Gay History
1500s-1700s
1533: King Henry VIII creates "The Buggery Act."
This is the beginning of criminalization of homosexuality in the English common law in which homosexuality is punishable by death.
1624: Richard Cornish is the first in the Virginian Colony to be found guilty of sodomy and hanged.
1649: Sarah White Norman is the first known convicted lesbian in North America. She was convicted for engaging in "lewd behavior" with Mary Vincent Hammon in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
1726: Mother Clap's molly house (a London brothel for homosexual men) is raided by the police. Clap and all men arrested are killed.
1730: The beginning of over 70 years of trial after trial for sodomy in the Dutch republic.
1778: Lieutenant Gotthold Frederick Enslin is the first man to be dismissed from the US Army for homosexuality after being caught in bed with another soldier.
1792: France decriminalizes sexual acts between men.
1800s
1813: Bavaria decriminalizes sexual acts between men.
1836: The last execution for homosexuality in Britain
1861: The Offenses Against the Person Act is created in England; punishment for sodomy is dropped from death hanging to imprisonment.
1869: The word "homosexuality" makes its first appearance in print in a German pamphlet written by Károly Mária Kertbeny.
1871: In Germany, Paragraph 175 of the Reich Criminal Code criminalizes homosexuality.
1886: Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom gives Royal Assent to The Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885 which outlaws sexual relationships between men.
1892: "Bisexual" is used for the first time with it's current definition in Charles Gilbert Chaddock's translation of Kraft-Ebing's Psychopathia Sexualis.
1895: Oscar Wilde is prosecuted for "gross indecency" and sentenced to two years of hard labor in prison.
1900s
1914: The word faggot is used for the first time in print in reference to gays in a vocabulary of criminal slang published in Portland, Oregon": "All the faggots (sissies) will be dressed in drag at the ball tonight".
1919: The military revises the Articles of War to outlaw sodomy. More than 20 sailors are arrested in Rhode Island on moral charges.
1923: Mels Anderson uses the word fag for the first time in print in reference to gays in The Hobo: "Fairies or Fags are men or boys who exploit sex for profit."
1937: The first use of the pink triangle when males suspected of being homosexuals were sentenced in Nazi concentration camps.
1943: Lesbians and gays are barred from joining the armed forces on the basis of their sexual behavior.
1945: With the liberation of concentration camps of the holocaust in Nazi Germany, those interned for homosexuality are left to serve out the remainder of their sentences as stated in Paragraph 175.
1950: A mass of government workers are fired due to suspicions of being gay after a senate report stated that homosexuality was contrary to the "moral fiber" of the nation.
1951: The Mattachine Society, the first national gay rights organization, is formed by Harry Hay, considered by many to be the founder of the gay rights movement.
1956: The Daughters of Bilitis, a pioneering national lesbian organization, is founded.
1961: Jose Sarria, a drag entertainer who ran for city council in San Francisco, becomes the first openly gay candidate to run for an elective office in the United States. Decriminalization in Czechoslovakia and Hungary.
1962: Illionois is the first state in the United States to decriminalise sodomy.
1965: The first protest against gay discrimination occurs as ten members of East Coast Homophile Organizations march outside the White House
1967: The Sexual Offenses Act comes into force in England and Whales, decriminalizing homosexual acts between men who are 21 or over.
1968: The Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches performs holy union ceremonies for gay and lesbian couples. Paragraph 175 repealed in East Germany. Canada decriminalizes sodomy.
1969: A four day war occurs between the police and gays and lesbians after police raid the Stonewall Inn in New York City, AKA the Stonewall Riots. The riots transform the gay rights movement from one limited to a small number of activists into a widespread protest for equal rights and acceptance. Paragraph 175 repealed in West Germany
1971: Frank Kameny, previously fired in 1957 for being gay, becomes first openly gay person to run for congress. Colorado and Oregon repeal sodomy laws.
1973: The American Psychiatric Association removes homosexuality from its official list of mental disorders. Kathy Kozachenko becomes the first openly gay candidate to run successfully for an elective office in the US, being elected to city council in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
1974: The first federal bill to ban job discrimination based on sexual orientation is introduced.
1975: Two gay men in Phoenix legally obtain a marriage license and wed before the county attorney can file an injunction against them.
1978: Pro-Gay and liberal Mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk are assassinated in San Francisco by ex-police officers.
1979: Dan White found guilty of manslaughter instead of murder in the deaths of gay supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. After hearing the verdict, thousands march on City Hall in outrage, marking the first riot in ten years.
1980: The Robin Cook amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill decriminalizes male homosexuality in Scotland.
1981: Deputy Secretary of Defense Graham Claytor changes the military police to declare "homosexuality incompatible with military service." In Northern Ireland, the passing of law reform in the House of Commons decriminalized male homosexuality.
1982: Wisconsin becomes the first state to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
1986: New Zealand passes the Homosexual Law Reform Act which legalizes sex between males over 16.
1988: Section 28, which prohibits the publication of any ad that is homosexual-themed, passes in the United Kingdom
1989: Denmark creates new civil union laws for same-sex couples.
1991: Hong Kong decriminalizes homosexuality
1993: "Don’t ask, don’t tell" is created as a compromise between congress and Clinton when President Clinton seeks to lift the ban on gay service personnel, causing a wave of objection from Congress.
1995: The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms extends protection to prevent discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
1996: The Senate votes on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, a bill to ban antigay job bias. The measure fails by a single vote, 50-49. South Africa extends constitutional protection to homosexuals.
1997: Immigration rights to same-sex couples in the United Kingdom
1998: Matthew Shepard is killed, leading to silent vigils across the country.
1999: California adopts domestic partner law
2000 - Present
2000: Section 28 repealed in Scotland. Vermont becomes the first state in the U.S. to legalize civil unions. The British government lifted the ban on homosexuals serving in the armed services.
2001: The Netherlands becomes the first to offer same-sex marriage. The first same-sex partnerships were registered in London
2002: Austria drops age of consent to 14.
2003: The rest of the UK repeals the Section 28. The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Lawrence v. Texas that sodomy laws in the U.S. are unconstitutional. Belgium and Canada offers same-sex marriage.
2004: San Francisco and several other cities in the United States begin to issue licenses for marriage. They are later put to an end, but not before thousands of couples marry. The supreme court in Massachusetts rules it is unconstitutional to prevent same-sex couples from marrying, making the state the first in the country to allow same-sex marriages.
