homosexuality. The propaganda law banned anything considered “propaganda of non-traditional relationships”.
    (SFC, 7/1/13, p.A2)(The Daily Beast, 7/22/20)

2013        Jul 7, In Mexico an election for mayor of Fresnillo, Zacatecas state, was won by Benjamin Medrano (47). He became the first openly gay mayor ever elected in Mexico and was scheduled to take office in September.
    (SFC, 7/19/13, p.A2)

2013        Jul 11, The Lebanese Psychiatric Society said homosexuality is not an illness and does not need to be treated.
    (Econ, 7/20/13, p.45)

2013        Jul 12, In Cameroon Eric Ohena Lembembe, a prominent gay rights activist, was last seen in the capital, Yaounde.
    (SFC, 7/31/13, p.A3)

2013        Jul 15, In Cameroon the body of Eric Ohena Lembembe, a prominent gay rights activist, was discovered at his home in the capital, Yaounde, after he was unreachable for two days.
    (AP, 7/16/13)

2013        Jul 17, Britain legalized gay marriage after Queen Elizabeth II gave her royal stamp of approval, clearing the way for the first same-sex weddings next summer.
    (AP, 7/17/13)

2013        Jul 22, In Ohio a federal judge granted marriage rights to a same-sex couple residing in the state as one of the partners neared death. Ohio at this time did not recognize such unions. This highlighted a new front for gay rights activists seeking to expand rights for couples living in states that are unfriendly to same-sex marriage.
    (CSM, 7/24/13)(SFC, 7/24/13, p.A8)
2013        Jul 22, In Jamaica Dwayne Jones (16) was beaten, stabbed, shot and run over by a car when he showed up at a street party dressed as a woman. He had confided to a friend that he was attending a "straight" party as a girl for the first time in his life.
    (AP, 8/11/13)

2013        Jul 23, A Cameroon court found two men guilty under the country's harsh law banning gay sex, continuing a string of recent convictions that has drawn international condemnation.
    (AP, 7/23/13)

2013        Jul 24, In Pennsylvania at least 5 same-sex couples obtained marriage licenses in Montgomery County. It was up to Republican Gov. Tom Corbett or other state officials to challenge the actions. A 1996 state law defined marriage as a civil contract in which a man and a woman take each other as husband and wife.
    (SFC, 7/25/13, p.A11)

2013        Jul 26, The United Nations' human rights office launched its first global outreach campaign to promote tolerance and greater equality for lesbians, gays, transgender people and bisexuals.
    (AP, 7/26/13)

2013        Jul 27, A group of protesters tried to disrupt Lithuania's second gay pride parade ever, defying an enormous police presence by throwing eggs at marchers and attempting to storm a stage.
    (AP, 7/27/13)

2013        Jul 29, Pope Francis reached out to gays, saying he wouldn't judge priests for their sexual orientation in a remarkably open and wide-ranging news conference as he returned from his first foreign trip.
    (AP, 7/29/13)

2013        Aug 1, US gay couples exchanged vows in Minnesota and Rhode Island as the number of states allowing same sex marriages grew to 13 plus Washington DC.
    (SFC, 8/2/13, p.A6)
2013        Aug 1, In Sweden two topless activists climbed over a fence into the Russian embassy in Stockholm to protest against the country's anti-gay bill and stigmatization of homosexuals.
    (AP, 8/1/13)

2013        Aug 5, In Uruguay a gay couple became the first to register under the country’s new marriage equality law.
    (SFC, 8/6/13, p.A2)

2013        Aug 12, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB1266, allowing transgender youth to sue school facilities and join groups with their gender identity.
    (SFC, 8/17/13, p.A8)

2013        Aug 19, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill barring licensed therapists from trying to turn gay teenagers straight. This made New Jersey the 2nd state to ban conversion therapy after California.
    (SFC, 8/20/13, p.A5)

2013        Aug 29, The US government announced that legally married gay couples will be treated the same as married couples for federal tax purposes.
    (AFP, 8/29/13)
2013        Aug 29, In Yemen suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen in Huta shot dead Salem Ahmed Hasan (29) because they believed he was a homosexual.
    (AFP, 8/29/13)

2013        Sep 5, Leaders of San Antonio, Texas, approved antibias protections for gay and transgender residents despite the disapproval of top Texas Republicans and religious conservatives.
    (SFC, 9/6/13, p.A6)

2013        Sep 12, A Pennsylvania judge ordered a suburban Philadelphia court clerk to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. 174 licenses were already issued.
    (SFC, 9/13/13, p.A8)

2013        Sep 17, The Oklahoma governor’s office confirmed that Gov. Mary Fallin has ordered the national Guard to stop processing requests for military benefits for same-sex couples. State voters had approved a constitutional amendment in 2004 that prohibited giving benefits of marriage to gay couples.
    (SFC, 9/18/13, p.A7)

2013        Sep 26, Pakistan's first online platform for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people, said it has been shut by Pakistan's telecoms authority. It had opened in July, a move hailed as a step forward for the long-silent community.
    (AP, 9/26/13)

2013        Sep 27, A New Jersey judge ordered state officials to allow same-sex couples to marry starting on October 21, saying the current civil union system unfairly deprived them of federal benefits available to married couples.
    (Reuters, 9/27/13)
2013        Sep 27, Gambia's Pres. Yahya Jammeh warned the UN General Assembly that gays were a threat to human existence, along with excessive greed and obsession with world domination, and criticized other countries for regarding homosexuality as a human right.
    (Reuters, 9/27/13)
2013        Sep 27, Serbia's government banned a weekend gay pride march for the third consecutive year, citing the threat of violence from right-wing hooligans, in a move that sparked protests by gay activists and criticism from the EU.
    (Reuters, 9/27/13)

2013        Oct 12, Russian police arrested 67 people after a fight broke out between gay rights activists and their opponents at a demonstration in St. Petersburg.
    (Reuters, 10/12/13)

2013        Oct 18, New Jersey’s Supreme Court ruled to uphold a lower court order that gay weddings must start on Oct 21.
    (SFC, 10/18/13, p.A5)
2013        Oct 18, France's constitutional court ruled that mayors cannot refuse to carry out same-sex marriages just because they oppose them.
    (AP, 10/18/13)

2013        Oct 20, Montenegro police used tear gas against dozens of rock-throwing opponents of a gay pride march in Podgorica.
    (AP, 10/20/13)

2013        Oct 21, New Jersey became the 14th US state to allow same-sex marriages.
    (SFC, 10/22/13, p.A6)

2013        Oct 22, The Australian Capital Territory became the first jurisdiction in Australia to legalize same-sex marriage with a bill passing the ACT parliament by just one vote.
    (Reuters, 10/22/13)

2013        Oct 26, In Taiwan tens of thousands of people rallied in Asia's largest gay parade, as the island's parliament was set to review a bill on same-sex marriages.
    (AFP, 10/26/13)

2013        Nov 7, The EU’s top court ruled that refugees facing imprisonment in their home country because they are gay may have grounds to be granted asylum in the European Union.
    (AP, 11/7/13)(Econ, 11/16/13, p.59)

2013        Nov 11, Senegalese police detained five women accused of violating the country's anti-gay law, highlighting increased pressure on suspected lesbians in the deeply conservative West African nation. The five women were soon charged under the country's anti-gay law that imposes prison sentences of up to five years for homosexual acts.
    (AP, 11/12/13)(AP, 11/14/13)

2013        Nov 13, Hawaii’s Gov. Neil Abercrombie signed a bill legalyzing same-sex marriage one day after the state Senate approved the bill with a 19-to-4 vote.
    (SFC, 11/13/13, p.A6)(SFC, 11/14/13, p.A9)

2013        Nov 20, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation allowing same-sex marriages starting June 1, 2014.
    (SFC, 11/21/13, p.A5)(SSFC, 6/1/14, p.A11)
2013        Nov 20, A Senegal judge said there is insufficient evidence to convict four women accused of violating the country's law banning homosexual acts. The four women were freed. A fifth woman arrested in the same raid on Nov 11 is a minor and will be tried separately.
    (AP, 11/20/13)

2013        Nov 24, In India gay rights activists paraded through New Delhi to demand an end to the stigmatization of gays.
    (SFC, 11/25/13, p.A2)

2013        Nov 27, Two Chicago women became the first same-sex couple to marry in Illinois after a federal judge granted an expedited marriage license because of one of the women’s failing health.
    (SFC, 11/28/13, p.A6)

2013        Dec 1, Croats voted overwhelmingly in favor of defining marriage in the constitution as a "union of man and woman," after conservative groups, backed by the Roman Catholic Church, demanded that the country's constitution define the matrimony as a union of a man and a woman.
    (AP, 12/1/13)(Reuters, 12/1/13)

2013        Dec 7, Australia's first gay marriages were celebrated in the national capital Canberra, despite the prospect of a High Court decision ruling against the unions later this week.
    (AFP, 12/7/13)

2013        Dec 11, India's Supreme Court struck down a 2009 lower court decision to decriminalize homosexuality, dealing a blow to gay activists who have fought for years for the chance to live openly in India's deeply conservative society. The court said only lawmakers can change a colonial era law that bans same-sex relations. Gay sex was reinstated as a criminal offense, punishable up to 10 years in prison.
    (AP, 12/11/13)(SSFC, 12/15/13, p.A20)(Reuters, 9/6/18)

2013        Dec 12, Australia's top court struck down gay marriage in the nation's capital, ruling that parliament must decide on same-sex unions.
    (AFP, 12/12/13)
2013        Dec 12, India's ruling party slammed the Supreme Court for reinstating a ban on gay sex, taking an unexpectedly bold stance ahead of elections in the religiously conservative nation.
    (Reuters, 12/12/13)

2013        Dec 19, New Mexico’s Supreme Court legalized gay marriages in the state.
    (Econ, 1/4/14, p.21)

2013        Dec 20, A US federal judge scrapped Utah’s ban on same-sex marriages. The ban was approved by 66% of state voters in 2004.
    (Econ, 1/4/14, p.21)
2013        Dec 20, In Cuba lawmaker Mariela Castro cast a no vote to a workers’ rights bill that she felt did not go far enough to prevent discrimination against people with HIV or with unconventional gender identities. This appeared to be the first no vote ever in the 612-seat post-revolution National Assembly.
    (SFC, 8/20/14, p.A2)
2013        Dec 20, India's government petitioned the Supreme Court urging it to reverse a ban on gay sex, saying individual rights must be respected.
    (Reuters, 12/20/13)
2013        Dec 20, Ugandan lawmakers passed an anti-gay bill that calls for life imprisonment for "aggravated homosexuality," drawing criticism from rights campaigners who called it draconian and unnecessary in a country where homosexuality has long been criminalized.
    (AP, 12/20/13)

2013        Dec 22, Louisiana’s Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne said the “Duck Dynasty” reality TV show is important to state tourism and that he could connect the Robertson family to new producers if they cannot reach an agreement with the A&E network. Patriarch Phil Robertson was suspended last week for telling GQ magazine that gays are sinners akin to adulterers and swindlers.
    (SFC, 12/23/13, p.A7)

2013        Dec 24, A US federal appeals court ruled that same-sex marriages can continue in Utah, denying a request from the state to halt them.
    (SFC, 12/25/13, p.A10)
2013        Dec 24, Britain posthumously pardoned Alan Turing (1912-1954) for a 1952 gay sex conviction which tarnished the brilliant career of the code breaker credited with helping win the war against Nazi Germany and laying the foundation for the computer age.
    (AP, 12/24/13)

2013        Dec 27, The A&E channel said it is reversing its decision to drop “Duck Dynasty” patriarch Phil Robertson from the show set in Louisiana for his remarks on gays.
    (SFC, 12/28/13, p.A7)

2014        Jan 6, The US Supreme Court blocked further same-sex marriages in Utah while state officials appeal a decision allowing such unions.
    (SFC, 1/7/14, p.A6)
2014        Jan 6, In Nigeria a dozen men were formally charged by the Bauchi State Sharia Commission with belonging to a gay club and having received funding from the United States for an apparent membership drive. Four were convicted on March 6. Seven were granted bail on March 11. A Christian suspect awaited his case heard before a secular court.
    {Nigeria, Gays}
    (AFP, 3/28/14)

2014        Jan 8, The Utah governor’s office said that the state will not recognize more than 1,000 same-sex marriages performed over the past two weeks as it appeals a legal ruling that had overturned the state’s ban on such unions.
    (SFC, 1/9/14, p.A4)

2014        Jan 10, The US Justice Dept. said it would recognize as lawful the marriages of 1,300 same-sex couple in Utah, even though the state is largely refusing to do so.
    (SFC, 1/11/14, p.A6)
2014        Jan 10, Israel's cultural and financial capital unveiled a memorial honoring gays and lesbians persecuted by the Nazis, the first specific recognition in Israel for non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust.
    (AP, 1/10/14)
2014        Jan 10, Russia's powerful Orthodox Church proposed a referendum on banning gay relations in the face of Western pressure over human rights ahead of next month's Winter Olympics in Sochi.
    (AFP, 1/10/14)

2014        Jan 13, A spokesman said Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan has approved the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Bill 2013 banning gay marriage and same-sex partnerships. The law also criminalizes homosexual associations, societies and meetings.
    (AFP, 1/13/14)(SFC, 1/14/14, p.A2)

2014        Jan 14, A US federal judge struck down Oklahoma’s ban on same-sex marriage. He immediately stayed the ruling pending appeals.
    (SFC, 1/15/14, p.A4)
2014        Jan 14, Local and international groups fighting AIDS warned that a new Nigerian law criminalizing same-sex marriage and gay organizations will jeopardize the fight against the deadly disease. Human rights activists reported that dozens of gay men were being arrested in northern Nigeria in an apparent response to the law.
    (AP, 1/14/14)

2014        Jan 17, In Uganda a spokesman for Pres. Yoweri Museveni said the president has refused to approve a controversial bill that would have seen homosexuals jailed for life despite viewing gays as "sick" and "abnormal." In a letter to parliament, the president had suggested homosexuality was caused by a genetic flaw, or a need to make money.
    (AFP, 1/17/14)

2014        Jan 19, Pres. Puttin in broadcast comments defended Russia's anti-gay law by equating gays with pedophiles and said Russia needs to "cleanse" itself of homosexuality if it wants to increase its birth rate. At the asame time he offered new assurances to gay athletes and fans attending the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics next month.
    (AP, 1/19/14)
2014        Jan 19, Pope Francis' newly chosen Spanish cardinal, Fernando Sebastian Aguilar (84), described homosexuality as a "defect" that can be corrected with treatment, sparking condemnation from gay rights groups.
    (AFP, 1/20/14)

2014        Jan 22, In northern Nigeria thousands of protesters threw stones into the Shariah court in Bauchi city, urging the speedy convictions and executions of 11 men arrested for belonging to gay organizations.
    (AP, 1/22/14)
2014        Jan 22, A Ugandan court ordered the deportation of Bernard Randall (65), a British man, facing criminal charges related to images of him having sex with another man.
    (AP, 1/22/14)

2014        Jan 23, Virginia's attorney general has concluded that the state's ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional. His office said he will no longer defend it in federal lawsuits challenging it.
    (AP, 1/23/14)

2014        Jan 25, In Ivory Coast an angry mob "ransacked" the headquarters of the country’s most prominent gay rights organization, following days of anti-gay protests in a country generally seen as moderate on the issue.
    (AP, 1/27/14)

2014        Jan 31, In Senegal a judge sentenced two men to six months' jail in a rare conviction of a gay couple on criminal charges.
    (AP, 2/1/14)

2014        Feb 2, Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Paris and Lyon in a renewed protest against France's legalization of gay marriage.
    (Reuters, 2/2/14)

2014        Feb 3, Idaho police arrested dozens of gay rights activists as they pressed for antidiscrimination protections and blocked entrances to the state Senate chambers in Boise.
    (SFC, 2/4/14, p.A4)

2014        Feb 7, Russia opened the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Police arrested four gay rights activists protesting in St. Petersburg.
    (AP, 2/7/14)

2014        Feb 9, Michael Sam, a defensive end form the Univ. of Missouri, publicly came out as gay. He was expected to be a 3rd A10of 4th round pick at the NFL draft.
    (SFC, 2/11/14, p.A10)

2014        Feb 10, In Kenya gays and lesbians joined a global effort to protest against an anti-homosexuality bill passed by Uganda's parliament that is now in the hands of the country's president.
    (AP, 2/10/14)

2014        Feb 12, A US federal judge ordered that Kentucky recognize same-sex marriages that had been legally performed in other states, opening the door for activists to strike down the state’s ban entirely.
    (SFC, 2/13/14, p.A9)

2014        Feb 13, A US federal judge found Virginia’s ban on same sex marriage unconstitutional.
    (SFC, 2/14/14, p.A10)
2014        Feb 13, In Nigeria a mob armed with wooden clubs and iron bars, screaming that they were going to "cleanse" their neighborhood of gay people, dragged 14 young men from their beds and assaulted them in Gishiri, a shantytown with mud roads near central Abuja.
    (AP, 2/15/14)

2014        Feb 14, Googoosh, an Iranian pop star living in Amsterdam, released a music video promoting gay rights. It was clicked on half a million times in the first 24 hours. Navid Akhavan, an Iranian-born Germany, wrote and directed the video for the song “Behesht” (Heaven).
    (SFC, 3/5/14, p.A4)

2014        Feb 18, Uganda’s Pres. Museveni said in a statement that he would not sign a proposed antigay law until after a hearing from scientists.
    (SFC, 2/22/14, p.A4)

2014        Feb 21, US District Judge Sharon Johnson ruled that same-sex marriages can begin immediately in Cook County, Ill.
    (SFC, 2/22/14, p.A6)

2014        Feb 24, Uganda's Pres. Museveni signed a law imposing harsh penalties for homosexuality, defying protests from rights groups, criticism from Western donors and a US warning that it will complicate relations.
    (Reuters, 2/24/14)

2014        Feb 25, A Ugandan newspaper published a list of what it called the country's "200 top" homosexuals, outing some Ugandans who previously had not identified themselves as gay one day after the president enacted a harsh anti-gay law.
    (AP, 2/25/14)

2014        Feb 26, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed a bill designed to give added protection from lawsuits to people who assert their religious beliefs in refusing service to gays.
    (SFC, 2/27/14, p.A10)
2014        Feb 26, In Texas a federal judge declared the state’s same-sex marriage unconstitutional, but allowed enforcement of the ban pending an appeal.
    (SFC, 2/27/14, p.A10)

2014        Feb 27, Uganda shrugged off foreign aid cuts and int’l criticism of its tough new anti-gay law, saying it could do without Western aid. Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands cut aid over Uganda’s anti-gay law.
    (AFP, 2/27/14)(SFC, 2/28/14, p.A4)

2014        Mar 6, In northern Nigeria four young men were convicted of gay sex and whipped publicly as punishment in an Islamic court in Bauchi city.
    (AP, 3/6/14)
2014        Mar 6, Uganda, under fire from Western nations, defended its toughened law on gays as being aimed at "protecting" youth from homosexuality and discouraging public displays of gay love.
    (Reuters, 3/6/14)

2014        Mar 10, Activist group All Out said the global telecom company Orange has withdrawn advertising from Red Pepper, a Ugandan tabloid newspaper that printed the names of 200 suspected homosexuals after a severe anti-gay law was enacted last month.
    (AP, 3/10/14)

2014        Mar 14, Boston Beer Co. said that it is withdrawing its sponsorship of Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade because organizers exclude gay groups.
    (SFC, 3/15/14, p.A11)

2014        Mar 19, Rev. Fred Phelps (84), an anti-gay minister and head of the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas, died.
    (SFC, 3/21/14, p.D2)

2014        Mar 21, A US federal judge struck down Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriage. The next day the Sixth US Circuit Court of Appeals froze the decision to overturn the ban. On March 25 a federal appeals court put an indefinite halt to gay marriage in Michigan.
    (SFC, 3/22/14, p.A6)(SSFC, 3/23/14, p.A15)(SFC, 3/26/14, p.A6)
2014        Mar 21, Uganda's health minister says the government has lost up to $6 million in annual US government support over the East African country's new anti-gay law.
    (AP, 3/21/14)

2014        Mar 28, US Attorney General Eric Holder extended federal recognition to the marriages of some 300 same-sex couples that took place before a federal appeals court on March 22 put such unions on hold.
    (SFC, 3/29/14, p.A8)

2014        Mar 29, Gay couples across England and Wales said "I do" as a law authorizing same-sex marriage came into effect at midnight, the final stage in a long fight for equality.
    (AFP, 3/29/14)

2014        Apr 1, A Nigerian Shariah court freed two men accused of gay sex and belonging to a homosexual club, saying the prosecution failed to prove its case. The two were among 12 detained in northern Bauchi state in January.
    (AP, 4/1/14)

2014        Apr 3, Ugandan police in Kampala raided the offices of a US-funded project known to offer AIDS services to homosexuals, in what appeared to be the first public action by police to enforce a new law that strengthened criminal penalties against gay sex.
    (AP, 4/4/14)

2014        Apr 7, An Egyptian court sentenced four men to up to eight years in prison for practicing homosexuality.
    (AFP, 4/7/14)

2014        Apr 10, Two groups in Ethiopia said that they will hold an anti-gay demonstration later this month, a move that puts Ethiopia in line to become the next African country to increase the public demonization of gays.
    (AP, 4/10/14)

2014        Apr 15, India's top court issued a landmark verdict recognizing transgender rights as human rights, saying people can identify themselves as a third gender on official documents.
    (AP, 4/15/14)

2014        Apr 16, A Kentucky jury convicted James Schook (66), a former Catholic priest, of three counts of sodomy in a case stemming from the 1970s.
    (AP, 4/17/14)
2014        Apr 16, A US federal judge said Ohio officials must immediately recognized the same-sex marriages of four couples who sued over the state’s gay marriage ban.
    (SFC, 4/17/14, p.A5)

2014        Apr 22, In Brunei the penalty for homosexuality was increased to death by stoning as part of a new broader imposition of Islamic Shariah law which also imposed death for rape, adultery and extramarital relations.
    (SSFC, 5/18/14, p.A17)

2014        Apr 23, A Kansas judge granted a request to formally change the name of Bradley Edward Manning, the soldier convicted of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks, to Chelsea Elizabeth Manning as he served a 35-year prison sentence.
    (SFC, 4/24/14, p.A6)

2014        May 7, A Ugandan court started hearing the case against two Ugandans accused of engaging in gay sex, the first trial of homosexuals here since a severe law was enacted in February.
    (AP, 5/7/14)

2014        May 9, A US judge struck down Arkansas’s 2004 amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman as unconstitutional. On May 15 Judge Chris Piazza extended his ruling to include all state laws preventing gay couples from marrying. On May 16 the state Supreme Court granted a request to suspend Piazza’s decisions.
    (SFC, 5/10/14, p.A10)(SFC, 5/17/14, p.A5)

2014        May 13, A US federal judge ruled that Idaho’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.
    (SFC, 5/14/14, p.A6)

2014        May 18, Peruvian politician Carlos Bruce (57) announced he is gay, in an interview this weekend with the newspaper El Comercio. This was a first in one of Latin America's most conservative countries.
    (AFP, 5/21/14)

2014        May 19, A US federal judge threw out Oregon’s same-sex marriage ban.
    (SFC, 5/20/14, p.A8)

2014        May 20, A US federal judge overturned Pennsylvania’s ban on same-sex marriage.
    (SFC, 5/21/14, p.A8)

2014        May 22, US politicians, federal officials and gay activists celebrated the first day issue of a US Postal Service stamp in honor of Harvey Milk, on what would have been his 84th birthday.
    (SFC, 5/23/14, p.A1)

2014        May 30, A US federal health board overturned the government’s 25-year ban on providing Medicare coverage for sex-change surgery for transgender people.
    (SFC, 5/31/14, p.C2)

2014        Jun 1, Illinois was allowed to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
    (SSFC, 6/1/14, p.A11)

2014        Jun 6, In North Dakota seven couples filed a federal lawsuit challenging the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, making it the last state in the country to be sued by couples seeking the right to marry in their home state.
    (SFC, 6/7/14, p.A4)

2014        Jun 13, A federal judge in Madison, Wis., issued an order postponing her decision striking down Wisconsin’s ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional, pending the outcome of an expected appeal. More than 550 same-sex couples in the state cited her June 6 decision in order to get married over the past seven days.
    (CSM, 6/13/14)
2014        Jun 13, Israeli men, colorfully dressed drag queens and others partied through central Tel Aviv as tens of thousands of people took part in the city's annual gay pride parade, the largest event of its kind in the Middle East.
    (AP, 6/13/14)

2014        Jun 25, A US federal appeals court in Denver ruled that states must allow gay couples to marry.
    (SFC, 6/26/14, p.A6)

2014        Jun 28, In Singapore some 26,000 gay rights activists gathered for the annual Pink Dot rally that came under unprecedented criticism from religious conservatives, with one influential Christian pastor calling on the government to ban the event.
    (AP, 6/28/14)

2014        Jun 29, San Francisco held its 44th annual Gay Pride Parade.
    (SFC, 6/30/14, p.A1)

2014        Jun 30, Frank Robinson (b.1926), LGBT advocate and novelist, died in San Francisco. “The Glass Inferno,” which he co-wrote with Thomas Scortia, was one of two books adapted into the film “The Towering Inferno” (1974).
    (SFC, 7/4/14, p.D1)

2014        Jul 9, A Colorado judge ruled that the state’s 2006 voter-approved ban on gay marriage violates the state and federal constitutions. The ruling was immediately put on hold pending appeal.
    (SFC, 7/10/14, p.A8)

2014        Jul 10, In southern California David Galvan sent nude photographs of ex-boyfriend and science teacher Richard Rosa to over 200 students and staff at John Muir High School while Rosa was out of the country. Galvan was arrested in late October.
    (SFC, 11/1/14, p.A7)

2014        Jul 17, A judge ruled that gays can marry in Florida's most gay-friendly county, siding with same-sex couples in the Florida Keys who challenged a voter-approved ban as discriminatory. But an immediate state appeal quickly silenced their wedding bells.
    (AP, 7/17/14)

2014        Jul 18, Colorado's Supreme Court ordered the Denver County clerk to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples pending the resolution of an appeal by the state's attorney general.
    (Reuters, 7/18/14)
2014        Jul 18, A US federal appeals court ruled that Oklahoma must allow gay couples to wed, prompting an angry respnse from state leaders.
    (SFC, 7/19/14, p.A5)

2014        Jul 23, A US federal judge declared Colorado’s gay marriage ban unconstitutional, but put the ruling on hold pending a state appeal.
    (SFC, 7/24/14, p.A6)

2014        Jul 25, A Florida judge overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriage in a ruling that applies to Miami-Dade County, agreeing with a judge in another county who made a similar ruling last week.
    (AP, 7/25/14)

2014        Jul 28, A US federal appeals court struck down Virginia’s same-sex marriage ban.
    (SFC, 7/29/14, p.A5)

2014        Jul 31, A Chinese man said he was suing a psychological clinic for carrying out electric shocks intended to turn him straight.
    (SFC, 8/1/14, p.A2)

2014        Aug 1, A Ugandan court invalidated an antigay bill signed into law last Feb 24 because it was passed during a parliamentary session that lacked a quorum.
    (SFC, 8/2/14, p.A3)

2014        Aug 3, In Vietnam some 300 activists led a colorful parade through Hanoi in the nation's largest ever gay pride event, as the communist country shows signs of increasing tolerance of sexual difference.
    (AFP, 8/3/14)

2014        Aug 9, In Uganda scores of homosexuals marched in Entebbe in their first pride parade since a court invalidated a controversial antigay law.
    (SSFC, 8/10/14, p.A5)

2014        Aug 21, A US federal judge ruled that Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, but put a stay delaying the effect of his order.
    (SFC, 8/22/14, p.A6)

2014        Aug, The government of Gambia brought in fresh anti-gay legislation.
    (Econ, 10/11/14, p.27)

2014        Sep 6, Egypt’s top prosecutor ordered seven men detained and physically examined over accusations of “debauchery,” after a video emerged of a same-sex wedding party. On Nov 1 eight men were convicted of “indecent dabauchery” following their appearance at the wedding party.
    (SSFC, 9/7/14, p.A8)(SSFC, 11/2/14, p.A3)

2014        Sep 10, New Zealand police said Michael Harris (56), who owns the Main Street Lodge in the North Island town of Kaitaia, was charged with 39 offenses against 16 men, including indecent assault, aggravated wounding related to allegedly drugging the men and making intimate visual recordings.
    (AP, 9/10/14)

2014        Sep 13, In Serbia a German man (27), taking part in a gay rights conference, suffered life-threatening brain injuries when he was severely beaten in Belgrade.
    (SSFC, 9/14/14, p.A6)

2014        Sep 26, Latin American and European countries united to push a resolution on ending violence against homosexuals through the UN Human Rights Council, despite strong opposition from Islamic and African states.
    (Reuters, 9/26/14)

2014        Sep 27, In Indonesia lawmakers in Banda Aceh, a conservative Muslim province, passed a law that punishes gay sex by public caning and subjects non-Muslims to strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.
    (AP, 9/27/14)

2014        Sep 28, In Serbia several hundred gay activists proceeded undisturbed through downtown Belgrade thanks to the protection of thousands of riot police. A day earlier thousands of extremists had protested in Belgrade against the march.
    (AP, 9/28/14)

2014        Sep 30, US ambassador John Tefft expressed regret that the Russian authorities have suspended the FLEX (Future Leaders Exchange) program that saw over 8,000 Russians study in US high schools over the past two decades. Russia pulled the plug after a Russian teenage boy befriended a gay couple and sought asylum in the US on the grounds that he faced persecution at home.
    (AP, 10/1/14)(SSFC, 10/5/14, p.A11)

2014        Oct 6, The US Supreme Court denied review of cases in five states that had limited marriage to opposite sex couples. This in effect granted equal marriage rights to gays and lesbians in Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin.
    (SFC, 10/7/14, p.A1)

2014        Oct 7, A US federal appeals court in San Francisco struck down Nevada and Idaho’s bans on same-sex marriage. The ruling also applies to all nine states in the court’s territory and will overturn marriage bans in Montana, Alaska and Arizona.
    (SFC, 10/8/14, p.A6)
2014        Oct 7, In Kenya transgender activist Audrey Mbugua won a landmark case when the High Court ordered the Kenya National Examinations Council to change her name on her academic certificates.
    (Reuters, 10/7/14)

2014        Oct 8, US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kenney put a temporary hold on same-sex marriages in Idaho following a request by state officials.
    (SFC, 10/9/14, p.A6)

2014        Oct 9, Estonia became the first former Soviet nation to legalize gay partnerships.
    (AP, 10/9/14)
2014        Oct 9, Gambia’s Pres. Yahya Jammeh signed into law a bill that calls for life imprisonment for some homosexual acts.
    (SFC, 11/22/14, p.A2)

2014        Oct 10, The US Supreme Court said same sex marriages can go ahead in Idaho.
    (SFC, 10/11/14, p.A10)
2014        Oct 10, A US federal judge in North Carolina struck down the state’s gay marriage ban.
    (SFC, 10/11/14, p.A10)

2014        Oct 11, In the Philippines Jeffrey Laude (26), a Filipino cross-dresser, was reportedly killed by a member of the US military. On Oct 18 the government served a subpoena for Marine Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton and four other Marines sought as witnesses to the death of Laude.
    (SFC, 10/14/14, p.A2)(SFC, 10/18/14, p.A2)

2014        Oct 18, Rome's left-wing mayor Ignazio Marino registered 16 gay marriages carried out abroad in defiance of Italian law, which does not recognize same-sex unions.
    (AFP, 10/18/14)

2014        Oct 24, In Macedonia about 30 people wearing masks and throwing rocks and bottles attacked members of a gay rights activist group in Skopje, wounding two of them.
    (AP, 10/24/14)

2014        Oct 30, Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that he is gay while advocating for human rights in an essay in Businessweek.
    (SFC, 10/31/14, p.A1)

2014        Nov 2, In Montenegro, a staunchly conservative Balkan country seeking EU membership, about 200 gay activists marched peacefully protected by hundreds of riot police.
    (AP, 11/2/14)

2014        Nov 5, A Missouri state judge overturned the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.
    (SFC, 11/6/14, p.A5)

2014        Nov 6, The Sixth US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld antigay marriage laws in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee.
    (SFC, 11/7/14, p.A7)

2014        Nov 7, Three Malaysian Muslim transgenders won a landmark court ruling against a religious law banning them from cross-dressing in what activists called a victory for human rights.
    (AP, 11/7/14)
2014        Nov 7, In Russia a lesbian couple tied the knot in a quiet ceremony seen as the first such marriage in the country where gay unions are illegal. The marriage went through in St. Petersburg because one of the women was born male but is now transgender and undergoing hormone therapy.
    (AFP, 11/9/14)

2014        Nov 12, A US federal judge struck down South Carolina’s same-sex marriage ban as unconstitutional, but gave the state a week to appeal.
    (SFC, 11/13/14, p.A6)

2014        Nov 14, A Botswana judge overturned a government ban on a gay rights lobbying group. Justice Terrence Rannoane ruled that the Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana (LEGABIBO) would be allowed to register and campaign for changes to anti-gay legislation but reiterated that it was still illegal to engage in homosexual acts.
    (Reuters, 11/14/14)

2014        Nov 19, A US federal judge overturned Montana’s ban on same-sex marriage. The state’s first legal same-sex marriage took place the next day in Helena.
    (SFC, 11/21/14, p.A6)

2014        Nov 25, A US federal judge struck down an Arkansas voter-approved gay marriage ban, but put the order on hold to allow the state to consider and appeal.
    (SFC, 11/26/14, p.A6)

2014        Nov 30, In India nearly a thousand gay rights activists marched through central New Delhi to demand an end to discrimination against gays in the country’s deeply conservative society.
    (AP, 11/30/14)

2014        Dec 1, In Poland Robert Biedron (38) became mayor of Slupsk and the country's first openly gay mayor.
    (AP, 12/1/14)

2014        Dec 7, Egyptian security forces raided a bath house and arrested 25 men for homosexuality, dragging them naked out of the building in downtown Cairo.
    (AP, 12/8/14)

2014        Dec 17, A Florida judge granted the state’s first formal divorce for a gay couple. The Broward County judge used the case to join other judges in declaring the state’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.
    (SFC, 12/18/14, p.A5)

2014        Dec 19, A Beijing court ordered a psychological clinic to pay compensation to a homosexual man for administering electric shocks in an attempt to make him heterosexual, an unprecedented ruling on so-called conversion therapy.
    (AFP, 12/19/14)

2014        Dec 23, The US White House announced Gambia's termination as a beneficiary of the African Growth and Opportunity Act in response to human rights abuses, including a law signed in October that imposes life imprisonment for some homosexual acts.   
    (AP, 12/25/14)

2014        Dec 24, A French court ordered gossip magazine Closer to pay 20,000 euros ($24,400) in damages for "invasion of privacy." Earlier this month, the magazine published four pages of photos taken in Vienna of the far-right National Front’s Vice President Florian Philippot with a "television journalist" presented as his boyfriend.
    (AFP, 12/24/14)

2014        Dec 27, An Egyptian appeals court reduced the sentences of eight men convicted on charges of "inciting debauchery" for taking part in an alleged same-sex wedding party from three years to one year in prison.
    (AP, 12/27/14)

2014        Dec 29, In Russia new road safety regulations, signed by PM Dmitry Medvedev, barred transexuals, transvestites and others with “sexual disorders,” from driving, ostensibly for medical reasons.
    (SFC, 1/10/15, p.A2)(http://tinyurl.com/pltzas3)

2014        Robert Beachy authored “Gay Berlin: Birthplace of a Modern Identity.”
    (SSFC, 11/16/14, p.P1)
2014        Malta introduced Civil unions.
    (AP, 6/24/17)

2015        Jan 1, The Dominican Rep. said it will not recognize a same-sex marriage performed for the first time there two days earlier.
    (SFC, 1/2/15, p.A2)

2015        Jan 4, A city in central India elected the country's first transgender mayor, nine months after a court ruled that transgender be recognized as a legal third gender. Madhu Kinnar (35) won the mayoral election in Raigarh in the mineral-rich state of Chhattisgarh.
    (Reuters, 1/5/15)

2015        Jan 5, In Miami lesbian and gay couples were wed hours before Florida’s coming out party as the nation’s 36th state to legalize same-sex marriages.
    (SFC, 1/6/15, p.A12)

2015        Jan 7, Nepal said it will issue passports to sexual minorities, adding a third gender category in a sign of the conservative Hindu-majority country becoming more liberal since the end of a decade-long civil war.
    (Reuters, 1/7/15)

2015        Jan 12, A US federal judge declared South Dakota’s ban on same-sex marriage to be illegal, but stayed the decision pending appeal.
    (SFC, 1/13/15, p.A6)
2015        Jan 12, An Egyptian court acquitted 26 men accused of "debauchery" after their night-time arrest last September from a Cairo bathhouse for suspected homosexual activity.
    (AFP, 1/12/15)

2015        Jan 14, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that in total 14 people had been executed for alleged adultery or homosexuality in the war-torn country since July, half of them women. A new video showed fighters from Al-Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, tying up a woman and shooting her in a square for alleged adultery.
    (AFP, 1/14/15)

2015        Jan 15, A US federal judge ruled that Michigan must validate nearly 300 same-sex marriages as of next month. His decision could be appealed.
    (SFC, 1/16/15, p.A6)

2015        Jan 18, Ireland’s Health Minister Leo Varadkar said he's gay on his 36th birthday, becoming the first openly homosexual government figure in the history of the traditionally conservative Catholic country.
    (AP, 1/18/15)

2015        Jul 23, A US federal court ruled that the Alabama ban on gay marriage is illegal.
    (SFC, 1/24/15, p.A4)
2015        Jan 23, A Russian court convicted journalist Yelena Klimova (26) under a controversial law banning "gay propaganda" aimed at minors. She had set up the “children 404” website to support gay, lesbian and transgender teenagers. "The verdict was a fine of 50,000 rubles ($783).
    (AFP, 1/23/15)

2015        Jan 28, France's highest court ruled that a gay French-Moroccan couple are allowed to marry despite the North African kingdom's refusal to recognize marriages between two men.
    (AP, 1/28/15)

2015        Feb 4, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said he would not appeal a federal court ruling that required the state to recognize over 300 same-sex marriages that took place on March 22, 2014. The ruling takes effect Feb 5, 2015.
    (SFC, 2/5/15, p.A5)

2015        Feb 7, Slovaks voted in a nationwide a referendum that would bar gay marriages and adoptions, and allow parents to decide whether their children attend sex education classes. The votes won't count unless at least half of the eligible voters turn out. Voters overwhelmingly voted "yes" — 95, 92 and 90 percent, respectively — to the three questions. But turnout reached only 21.4 percent, far less than the 50 percent needed.
    (AP, 2/7/15)(AP, 2/8/15)

2015        Feb 9, Alabama became the 37th state where gays can legally wed. State chief justice Roy Moore told judges not to let gays marry. At least seven of 67 counties issued gay marriage licenses. 47 of the state’s 67 counties were issuing licenses by Feb 13.
    (SFC, 2/10/15, p.A4)(SFC, 2/14/15, p.A7)

2015        Feb 10, Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim began a 5-year prison sentence after a court rejected his final appeal against a sodomy conviction.
    (AP, 2/10/15)

2015        Feb 18, Kate Brown (54), former Oregon secretary of state, was sworn in as the state’s new governor, becoming the country’s first openly bisexual governor.
    (SFC, 2/19/15, p.A10)(Econ., 2/21/15, p.30)

2015        Mar 3, The Alabama Supreme Court ordered the state’s probate judges to stop issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.
    (SFC, 3/4/15, p.A6)

2015        Mar 10, Photos shared by sympathizers on social media said the Islamic State group has publicly beheaded three men in northern Iraq, two of them for allegedly engaging in homosexual acts.
    (AFP, 3/10/15)

2015        Mar 14, Sweden-based Ikea, the world's largest furniture retailer, said it is halting its online magazine in Russia out of fears it violates the country's law banning promotion of same-sex gay values to minors.
    (AP, 3/14/15)

2015        Mar 24, The UN General Assembly’s budget committee approved a plan to give benefits to all spouses of gay UN staffers who are legally married regardless of same-sex marriage laws in their home countries.
    (SFC, 3/25/15, p.A7)

2015        Mar 25, California announced legal action to suppress a "reprehensible" ballot initiative to outlaw homosexuality -- on pain of execution. The proposal was submitted by lawyer Matthew McLaughlin to the California Attorney General's office late last month.
    (AFP, 3/25/15)

2015        Mar 26, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed into law a religious objections bill that some convention organizers and business leaders have opposed amid concern it could allow discrimination against gay people.
    (AP, 3/26/15)

2015        Mar 31, In Japan a landmark vote by the assembly of Tokyo's Shibuya ward, the district famous as a mecca for trendy youngsters became the first locale in Japan to recognize same sex partnerships as the "equivalent of a marriage," guaranteeing the identical rights of married couples, including hospital visitations and apartment rentals.
    (AP, 3/31/15)

2015        Apr 2, The US states of Arkansas and Indiana passed amended versions of religious freedom laws following a nationwide outcry that the original legislation effectively legalized discrimination against homosexuals.
    (AFP, 4/2/15)

2015        Apr 8, The Obama administration called for an end to therapies aimed at changing the sexual orientation of gay, lesbian and transgender youth.
    (SFC, 4/9/15, p.A6)

2015        Apr 15, Guam’s attorney general directed officials to immediately begin processing same-sex marriage applications.
    (SFC, 4/16/15, p.A7)

2015        Apr 28, The US Supreme Court heard arguments on whether gay couples have a constitutional right to wed.
    (AFP, 4/28/15)

2015        May 4, The US Supreme Court let stand a lower court's ban on therapy intended to change the sexual orientation of gay youths under the age of 18.
    (AFP, 5/4/15)

2015        May 15, Luxermbourg PM xavier Bettel married Gauthier Destenay, a Belgian architect, in the first same-sex marriage of an EU leader.
    (SFC, 5/16/15, p.A2)

2015        May 17, In Chile thousands of people, many waving rainbow-colored flags, gathered in Santiago for a "March for Equality," pushing the government to acknowledge more gay rights.
    (AFP, 5/17/15)
2015        May 17, Russian police detained 17 protesters as they gathered in central Moscow to release colorful balloons into the air to mark the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.
    (Reuters, 5/18/15)

2015        May 19, In Northern Ireland a Christian bakery was found guilty of discrimination for refusing to bake a cake advocating gay marriage, in a landmark legal case brought by local authorities.
    (AFP, 5/19/15)

2015        May 22, Ireland voted on whether to allow gay marriage. Irish voters backed same-sex marriage by a margin of 62.1% making it the first country to adopt same-sex marriage via a popular vote.
    (Reuters, 5/22/15)(AP, 5/23/15)

2015        May, Gambian President Yahya Jammeh said he would slit the throats of men who wanted to marry other men in the small West African nation.
    (AFP, 5/16/15)

2015        Jun 3, Mexico's supreme court ruled it is unconstitutional for Mexican states to bar same-sex marriages. The court's ruling was considered a "jurisprudential thesis" and did not invalidate any state laws, meaning gay couples denied the right to wed would have to turn to the courts individually.
    (AP, 6/12/15)

2015        Jun 5, Guam Gov. Eddie Calvo said marriage license applications from same-sex couples will be accepted after a federal judge's decision made the island the first US territory to recognize gay marriage. The decision goes into effect at 8 a.m. on June 9, when gay couples can begin applying for marriage licenses.
    (AP, 6/5/15)

2015        Jun 6, In Ukraine opponents of a gay rights march held in Kiev threw smoke bombs and tear gas. Police said five officers were injured as well as four of the estimated 300 marchers.
    (AP, 6/6/15)

2015        Jun 12, In Israel thousands of bare-chested muscular men, drag queens in heavy makeup and high heels, women in colorful balloon costumes and others partied at Tel Aviv's annual gay pride parade.
    (AP, 6/12/15)

2015        Jun 13, In Singapore some 28,000 people rallied in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights.
    (Econ, 7/18/15, SR p.4)
2015        Jun 13, In Slovenia over a thousand people marched at the country’s 15th Gay Pride festival warning their fight was not over since a recently adopted bill legalizing same-sex marriages could still be revoked in a referendum.
    (AFP, 6/13/15)

2015        Jun 18, It was reported that two men were arrested this week in Baluchistan, Pakistan, for reportedly marrying each other. They were charged under Section 277 of the Pakistani penal code. A man who allegedly officiated the ceremony was also arrested.
    (SFC, 6/18/15, p.A4)

2015        Jun 20, In Italy hundreds of thousands gathered in Rome to demonstrate against gay unions and the teaching of gender theories in schools, as PM Matteo Renzi worked to push a civil union bill through parliament.
    (AFP, 6/20/15)
2015        Jun 20, In Latvia up to 5,000 people participated in a high-profile gay pride event in Riga. Police said three people from the counter-demonstration were arrested for trying to throw eggs and for illegal picketing.
    (AP, 6/20/15)

2015        Jun 26, The US Supreme Court in Obergefell v Hodges ruled 5-4 that the US Constitution provides same-sex couples the right to marry in a historic triumph for the American gay rights movement.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obergefell_v._Hodges)(Reuters, 6/26/15)

2015        Jun 27, In Ireland tens of thousands of revelers created a carnival atmosphere in Dublin’s gay Pride parade.
    (AFP, 6/27/15)

2015        Jun 28, In Turkey riot police in Istanbul used teargas and water cannon to disperse thousands of participants in the Gay Pride parade in the Turkish after demonstrators began shouting slogans accusing the social conservative President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of "fascism".
    (AFP, 6/28/15)

2015        Jun 29, Mozambique decriminalized homosexuality when a new penal code came into force that swept away old Portuguese colonial laws.
    (AFP, 6/29/15)

2015        Jul 1, Episcopalians, meeting in Salt Lake at the Episcopal General Convention, voted to allow religious weddings for same-sex couples.
    (SFC, 7/2/15, p.A7)

2015        Jul 15, Ireland’s transgender people won legal recognition of their status through the passage of the Gender Recognition Bill, allowing them to change their legal gender with no medical or state intervention.
    (Reuters, 7/16/15)

2015        Jul 30, In Israel Yishai Shlissel stormed a gay parade with a knife, attacking six before being quickly arrested amid pandemonium in Jerusalem's city center. Shira Banki (16) was stabbed in the back and died of her wounds a few days later. On April 19, 2016, a Jerusalem court convicted Shlissel (40) of murder. On June 26 Schlissel was sentenced to life in prison.
    (AFP, 7/31/15)(AP, 4/19/16)(AFP, 6/26/16)

2015        Jul 31, Senegal jailed journalist Tamsir Jupiter Ndiaye to six months in prison for acts of homosexuality. He was arrested in June after a young man accused him of attempted rape.
    (SFC, 8/1/15, p.A2)

2015        Aug 2, In Israel Shira Banki (16) died today after being seriously wounded when an anti-gay extremist stabbed her and several others in last week's attack on Jerusalem's gay pride parade. She was among six people wounded July 30 by ultra-Orthodox Jewish Yishai Schlissel, who had carried out a similar attack on a gay pride parade in 2005.
    (AP, 8/2/15)

2015        Aug 11, Australian PM Tony Abbott's conservative coalition government blocked its members from voting in favor of gay marriage, a politically risky move that effectively rules out a marriage equality bill passing under his government.
    (Reuters, 8/11/15)

2015        Aug 15, In Ukraine masked men fired tear gas into a venue in Odessa where gay rights activists were to hold a forum after deciding against marching in defiance of a ban.
    (AFP, 8/15/15)

2015        Aug 21, In Senegal a panel of judges sentenced seven men to six months in prison for homosexuality. The verdict was based on a police discovery of condoms and lubricant in the house where the men were arrested, and became a hammer blow to groups promoting safe sex.
    (Reuters, 8/26/15)

2015        Aug 24, UN Security Council members opened their first-ever meeting on LGBT rights to hear Syrian and Iraqi gays tell of terror under Islamic State rule.
    (AFP, 8/24/15)

2015        Aug 30, In Nepal hundreds of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transvestites paraded through the capital to demand that rights for sexual minorities be included in the country's new constitution that is being finalized.
    (AP, 8/30/15)   

2015        Aug 31, Singapore said it has lifted a two-decade ban on HIV-infected people from entering the country, but will limit their stay to a maximum of three months.
    (AP, 8/31/15)   

2015        Sep 3, In Kentucky Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis was jailed for contempt after she insisted that her conscience would not allow her to follow federal court rulings on gay marriage.
    (SFC, 9/4/15, p.A8)

2015        Sep 21, In Texas Daniel Spencer (32), a gay film editor, was stabbed to death by James Miller (64) following an alleged attempt by Spencer to kiss Miller. In court Miller cited a panic attack and was sentenced to just six months in prison and ten years of probation.
    (https://tinyurl.com/y5f3bdrq)(Econ., 11/28/20, p.25)
2015        Sep 21, In Syria the Islamic State group executed 7 men in Rastan, Homs province, and 2 men and a boy in Hreitan, Aleppo province, it accused of being gay.
    (AFP, 9/22/15)

2015        Oct 3, The Vatican dismissed a gay priest from his Holy See job on the eve of a major Church meeting for a highly public coming out that challenged the Roman Catholic teaching that homosexual acts are a sin. Monsignor Krzysztof Charamsa, a Polish theologian, had worked at the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's doctrinal arm, since 2003.
    (Reuters, 10/3/15)

2015        Oct 4, Pope Francis reaffirmed Catholic opposition to gay marriage as he opened a three-week gathering of bishops.
    (Reuters, 10/4/15)

2015        Oct 13, In Argentina Diana Sacayan (40), a prominent transgender activist, was found tied up and stabbed to death in Buenos Aires. This was the third violent transgender death in the country in the past month.
    (www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-34538052)

2015        Oct 19, British citizen Stephen Port (40) was charged in London with drugging and murdering four young men he met on gay websites. The deaths took place between June 2014 and last month.
    (AP, 10/19/15)

2015        Oct 22, Slovenia's Constitutional Court gave the go-ahead for a referendum that could overturn a law allowing same-sex marriages.
    (Reuters, 10/22/15)

2015        Oct 23, In Indonesia a law that makes gay sex punishable by public caning took effect in conservative Aceh province.
    (AP, 10/23/15)

2015        Oct 31, In Taiwan tens of thousands marched in Taipei in Asia's biggest gay pride parade, with many hoping presidential elections next year bring to power a pro-gay government that will legalize same-sex marriage.
    (AFP, 10/31/15)

2015        Nov 2, Northern Ireland's assembly voted in favor of same-sex marriage for the first time -- by just one vote -- but the ruling Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) sank the motion with a constitutional veto.
    (AFP, 11/2/15)

2015        Nov 4, France said it will lift a ban on gay men giving blood, but only if they abstain from sex in the months beforehand, an exclusion denounced as discriminatory by rights groups.
    (AFP, 11/4/15)

2015        Nov 12, Ukraine's parliament finally banned discrimination against gays in the workplace during a heated session on legislation that could open the door to visa-free travel to much of the EU in 2016.
    (AFP, 11/12/15)

2015        Nov 17, Ireland celebrated its first gay marriages, six months after voters overwhelmingly chose to legalize the practice.
    (AP, 11/17/15)

2015        Nov 20, Portugal's Parliament approved laws allowing same-sex couples to legally adopt children and permitting lesbians to obtain medically assisted fertilization.
    (AP, 11/20/15)

2015        Nov 24, Vietnam’s National Assembly passed a law recognizing the rights of transgenders effective in 2017 as part of a revised civil code.
    (SFC, 11/26/15, p.A7)

2015        Nov 29, In India hundreds of gay rights activists danced to drum beats and held colorful balloons as they marched in a parade in New Delhi, celebrating what they call the diversity of gender and sexuality.
    (AP, 11/29/15)

2015        Dec 6, Holly Woodlawn (69), a transgender Puerto Rican woman featured in two Andy Warhol films, died in Los Angeles County. She was the woman described by Lou Reed in his song “Walk on the Wild Side” (1972).
    (SFC, 12/8/15, p.C3)

2015        Dec 9, It was reported that Jamaican activist Maurice Tomlinson has filed a claim in the country;s Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of 1864 laws that ban sex between men.
    (SFC, 12/10/15, p.A6)

2015        Dec 14, In Tunisia a lawyer said a court last week sentenced six students to three years in jail each on charges of homosexuality in a judgment condemned by rights activists.
    (AFP, 12/14/15)

2015        Dec 20, Slovenians held a referendum on whether to allow same-sex marriage and become the first former communist nation in Europe to do so. More than 60 percent of the voters opposed the measure in a referendum marked by low turnout.
    (AP, 12/20/15)(AFP, 12/20/15)

2015        Dec 23, Greece's parliament approved a bill granting same-sex couples the right to a civil union, becoming one of the last European countries to give them legal recognition after years of opposition from the influential Orthodox church.
    (AFP, 12/23/15)

2015        Dec 29, In Turkey a former soccer referee won a court case against Turkey's football federation which he has accused of outing him as a homosexual and stripping him of his license to referee games because of his sexual orientation. The court ordered the federation to pay Halil Ibrahim Dincdag 23,000 lira (US$8,000) in compensation.
    (AP, 12/29/15)

2015        Lillian Faderman authored “The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle.”
    (Econ, 9/5/15, p.81)
2015        Barney Frank authored his memoir “Frank: A Life in Politics From the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage.”
    (SSFC, 3/15/15, p.N5)
2015        Indonesia’s top clerical council passed a fatwa condemning homosexuality.
    (Econ, 8/13/16, p.28)

2016        Jan 1, In Estonia a law allowing gay partnerships took effect, but same-sex couples are being advised to hold off on getting hitched until a series of legal issues have been worked out.
    (AP, 1/1/16)

2016        Jan 13, FIFA fined Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay for anti-gay chants by their national team's fans.
    (AP, 1/13/16)

2016        Jan 23, In Italy tens of thousands demonstrated in almost 100 cities to urge the government to grant gay and lesbian couples civil unions and recognize their families.
    (SSFC, 1/24/16, p.A2)

2016        Jan 30, Hundreds of thousands of people protested in Rome's Circus Maximus arena against a civil unions bill for same-sex couples, a hot-potato issue for PM Matteo Renzi's government.
    (AFP, 1/30/16)

2016        Feb 11, The Indonesian government told instant messaging apps to remove stickers featuring same-sex couples in the latest high-profile attempt to discourage visible homosexuality in the socially conservative country.
    (AP, 2/12/16)

2016        Feb 16, In Colombia Sen. Carlos Ferro resigned as deputy Interior minister as soon as a video, in which he discusses sexual encounters with other men, went viral. Ferro denied any wrongdoing or abuse of his political position.
    (AP, 2/18/16)

2016        Feb 17, Colombia's national police chief resigned, a day after the investigator general said he would investigate whether he was involved in the creation of a male prostitution ring that allegedly served lawmakers and was aided by police officials. Gen. Rodolfo Palomino resigned over allegations of misconduct that included a subaltern's accusation that the chief, high-ranking officers and even members of congress abused their positions to demand sexual favors with young cadets.
    (Reuters, 2/17/16)(AP, 2/18/16)
2016        Feb 17, Indonesia's most influential Muslim leaders said they reject all promotion and support for lesbian and gay groups and encouraged the government to make gay sex and the promotion of LGBT activities illegal.
    (AP, 2/17/16)

2016        Feb 18, US sports equipment giant Nike axed Manny Pacquiao after he described gay couples earlier this week as "worse than animals", slamming the Filipino boxer's remarks as "abhorrent."
    (AFP, 2/18/16)
2016        Feb 18, Panasonic Corp. said it will recognize same-sex marriages in its employment policies in a rare move for a major Japanese manufacturer.
    (AP, 2/18/16)

2016        Mar 16, A US federal court judge ordered the government of Guam to pay more than $85,000 in legal fees for a same-sex couple who sued Gov. Eddie Calvo after they were denied a marriage application last year.
    (AP, 3/17/16)
2016        Mar 16, Botswana's highest court rejected an attempt by the government to ban a gay rights lobby group.
    (Reuters, 3/16/16)

2016        Mar 17, Organizers of New York's storied St. Patrick's Day Parade opened the lineup more broadly to include activists who protested a ban on gay groups for years.
    (AP, 3/17/16)

2016        Mar 23, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed a new law that blocks local governments from passing antidiscrimination rules and requiring transgender students to use bathrooms assigned to their biological sex. The ban expired on Dec. 1, 2020.
    (SFC, 3/29/16, p.A5)(Econ., 12/12/20, p.31)

2016        Mar 29, In Los Angeles Amir Issa (29), a gay man involved with drugs, was found shot to death just outside the family home. Police found his mother Rabihah Issa (68) stabbed to death. On April 1 Amir’s father, Shehada Issa (69), was charged with Amir’s murder as a hate crime. Shehada said he shot his son in self-defense after finding his wife’s body.
    (SFC, 4/4/16, p.A4)

2016        Apr 5, Mississippi’s Gov. Phil Bryant signed House Bill 1523 allowing religious groups and some private businesses to refuse service to gay couples based on religious beliefs. On May 9 a suit was filed against the measure due to become law on July 1.
    (SFC, 4/6/16, p.A12)(SFC, 5/10/16, p.A6)
2016        Apr 5, PayPal became the first and only prominent tech company to commit moving operations out of North Carolina, whose governor last week signed into law a bill that bars local governments from passing antidiscrimination protections for LGBT people.
    (SFC, 4/6/16, p.C1)

2016        Apr 7, A US appeals court ruled that Puerto Rico can't prohibit gay marriage.
    (AP, 4/8/16)

2016        Apr 13, In China a court in Changsha rejected a landmark case by two men who had sought permission to get legally married, a decision that shines the light on gay rights in the world's most populous nation.
    (Reuters, 4/13/16)(Econ, 8/13/16, p.29)

2016        Apr 25, In Bangladesh a gay rights activist and his friend were killed. Ansar-al-Islam, the Bangladeshi branch of al-Qaida, soon claimed responsibility. Xulhaz Mannan (35), an editor of a magazine for Bangladesh's gay and lesbian community, and fellow activist Mahbub Tonoy (25) were murdered in a Dhaka apartment by about six men carrying machetes and guns. On May 14 police arrested Shariful Islam Shihab (37), a member of the Ansarullah Bangla Team.
    (AP, 4/26/16)(AFP, 5/15/16)

2016        Apr 26, In Thailand a same-sex American-Spanish couple won a high-profile custody battle against a surrogate mother who gave birth to their child but then decided she wanted to keep the baby when she found out they were gay.
    (AP, 4/26/16)

2016        Apr 28, Colombia became the fourth South American country to allow same-sex marriage when the constitutional court definitively legalized it.
    (AFP, 4/29/16)

2016        May 9, The US Justice Dept. sued North Carolina over the state’s new bathroom law requiring transgender people to use restrooms corresponding to the gender on their birth certificates.
    (SFC, 5/10/16, p.A6)
2016        May 9, In the Philippines Geraldine Roman won the  congressional race in the first district of northern Bataan province becoming the country’s first transgender politician.
    (AP, 5/11/16)

2016        May 11, Germany’s Justice Minister Heiko Maas announced plans to annul the historic convictions of tens of thousands of men charged under a law that criminalized homosexuality and to grant them financial compensation.
    (Reuters, 5/11/16)
2016        May 11, Italy's parliament gave a green light for the introduction of gay civil unions in the last major Western country not to legally recognize same-sex relationships.
    (AFP, 5/11/16)

2016        May 12, The Obama administration said public schools must permit transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their chosen gender identity. Politicians in Arkansas, Texas and elsewhere soon vowed defiance.
    (SFC, 5/13/16, p.A8)(SFC, 5/14/16, p.A6)

2016        May 13, Portuguese lawmakers voted to change the law on artificial insemination, which previously was restricted to heterosexuals who were married or living together for more than two years. The changes also brought legal recognition for surrogacy, but only for women with health problems preventing pregnancy. The measures are due to come into force within weeks.
    (AP, 5/13/16)

2016        May 17, Eric Fanning was unanimously confirmed as secretary of the US Army by the Senate, making him the first openly gay leader in the United States military.
    (CSM, 5/18/16)
2016        May 17, In Kosovo a few hundred people from the gay and lesbian community held their first ever pride parade, seeking acceptance and respect of their rights in the conservative society.
    (AFP, 5/17/16)

2016        May 21, The Church of Scotland voted to let its ministers enter same-sex marriages, but its clergy will not be allowed to conduct same-sex weddings.
    (SSFC, 5/22/16, p.A6)

2016        Jun 1, In Honduras Rene Martinez (39), a leader in the gay community, was kidnapped in the city of San Pedro Sula. His body was found two days later.
    (AP, 6/4/16)

2016        Jun 11, Thousands of people marched in colorful gay pride events in Croatia, Italy, and Poland urging support for minority rights in the mostly Catholic nations.
    (AP, 6/11/16)

2016        Jun 12, In Florida 49 people were killed and another 53 were injured when a gunman opened fire and seized hostages at the Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, making it the worst mass shooting in US history. The shooter was soon identified as Omar Mateen (29) of Afghan descent from Port Saint Lucie, Florida. Mateen was killed in a gunfight with police officers. In 2018 it was reported that Mateen's father had been an FBI informant at various points in time between January 2005 and June 2016.
    (AFP, 6/12/16)(AFP, 6/14/16)(SFC, 8/5/16, p.A5)(SFC, 3/26/18, p.A7)
2016        Jun 12, In Ukraine about 1,000 gay rights activists held the country’s first major gay pride march through central Kiev amid an unprecedented security operation in the ex-Soviet country where homophobia remains widespread.
    (AFP, 6/12/16)(SFC, 6/13/16, p.A2)

2016        Jun 13, In Pakistan a transgender woman suffered a gunshot wound to her thigh for refusing to have sex with three attackers who broke into her home in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in the latest in a series of assaults on trans people.
    (AP, 6/15/16)

2016        Jun 17, In Turkey the governor of Istanbul banned gay, lesbian and transgender individuals from holding pride parades at their usual venue, citing security concerns.
    (AP, 6/17/16)

2016        Jun 22, Italy's highest court confirmed a lower-court decision making it easier for gays to adopt a partner's biological child but the decision did not give long-sought automatic recognition to the families of same-sex couples.
    (AP, 6/22/16)

2016        Jun 24, Pres. Obama created the first national monument to gay rights designating the site of the 1969 Stonewall riots in Manhattan as Stonewall National Monument anchored by Christopher Park across from the Stonewall Inn tavern.
    (SFC, 6/25/16, p.A5)

2016        Jun 28, The Czech Constitutional court overturned a law that banned individual gays and lesbians living in registered partnership from adopting children.
    (SFC, 6/29/16, p.A2)

2016        Jun 30, The US Pentagon said transgender people will be allowed to serve openly in the military.
    (SFC, 7/1/16, p.A9)

2016        Jul 1, A leading Italian newspaper reported that former Pope Benedict says in his memoirs, "The Last Conversations," that no-one pressured him to resign but alleges that a "gay lobby" in the Vatican had tried to influence decisions. It is due to be published on Sept. 9.
    (Reuters, 7/1/16)

2016        Jul 3, In Germany tens of thousands took part the the annual gay pride parade in Cologne.
    (SFC, 7/4/16, p.A2)

2016        Jul 8, Ten US states sued the federal government over rules requiring public schools to alow transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms conforming to their gender identity.
    (SFC, 7/9/16, p.A11)

2016        Jul 12, Human Rights Watch urged an end to "forced anal examinations" with a report documenting them in eight countries, mostly in Africa, saying the practice is based on flawed ideas about supposedly proving homosexual conduct. The report drew on interviews with 32 men and transgender women subjected to the exams in eight countries that ban same-sex conduct: Cameroon, Egypt, Kenya, Lebanon, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uganda and Zambia.
    (AP, 7/12/16)

2016        Jul 19, The Tanzanian government admitted that it has banned imports and sales of sexual lubricants in its latest move targeting the gay community. It estimated that 23 percent of men who have sex with men in Tanzania are living with HIV/AIDS.
    (AFP, 7/22/16)

2016        Jul 20, Romania's Constitutional Court ruled that a request from an anti-gay group to change the constitution to state that marriage is a union between a man and a woman is constitutional. Any change would need to be approved by two-thirds of lawmakers.
    (AP, 7/20/16)

2016        Jul 30, In Sweden some 45 thousand people, including the prime minister, participated in Stockholm's annual gay pride parade, walking along streets sprinkled with balloons and rainbow flags.
    (AP, 7/30/16)

2016        Jul, Russian police in Samara detained American pastor Jim Mulcahy (72), claiming he was planning to perform a same-sex marriage. Hours later, the American pastor was fined $30 and ordered to leave Russia within five days.
    (AP, 7/26/16)

2016        Aug 4, Uganda's Police raided a night club late today where a Gay Pride event was underway and arrested at least 15 people, accusing them of staging an illegal gathering and promoting homosexuality.
    (Reuters, 8/5/16)

2016        Aug 10, Belize’s chief justice ruled that Section 53 of the criminal code, which threatened people who engage in “carnal intercourse against the order of nature,” is unconstitutional.
    (Econ, 8/20/16, p.25)

2016        Aug 19, In Nepal about a thousand members of sexual minorities and their supporters paraded in Kathmandu to demand equality and implementation of their rights under the country's new constitution.
    (AP, 8/19/16)

2016        Aug 31, Australia's PM Malcolm Turnbull urged his political opponents to allow Australians to endorse gay marriage through a popular vote instead of insisting that the divisive issue be put into lawmakers' hands.
    (AP, 8/31/16)

2016        Sep 10, In Mexico tens of thousands of people across the country marched to protest against gay marriage, challenging President Enrique Pena Nieto's proposal to recognize same-sex marriage throughout the traditionally conservative country.
    (Reuters, 9/11/16)

2016        Sep 12, A gay Chinese student activist lodged a suit against the Ministry of Education over school textbooks describing homosexuality as a mental disorder, the latest step by China's small but growing gay rights movement.
    (Reuters, 9/12/16)

2016        Sep 29, In Mexico Paolo Buenrostro, a transgender sex worker, was murdered as she got into a client's car. Kenya Cuevas grabbed the man and held him until police arrived, at which point she began recording on her cell phone. The man was released from custody days later. Cuevas soon quit sex work and founded Casa de Munecas (house of dolls) to campaign for the protection of transgender women. From 2013-2016 some 261 transgender women were slain in Mexico.
    (SFC, 9/11/19, p.A3)

2016        Sep, Vitit Muntarbhorn of Thailand was appointed as the first UN independent expert on sexual orientation and gender identity. A year later he informed the council president about his resignation effective Oct. 31, citing illness in his household.
    (AP, 9/22/17)

2016        Nov 7, Australia’s Senate blocked a plebiscite on same-sex marriage.
    (SFC, 11/8/16, p.A4)

2016        Nov 11, In Indonesia Qienabh Tappii (28) won the country’s Miss Transgender pageant and was crowned Miss Waria Indonesia. Waria is the Indonesian word for transgender. Journalists were notified just a few hours in advance to prevent any attempt by Islamic hardliners to shut down the event.
    (SFC, 11/15/16, p.A2)

2016        Nov 15, Canada's attorney general announced a move to repeal Section 159 of the Criminal Code used to effectively prosecute gay youths who engage in anal sex, calling it "discriminatory."
    (AFP, 11/15/16)

2016        Nov 20, In Israel dozens of LGBT activists protested in Jerusalem against comments reportedly made by the city's chief rabbi disparaging the gay community. Rabbi Shlomo Amar told an Israeli newspaper last week that gay people were an "abomination" and homosexuality a "cult."
    (AP, 11/20/16)

2016        Nov 23, British chef Stephen Port (41) was convicted of murdering three young men whom he met online, plied with lethal drug-spiked drinks and raped, before leaving their bodies in and around a graveyard near his home. Over a 15-month period Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth and Jack Taylor all overdosed on the psychoactive drug GHB. Port then dumped their bodies in and around a graveyard near his apartment.
    (AP, 11/23/16)

2016        Nov 27, In India hundreds of gay rights activists marched in a parade in New Delhi, highlighting the continuing discrimination India's LGBT community faces and demanding the repeal of a law criminalizing homosexual acts.
    (AP, 11/27/16)

2016        Dec 8, Arkansas’ highest court ruled that same-sex parents will not be listed on their children’s birth certificates. The ruling by a four-member majority determined that only biological parents can be listed on a child’s birth certificate.
    (CSM, 12/10/16)
2016        Dec 8, Human Rights Watch said the Philippines is facing one of the fastest growing epidemics of HIV in the Asia Pacific, fueled by government policies that restrict intervention, including access to condoms by men who have sex with men.
    (AP, 12/8/16)

2016        Dec 9, The Cherokee Nation’s attorney general legalized same-sex marriage for the tribe saying parts of a 2004 tribal law violated the Cherokee Constitution.
    (SFC, 12/13/16, p.A5)

2016        Dec 12, A London judge sentenced Stefano Brizzi, a crystal meth addict, to life in prison with at least 24 years to serve for killing police officer Gordon Semple (59) during a bondage sex session and then attempting to cook and eat his body parts. Semple was last seen on 1 April and his dissolving body was found in an acid bath.
    (AP, 12/12/16)

2016        Dec 17, In Montenegro dozens of people in Podgorica participated in a gay pride event in the highly conservative state where authorities have promised to boost gay rights as part of efforts to join the European Union.
    (AP, 12/17/16)

2016        Dec 31, In Texas a federal judge granted a temporary injunction that stope federal health officials from enforcing rules that are intended to ban discrimination by doctors and hospitals against transgender people.
    (SSFC, 1/1/17, p.A8)

2017        Jan 21, William Norris (89), a retired judge of the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals (1980-1997), died in Los Angeles. His 1988 ruling on gays in the military paved the way for gay rights.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Albert_Norris)(SFC, 2/2/17, p.D2)

2017        Jan 30, Norway's Lutheran Church voted in favor of new ceremonial language that will allow its pastors to conduct same-sex marriages, bringing it into line with several other mainstream Protestant denominations abroad.
    (Reuters, 1/30/17)

2017        Jan 31, Britain passed a law that posthumously pardoned thousands of men convicted under now-abolished anti-homosexuality laws, and many more still alive can now apply to have their criminal convictions wiped out.
    (AP, 1/31/17)
2017        Jan 31, Switzerland said it would lift its 40-year ban on gay and bisexual men giving blood but will still prohibit donations from those who have had sex in the last year.
    (AFP, 1/31/17)

2017        Feb 7, Tanzania’s deputy minister of health said he has ordered the arrest of three men accused of promoting homosexuality.
    (SFC, 2/8/17, p.A2)

2017        Feb 15, Gay rights campaigners protested outside the Church of England's General Synod in London as Anglican bishops from around the world prepared to vote on a report ruling out accepting gay marriage.
    (AFP, 2/15/17)

2017        Feb 17, Finnish lawmakers rejected a petition from more than 100,000 people demanding the repeal of a law allowing same-sex marriage effective on March 1.
    (AP, 2/17/17)

2017        Feb 24, Slovenia introduced a law on same-sex partnership that grants legal rights to gay unions but does not allow them to adopt or undergo in-vitro fertilization.
    (AP, 2/24/17)   

2017        Mar 1, Prosecutors in Madrid launched an "urgent" investigation into a conservative association that chartered a bus displaying a large, anti-transgender message to tour Spain, drawing widespread condemnation.
    (AFP, 3/1/17)

2017        Mar 2, A Madrid judge banned a bright orange bus emblazoned with an anti-transgender message from driving through the Spanish capital on the grounds that it was discriminatory and could provoke hate crimes.
    (Reuters, 3/2/17)

2017        Mar 7, Russia’s Culture Ministry said children under age 16 won't be able to go to the new Disney film "Beauty and the Beast" in Russia because it includes a gay character.
    (AP, 3/7/17)

2017        Mar 10, The US 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled 2-1 that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 doesn’t protect against workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation.
    (SFC, 3/14/17, p.A8)

2017        Mar 22, In Germany thousands of gay men prosecuted and jailed under an arcane 19th century law were due to get compensation after the government passed a draft bill to quash their convictions. Germany decriminalized homosexuality in 1969.
    (Reuters, 3/22/17)

2017        Mar 24, The World Health Organization said 116 million children are to receive polio vaccines in 13 countries in west and central Africa as part of efforts to eradicate the disease on the continent.
    (AFP, 3/24/17)

2017        Mar 29, Indonesian residents in a neighborhood of Banda Aceh, reported two men, aged 23 and 20, to police for having gay sex. If found guilty, the men will be the first to be caned for gay sex under a new code implemented two years ago.
    (AP, 4/8/17)

2017        Mar 30, North Carolina’s Gov. Roy Cooper signed a bill rolling back the state’s “bathroom bill” to end a yearlong backlash over transgender rights that has cost the state dearly in various business projects, conventions and sport tournaments.
    (SFC, 3/30/17, p.A12)

2017        Apr 1, A leading Russian opposition newspaper confirmed a story that Chechen authorities were arresting and killing gay men. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov had vowed to “cleanse the blood” of LGBT+ Chechens. In 2020 "Welcome to Chechnya," a documentary debuted at the Sundance Film Festival ahead of a premiere on HBO. The film revealed an underground pipeline of activists working tirelessly to secretly remove at-risk LGBT+ Chechens and those who have survived being detained from the republic. It left audiences in Park City in shock, heartbreak, and outrage.
    (SSFC, 4/2/17, p.A3)(The Daily Beast, 1/30/20)

2017        Apr 13, Human Rights Watch called on Saudi Arabia to investigate the death of a Pakistani transgender woman who had been detained by police in the capital, Riyadh, following a February raid on a private gathering. A family member has claimed the transgender woman was tortured in custody.
    (AP, 4/13/17)
2017        Apr 13, The UN demanded that Chechnya halt the abduction, detention and killing of gay and bisexual men. Russia’s Novaya Gazeta had recently published a series of reports saying recent waves of crackdowns in Chechnya have seen more than 100 men arrested and at least three killed.
    (SFC, 4/14/17, p.A2)(Econ, 4/8/17, p.44)

2017        Apr 14, The US Justice Dept. said it is dismissing a federal lawsuit against North Carolina over the state’s 2016 “bathroom bill,” which required transgender people to use public restrooms corresponding to the sex on their birth certificates.
    (SFC, 4/15/17, p.A7)

2017        Apr 21, The  Military Human Rights Center for Korea said South Korea's army is hunting down and prosecuting gay servicemen after a video of two male soldiers having sex was posted on the internet earlier this year.
    (AP, 4/21/17)

2017        Apr 25, South Korean presidential frontrunner, Moon Jae-in, outraged persecuted sexual minority groups by saying during a TV debate that he opposes homosexuality.
    (SFC, 4/27/17, p.A2)

2017        Apr, The European Court of Human Rights ruled in favour of three transgender people in France who had been barred from changing the names and genders on their birth certificates because they had not been sterilized.
    (SFC, 4/13/17, p.A2)

2017        May 1, Bangladesh police arrested the IT chief of a banned militant Islamist group that has been blamed for the killing of several secular bloggers and gay rights activists. The suspected militant, identified as Ashfaqur Rahman, worked as the IT head of the al Qaeda-inspired militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team.
    {Bangladesh, Gays}
    (Reuters, 5/2/17)
2017        May 1, Russian police detained 17 young activists protesting against the persecution of gay men in Chechnya at a May Day parade in Saint Petersburg.
    (AP, 5/1/17)

2017        May 5, In Cuba three transgender pastors held a Mass for the first time, highlighting how much the island nation has changed since both religious believers and homosexuals went to "correctional" labor camps in the early years after the 1959 revolution. The pastors in Matanzas had flown in from Brazil, Canada and the USA.
    (Reuters, 5/7/17)
2017        May 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin backed an official check into reported brutal attacks on gay men in Chechnya in his first public comment after German Chancellor Angela Merkel confronted him on the issue.
    (AFP, 5/5/17)

2017        May 12, The UN called for an investigation into crimes against sexual minorities following an uptick in deadly violence against transgender women in El Salvador.
    (Reuters, 5/12/17)

2017        May 15, In Mississippi Joshua Vallum (29) was sentenced to 49 years in prison for the 2015 killing of Mercedes Williamson, a transgender woman, in the first case prosecuted under the federal Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
    (SFC, 5/16/17, p.A5)

2017        May 17, An Islamic Shariah court in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province sentenced two gay men to public caning for the first time. The court said each would receive 85 lashes for having sexual relations.
    (AP, 5/17/17)

2017        May 19, Bangladesh police stormed a community center outside Dhaka and arrested 27 men suspected of being gay.
    (SFC, 5/20/17, p.A2)

2017        May 21, Indonesian police detained 141 men for questioning in a raid this evening on a gay gym and sauna in north Jakarta.
    (AP, 5/21/17)

2017        May 23, In Indonesia two gay men were publicly caned 83 times in Aceh province after a remission for time spent in prison. On May 17 a court said each would receive 85 lashes for having sexual relations. Four heterosexual couples also were caned, receiving a far lesser number of strokes for affection outside marriage.
    (AP, 5/23/17)

2017        May 24, Indonesian police in West Java said they have set up a task force to investigate activities by gays in the country's most populous province.
    (AP, 5/24/17)
2017        May 24, Taiwan's Constitutional Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, punctuating a years-long campaign by advocates for gay rights. In its majority opinion, the court said a provision in the current civil code barring same-sex marriages violated two articles of the constitution safeguarding human dignity and equality under the law.
    (AP, 5/24/17)

2017        May, China’s biggest lesbian dating app, with 5 million users, was shut down.
    (Econ 6/24/17, p.36)

2017        Jun 3, Malaysia's health ministry defended its decision to host a contest on how to "prevent" homosexuality and transgenderism. It said the contest, titled the National Creative Video Competition on Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health, was to gather views and enhance knowledge among teens on healthy lifestyle practices.
    (Reuters, 6/3/17)
2017        Jun 3, In Poland some 5,000 thousand people marched and danced down the streets of central Warsaw to show their support for gay rights in the 17th annual "Equality Parade", calling for stronger defiance of discrimination and greater acceptance for same-sex unions and marriages.
    (AP, 6/3/17)

2017        Jun 5, Joseph Muscat was sworn in for a second term as Malta's prime minister, pledging to introduce a gay marriage law when Parliament convenes in the next few weeks.
    (AP, 6/5/17)

2017        Jun 8, The Scottish Episcopal Church voted in Edinburgh to allow its clerics to marry same-sex couples.
    (SFC, 6/9/17, p.A2)

2017        Jun 9, In Israel over 200,000 people celebrated the Gay Pride Parade in Tel Aviv, where the theme this year is "Bisexuality Visibility".
    (AP, 6/9/17)

2017        Jun 11, Supporters of LGBT rights mobilized in Washington, DC, and other cities across the US for the Equality March for Unity and Pride.”
    (SFC, 6/12/17, p.A4)

2017        Jun 14, Leo Varadkar (38) promised a "republic of opportunity" after he became Ireland's youngest prime minister and the first who is openly gay.
    (AFP, 6/14/17)

2017        Jun 16, Serbia's Pres. Aleksandar Vucic nominated Ana Brnabic as the conservative country's first openly gay prime minister, a move which infuriated nationalists.
    (AP, 6/16/17)

2017        Jun 18, In Ukraine more than two thousand people took part in Kiev's gay pride event amid a heavy police presence as nationalist protesters tried to halt the event and burned a rainbow flag.
    (AFP, 6/18/17)

2017        Jun 20, The European Court for Human Rights ruled that Russia’s law banning dissemination of so-called gay propaganda to minors violates the right to freedom of expression.
    (SFC, 6/21/17, p.A2)

2017        Jun 22, California’s Attorney General Xavier Becerra added four more US states subject to its state-sponsored travel ban for alleged discrimination against the LGBT community. Alabama, Kentucky, South Dakota and Texas joined Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina and Tennessee.
    (SFC, 6/23/17, p.D1)

2017        Jun 24, Malta's President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca said the new government is pledging to push quickly for the legalization of gay marriage.
    (AP, 6/24/17)
2017        Jun 24, Istanbul's governor banned a gay and transgender pride march for a second year running, citing security concerns after threats from an ultra-nationalist group. It was due to take place in the city on June 25.
    (Reuters, 6/24/17)

2017        Jun 25, In Turkey activists for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex rights said they will march for LGBT pride in Istanbul, despite a ban by the governor. Turkish police thwarted the parade attempt. 44 people were detained during the march.
    (AP, 6/25/17)(AFP, 6/25/17)(AP, 6/26/17)

2017        Jun 26, A gay man in central China successfully sued a mental hospital over forced conversion therapy. Activists hailed the ruling as the first such victory in a country where the LGBT rights movement is gradually emerging from the fringes.
    (AP, 7/4/17)

2017        Jun 28, The French government said it will follow the advice of an ethics panel in favor of allowing single women and lesbian couples to have children through assisted reproduction.
    (AP, 6/28/17)
2017        Jun 28, In Spain Madrid metro drivers began a five-day strike, threatening to create travel chaos during WorldPride, one of the biggest celebrations of lesbian, gay and transsexual rights.
    (AFP, 6/28/17)

2017        Jun 29, Serbian lawmakers elected Ana Brnabic as prime minister, making her the country’s first female and first openly gay leader.
    (SFC, 6/30/17, p.A4)

2017        Jun 30, The Pentagon said Defense Sec. Jin Mattis has delayed a plan approved by the Obama administration last year to begin allowing transgender recruits to join the US military. The Joint Chiefs of Staff had requested a six-month reprieve.
    (SFC, 7/1/17, p.A6)
2017        Jun 30, Germany's parliament backed the legalization of same-sex marriage in a historic vote hailed by gay activists and leftist parties but criticized by some in Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling conservative bloc and by the Catholic Church.
    (Reuters, 6/30/17)

2017        Jul 1, Thousands of Singaporeans dressed in pink packed a city park for a gay-rights rally under tight security after the government banned foreign participants. The country’s Pink Dot rally started in 2009.
    (AFP, 7/1/17)

2017        Jul 2, Turkish police chased away a small group of transgender activist who tried to march to Istanbul’s main square despite an official ban on the event. Seven people were detained.
    (SFC, 7/3/17, p.A2)

2017        Jul 3, Oregon enacted a rule change allowing people who do not identify with their gender to instead mark “X” on their driver’s licenses of state ID cards.
    (SFC, 8/12/17, p.A6)

2017        Jul 12, Malta legalized same-sex marriages, joining much of Western Europe by replacing the traditional "you are now husband and wife" declaration in civil ceremonies with "you are now spouses," despite church protests.
    (AP, 7/12/17)

2017        Jul 14, Chechnya's strongman President Ramzan Kadyrov harshly denounced claims that the Russian republic has tortured and killed gay men, denying that there are even any homosexual men in his region.
    (AP, 7/15/17)

2017        Jul 15, In South Korea thousands of people celebrated gay rights with song, dance and a march in Seoul, amid rain and boisterous protests by conservative Christians.
    (AFP, 7/15/17)

2017        Jul 19, The Straits Times newspaper reported that Singapore has annulled a couple's marriage after the husband changed sex, prompting an outcry from a group that campaigns for the rights of gay and transgender people.
    (Reuters, 7/19/17)

2017        Jul 20, Germany's president signed legislation legalizing gay marriage, paving the way for it to take effect this fall.
    (AP, 7/21/17)

2017        Jul 26, President Donald Trump announced that transgender people may not serve "in any capacity" in the US military, citing the "tremendous medical costs and disruption" their presence would cause.
    (AFP, 7/26/17)

2017        Aug 17, The Belfast High Court ruled that Northern Ireland's refusal to recognize same-sex marriage does not violate the rights of couples affected, in a blow to campaigners in the only part of the United Kingdom that bans gay marriage.
    (Reuters, 8/17/17)

2017        Aug 25, President Donald Trump directed the Pentagon to extend a ban on transgender individuals joining the military but gave the Pentagon the authority to decide the future of openly transgender people already serving. Trump appeared to leave open the possibility of allowing some transgender people who already are in uniform.
    (AP, 8/26/17)

2017        Aug 26, In Australia thousands of people rallied for marriage equality in Melbourne ahead of a postal survey on same-sex marriage which could lead to its legalization.
    (Reuters, 8/26/17)

2017        Aug 27, In Abu Dhabi a Singaporean man and his transgender friend facing jail for dressing in a "feminine" way had their sentences reduced to a fine and deportation. Singaporean fashion photographer Muhammad Fadli bin Abdul Rahman and his transgender friend Noor Vitriya Kistina Ibrahim were arrested earlier this month at an Abu Dhabi shopping mall.
    (AFP, 8/28/17)

2017        Aug 29, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis announced that transgender service members will continue to serve pending the results of a Pentagon study.
    (SFC, 8/30/17, p.A6)

2017        Sep 10, In Australia more than 20,000 people rallied in Sydney urging the legalization of same-sex marriage, days ahead of a contentious postal survey on the issue that has divided the country.
    (Reuters, 9/10/17)

2017        Sep 12, Edith Windsor (b.1929), a key figure in the legalization of same-sex marriage, died in New York City. She was the lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court of the United States case United States v. Windsor (2013), which successfully overturned Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act and was considered a landmark legal victory for the same-sex marriage movement in the United States.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Windsor)(SFC, 9/14/17 p.D2)

2017        Sep 16, Georgia Tech police shot Scout Shultz (21), the president of the Pride Alliance student group this evening, after he failed to drop a knife. Shultz died of his wounds early the next day at an Atlanta hospital. Three suicide notes were found in Schultz’s dorm room.
    (SFC, 9/18/17 p.A4)(SFC, 9/19/17 p.A6)
2017        Sep 16, Police in Tanzania’s autonomous region of Zanzibar said 20 people have been detained for engaging in gay and lesbian activities. 12 men and 8 women were arrested following a police raid on a hotel where the suspects were attending a workshop.
    (SSFC, 9/17/17 p.A3)

2017        Sep 17, Serbian gay right activists marched with their first openly lesbian prime minister through the streets of Belgrade, protected by police in riot gear as a helicopter flew low overhead.
    (Reuters, 9/17/17)

2017        Sep 18, In Azerbaijan police began arresting dozens of gay and transgender people in Baku. At least 46 people were soon sentenced to between 10 to 30 days in jail for resisting police. Homosexuality was decriminalized in the country in 2000, but animosity toward LGBT people remains strong.
    (AP, 9/29/17)

2017        Sep 22, In Egypt audience members waved rainbow flags during a performance by Mashrou’ Leila, a popular Lebanese band whose lead singer is openly gay. Seven people were later arrested on charges of promoting homosexuality.
    (SFC, 9/27/17, p.A2)
2017        Sep 22, Tunisia’s minister for human rights said Tunisia has committed itself to ban forced anal examinations to determine sexual orientation. Homosexuality is still punishable by three years in jail under Article 230 of Tunisia's criminal code.
    (AFP, 9/22/17)

2017        Sep 23, In Montenegro about 200 people have gathered at an LGBT pride event urging more rights and zero tolerance for violence against gay people in the conservative Balkan country.
    (AP, 9/23/17)

2017        Sep 25, A Hong Kong appeals court ruled that a British lesbian whose partner works in the city should be granted a spousal visa, a landmark decision that could lead to expatriate same-sex partners moving to the Chinese-ruled financial hub.
    (Reuters, 9/25/17)

2017        Sep 30, Amnesty International said six Egyptian men arrested for "promoting sexual deviancy" and "debauchery" on social media will be subjected to anal examinations ahead of their Oct. 1 trial.
    (Reuters, 9/30/17)

2017        Oct 1, In Germany same-sex couples married for the first time, with several dozen couples tying the knot at civil registry offices that opened specially to mark the coming into force of a law passed by parliament in June.
    (Reuters, 10/1/17)

2017        Oct 3, Security officials said Egypt has stepped up a crackdown on people suspected of homosexuality, arresting a total of 27 in a little more than a week.
    (AP, 10/3/17)

2017        Oct 5, US Attorney General Jeff sessions said federal civil rights law does not protect transgender people from discrimination at work.
    (SFC, 10/6/17, p.A6)

2017        Oct 6, In Indonesia dozens of men, including several foreigners, were arrested in a raid of a gay sauna in Jakarta, as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people faced increased hostility in the world's most-populous Muslim nation.
    (AP, 10/7/17)

2017        Oct 10, The Greek parliament passed a law to make it easier for people to change their legally recognized gender, a move that angered the Church but was welcomed as long-overdue by human rights groups.
    (Reuters, 10/10/17)
2017        Oct 10, In Kosovo about 300 people marched through Pristina at the first gay pride parade in the strongly conservative country which has a large Muslim majority.
    (AFP, 10/10/17)

2017        Oct 13, The UN human rights office said Azerbaijan, Egypt and Indonesia have all unjustly arrested dozens of people during anti-gay crackdowns in recent weeks, subjecting many to mistreatment in custody.
    (Reuters, 10/13/17)

2017        Oct 15, Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB179 making California the first state in the country to offer a third gender marker on birth certificates for nonbinary people who want their personal documents to match their gender identity. The gender option for driver’s licenses will be effective Jan 1, 2019.
    (SFC, 10/17/17, p.C1)

2017        Oct 19, Tanzanian police said they are holding 12 men, including two South Africans, for questioning over allegations of promoting homosexuality. Homosexuality is criminalized in Tanzania under a colonial-era law.
    (AP, 10/19/17)

2017        Oct 21, In Australia thousands of people rallied around the country urging the legalization of same-sex marriage, one week before final ballots can be submitted in a contentious postal survey on the issue that has divided the country.
    (Reuters, 10/21/17)
2017        Oct 21, In Romania several hundred people rallied in Bucharest to urge that civil partnerships be legally recognized so that unmarried cohabitants can enjoy expanded rights.
    (AP, 10/21/17)
2017        Oct 21, The Tanzanian government said it had suspended the Community Health Education Services and Advocacy center (CHESA). The NGO stands accused of organizing a workshop on Oct 17 for gay couples in a hotel in Dar es Salaam.
    (AFP, 10/21/17)

2017        Oct 27, Tanzania deported three South African lawyers arrested last week for "promoting homosexuality". They were amongst a group of 13 people, including a Ugandan and Tanzanians, who were arrested Oct. 24 at the Peacock hotel in Dar es Salaam.
    (AFP, 10/28/17)

2017        Oct 28, In Taipei, Taiwan, tens of thousands marched in Asia's largest gay pride parade, the first since Taiwan's top court ruled in favor of gay marriage.
    (AFP, 10/28/17)

2017        Oct 30, A US federal judge blocked Pres. Trump’s order to exclude transgender people from the armed forces.
    (SFC, 10/31/17, p.A6)

2017        Oct, Paraguay’s education minister banned classes about sexual diversity in schools and even volunteered to help burn all books related to the subject. The ban was implemented after schools began using a UN Children's Fund guidebook for teachers on avoiding discrimination between girls and boys and achieving gender equality.
    (AP, 12/14/17)

2017        Nov 6, A British man was convicted of killing his adopted 18-month-old baby after violently shaking her and striking her head. Toddler Elsi Scully-Hicks died in May 2016 after suffering a fractured skull while being violently shaken, two weeks after being formally adopted by defendant Matthew Scully-Hicks and his husband.
    (AFP, 11/6/17)

2017        Nov 7, Scotland's devolved government issued an apology to men convicted in the past for same-sex activity and passed a new law which will allow them to clear their names.
    (Reuters, 11/7/17)

2017        Nov 8, Germany's highest court decided that people must be allowed to be entered in official records as neither male nor female, saying in a published ruling that authorities should create a third identity or scrap gender entries altogether.
    (AP, 11/8/17)

2017        Nov 9, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the main opposition party of moving away from the country's moral values after a small opposition-run municipality installed a quota for LGBTI candidates running for a neighborhood committee.
    (AP, 11/9/17)

2017        Nov 12, In India hundreds of gay rights activists and supporters, marched through New Delhi in celebration but also defiance in a nation that continues to outlaw homosexual acts. This was New Delhi's 10th annual Queer Pride march.
    (AP, 11/12/17)

2017        Nov 14, The Italian diocese of Como defended its decision to ordain a seminarian accused in a book and an investigative TV report of having engaged in gay sex with a fellow teenager while both studied at the Vatican's youth seminary.
    (AP, 11/14/17)

2017        Nov 15, Turkish authorities in Ankara banned a German gay film festival the day before it was due to start, citing public safety and terrorism risks.
    (Reuters, 11/19/17)

2017        Nov 18, The Turkish capital Ankara banned the public showing of films and exhibitions related to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues.
    (Reuters, 11/19/17)

2017        Nov 24, In Turkey an Istanbul district authority banned a one-day festival that had been set to showcase short films on gay issues the next day, claiming the event posed a threat to public order.
    (AFP, 11/25/17)

2017        Dec 2, Tanzania police confirmed that they have arrested a woman in Geita after a video clip showing her kissing and embracing another woman at a party was widely shared online. Homosexuality is a criminal offense in Tanzania.
    (Reuters, 12/2/17)

2017        Dec 5, Austria’s Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples will be allowed to marry in Austria from 2019, and said a law to the contrary violated the principle of non-discrimination.
    (Reuters, 12/5/17)

2017        Dec 7, Australia's Parliament voted to allow same-sex marriage across the nation, following a bitter debate settled by a much-criticized government survey of voters that strongly endorsed change. After royal assent and other formalities, the law will likely take effect in about a month.
    (AP, 12/7/17)

2017        Dec 8, Gay marriage in Australia became a law as PM Malcolm Turnbull gained a final signature on a bill hours after it was overwhelming endorsed by Parliament.
    (AP, 12/9/17)

2017        Dec 12, A Botswana transgender woman won a legal battle against the government to be recognized as female in a landmark victory for the rights of the lesbian, gay and transgender community. The conservative southern African nation of 2 million people has been reluctant to fully acknowledge the rights of the LGBT community.
    (Reuters, 12/12/17)

2017        Dec 15, An Indonesian court sentenced 10 men arrested in a raid at a gay club and sauna to between two and three years in prison.
    (AP, 12/15/17)

2017        Dec 16, In Australia two female couples were married in Sydney and Melbourne after being granted permission to waive a 4-week period in the first same-sex weddings under new legislation allowing gay marriages.
    (AP, 12/17/17)

2017        Dec 17, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte expressed his support for same-sex unions, after previously declaring his opposition to gay marriage, in an about-face that may displease bishops in the mainly Roman Catholic country.
    (Reuters, 12/17/17)

2017        Dec 27, American neuroscientist Ben Barres (63), a brain cell pioneer and advocate for equal opportunity, died at his home in Palo Alto. Bares had transitioned from female to male in 1997.
    (SFC, 1/1/18, p.C2)

2017        Dec 28, It was reported that a Singapore court rejected this week a gay Singaporean doctor's bid to adopt his biological child because he was born by a surrogate mother in the US through a procedure not available for local unmarried couples.
    (Reuters, 12/28/17)

2017        Dec 30, Malaysia’s Terengganu state officials said they plan to run a conversion therapy course aimed at transgender women, sparking alarm among LGBT activists in the conservative Muslim-majority country.
    (AFP, 12/30/17)

2017        In Chile a school was launched for five transgender children in an effort to protect them from bullying. By 2019 enrollment had increased to 22.
    (SFC, 1/24/19, p.A5)

2018        Jan 4, Germany's highest civil and criminal court ruled that a transsexual woman, who used sperm she had banked prior to her sex change to have a baby with her female partner, cannot be legally registered as the child's mother.
    (Reuters, 1/4/18)

2018        Jan 9, Authorities in the Paraguayan border town of Ciudad del Este temporarily closed a shop accused of selling transgender dolls. The city attorney Christian said the shop also was closed for failing to pay this year's commercial tax and was selling toys when it's only authorized to sell electronic goods.
    (AP, 1/10/18)

2018        Jan 10, In southern California the body of Blaze Bernstein (b.1998) was found in a shallow grave in a Lake Forest park. Bernstein had gone missing after going with Samuel Woodward (21) to the park. He had been stabbed over twenty times. Two days later, Samuel Woodward, one of Bernstein's former high school classmates and a member of neo-Nazi terrorist group Atomwaffen Division, was arrested and charged with murdering Bernstein.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Blaze_Bernstein)(SFC, 11/10/18, p.A6)

2018        Jan 11, A US Federal Election Commission document was filed listing Chelsea Elizabeth Manning of North Bethesda, Maryland, as a Democratic candidate for US the Senate. Manning (30), who is transgender and was then known as Bradley Manning, was an army intelligence analyst sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013 for leaking more than 700,000 classified documents related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
    (AFP, 1/14/18)

2018        Jan 15, Kenyan police arrested Roman Catholic priest in Muranga County for allegedly engaging sexual relations with a man (18).
    (AP, 1/16/18)

2018        Jan 25, In Indonesia a survey showed that nearly 90 percent of Indonesians who understand the term LGBT feel "threatened" by the community and believe their religion forbids same-sex relations.
    (Reuters, 1/25/18)

2018        Jan, The Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that Costa Rica should allow same-sex marriage. Polls showed that just over two-thirds of Costa Ricans opposed the court's ruling.
    (AP, 2/3/18)

2018        Feb 2, In Indonesia Muslims in the conservative and semiautonomous Aceh province protested an investigation into local police who rounded up and publicly humiliated transgender women. Videos circulated online showed that police had forced 12 transgender women to dress as men, shaved their heads and berated them about not being masculine.
    (AP, 2/2/18)

2018        Feb 4, Costa Ricans went to the polls to choose a new president in a race upended by a debate over same-sex marriage. Conservative Christian singer and TV anchor Fabricio Alvarado skyrocketed to the top of the 13-person field after denouncing a January ruling by the region's top human rights court that called on Costa Rica to give equal civil marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples.
    (Reuters, 2/4/18)

2018        Feb 5, In California Kern County Superior Court Judge David Lampe ruled that the owner of a Bakersfield bakery had a free-speech right to turn away a lesbian couple who wanted a cake to celebrate their marriage.
    (SFC, 2/8/18, p.D2)

2018        Feb 7, Bermuda's UK-appointed governor, John Rankin, signed into law legislation replacing same-sex marriage with domestic partnerships passed in December by the Senate and House of Assembly. The decision reversed a 2017 court ruling legalizing gay marriage.
    (AP, 2/8/18)

2018        Mar 3, In Australia about half a million people lined Sydney's streets to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, the first time the annual parade has taken place since Australia legalized same-sex marriage.
    (Reuters, 3/3/18)

2018        Mar 4, The archdiocese of Naples said it has sent the Vatican a 1,200-page dossier compiled by a male escort identifying 40 actively gay priests and seminarians in Italy.
    (AP, 3/4/18)

2018        Mar 22, A Kenyan appeals court ruled unlawful the use of forced anal exams to test whether men had gay sex.
    (SFC, 3/23/18, p.A2)

2018        Mar 23, US President Donald Trump rolled back his blanket ban on transgender people serving in the military. Trump instead sought to shift responsibility to two of his cabinet secretaries. Trump's memorandum said the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Homeland Security, recommended people diagnosed with gender dysphoria be barred from military service.
    (AFP, 3/24/18)

2018        Mar 27, In Pakistan gunmen opened fire on a rickshaw carrying a transgender woman who went by the name Pinky and her male companion. Both later died of their gunshot wounds.
    (AP, 3/28/18)

2018        Mar, Malaysia's Universiti Sains Malaysia's Muslim Students Association held a forum to "convert" lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students.
    (Reuters, 4/4/18)
2018        Mar, Marvia Malik (21) made history in Pakistan by becoming the first transgender newscaster in a conservative Muslim country where members of her community are taunted in public, ostracized by family and targeted in violent attacks.
    (AP, 3/28/18)

2018        Apr 1, Costa Rica held presidential elections. Evangelical pastor Fabricio Alvarado, who has capitalized on opposition to same-sex marriage, was in a tight presidential race against novelist and former cabinet minister Carlos Alvarado of the governing Citizen Action Part, who has openly backed allowing gays to wed. Voters gave a resounding no to the evangelical pastor who rose to political prominence by campaigning against same-sex marriage, allowing the governing party to win an easy presidential victory.
    (AP, 4/1/18)(AP, 4/2/18)

2018        Apr 2, The West Hollywood-based gay dating app Grindr was under fire for sharing information about users' HIV status or locations with two companies enlisted to optimize its software. A day later the company announced a policy change to stop sharing users' HIV statuses
    (AP, 4/3/18)(SFC, 4/4/18, p.C5)

2018        Apr 12, A court in Trinidad and Tobago ruled that colonial-era laws banning same-sex intimacy between consenting adults are unconstitutional.
    (http://tinyurl.com/ybcmwp9k)(SSFC, 4/15/18, p.A4)

2018        Apr 13, China's Sina Weibo said in a statement it had begun a "clean-up campaign" to remove "illegal" content, including "manga and videos with pornographic implications, promoting violence or (related to) homosexuality".
    (AFP, 4/14/18)

2018        Apr 14, In China a storm of online protests under the hashtag "I am gay" followed a Sina Weibo statement a day earlier that it would remove "homosexual" content from the popular microblogging platform.
    (AFP, 4/14/18)

2018        Apr 16, Weibo.com, one of China's top social networking sites, announced that it will no longer be censoring content related to gay issues after the plan triggered a loud public outcry.
    (AP, 4/16/18)

2018        Apr 23, The Italian city of Turin announced that has moved to fill a legal loophole by registering three babies born to gay parents who conceived abroad via artificial insemination.
    (AP, 4/23/18)

2018        Apr 27, A Kenyan movie due to become the first in the country's history to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival was banned by the Kenya Film Classification Board for seeking to "promote lesbianism." The story by Ugandan writer Monica Arac Nyeko won the 2007 Caine Prize, which is awarded to African writers of a short story published in English.
    (AFP, 4/27/18)

2018        May 11, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin signed a bill that provides legal protections to faith-based agencies that won't place children in LGBT homes because of religious or moral convictions or policies.
    (SFC, 5/12/18, p.A5)

2018        May 17, China's LGBT advocates cautiously organized awareness-raising events across the country to celebrate International Anti-Homophobia Day amid concern of growing intolerance towards LGBT causes.
    (Reuters, 5/17/18)
2018        May 17, France's Digital Minister Mounir Mahjoubi came out as gay, in a rare move for a French public figure that he said would help give gay people more visibility at a time when homophobic acts are on the rise.
    (Reuters, 5/18/18)

2018        May 23, Richard Peck (b.1934), award winning novelist for young readers, died in Manhattan of kidney failure following a diagnosis of bladder cancer. He authored more than 40 books and came out as gay about the time of his last novel "The Best Man" (2016).
    (SFC, 5/30/18, p.D5)

2018        May 25, Chris Foot, the head of Kenya's film commission, slammed a decision to impose a domestic ban on "Rafiki," a Kenya-made film about lesbian love that received a standing ovation at this month's Cannes festival.
    (AFP, 5/25/18)

2018        May 26, South Korea held its first ever drag parade, a small but significant step for rights activists in a country that remains deeply conservative when it comes to gender and sexuality.
    (AP, 5/27/18)

2018        May 30, Ethan Stables (20), a British man arrested in June 2017, who planned a neo-Nazi-inspired machete attack on a gay pride event, was sentenced in London to an indefinite stay in a psychiatric hospital.
    (AP, 5/30/18)

2018        Jun 1, A Hong Kong court ruled that the husband of a male civil servant was not entitled to spousal benefits, overturning a landmark lower court ruling in a setback for the city's LGBT community. In April last year, the High Court ruled that the couple were entitled to spousal benefits, but rejected their bid for a joint tax assessment as a married couple.
    (Reuters, 6/1/18)

2018        Jun 2, In Mauritius the Rainbow Collective, which advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights, attempted to hold a Pride parade in downtown Port Louis, attracting around 200 people. March organizers decided to cancel their event fearing clashes after a group of Muslims waving placards with anti-gay slogans gathered for a prayer meeting nearby.
    (AFP, 6/6/18)

2018        Jun 3, Germany's Pres. Frank-Walter Steinmeier asked gays for forgiveness for decades of suffering and injustice they endured as a result of repressive laws in Germany in the Nazi era and after World War II.
    (AP, 6/3/18)

2018        Jun 4, The US Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that a Colorado's Civil Rights Commission had violated a baker's rights to a fair and neutral assessment of his refusal to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.
    (SFC, 6/5/18, p.A1)

2018        Jun 5, The EU's top court, in a landmark ruling for gay rights in Europe, said that Romania must grant residence to the American husband of a local man even though Romania does not itself permit same-sex marriage.
    (Reuters, 6/5/18)

2018        Jun 8, In Israel men in white underwear, pink bunny ears and black bow ties gyrated through the streets of Tel Aviv along with drag queens and others to loud trance music for the annual Gay Pride Parade. Over 250,000 people celebrated at the city's 20th Gay Pride Parade.
    (AP, 6/8/18)

2018        Jun 14, Poland's Supreme Court ruled against a businessman who refused to print posters for an LGBT business group because he did not want to "promote" the gay rights movement.
    (AP, 6/14/18)

2018        Jun 17, In Mexico three LGBTQ activists were found shot dead and left along a highway in Guerrero state.
    (SFC, 6/20/18, p.A2)
2018        Jun 17, In Ukraine several thousand gay pride supporters held a march in Kiev that lasted about 20 minutes despite opponents' attempts to block them. Kiev police detained 56 far-right activists who tried to disrupt the gay pride march.
    (AP, 6/17/18)(AFP, 6/17/18)

2018        Jul 1, In Turkey hundreds LGBTI activists gathered for a Pride march in Istanbul despite a local ban in effect since 2015.
    (SFC, 7/2/18, p.A3)

2018        Jul 4, Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal ruled that the same-sex partner of a British expatriate is entitled to equal treatment under immigration law, marking a significant step for gay rights in the Chinese territory.
    (AP, 7/4/18)

2018        Jul 7, London Mayor Sadiq Khan and a contingent of Royal Marines joined tens of thousands of people celebrating Britain's LGBT community at a massive parade. The event was the first pride march that had uniformed Marines as official participants.
    (AP, 7/7/18)

2018        Jul 18, Romania's top court ruled that a gay Romanian-American couple is entitled to the same residency rights as other married couples in the European Union.
    (AP, 7/18/18)

2018        Jul 22, Israelis demonstrated and held a one-day strike to protest a law denying surrogacy to gay couples, with some blocking a major highway in Tel Aviv.
    (AFP, 7/22/18)

2018        Jul, In Japan Mio Sugita, a lawmaker belonging to PM Shinzo Abe's ruling party, said in a right-wing magazine that the government shouldn't use tax money for LGBT rights because same-sex couples don't produce children and have "no productivity." The comment triggered outrage from sexual minorities as well as others, including the elderly and disabled.
    (AP, 8/31/18)

2018        Aug 1, It was reported that England's Freemasons are to admit women to their secretive society, but only if they were previously male masons.
    (Reuters, 8/1/18)

2018        Aug 2, In Israel thousands of people attended Jerusalem's annual Gay Pride parade under heavy police guard.
    (AFP, 8/2/18)

2018        Aug 4, Russian police arrested 30 LGBT activists in Saint Petersburg during a coordinated demonstration defending the rights of sexual minorities.
    (AFP, 8/4/18)

2018        Aug 8, Costa Rica's supreme court voted to make same-sex marriage legal and gave the country's legislature 18 months to change the law or it would automatically become legal.
    (SFC, 8/10/18, p.A2)
2018        Aug 8, Malaysia's minister of Islamic affairs said he had ordered the removal of portraits of two lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activists from a public photography exhibition, as they promoted LGBT activities.
    (Reuters, 8/8/18)

2018        Aug 11, In western Poland the final of this year's edition of Mr Gay Europe took place in Poznan. Enrique Doleschy (30) of Germany beat six other finalists to win the title.
    (AFP, 8/11/18)

2018        Aug 12, Malaysian media said two women have been charged under Islamic laws forbidding lesbian sex at the Shariah High Court in Terengganu, a conservative state ruled by the Islamist opposition party Pan-Malaysian Islamist Party (PAS). They were sentenced to six strokes by caning for having sex and fined 3,300 ringgit ($806).
    (Reuters, 8/14/18)

2018        Aug 15, Germany's Cabinet approved a third gender option for official records that will allow people to be registered as "diverse," complying with a ruling from the country's highest court.
    (AP, 8/15/18)

2018        Aug 17, In Pakistan a transgender woman, who went by the name Nazo, was shot dead and dismembered in the suburbs of Peshawar. Police arrested two men who were taking the body parts to dispose of them.
    (AP, 8/20/18)

2018        Aug 18, Brazil's "queer museum," forced to close last year after conservatives attacked it for allegedly promoting pedophilia, blasphemy and bestiality, reopened in the shadow of Rio de Janeiro's iconic Christ the Redeemer statue. A crowdfunding campaign raised more than a million reais ($275,000) allowing it to reopen for a month, with free admission, at the School for Visual Arts in Rio de Janeiro's Parque Lage.
    (AFP, 8/18/18)

2018        Aug 20, In northwestern Pakistan dozens of transgender people in Peshawar held a protest demanding more protection after a transgender woman was shot dead and dismembered last week. 478 attacks transgender people have been reported this year.
    (AP, 8/20/18)

2018        Aug 30, A district in Indonesia's deeply conservative Aceh province banned unmarried couples from sitting at the same table in restaurants, cafes or coffee shops. The regulation also prohibits restaurants and coffee shops from hiring lesbians, gays, or bisexual or transgender people as waiters or waitresses.
    {Indonesia, Gays, Islam}
    (AP, 9/5/18)

2018        Sep 3, In Malaysia two Muslim women convicted under Islamic laws of attempting to have sex were caned in a rare public whipping that was slammed by lawmakers and rights activists as a form of torture. The women, aged 22 and 32, were seated on stools facing the judges and given six strokes from a light rattan cane on their backs by female prison officers.
    (AP, 9/3/18)

2018        Sep 6, India's top court scrapped Section 377, a colonial-era ban on gay sex, in a landmark judgment that sparked celebrations across India and elsewhere in South Asia, where activists hope to push for similar reform.
    (Reuters, 9/6/18)

2018        Sep 28, Romania's top court ruled that gay couples should have the same family rights as heterosexuals, a judgment that comes before a national referendum seeking to ban same-sex marriage.
    (AP, 9/28/18)

2018        Oct 7, Romanians voted for a second day on a constitutional amendment backed by the influential Romanian Orthodox Church that would make it harder to legalize same-sex marriage. The vote required a 30 percent turnout to be valid. More than 90 percent of those who took part in a national referendum supported defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, but the vote was invalidated as too few people cast ballots.
    (AP, 10/7/18)(AP, 10/8/18)

2018        Oct 10, In Kosovo hundreds of people took part in a gay parade in Pristina, demanding "freedom" and "equal rights" in the patriarchal and Muslim majority country.
    (AP, 10/10/18)
2018        Oct 10, A bakery run by a Christian family in Northern Ireland won a landmark case in Britain's highest court over its refusal to make a cake decorated with the words "Support Gay Marriage". The Supreme Court upheld the owners' appeal against a May decision that found them guilty of discriminating against gay rights activist Gareth Lee.
    (AFP, 10/10/18)

2018        Oct 11, In Poland an official of the Supreme Administrative Court confirmed that the court had now ruled in favor of the lesbian parents of a Polish boy and have been given the right to register him in Poland as their child.
    (Reuters, 10/11/18)

2018        Oct 12, In Austria two women tied the knot in Vienna in the country's first same-sex marriage, months after the country's Constitutional Court ruled to legalize it.
    (AP, 10/12/18)

2018        Oct 13, Polish police used tear gas and a water cannon against right-wing extremists who were trying to block the first equality parade in the city of Lublin.
    (AP, 10/13/18)

2018        Oct 18, Indonesian police arrested two men who allegedly operated a Facebook account to facilitate meet-ups for gay people and other sex-related services.
    (Reuters, 10/21/18)
2018        Oct 18, Uruguay's Congress approved a law that guarantees rights to the country's transgender community. Lawmakers in the lower house voted in favor of the measure late today. It had already been approved by the Senate.
    (http://tinyurl.com/y8fupdq6)(SSFC, 10/21/18, p.A4)

2018        Oct 27, In Taiwan tens of thousands of people gathered in Taipei for the city's annual gay pride parade ahead of referendums next month that will determine whether same-sex marriages will be recognized on the island.
    (AP, 10/27/18)

2018        Oct 31, In Tanzania Dar es Salaam's administrative chief Paul Makonda said that a special committee would seek to identify and punish homosexuals, prostitutes and online fraudsters in the city from this week.
    (AP, 11/4/18)

2018        Nov 9, Tanzanian authorities carried out physical examinations on 10 men suspected of homosexual activity in Zanzibar. The men were arrested last week on suspicion of celebrating a gay marriage at a resort hotel.
    (AP, 11/9/18)

2018        Nov 10, In New York Episcopal Bishop William Love issued a directive banning same-sex marriage in his diocese in Albany.
    (SFC, 11/12/18, p.A6)

2018        Nov 18, In Ukraine two activists were attacked with pepper-spray in Kiev during a transgender rights march that was interrupted by dozens of far-right protesters.
    (AFP, 11/18/18)

2018        Nov 19, China's state-run media said female novelist Tianyi has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for writing and distributing books containing explicit descriptions of gay male sex. She attracted the scrutiny of authorities after one of her homoerotic novels, "Gongzhan", went viral last year.
    (AFP, 11/19/18)

2018        Nov 25, Voters in Taiwan passed a referendum asking that marriage be restricted to one man and one woman, a setback to LGBT couples hoping their island will be the first place in Asia to let same-sex couples share child custody and insurance benefits.
    (AP, 11/25/18)

2018        Nov 27, The European Court of Human Rights issued a fresh rebuke to the Kremlin, ruling that Russia's continued ban on LGBT rallies is discriminatory and represents a violation of human rights.
    (AP, 11/27/18)
2018        Nov 27, The Indonesian city of Pariaman, West Sumatra, approved a bylaw to fine gay or transgender people up to 1 million rupiah ($70) for behavior that could "disturb public order" or be considered immoral.
    (Reuters, 11/30/18)

2018        Nov 28, Chile's Pres. Sebastian Pinera signed a measure that lets people over the age of 14 change their name and gender in official records.
    (SFC, 11/29/18, p.A2)

2018        Nov 29, Police in Russia's fourth-largest city of Yekaterinburg seized children's paintings over what they consider to be depictions of gay love. A high school drawing competition on the subject of tolerance had featured several drawings which depicted same-sex couples.
    (AP, 11/29/18)

2018        Dec 17, In Singapore a gay man won the right to adopt a child he fathered via a surrogate in the United States, in a landmark court ruling for the conservative city-state.
    (AFP, 12/17/18)

2019        Jan 1, Two Austrian women became the first same-sex couple to officially tie the knot in the predominantly Catholic country, following years of legal challenges from gay rights groups.
    (AP, 1/1/19)

2019        Jan 11, Prominent Russian LGBT activist Igor Kochetkov said that gay rights supporters have seen a spike in detentions in Chechnya of men and women suspected of being gay since late December.
    (AP, 1/11/19)

2019        Jan 14, LGBT activists in Russia charged the republic of Chechnya with launching a new crackdown on gays in which at least two people have died and about 40 people have been detained.
    (AP, 1/14/19)

2019        Jan 22, The US Supreme Court moved toward allowing Pres. Trump to exclude most transgender from military service.
    (SFC, 1/23/19, p.A10)

2019        Jan 25, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a measure making it illegal to deny people a job, housing, education or public accommodations because they are transgender.
    (SSFC, 1/27/19, p.A10)
2019        Jan 25, Jean Wyllys, Brazil's second openly gay congressman, said he will not serve the new term for which he was re-elected due to death threats and he now plans to live abroad. His Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) said his seat in Brasilia will go to a substitute lawmaker who is also gay: Rio councilman David Miranda, the husband of Pulitzer Prize-winning US journalist Glenn Greenwald.
    (Reuters, 1/25/19)
2019        Jan 25, Japan's Supreme Court upheld a law that effectively requires transgender people to be sterilized before they can have their gender changed on official documents. The 2004 law states that people wishing to register a gender change must have their original reproductive organs, including testes or ovaries, removed and have a body that "appears to have parts that resemble the genital organs" of the gender they want to register.
    (AP, 1/25/19)

2019        Jan 26, In Myanmar rainbow flags flew high and gay anthems blasted out over Yangon’s river as a flotilla of boats took to the water for the country’s first-ever Pride boat parade in a sign of growing acceptance for LGBT rights.
    (AFP, 1/26/19)

2019        Jan 29, In Canada Bruce McArthur (67), charged with the murder of eight gay men who disappeared over several years, pleaded guilty in Toronto to the charges. On Jan. 8 he was sentenced to life in prison.
    (http://tinyurl.com/y4yhyhk5)(Reuters, 1/29/19)(SFC, 2/9/19, p.A2)

2019        Feb 1, Hong Kong's High Court refused to allow three transgender men to be recognized as males on their official identity cards because they have not undergone full sex-change operations.
    (AP, 2/1/19)

2019        Feb 3, Barbra Siperstein (76), a crusader for transgender rights, died in New Jersey. Two days earlier a New Jersey bill, named in her honor, went into effect granting states residents the right to amend their gender on birth certificates without proof of surgery.
    (SSFC, 2/10/19, p.C9)
2019        Feb 3, In El Salvador transgender woman Camila Diaz Cordova (29), who sought asylum in the United States, died after being kidnapped and beaten. This was weeks after she was deported, underscoring the dangers of the Trump administration's hardening policy on asylum seekers.
    (Reuters, 2/23/19)

2019        Feb 13, An Instagram account that published comic strips depicting the struggles of gay Muslims in Indonesia disappeared from the site following a frenzy of moral outrage online in the world's biggest Muslim nation. The Ministry of Communications said that the account under the username Alpatuni was pornographic.
    (AP, 2/13/19)

2019        Feb 14, In Japan thirteen gay couples filed the country's first lawsuit challenging the rejection of same-sex marriage, arguing the denial violates their constitutional right to equality.
    (AP, 2/14/19)

2019        Feb 20, Taiwan's government said that it would propose a draft law to allow same-sex marriage in Asia's first such bill amid a heated debate over marriage equality that has divided the self-ruled island.
    (Reuters, 2/20/19)

2019        Feb, French gay writer Frederic Martel authored "In the Closet of the Vatican." Here he describes a gay subculture at the Vatican.
    (SFC, 2/15/19, p.A2)

2019        Mar 9, A Malaysian minister decried the presence of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) groups at a march celebrating International Women's Day, calling it "a misuse of democratic space".
    (Reuters, 3/10/19)

2019        Mar 13, The US Pentagon outlined new rules for transgender troops. A new policy will largely bar transgender troops and military recruits from transitioning to another sex, and require most individuals to serve in their birth gender.
    (SFC, 3/14/19, p.A7)
2019        Mar 13, German authorities extended compensation payments to more gay men who were investigated under a law criminalizing homosexuality that was enthusiastically enforced in West Germany after World War II.
    (AP, 3/13/19)

2019        Mar 22, In Michigan an agreement was announced between the state and attorneys for the ACLU in which faith-based adoption agencies paid by the state will no longer be able to turn away couples or individuals because of religious objections.
    (SSFC, 3/24/19, p.A13)

2019        Mar 28, The US House of Representatives voted 238-185 to condemn Pres. Donald Trump's move to restrict transgender men and women from military service. Five Republicans broke ranks to vote with all the Democrats in the non-binding resolution.
    (SFC, 3/29/19, p.A5)
2019        Mar 28, George Clooney called for the boycott of nine hotels in the US and Europe with ties to the sultan of Brunei, which on April 3 will implement Islamic criminal laws to punish gay sex by stoning offenders to death.
    (AP, 3/30/19)(Reuters, 3/30/19)

2019        Mar 30, In Italy the US-based International Organization for the Family began a 2-day congress in Verona. The organization defines family as strictly centering around a mother and father. A coalition of civic groups mobilized against what they see as a counter-reform movement to limit LGBT and women's rights.
    (AP, 3/30/19)

2019        Apr 3, In Brunei new Islamic criminal laws that took effect, punishing gay sex and adultery by stoning offenders to death. They have triggered an outcry from countries, rights groups and celebrities far beyond the tiny Southeast Asian nation's shores.
    (AP, 4/3/19)

2019        Apr 2, In Chicago Lori Lightfoot (56), a former federal prosecutor, was elected mayor, becoming the city's first black woman and openly gay person to lead the city.
    (SFC, 4/3/19, p.A6)

2019        Apr 4, In Utah the Church of the Latter Day Saints repealed rules unveiled in 2015 that banned baptisms for children of gay parents and made gay marriage a sin worthy of expulsion.
    (SFC, 4/5/19, p.A5)

2019        Apr 5, In Armenia Lilit Martirosian, a transgender woman, told members of parliament's human rights committee that the group she founded, Right Side, had recorded 283 cases of transgender rights violations. The next day, hundreds of people protested outside the parliament building, demanding fumigation of the podium at which Martirosian spoke. Death threats soon followed.
    (AP, 4/27/19)

2019        Apr 6, In London hundreds of people rallied outside the Brunei-owned Dorchester hotel in protest at new Islamic sharia laws in the country that punish homosexuality, adultery and rape with the death penalty.
    (Reuters, 4/6/19)

2019        Apr 12, In Texas a transgender woman was beaten after a minor traffic accident and the attack was caught on cell phone video. On April 14 Edward Thomas (29) was arrested and suspicion of aggravated assault.
    (SFC, 4/16/19, p.A5)

2019        May 5, Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah extended a moratorium on the death penalty to incoming legislation prohibiting gay sex, seeking to temper a global backlash led by celebrities such as George Clooney and Elton John.
    (Reuters, 5/05/19)

2019        May 7, The Cuban government announced that it has cancelled this year's edition of a parade widely seen as a sign of progress on gay rights.
    (SFC, 5/8/19, p.A2)

2019        May 8, Human Rights Watch reported a new wave of gay men being detained and tortured in the Russian republic of Chechnya.
    (AP, 5/09/19)

2019        May 11, Cuban police broke up an unauthorized pro-LGBT rights march in Havana, held as an alternative to the government-sanctioned Gay Rights parade that authorities canceled earlier in the week.
    (AFP, 5/11/19)

2019        May 13, Alabama Public Television chose not to air the PBS children's show "Arthur" because it showed Arthur attending the wedding of his teacher with a same-sex partner.
    (SFC, 5/22/19, p.A4)

2019        May 16, In Chicago Lori Lightfoot was sworn in as city mayor, becoming the first black woman and the first openly gay gay person to hold that post in the city's history.
    (SFC, 5/21/19, p.A8)

2019        May 17, Taiwan became the first place in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, as thousands of demonstrators outside parliament cheered and waved rainbow flags, despite deep divisions over marriage equality.
    (Reuters, 5/17/19)

2019        May 21, Kenya author Binyavanga Wainaina (48), one of Africa's best-known authors and gay rights activists, died in Nairobi.
    (AP, 5/22/19)

2019        May 23, Brazil's Supreme Court voted to make homophobia and transphobia crimes like racism. Six judges ruled that homophobia should be framed within the raciswm law (1989) until the country's congress approves legislation specifically dealing with LGBT discrimination. The five remaining jusges were set to vote in a court session on June 5.
    (http://tinyurl.com/y42y8sb3)(SFC, 5/25/19, p.A2)

2019        May 24, In Kenya a three-judge panel of the High Court upheld sections of the country's penal code that criminalize same-sex relations.
    (AP, 5/24/19)
2019        May 24, In Taiwan hundreds of same-sex couples rushed to get married, the first day a landmark decision that legalized same-sex marriage took effect.
    (AP, 5/24/19)

2019        May 25, In Michigan three people were killed and two people left wounded at a Detroit home. Police later said the victims were targeted by suspect Devon Robinson (18) because they were gay or transgender.
    (SFC, 6/8/19, p.A5)

2019        May 26, Voters in a small town south of Milan voted against the right-wing League candidate to elect Gianmarco Negri (40), Italy's first transgender mayor.
    (AP, 5/28/19)

2019        May, Rugby star Israel Folau, a devout Christian, was fired after a Rugby Australia tribunal found him guilty of "high-level" misconduct for posting on social media that "hell awaits" gay people and others he considers sinners. On June 24 a crowdfunding campaign for his legal fees was shut down.
    (AFP, 6/24/19)

2019        Jun 6, New York's police chief apologized for the first time for a crackdown on the city's gay community during the notorious 1969 Stonewall riots, winning praise from LGBTQ activists ahead of the 50th anniversary of violence considered to have given rise to the Gay Pride movement.
    (AFP, 6/6/19)
2019        Jun 6, Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal said the government cannot deny spousal employment benefits to same-sex couples, in a ruling hailed as a major step forward for same-sex equality in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.
    (AP, 6/6/19)
2019        Jun 6, In Israel thousands took part in Jerusalem's Gay Pride parade, waving rainbow flags and calling for tolerance in the Holy City with security tight.
    (AFP, 6/6/19)

2019        Jun 7, Bhutan's lower house of Parliament voted overwhelmingly to repeal provisions that said "unnatural sex" is illegal. The bill still needs to be passed by the upper chamber before being sent for royal assent.
    (AP, 6/9/19)

2019        Jun 8, In Poland tens of thousands of people joined a pride march in Warsaw as gay rights continue to become a major issue in Poland's election campaign.
    (Reuters, 6/8/19)

2019        Jun 11, Botswana decriminalized homosexuality, with the High Court overturning a colonial-era law that punished gay sex by up to seven years in prison.
    (Reuters, 6/11/19)
2019        Jun 11, The Pacific nation of Samoa said it has banned the Elton John biopic "Rocketman" because of its depictions of homosexuality.
    (AP, 6/11/19)

2019        Jun 12, Ecuador's highest court approved same-sex marriage in a landmark ruling in the traditionally Catholic and conservative South American country.
    (AFP, 6/12/19)

2019        Jun 13, Brazil's Supreme Court voted to criminalize homophobia, an important step for sexual minorities in one of the most dangerous countries for LGBT people in the world.
    (AFP, 6/13/19)

2019        Jun 14, In Israel the largest gay pride parade in the Middle East drew hundreds of thousands of revelers and demonstrators from all over to the streets of Tel Aviv.
    (AP, 6/14/19)

2019        Jun 18, In San Francisco groundbreaking ceremonies were held in front of the Eagle Bar, the future location of Eagle Plaza, a pedestrian zone in front of the bar dedicated to leather and the LGBTQ culture.
    (SFC, 6/19/19, p.C1)

2019        Jun 23, In Ukraine troops in military uniform joined more than 8,000 people marching in Kiev's Gay Pride parade amid tight security, the biggest ever annual celebration of diversity in ex-Soviet Ukraine.
    (AFP, 6/23/19)

2019        Jun 25, A Christian group crowdfunded more than Aus$l.0 million ($700,000) in a single day for former Australian rugby star Israel Folau's legal battle to appeal against his sacking over homophobic comments.
    (AFP, 6/25/19)

2019        Jun 28, In NYC thousands of people converged on the Stonewall Inn for the 50th anniversary of the rebellion that catalyzed a movement for LGBTQ liberation, marking the milestone with celebrity performances, speeches and personal reflections.
    (AP, 6/29/19)

2019        Jun 29, In Mexico tens of thousands of people paraded through the streets of Mexico City to celebrate the capital's growing role as a beacon of tolerance for migrants fleeing persecution for their gender and sexuality.
    (Reuters, 6/30/19)
2019        Jun 29, North Macedonia held its first Gay Pride march, in a test of the Balkan country's record on respecting minority rights as it seeks to join the EU.
    (Reuters, 6/29/19)
2019        Jun 29, In Pakistan the bullet riddled body of Aftab Aurangzeb (19) was found late today at a river bank in his home town of Nowshera, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Pakistani police soon arrested Aurangzeb Akbar for murdering his transgender son.
    (AP, 6/30/19)

2019        Jun 30, It was reported that some 60,000 people considered "deviant" by the Swiss authorities were locked up over the course of the 20th century. The practice peaked in Switzerland in the 1930s but was still legal as late as 1981.
    (AFP, 6/30/19)
2019        Jun 30, Activists in Istanbul said Turkish authorities have banned a pride march for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex rights for the fifth year.
    (AP, 6/30/19)

2019        Jul 18, In Ecuador a lesbian couple married in the country's first same-sex wedding since a landmark ruling last month by the Constitutional Court.
    (SFC, 7/19/19, p.A2)

2019        Jul 20, In South Carolina Denali Berries Stuckey (29),  black transgender women, was found dead on the shoulder of a North Charleston road. Stuckey was the third known black trans woman murdered in South Carolina since 2018 and the 12th known transgender person to violently die this year in the US
    (AP, 7/25/19)
2019        Jul 20, Polish police detained 25 people in Bialystok, after attacks on those taking part in the city's first equality march amid accusations that the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party benefits from fuelling anti-gay sentiment.
    (Reuters, 7/21/19)

2019        Jul 21, In Russia Elena Grigoryeva (41), an activist for LGBT rights, was fatally stabbed in St Petersburg. She had regularly received death threats and reported them to police, who did nothing to protect her before she was murdered.
    (Reuters, 7/23/19)

2019        Jul 23, In North Carolina a federal judge approved a settlement saying state agencies and universities cannot ban transgender people from using the bathroom of the gender with which they identify.
    (SFC, 7/24/19, p.A5)

2019        Jul 27, In Poland over 1,000 people gathered in Warsaw in support of LGBT rights a week after the first pride march in the city of Bialystok was marred by violence.
    (Reuters, 7/27/19)

2019        Jul 30, In Texas the body of Tracy Williams (22), a transgender woman also known as Tracy Single, was found in a parking lot on Interstate 10 in Houston. She had sustained a "puncture wound" and severe lacerations. Joshua Dominic Bourgeois (25), considered a suspect after investigators learned he had been in a "dating relationship" with Williams, was arrested on August 30.
    (AP, 8/26/19)

2019        Jul 31, It was reported that tens of thousands of Twitter users have expressed support for gay rights in Poland as part of the #jestemLGBT campaign, aimed at fighting discrimination and homophobia in a country where the ruling party is strongly socially conservative.
    (Reuters, 7/31/19)

2019        Aug 3, In the Netherlands one of Europe's biggest annual Gay Pride parades kicked off on the canals of Amsterdam, with over 500,000 visitors from around the world expected to cheer on 80 boats representing a wide variety of organizations from the LGBTI+ community.
    (Reuters, 8/3/19)

2019        Aug 6, Brazilian model Valentina Sampaio’s agent said Victoria's Secret has hired Sampaio as its first transgender model, as the struggling lingerie brand seeks to modernize its image.
    (Reuters, 8/6/19)

2019        Aug 9, A federal judge in Virginia ruled that a school board's transgender bathroom ban discriminated against a former student, Gavin Grimm, the latest in a string of decisions nationwide that favor transgender students who faced similar policies.
    (AP, 8/9/19)

2019        Aug 21, In China a parliament spokesman said limiting marriage to a relationship between a man and a woman will remain China's legal position, ruling out following neighboring Taiwan in allowing same-sex marriage, despite pressure from activists.
    (Reuters, 8/21/19)

2019        Aug 22, In Florida Gary Ray Bowles (57), a serial killer who preyed on older, gay men during an eight-month spree that left six dead on or near the US East Coast a quarter century ago, was executed. Bowles had received the death penalty for the November 1994 murder of Walter Hinton in Jacksonville Beach.
    (AP, 8/22/19)(SFC, 8/24/19, p.A6)

2019        Aug 29, A new study published today reported that there is no single gene responsible for sexual orientation.
    (SFC, 8/30/19, p.a9)

2019        Sep 4, In southern Florida Bee Love Slater, a black, transgender 23-year-old was found murdered fat the edge of Harlem, a small community about 65 miles west of West Palm.
    (The Independent, 9/14/19)

2019        Sep 6, In Mauritius four gay plaintiffs filed an application to repeal an 1838 law against sodomy, known as section 250, in the country's Supreme Court. Homosexuality is taboo in Mauritius, a tiny island of 1.3 million people off Africa's south-east coast, and persecution of sexual minorities is common.
    (Reuters, 10/1/19)

2019        Sep 8, Several thousand people marched in Bosnia's first Gay Pride, protected by a major security operation including anti-sniper units after some conservative Muslim groups organized counter-rallies.
    (Reuters, 9/8/19)
2019        Sep 8, In Ethiopia Dereje Negash of the Orthodox Church group dedicated to an Ethiopian saint, said the government's indifference on homosexuality is helping the LGBT movement in the country. Under Ethiopian law, homosexual acts are punishable with jail terms of up to 15 years.
    (AP, 9/8/19)

2019        Sep 12, In Uzbekistan the body of Shokir Shavkatov (25), a gay man, was found stabbed to death inside his flat in Tashkent. A suspect (28) was soon taken in custody and charged with premeditated murder. The murder cast the spotlight on the treatment of LGBT+ people in the country and raised questions over government reforms aimed at attracting foreign investment.
    (Reuters, 9/27/19)(http://tinyurl.com/yyl9k5mn)

2019        Sep 15, Police in Serbia clashed with far-right supporters who tried to prevent a gay pride parade attended by the country's openly gay prime minister, Ana Brnabic and her partner.
    (SFC, 9/16/19, p.A2)

2019        Sep 20, In Texas Domingo Ramirez-Cayente (29) repeatedly shot Daniela Calderon (35),  a transgender woman, in Dallas. Calderon survived the shooting. Ramirez-Cayente was in the country illegally after being deported in 2010.
    (AP, 10/12/19)

2019        Sep 28, Polish anti-LGBT protesters clashed with riot police in the south-eastern city of Lublin just before a gay pride march that has highlighted increased social tensions in the devoutly Catholic nation ahead of an election next month.
    (Reuters, 9/28/19)

2019        Oct 10, Uganda announced plans for a bill that would impose the death penalty on homosexuals, saying the legislation would curb a rise in unnatural sex in the east African nation.
    (Reuters, 10/10/19)

2019        Oct 25, In Missouri a jury recommended that St. Louis County police Sgt. Keith Wildhaber be awarded nearly $20 million after finding the department discriminated against him because he's gay.
    (AP, 10/26/19)

2019        Oct 26, More than 100,000 people thronged the streets of Taiwan's capital Taipei for East Asia's largest Pride march, months after the self-ruled island began formally allowing same-sex marriage, the first place in Asia to do so.
    (Reuters, 10/26/19)

2019        Nov 1, The US Dept. of Health and Human Services released a proposed rule that would allow foster care and adoption agencies to deny their services to LGBT families on faith-based grounds.The rule would become final 30 days after it is published in the Federal Register.
    (SFC, 11/4/19, p.A6)

2019        Nov 5, A coalition of Georgian civil society groups called on the government to condemn threats against the Nov. 8 premier of a Georgian movie about gay love. They called for security forces to deploy outside movie theaters as far-right groups threatening to block the premiere of "And Then We Danced", a joint Swedish, Georgian and French production.
    (Reuters, 11/6/19)

2019        Nov 8, Police in Georgia arrested more than 25 people after ultra-nationalist protesters attempting to derail the premiere of "And Then We Danced," an award-winning movie about gay love, clashed with security forces.
    (AP, 11/9/19)

2019        Dec 15, The Hallmark Channel, a division of Crown Media Family Networks, moved to reinstate ads featuring a same-sex couple that had been removed from the cable network. The decision came after considerable backlash over the initial decision to stop airing the ads from the wedding-planning company Zola.
    (SFC, 12/16/19, p.A9)(http://tinyurl.com/wz7ujhr)

2019        Dec 22, In Canada Julie Berman (51), a vocal campaigner for transgender rights, died after she was subjected to an alleged assault in central Toronto. Police arrested Colin Harnack (29) and charged him with second-degree murder.
    (The Independent, 12/29/19)

2019        Dec 31, Pakistan began issuing special health ID cards for transgender people as a way to lessen health care discrimination.
    (SFC, 1/1/20, p.A2)

2020        Jan 3, Leaders of the United Methodist Church, the 2nd largest Protestant denomination in the US, announced a plan that would formally split the church after years of division over same-sex marriage. A new "traditionalist Methodist" denomination would be created and would continue to ban same sex marriage.
    (SFC, 1/4/20, p.A6)
2020        Jan 3, In India more that 1,000 members of the LGBTQ community, rights groups and their supporters marched through New Delhi to protest a new citizenship law that excludes Muslims. Opposition parties say the Modi government is trying to consolidate its Hindu base.
    (SFC, 1/4/20, p.A2)

2020        Jan 22, Utah became the US 19th state to ban the practice of conversion therapy for LGBTQ children.
    (SFC, 1/23/20, p.A6)
2020        Jan 22, South Korea's first known transgender soldier pleaded to be allowed to continue serving after the military decided to discharge her for undergoing gender reassignment surgery. Tank driver Byun Hui-su, held a news conference at which she asked military leaders to reconsider their decision and let her serve as a female soldier.
    (AP, 1/22/20)

2020        Jan 27, Prosecutors in the Mauritania detained and charged 10 young men after a video presented as a "gay marriage" surfaced. Homosexuality is outlawed in the country. Police later determined the gathering was a birthday party.
    (http://tinyurl.com/src6hjy)(SFC, 1/31/20, p.A2)

2020        Jan, In China a Beijing court ruled in favor of Gao Moumou, a product director for e-commerce firm Dangdang. She had been fired in 2018 three months after undergoing gender reassignment surgery. She was the first transgender person to win a job discrimination case in China.
    (Econ., 8/1/20, p.34)

2020        Feb 3, It was reported that Nepal will count LGBT+ people for the first time in its next census, scheduled for June 2021, a move that campaigners said could help sexual minorities gain better access to education and health schemes.
    (Reuters, 2/3/20)

2020        Feb 9, A Swiss referendum cleared the way for the country to close a loophole in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights by extending anti-racism laws to cover sexual orientation. Voters supported outlawing antigay discrimination 63.1% to 36.9%.
    (Reuters, 2/9/20)(SFC, 2/10/20, p.A2)

2020        Feb 11, Two women tied the knot in Northern Ireland’s first same-sex wedding, after the region became the last part of the United Kingdom to legalize gay marriage.
    (AP, 2/11/20)

2020        Feb 13, Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh drew bipartisan criticism for saying the country won't elect Pete Buttigieg president because he's been “kissing his husband" on stage after debates.
    (AP, 2/13/20)

2020        Feb 24, Croatia's Pres. Zoran Milanovic condemned the burning of an effigy of two men and a child at a festival weeks after the country's highest court ruled that same-sex couples could foster children. Croatia legalized gay sex in 1977, but the country remains deeply conservative.
    (Reuters, 2/24/20)

2020        Feb 27, Israel's Supreme Court ruled against a 2018 surrogacy law that critics said discriminated against same-sex couples and which sparked uproar in the LGBT community when it was passed.
    (AP, 2/27/20)

2020        Mar 1, In Poland several dozen activists protested in front of a Warsaw church guarded by police as Catholic Archbishop Marek Jedraszewski, criticized for his anti-LGBT language, celebrated mass.
    (Reuters, 3/1/20)

2020        Mar 26, In India the Jimme Foundation, an LGBT+ rights group, launched a fundraising appeal for Mumbai sex workers whose income has been hit by coronavirus, saying it wanted to help other Indians who faced prejudice.
    (Reuters, 3/26/20)

2020        Mar 30, Idaho's Gov. Brad Little signed two bill making Idaho the first US state to ban transgender girls and women from competing in female sports leagues, enacting new laws that also prevent trans people from changing their birth certificates.
    (Reuters, 3/31/20)

2020        Apr 5, In Indonesia a transgender woman (43) died from burns sustained in the incident a day earlier. Police identified six suspects, three of whom were arrested. On April 8 police said they would not bring murder charges against suspects because they believed the suspects who set the fire had not burned her intentionally.
    (NBC News, 4/8/20)

2020        Apr 24, In Turkey Ali Erbas, the country's top religious official, proclaimed that Islam condemned homosexuality because it brought illnesses and generational decay.
    (Econ., 5/9/20, p.42)

2020        Apr 27, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threw his weight behind the country's top Muslim cleric, who caused a storm by claiming homosexuality “brings disease and causes this generation to decay”.
    (AP, 4/27/20)

2020        Apr 29, A Kenyan court refused to lift a ban on a locally-made acclaimed film portraying a lesbian romance. The film's producer said that she would continue to fight for freedom of expression in the East African nation. The film "Rafiki" - which means friend in Kiswahili - was banned by the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) in April 2018 on the grounds that it promotes homosexuality in a country where gay sex is a criminal offence.
    (Reuters, 4/29/20)

2020        Apr 30, In Georgia a transgender woman set herself on fire in Tbilisi to highlight the plight of trans sex workers with no income during the coronavirus lockdown. She was taken to a hospital suffering from burns but her conditions were not critical. LGBT+ groups in response called for more state support.
    (Reuters, 5/1/20)

2020        May 8, Brazil's Supreme Court has overturned rules that limit gay and bisexual men from donating blood in a decision considered a human rights victory for LGBT+ people in the country.
    (Reuters, 5/9/20)

2020        May 16, Gay rights organizations welcomed a decision by Albania's governing body of psychologists to scrap conversion therapy with regards to sexual orientation.
    (SSFC, 5/17/20, p.A3)

2020        May 18, A Ugandan court ordered the release of 19 LGBT+ people jailed for almost 50 days for risking spreading the new coronavirus after public prosecutors withdrew the charges.
    (AP, 5/18/20)

2020        May 25, Zambia's President Edgar Lungu pardoned two men who were jailed last year for having sex with each other. They were listed among the names of nearly 3,000 prisoners to be pardoned to mark Africa Freedom Day.
    (AP, 5/26/20)

2020        May 26, Costa Rica became the latest country to legalize same-sex marriage when a 2018 ruling from its supreme court went into effect.
    (SFC, 5/27/20, p.A2)

2020        May 27, Larry Kramer (84), a playwright and an outspoken AIDS activist, died in NYC.  In 1981 Kramer started the Gay Men's Health Crisis to draw attention to the plague. In 1987 he founded ACT UP and helped shock the country into dealing with the AIDS crisis.
    (NY Times, 5/28/20)(Econ., 6/13/20, p.74)

2020        Jun 8, In Pennsylvania the dismembered body of Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells, a transgender woman, was found in Philadelphia's Schuylkill River. On June 16 police identified Akhenaton Jones (38) as a suspect in the murder.
    (NBC News, 6/18/20)

2020        Jun 12, The Trump administration finalized a rule that overturns Obama-era protections for transgender people against sex discrimination in health care.
    (AP, 6/12/20)

2020        Jun 13, Polish President Andrzej Duda accused the LGBT rights movement of promoting a viewpoint more harmful than communism and said he agreed with another conservative politician who stated that “LGBT is not people, it's an ideology”.
    (AP, 6/13/20)

2020        Jun 15, The US Supreme Court in Bostock v Clayton County ruled that a landmark civil rights law protects LGBT people from discrimination in employment, a resounding victory for LGBT rights from a conservative court.
    (AP, 6/15/20)(Econ., 6/20/20, p.20)

2020        Jun 19, The Trump administration moved forward with a rule that rolls back health care protections for transgender people, even as the Supreme Court barred sex discrimination against LGBT individuals on the job.
    (AP, 6/19/20)

2020        Jun 28, Taipei held its annual LGBT pride parade, making it one of the few places in the world to proceed with such an event in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. Numbers were reduced by both virus concerns and heavy rain with over 1,000 attending.
    (AP, 6/28/20)

2020        Jul 1, Russians with children received cash payments on the final day of a vote on constitutional changes that could allow Vladimir Putin to stay in power until 2036. State exit polls suggested the changes will be backed by over two thirds of voters. Nenets, an autonomous region on the edge of the Arctic Ocean, was the only region in Russia out of 85 to reject the proposals, with more than 55 percent voting against. Voters approved a package of constitutional amendments, one of them stipulating that marriage is only between a man and a woman.
    (Reuters, 7/1/20)(AFP, 7/8/20)(AP, 7/12/20)

2020        Jul 8, BlueCity listed on New York's NASDAQ at a market valley of over $600 million. BlueCity Holdings Limited is a China-based LGBTQ focused internet technology company dedicated to providing comprehensive services to diverse users around the world. Blued, launched in 2012, is china's most popular social networking site for homosexual men.
    (Econ., 7/18/20, p.54)

2020        Jul 17, Seyfi Dursunoglu (b.1932, also known by his stage name Huysuz Virjin (Grumpy Virgin), died. He was a Turkish performing artist, comedian, singer, TV presenter and drag artist. From the 1970s until the 2000s and was a well-known entertainment figure with his programs in Turkey's television.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seyfi_Dursuno%C4%9Flu)(Econ., 8/1/20, p.42)

2020        Aug 6, Poland's Pres. Andrzej Duda was sworn in for a second term as president. It was reported that LGBT people are choosing to leave Poland amid rising homophobia promoted by Duda and other right-wing populist politicians in power.
    (AP, 8/5/20)

2020        Aug 8, In Poland demonstrators turned out in Warsaw and other Polish cities to protest anti-LGBT attitudes promoted by the government as well as the detention of pro-LGBT protesters.
    (AP, 8/8/20)

2020        Aug 13, ShanghaiPRIDE, one of China's longest running gay pride groups, said it was cancelling all activities and events for the foreseeable future, citing the need to protect the "safety" of its people and prompting a chorus of regret on social media.
    (Reuters, 8/14/20)

2020        Aug 17, A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a new regulation that would roll back health care protections for transgender people.
    (AP, 8/17/20)

2020        Aug 29, Indonesian police detained dozens of men in a raid on a gay party at a hotel in Jakarta. Nine people were arrested under a pornography law and 47 others released.
    (SFC, 9/3/20, p.A2)

2020        Sep 1, A Philippine court ordered the early release, based on good conduct, of US Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton, convicted in the 2014 murder of a transgender Filipino Jennifer Laude. The order drew protests from her family and lawyers. On Sept. 7 Pres. Duterte pardoned Pemberton.
    (SFC, 9/3/20, p.A2)(SFC, 9/8/20, p.A2)

2020        Sep 2, LGBT rights activist Mireya Rodríguez Lemus was found dead in her home in the Chihuahua town of Aquiles Serdan. Official identification of the body was not made until Sept. 8. She was at least the seventh rights activist killed in Mexico so far in 2020.
    (AP, 9/10/20)

2020        Sep 9, Henry van Ameringen, a philanthropist and heir to a family fortune in the fragrance industry, died at his home in Manhattan. He was among the first openly gay major donors to fund LGBTQ. and AIDS-related organizations, at a time before they enjoyed more mainstream support.
    (NY Times, 9/24/20)

2020        Sep 13, In the Philippines US Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph Scott Pemberton (25), convicted of killing a Filipino transgender woman, was deported after a presidential pardon cut short his detention in a case that renewed outrage over a pact governing American military presence.
    (AP, 9/13/20)

2020        Sep 26, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law requiring California to house transgender inmates in prisons based on their gender identity — but only if the state does not have “management or security concerns.” Newsom also signed a measure requiring health providers to track COVID-19 and all other communicable diseases in the LGBTQ community.
    (AP, 9/26/20)(SFC, 9/28/20, p.B2)

2020        Sep 28, In Pennsylvania officers found Mia Green (29), a Philadelphia resident and Black transgender woman, shot in the neck in the passenger’s seat of a car driven by Abdullah lbn El-Amin Jaamia (28) when he was stopped for running a stop sign. The next day Jaamia was charged with murder and related offenses.
    (NBC, 9/30/20)

2020        Oct 1, Human Rights Watch accused Egyptian police of arbitrarily arresting and torturing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and urged authorities to end prosecutions for adult consensual sexual relations.
    (SFC, 10/2/20, p.A2)

2020        Oct 3, In Augusta, Georgia, Felycya Harris (33) was shot and killed in Meadowbrook Park. She became at least the 31st transgender or gender-nonconforming person to die by violence in the US this year.
    (NBC News, 10/7/20)

2020        Oct 11, It was reported that single men who became fathers via surrogacy are fleeing Russia as conservative politicians seek to entrench big heterosexual families with two parents as the only socially approved form of household.
    (The Telegraph, 10/11/20)

2020        Oct 15, In Japan sexual minority groups and human rights activists started a petition calling for an LGBT equality law in hopes that it can be enacted next year.
    (SFC, 10/16/20, p.A2)

2020        Oct 21, Polish activists dressed as security guards hung a banner over the Education Ministry building early today to protest the appointment of a new minister whom they consider to be a religious fundamentalist and a danger to the nation's youth and universities. Przemyslaw Czarnek, a member of the ruling conservative party, has said that LGBT people aren't equal to “normal people,” women were created to produce children and has voiced support for corporal punishment.
    (AP, 10/21/20)
2020        Oct 21, Pope Francis voiced support for civil unions for same-sex couples, breaking with the Roman Catholic Church’s longtime position.
    (NY Times, 10/21/20)

2020        Oct 30, In Taiwan two women became the first military officers to marry their same-sex civilian partners at a mass military wedding, marking another landmark for LGBTQ+ rights in Asia.
    (Reuters, 10/30/20)

2020        Nov 3, In Tennessee Republican Eddie Mannis, who is gay, and Democrat Torrey Harris, who identifies as bisexual, won seats in the state House to become the first openly LGBTQ members of that legislature.
    (AP, 11/4/20)

2020        Nov 10, California made history when it confirmed its first openly gay state Supreme Court justice. Associate Justice Martin J. Jenkins, 66, is also the third-ever Black man to serve on the Golden State's highest court.
    (CBS News, 11/11/20)

2020        Nov 12, The European Union unveiled its first strategy for improving the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, non-binary, intersex and queer people, amid deep concern about widespread discrimination, notably in Poland.
    (AP, 11/12/20)

2020        Nov 20, In south Florida a divided federal appeals court (2-1) struck down laws that prohibited therapists from offering so-called conversion therapy to children struggling with their sexual orientation or gender identity.
    (Reuters, 11/20/20)
2020        Nov 20, Jan Morris, British author, journalist and transgender movement leader, died in Wales. A procedure in 1972 permanently altered her body. Her books included the best-selling memoir "Conundrum" (1974).
    (SSFC, 11/22/20, p.C7)(Econ., 11/28/20, p.82)

2020        Nov 25, Germany's Cabinet approved legislation that would provide compensation to gay servicepeople who experienced discrimination in the military before a change of policy 20 years ago.
    (AP, 11/25/20)

2020        Dec 10, Todd Gloria took office as San Diego's first openly gay mayor.
    (AP, 12/18/20)
2020        Dec 10, Bhutan's Parliament voted to decriminalize same-sex relations.
    (SFC, 12/12/20, p.A2)

2020        Dec 11, Bolivia's first same-sex civil union was recognized by the Bolivian Civil Registry in La Paz.
    (https://tinyurl.com/zxde4r4a)

2020        Dec 15, Hungary amended the definition of family in its constitution to allow an effective ban on adoption by same-sex couples, another win for the ruling conservatives but decried by one pro-LGBTQ group as "a dark day for human rights".
    (Reuters, 12/15/20)

2020        Abigail Shrier authored "Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters." Here she argues that teenagers should, by and large, be discouraged from embarking on biomedical gender reassignment.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreversible_Damage)(Econ., 11/28/20, p.24)
2020        Several regions in Poland declared themselves LGBTQ-free zones this year, defying EU diversity policies. In 2021 the regions began to reverse their stance after the EU halted as much as €126 million in pandemic aid.
    (SSFC, 9/26/21, p.A6)

2021        Jan 4, The center-right government in Greece named Nicholas Yatromanolakis (44), the country's first openly gay minister, as the new deputy minister of culture in a Cabinet reshuffle.
    (AP, 1/4/21)

2021        Jan 25, President Joe Biden signed an order reversing a Pentagon policy that largely barred transgender individuals from joining the military.
    (Reuters, 1/25/21)

2021        Jan 26, US gay dating app Grindr was notified that it faces a fine of more than $10 million from Norwegian regulators for failing to get consent from users before sharing their personal information with advertising companies, in breach of stringent European Union privacy rules.
    (AP, 1/26/21)

2021        Jan 28, In Indonesia two men were publicly caned each 77 times after neighbors reported them to islamic religious police for having sex.
    (SFC, 1/29/21, p.A4)

2021        Jan 30, In Turkey two students were arrested on charges of inciting hatred and insulting religious values for a poster depicting Islam’s most sacred site with LGBT flags.
    (AP, 1/31/21)

2021        Feb 2, The US Senate confirmed former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg (39) as President Biden's transportation secretary. Buttigieg is the first openly gay Cabinet member in US history to win Senate confirmation.
    (ABC News, 2/2/21)

2021        Feb 4, In Russia members of the security service in black uniforms arrested ethnic Chechen gay men. Security agents detained two brothers, Ismail Isayev (17) and Salekh Magomadov (20), in a shelter in Nizhny Novgorod in central Russia. Police brought both back to Chechnya by force.
    (The Daily Beast, 2/10/21)

2021        Feb 19, The head of Britain’s MI6 intelligence service apologized to gay spies and aspiring agents who were fired or denied jobs because of their sexuality.
    (AP, 2/19/21)

2021        Mar 4, Officials announced that the American Civil Liberties Union has named a project addressing LGBTQ and HIV issues after a Michigan native and his husband. The project was created in 1986. Its name change follows a $15 million gift from Stryker and Randjelovic to the ACLU Foundation.
    (AP, 3/4/21)

2021        Mar 6, In Australia the annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in Sidney went ahead at the Sidney Cricket Ground. Up tp 23,000 spectators were allowed in the stands while performers paraded on the field.
    (SSFC, 3/7/21, p.A7)

2021        Mar 8, In Bangladesh Tashnuva Anan Shishir debuted as the country's first transgender news anchor on the Dhaka-based Boishakhi TV.
    (SFC, 3/10/21, p.A4)

2021        Mar 9, In Belgium the rainbow flag of the LGBT community flew outside PM Alexander De Croo's office as suspicions remained that anti-gay motives may have been at the core of a brutal weekend killing. Investigators were homing in on three minors they believe could be linked to the killing of the 42-year-old gay man.
    (AP, 3/9/21)

2021        Mar 10, The European Parliament overwhelming adopted a resolution declaring the entire 27-member European Union a “freedom zone” for LGBT people, an effort to push back on rising homophobia in Poland and elsewhere.
    (AP, 3/11/21)

2021        Mar 11, Gov. Tate Reeves of Mississippi signed a bill to bar transgender women and girls from competing in women’s sports, a move Idaho made last year and one that has been recently considered by lawmakers in two dozen other states.
    (NY Times, 3/11/21)

 2021        Mar 15, The Vatican decreed that the Catholic Church won't bless same-sex unions since God “cannot bless sin”.
    (AP, 3/15/21)

2021        Mar 17, A Japanese court for the first time ruled that same-sex marriage should be allowed under the country's constitution, a moral victory that does not have any immediate legal consequence but could bolster efforts for legalization.
    (AP, 3/17/21)

2021        Mar 24, The US Senate voted 52-48 to confirm former Pennsylvania Health Sec. Rachel Levine as the top assistant secretary for health, making her the highest ranking openly transgender person to serve in the US government.
    (AP, 3/24/21)

2021        Mar 26, Tennessee's Gov. Bill Lee signed a law banning transgender athletes from participating in girls' sports, making it the third state this year to approve such a measure.
    (SSFC, 3/28/21, p.A10)

2021        Mar 27, In Turkey hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Istanbul for anti-government protests, demanding amid a heavy police presence the reversal of recent decisions by Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdogan that affect students, women and the LGBT community.
    (AP, 3/28/21)

2021        Mar 31, The Pentagon swept away Trump-era policies that largely banned transgender people from serving in the military, issuing new rules that offer them wider access to medical care and assistance with gender transition.
    (AP, 3/31/21)

2021        Apr 1, In a unanimous ruling, the Massachusetts Supreme Court expanded the definition of the term adultery to apply to a spouse engaged in same-sex infidelity.
    (AP, 4/2/21)

2021        Apr 5, Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas broke with other Republicans and vetoed a bill that would have banned some medications and surgery for transgender minors.
    (NY Times, 4/5/21)

2021        Apr 19, A Namibian court refused to issue a gay man emergency travel documents so that he can bring home his twin daughters from South Africa where they were born by surrogate. The authorities say Phillip Lühl must show genetic proof that he is their father before they can travel.
    (BBC, 4/19/21)

2021        Apr 25, In El Salvador Zashy Zuley del Cid Velásquez (27), a transgender woman, was shot dead in San Miguel.
    (AP, 6/5/21)

2021        Apr 29, It was reported that Lithuanian artist Erikas Malisauskas has raised over $6,000 for LGBT groups by selling a digital collage of homophobic messages that were sent to a member of parliament who champions gay rights causes.
    (Reuters, 4/29/21)

2021        Apr 30, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a bill requiring people to have gender reassignment surgery before changing the sex marker on the girth certificates.
    (AP, 4/30/21)

2021        May 9, It was reported that Germany's powerful Catholic progressives are openly defying a recent Holy See pronouncement that priests cannot bless same-sex unions by offering such blessings at services in about 100 different churches all over the country this week.
    (AP, 5/9/21)

2021        May 10, US health secretary Xavier Becerra said gay and transgender people will be protected against sex discrimination in healthcare.
    (AP, 5/10/21)

2021        May 12, It was reported that two transgender women in Cameroon have been sentenced to five years in jail for contravening homosexuality laws. Trans celebrity Shakiro, a YouTuber who highlights the problems Cameroon's banned LGBT community faces and her friend Patricia have been in detention since February after their arrest at a restaurant.
    (AP, 5/12/21)

2021        May 18, The Biden administration restored citizenship rights to children born abroad to married same-sex couples from the United States.
    (SFC, 5/18/21, p.A5)
2021        May 18, Tennessee's Gov. Bill Lee signed a law barring doctors from giving hormone treatments to transgender minors before puberty. Experts said they knew of no doctors in the state who did so.
    (NY Times, 5/20/21)

2021        May 31, Virginia Tech football player freshman linebacker Isimemen Etute (18) punched and stomped his Tinder match Jerry Smith (40) to death after learning he was a man. Etute was immediately suspended from the football team and Virginia Tech, where he majored in human development, and was soon charged with second-degree murder.
    (NBC News, 6/11/21)

2021        Jun 1, Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican governor, signed a bill banning transgender female student-athletes from competing in women’s sports.
    (NY Times, 6/1/21)
2021        Jun 1, The UN Foundation announced today that top global brands H&M and Banana Republic are once again partnering with UN Free & Equal for Pride Month this June to raise awareness and funds in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) equality worldwide.
    (PR Newswire, 6/1/21)

2021        Jun 16, The US Education Department said that transgender students were protected under Title IX, a law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded schools, reversing a Trump-era policy that effectively had said the opposite.
    (NY Times, 6/16/21)

2021        Jun 17, The US Supreme Court embraced religious rights over LGBT rights by ruling 9-0 in favor of a Catholic Church-affiliated agency that sued after Philadelphia refused to place children for foster care with the organization because it barred same-sex couples from applying to become foster parents.
    (Reuters, 6/17/21)

2021        Jun 19, In Florida one person died and another was injured after a pickup truck ran into a crowd of spectators at a Pride parade in Fort Lauderdale.
    (Reuters, 6/19/21)

2021        Jun 21, Carl Nassib of the Las Vegas Raiders became the first active N.F.L. player to publicly say he is gay. “I finally feel comfortable enough to get it off my chest,” he said.
    (AP, 6/22/21)

2021        Jun 22, A leading Italian newspaper reported that the Vatican has formally opposed a proposed Italian law expanding anti-discrimination protections to the LGBT community.
    (AP, 6/22/21)

2021        Jun 25, US President Joe Biden designated the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, a national memorial, honoring the site where a mass shooting killed 49 people.
    (Reuters, 6/25/21)
2021        Jun 25, In Israel tens of thousands of people attended a Pride parade in Tel Aviv in one of the largest public gatherings in Israel since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
    (AP, 6/25/21)

2021        Jun 29, It was reported that New Jersey’s prison system will begin housing inmates based on gender identity, the result of a lawsuit filed in 2019 by a transgender woman who said she was forced to live in men’s prisons for a year and a half. The new policy goes into effect July 1.
    (AP, 6/29/21)

2021        Jul 1, In Tennessee a law went into effect requiring businesses to post signs if they allow transgender people to use the restrooms of their choice. On July 9 a federawl judge halted enforcement of the law.
    (SSFC, 7/11/21, p.A9)

2021        Jul 2, Hungarian PM Viktor Orban accused European leaders of acting like “colonialists" in their criticism of a controversial law that's seen as limiting the rights of LGBT people in that country.
    (AP, 7/2/21)

2021        Jul 3, Croatian police detained several people over incidents during and after today's Pride march in the capital of Zagreb.
    (AP, 7/4/21)

2021        Jul 5, In Tbilisi, Georgia, a protest against a planned LGBT march turned violent as demonstrators attacked and injured some 20 journalists covering the event. Organizers cancelled the event, that was to take place this evening, saying authorities had not provided adequate security guarantees.
    (AP, 7/5/21)

2021        Jul 8, PM Viktor Orban said that EU efforts to force Hungary to abandon a new law banning the promotion of homosexuality in schools would be in vain. Activists erected a 10-meter-high rainbow-colored heart opposite the country's neo-Gothic parliament, vowing to wage a civil disobedience campaign against a new law that they say discriminates against LGBT people and that has raised questions about what values the European Union stands for.
    (Reuters, 7/8/21)(AP, 7/8/21)

2021        Jul 11, Israel’s Supreme Court cleared the way for same-sex couples to have children through surrogate mothers, a move hailed by lawmakers and activists as a victory for LGBTQ rights.
    (AP, 7/11/21)

2021        Jul 14, Sally Miller Gearhart (90), a feminist, lesbian activist and prominent opponent of anti-gay policies, died in Ukiah, Calif. Her writings included a classic of lesbian science fiction about a women-only society, much like the one she later founded in Northern California.
    {California, USA, Gays}
    (NY Times, 7/26/21)

2021        Jul 15, The European Commission launched legal action against Hungary over measures it said discriminated against LGBT people, stepping up a battle over values with PM Viktor Orban that could hold up EU funding for Budapest.
    (AP, 7/15/21)

2021        Jul 17, A Lutheran church in Norway held a name change ceremony for Elin Stillingen (49), a transgender person, in what officials said marked the first such event in a place of worship in the Nordic country. Stillingen had legally changed her name and gender last year.
    (AP, 7/18/21)

2021        Jul 21, Argentina became the first country in Latin America to officially recognize gender nonbinary people, who can now choose to have their gender marked as an X on their national identity documents and passports if they do not identify as either female or male.
    (NY Times, 7/22/21)

2021        Jul 24, In Hungary thousands of people joined the annual Budapest Pride march to support LGBTQ people and protest against a law that limits teaching about homosexuality and transgender issues in schools.
    (AP, 7/24/21)

2021        Aug 2, In Japan Laurel Hubbard (43), a weight lifter from New Zealand, became the first openly transgender woman to compete at the Olympics. She had won junior titles in men’s competitions before her transition. Hubbard did not make the podium, after failing to advance to the final.
    (NY Times, 8/3/21)

2021        Aug 5, The White House announced that Biden has tapped Beth Robinson, an associate justice on the Vermont Supreme Court since 2011, to serve on the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. She would become the first openly LGBT woman to serve on any federal circuit court.
    (AP, 8/5/21)

2021        Aug 13, James Hormel (88), the first openly gay US ambassador and a philanthropist who funded organizations to fight AIDS and promote human rights, died in San Francisco.
    (AP, 8/13/21)

2021        Aug 14, In Bosnia hundreds of people attended a gay pride march in Sarajevo, with organizers saying LGBT people have been further marginalized since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Dozens of opponents of the pride march held their own gathering in Sarajevo, saying they wanted to defend the country's traditional values.
    (AP, 8/14/21)
2021        Aug 14, In Romania several thousand LGBT supporters took to the streets of Bucharest for a gay pride parade that resumed after a year’s pause due to the pandemic. Hours earlier around 100 far-right opponents, who advocate for traditional family values, held an anti-LGBT counter-march in the capital.
    (AP, 8/14/21)

2021        Aug 19, Israel lifted restrictions on blood donations by gay men, saying the longstanding limitation was discriminatory and denigrating.
    (AP, 8/19/21)

2021        Aug 24, San Francisco's Mayor London Breed declared the city's first Transgender History Month.
    (SFC, 8/28/21, p.C1)

2021        Sep 6, The board of directors of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ rights organization, said it has fired its president, Alphonso David, because of developments related to the sexual harassment case that prompted Andrew Cuomo’s resignation as governor of New York.
    (AP, 9/7/21)

2021        Sep 11, In Spain hundreds of people gathered in central Madrid to call for better protection for LGBT rights after a series of homophobic attacks that have shocked Spain in recent months.
    (Reuters, 9/11/21)

2021        Sep 12, John Shelby Spong (90), a charismatic Episcopal bishop, died at his home in Richmond, Va. He pushed his followers to accept women and L.G.B.T.Q. clergy, and later called on them to reject sacrosanct ideas like Jesus’ virgin birth and the existence of heaven and hell.
    (NY Times, 9/20/21)

2021        Sep 15, Colorado's Gov. Jared Polis (46), who became the first openly gay man in the United States to be elected governor in 2018, married his longtime partner and first gentleman Marlon Reis (40), a writer and animal welfare advocate.
    (AP, 9/16/21)
2021        Sep 15, Cuba published a long-awaited draft of a new family code that would open the door to gay marriage if approved, in a move that LGBT rights activists applauded cautiously as they remained wary of whether it would actually be implemented.
    (Reuters, 9/15/21)

2021        Sep 19, In Ukraine some seven thousand people including soldiers and diplomats marched peacefully through Kyiv in an annual gay pride parade despite some opposition to an event called off last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
    (Reuters, 9/19/21)

2021        Sep 23, Kenya banned "I am Samuel," a documentary about a gay Kenyan man's struggle to be accepted by his family and country, saying it was blasphemous and an affront to the constitution.
    (Reuters, 9/24/21)
2021        Sep 23, The congress of the Mexican state of Sonora voted to legalize same-sex marriage, meaning that about three quarters of the country's regions have now made the practice legal.
    (Reuters, 9/23/21)

2021        Sep 26, Swiss voters voted by a wide margin to allow same-sex couples to marry. The measure passed with 64.1% of voters in favor and won a majority in all 26 cantons. Switzerland has authorized same-sex civil partnerships since 2007.
    (AP, 9/26/21)

2021        Sep 27, Three Polish regional councils voted to repeal motions declaring their provinces "LGBT-free zones," after the European Union threatened to withdraw funding.
    (Reuters, 9/27/21)

2021        Oct 7, A South Korean soldier who committed suicide earlier this year after being dismissed by the army following gender reassignment surgery won a posthumous victory, as a court told the army to recognize her as a woman and annul her dismissal.
    (Reuters, 10/7/21)

2021        Oct 8, Portugal’s parliament approved four bills that enshrine in law the country’s rules and procedures on blood donations, amid reports people are being turned away due to their sexual orientation. Discrimination in blood donations has been specifically prohibited in Portugal since 2010.
    (AP, 10/8/21)

2021        Oct 9, California became the first state to say large department stores must display products like toys and toothbrushes in gender-neutral ways, a win for LGBT advocates who say the pink and blue hues of traditional marketing methods pressure children to conform to gender stereotypes.
    (AP, 10/9/21)
2021        Oct 9,  Pride in Football, the alliance of LGBT+ supporters' groups in Britain, criticized Newcastle United's takeover by a Saudi Arabia-led consortium and called for reforms to the Premier League's owners' and directors' test.
    (Reuters, 10/9/21)

2021        Oct 13, A Namibian court ruled that the son of a gay couple, born via surrogacy in South Africa in 2019, is a Namibian citizen by descent, in a decision hailed as "big win" for same-sex couples.
    (Reuters, 10/13/21)

2021        Oct 14, The Texas House of Representatives passed a bill that bans transgender women and girls from participating in female school sports after three previous attempts failed, all but assuring Republican Governor Greg Abbott will sign it into law.
    (Reuters, 10/14/21)
2021        Oct 14, Human Rights Watch called on Kuwait to overturn a conviction against Maha al-Mutairi (40), a transgender Kuwaiti woman, sentenced this month to two years in prison for "imitating the opposite sex" online and to amend a law that allows such prosecutions.
    (Reuters, 10/14/21)

2021        Oct 25, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law a bill banning transgender girls from participating in female sports at public schools, due to take effect on Jan. 18.
    (Reuters, 10/25/21)

2021        Oct 27, The US State Department said it has issued its first passport with an “X” gender designation — a milestone in the recognition of the rights of people who do not identify as male or female — and expects to be able to offer the option to nonbinary, intersex and gender-nonconforming people early next year.
    (AP, 10/27/21)

2021        Nov 2, Israel's justice ministry said Google had blocked sites of a hacking group that leaked user details of an Israeli LGBTQ dating site, an attack some security experts blamed on Iran.
    (AFP, 11/2/21)

2021        Nov 5, Spain’s health minister signed an order granting single women, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people access to medically assisted reproduction in the public health system, where it is performed free of charge.
    (AP, 11/5/21)

2021        Nov 6, A US Navy ship named for slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk, who served four years in the Navy before being forced out, was christened and launched in San Diego Bay.
    (AP, 11/6/21)

2021        Nov 23, Chile's lower house approved a bill that would permit same-sex marriage in the South American country of 19 million, sending the measure back to the Senate where it appears to have the support needed to become law.
    (Reuters, 11/23/21)

2021        Nov 29, Botswana's Court of Appeal upheld a 2019 ruling that decriminalized gay sex, a decision hailed by gay community as establishing the southern African country as a "true democracy".
    (Reuters, 11/29/21)

2021        Nov 30, Hungary's parliament authorized the government to call a national referendum on LGBT issues.
    (SFC, 12/1/21, p.A4)

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End of file