LGBT History

Just in via press release: The Gill Foundation today announced it will match contributions up to $250,000 to protect the Stonewall Inn, which is on the brink of closure due to the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis. The support will be earmarked to support rent and utility costs. In addition to its $250,000 pledge to protect the legacy of …

It was 51 years ago today that the queer community of New York City finally said “Enough!” As I’ve done for the last few years on this day, I’m reposting the story that the New York Daily News ran one week after the Stonewall Riots. Note how the story drips with condescension and ridicule. We’ve come a long, long way …

“We’re almost 51 years since the night when the patrons at the Stonewall Inn stood up for their rights and set one of America’s defining victories for civil rights. “Because of the movement they sparked and the decades of work that followed, marriage equality became the law of the land five years ago, and just this month the Supreme Court …

USA Today reports: The four justices appointed by Democratic presidents were joined by Justice Anthony Kennedy, a Republican appointee. Within two years, more than 150,000 same-sex couples got married. According to U.S. Census estimates, there are more than 500,000 married same-sex couples in the country. The impact of those unions has been more than cultural. Same-sex weddings have generated more …

Billboard Magazine reports: On Tuesday (June 23), Pride Live announced plans for their third annual Stonewall Day, this year taking place online instead of in-person at the Stonewall Inn. The livestream, which will take place on Friday, June 26, is set to benefit LGBTQ organizations that have been financially impacted during the coronavirus outbreak, including Brave Space Alliance, TransLatin Coalition, …

Gentle readers, I’m rerunning my annual Pride rant for the sixteenth year. I wrote this post in 2005 a couple of days after attending Pride in NYC. In the following years I’ve reposted it in advance of NYC Pride in the hope of encouraging you to attend your local events. While the pandemic has canceled most of this year’s festivities, …

Via press release from Lambda Legal: Today, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis sex, also protects employees from discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Today’s decisions confirm workplace anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people …

According to multiple reports on social media, longtime gay nightclub DJ Warren Gluck has died at the age of 65. No cause of death is yet known. From his bio: Warren has played almost every major party in the U.S. from coast to coast, including the GMHC Morning Party on Fire Island, The Pines Party, The Saint-at-Large White and Black …

The SFist reports: One of the founding members of the Daughters of Bilitis and one half of the first same-sex couple to be legally married in San Francisco in 2004, Phyllis Lyon, has passed away. She was 95, and reportedly died of natural causes early Thursday. Lyon and her wife Del Martin were famously the first couple to be granted …

Law.com reports: The attorneys who defended Proposition 8, the ill-fated 2008 ballot initiative that barred same-sex marriage in California, are pressing a federal court to block the public release of the video recording of the landmark 2010 trial that concluded the ban was unconstitutional. Charles Cooper, founding member of the Washington litigation boutique Cooper & Kirk, argued in a motion …

NBC News reports: California’s governor announced Wednesday that he is posthumously pardoning a gay civil rights leader while creating a new pardon process for others convicted under outdated laws punishing homosexual activity. Bayard Rustin was a confidant of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and a key organizer of the March on Washington in 1963. He also helped plan other nonviolent …

NPR reports: Legendary Broadway songwriter Jerry Herman has died. The author of the hit musicals Hello, Dolly!, Mame and La Cage aux Folles was 88. Publicist Harlan Boll said Herman was taken to a Miami hospital Thursday night complaining of chest pain and later died of pulmonary complications. The title of Jerry Herman’s autobiography was Showtune, and if there ever …

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports: Construction began Friday on the future Harvey Milk, a fleet oiler named for the slain gay rights leader and the first openly gay man elected in the state. Milk was elected to the San Francisco board of supervisors in 1978 and was assassinated 10 months later by an ex-supervisor. His life was the subject of …

ABOVE: At the 1985 Xmas party described below: Me, Michael, and Barney. Originally posted May 2004. Reposted for World AIDS Day. Membership Michael didn’t look good. We were at his annual Christmas luau party. Tons and tons of people in the house and the backyard. Standing in his kitchen, wearing a grass skirt and a ridiculous Santa hat covered in …

Gentle readers, today is Madonna’s 61st birthday. Below is a short story that first appeared on JMG on this day in 2006, a date which, as you’ll see, plays a role in the story. Ricky Loved Madonna Twenty years ago today, August 16th 1986, I was a few months into a new job with AMC Theatres, a position that I …

The Windy City Times reports: Students in Illinois public schools will learn about the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in state and national history after approval today of the Inclusive Curriculum Law by Gov. Pritzker, according to Equality Illinois. Starting with the 2020-21 school year, the Inclusive Curriculum Law — House Bill 246 — will ensure the …

The Guardian reports: Alan Turing, the scientist known for helping crack the Enigma code during the second world war and pioneering the modern computer, has been chosen to appear on the new £50 note. The mathematician was selected from a list of almost 1,000 scientists in a decision that recognised both his role in fending off the threat of German …

ABC News reports: Around 5 million people attended WorldPride in New York City over the weekend, surpassing estimates of about 3 million, according to the mayor. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio commended the police department for keeping the crowds safe as visitors from around the globe flooded the city’s streets over the weekend to celebrate LGBTQ rights. He …

The New York Daily News reports: Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday signed a law banning the so-called “gay panic” defense in New York State, saying it “ends the justification of homophobia.” Cuomo scribbled his John Hancock on Bill A2707 in the thick of the Pride march in Manhattan as members from the LGBTQ cheered alongside him. “New York has always …

The New York Times reports: Visitors came from around the block and around the world, streaming through the streets surrounding the Stonewall Inn. Storefronts flew rainbow flags and pumped pulsing pop music onto the sidewalks, where vendors hawked Pride merchandise. Police officers sought refuge from the sweltering sun in doorways, and firefighters rested on their hulking red trucks. The crowd …