LGBT History

New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson Calls On NYPD To Apologize For 1969 Raid On Stonewall Inn

New York City’s WINS radio reports: It’s been fifty years since police officers raided the Stonewall Inn — the legendary Christopher Street gay bar — and Corey Johnson thinks it’s about time that the NYPD apologize to the LGBTQ community for the raid, which gave birth to the modern-day LGBTQ rights movement. “The NYPD in the past has apologized for …

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AVAILABLE TODAY: Rainbow Warrior: My Life In Color, The Memoir Of Rainbow Flag Creator Gilbert Baker

Via press release from Chicago Review Press: The bright, exuberant colors on the rainbow flag have long been a symbol of pride and unity for the LGBTQ+ community. From the beginning of its creation, artist Gilbert Baker simply wanted to capture the joyful liberation of sexual identity. Little did he know, the flag would become an internationally recognized symbol that …

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Google Unveils “Stonewall Forever” Digital Monument

From Google’s corporate blog: The LGBT Community Center of New York City, with support from Google.org, has worked to preserve LGBTQ+ history for future generations by extending the Stonewall National Monument from its physical location in New York City to a digital experience that can be accessed by everyone, everywhere. Stonewall Forever is the result of the LGBT Community Center’s …

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Transgender Icons To Get New York City Monument

The New York Times reports: Marsha P. Johnson [screenshot above] and Sylvia Rivera, pioneering transgender activists who were at the vanguard of the gay rights movement, will be immortalized in a monument that may be placed down the street from the Stonewall Inn, the city said on Wednesday. Ms. Johnson and Ms. Rivera were both drag performers and vibrant characters …

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TRAILER: Renee Zellweger As Judy Garland In Judy

Entertainment Weekly reports: A star is reborn in the first trailer for Renée Zellweger’s Judy Garland biopic. The Oscar-winning actress brings the late Hollywood icon to life in the first official preview of theater director Rupert Goold’s upcoming chronicle adapted from Peter Quilter’s musical End of the Rainbow. In her first leading role in a movie since 2016’s Bridget Jones’s …

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Canada: Royal Mint Unveils “Gay Loonie” Coin [VIDEO]

The CBC reports: The Royal Canadian Mint has unveiled a commemorative loonie to mark what it called a key milestone for lesbian, gay, transgender, queer and two-spirited people, with the government saying the coin symbolized progress while highlighting the work that still needs to be done to advance equality. Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau was amongst a number of dignitaries …

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LGBT Groups Split On Canada’s “Gay Loonie” Coin

CBC News reports: A new dollar coin designed to commemorate 50 years of homosexual rights has sparked a dual backlash — from both members of Canada’s LGBT community and from a social conservative group. The loonie, to be launched April 23 at an invitation-only event in Toronto, will feature a stylized depiction of two overlapping human faces within a large …

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ARIZONA: GOP Gov. Doug Ducey Signs Repeal Of “No Promo Homo” Ban On LGBT-Inclusive Sex Education

ABC News reports: A controversial 28-year-old Arizona law that bars HIV and AIDS instruction that “promotes a homosexual lifestyle” was swiftly done away with this week. The Arizona Legislature quickly voted on Wednesday and Thursday to advance Senate Bill 1346, which contains an amendment to repeal the provisions concerning homosexuality. Gov. Doug Ducey signed it minutes after the state Senate …

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Sylvester’s You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) Chosen For Preservation By Library Of Congress’ National Registry

The Washington Post reports: This year’s inductees for the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry include a speech from Sen. Robert Kennedy, the educational music of “Schoolhouse Rock!,” Jay-Z’s seminal album “The Blueprint,” soul, pop and disco songs that became anthems for underrepresented groups, and a number of other unique recordings. Every year, the registry preserves 25 “culturally, historically, or …

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Gay Couple’s 1971 Marriage Officially Recognized

NBC News reports: In 1971, gay couple Michael McConnell and Jack Baker applied for a marriage license from Blue Earth County, Minnesota. The clerk, not realizing one of the individuals listed on the application was male, issued the license — though stopped short of officially recording it. Nearly five decades later — after a prolonged legal battle to get their …

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Stonewall Monument Preserved In “3D Digital Record”

Fascinating project. Via press release: CyArk, a heritage preservation non-profit, has completed the first ever 3D digital record of the Stonewall National Monument in New York, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. The project — the first of its kind to detail an LGBTQ historic site and national monument — uses data to create a photorealistic digital …

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BBC Viewers Vote Alan Turing As “Most Iconic” Person Of 20th Century After Stunning Speech By Presenter

ABC News reports: World War II codebreaker Alan Turing has been named the most “iconic” figure of the 20th century, fighting off competition from international leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela. The scientist was chosen in a public vote during a live broadcast of BBC Two’s Icons: The Greatest Person Of The 20th Century. One of …

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Exclusive First Look: Edith Windsor’s Coming Memoir

Our friends at St. Martin’s Press have provided JMG readers with an exclusive first look at the coming memoir of late LGBT activist and marriage equality champion Edith Windsor: Edie Windsor became internationally famous when the Supreme Court ruled in her favor in her case seeking recognition from the US government for her marriage to her partner Thea Spyer. The …

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I Will Hold You Ten Times

As longtime readers know, there are four or five JMG entries that I repost every year. This is one of them. My dear friend Daniel Johnson, who threw the most kickass Groundhog Day birthday parties for himself, would have been 62 years old today. His was a life that burned brightly and I am illuminated still. Daniel Johnson, 1957-1997. I …

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SCOTUS Rules Trans Ban Can Proceed During Appeals

Think Progress reports: The Supreme Court handed down a pair of orders on Tuesday that effectively reinstate the Trump administration’s ban on trans military service. The cases are Trump v. Karnoski and Trump v. Stockman. In both cases, a lower court halted the ban. Tuesday’s orders temporarily stay those lower court decisions while the cases make their way through the …

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Pulitzer-Winning Lesbian Poet Mary Oliver Dies At 83

The New York Times reports: Mary Oliver, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet whose work, with its plain language and minute attention to the natural world, drew a wide following while dividing critics, died on Thursday at her home in Hobe Sound, Fla. She was 83. Her literary executor, Bill Reichblum, confirmed the death. Ms. Oliver had been treated for lymphoma, which …

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CANADA: Royal Mint To Issue $1 Coin Marking 50th Anniversary Of Decriminalization Of Homosexuality

The CBC reports: The Royal Canadian Mint is releasing a new $1 coin design next year, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality in Canada. Same-sex sexual activity between consenting adults was decriminalized in 1969, two years after then-justice minister Pierre Trudeau introduced amendments to the Criminal Code, famously declaring “there’s no place for the state in the …

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Matthew Shepard Interred At DC’s National Cathedral

ABC News reports: The ashes of Matthew Shepard were interred at the National Cathedral in Washington Friday, giving him a “home that is safe” 20 years after his brutal murder, his father said. “To the National Cathedral, I cannot thank you enough … for leading the way and showing acceptance and inclusiveness for any and all who enter these grounds,” …

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CANADA: Straight Pride Flag Roils Small Town [VIDEO]

CTV News reports: The man who petitioned the government of a small village in New Brunswick to raise a ‘straight pride’ flag says he’s disappointed the flag was later taken down. “Why should I not be allowed to fly my flag?” Glenn Bishop told CTV Atlantic. “That’s disgraceful. This is discrimination against straight people.” The flag was raised Sunday, next …

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20 Years After His Death, Ashes Of Matthew Shepard To Be Interred At Washington National Cathedral [VIDEO]

The New York Times reports: For 20 years, the ashes of Matthew Shepard have not been laid to rest. Mr. Shepard’s killing in 1998, when he was a 21-year-old college student, led to national outrage and, almost overnight, turned him into a symbol of deadly violence against gay people. Mourners flocked to his funeral that year in Casper, Wyo., but …

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