Tag Archives: LGBT History

ABC News reports: Video of a landmark 2010 trial that cleared the way for gay marriage in California can be made public, the culmination of a years-long legal fight. The Supreme Court announced Tuesday that it would not intervene in the dispute over the recordings, leaving in place lower court rulings permitting the video’s release. The trial more than a …

Gentle readers, today is Madonna’s 64th 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 …

From the Democratic National Committee: DNC Chair Jaime Harrison, DNC Secretary Jason Rae, and LGBTQ Caucus Chair Earl Fowlkes issued the following joint statement marking the 53rd anniversary of the Stonewall uprising: Fifty-three years ago, queer and trans people, led by trans and lesbian women of color, took to the streets to protest years of oppression and injustice against the …

Gentle readers, I’m rerunning my annual Pride rant for the eighteenth 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 the NYC Pride March, which will return tomorrow after two years of absence due to the pandemic. If you’re in town, I encourage …

The San Francisco Chronicle reports: The Castro Theatre, a San Francisco jewel that has hosted countless film festivals and premieres, is set to get a major makeover. The 100-year-old theater, known throughout the world as one of the symbols of San Francisco’s historic LGBTQ Castro neighborhood, will be renewed as a live events venue with music, comedy, film and more …

Orlando’s CBS News affiliate reports: The onePulse Foundation, a nonprofit incorporated by the owner of the Pulse nightclub, is asking for any information on an arson from October. The foundation posted a video on Facebook on Saturday that shows a man in a wheelchair lighting part of the interim memorial on fire. The foundation said it happened on October 12 …

San Diego’s Fox News affiliate reports: The Navy christened its latest ship Saturday, a replenishment oiler named after slain civil rights leader Harvey Milk, during a ceremony in San Diego. The USNS Harvey Milk is the second ship in the Navy’s John Lewis class of fleet replenishment oilers, which will serve to refuel Navy ships at sea. The John Lewis-class …

CNN reports: The US Mint has announced the full list of five pioneering American women who will appear on the first run of the “American Women Quarters Program.” Images of the women, who represent a wide array of professions from which women were previously shut out, will appear on the backs of select quarters beginning in 2022. (George Washington’s facade …

Via press release from the White House: Ten years ago today, a great injustice was remedied and a tremendous weight was finally lifted off the shoulders of tens of thousands of dedicated American service members. The repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, which formally barred gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members from openly serving, helped move our nation closer to …

Gentle readers, today is Madonna’s 63rd 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 San Francisco Chronicle reports: James Hormel, a San Franciscan who became the nation’s first gay ambassador and later a prolific philanthropist, died Friday. Hormel, who was 88, was appointed as the U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg in 1997 by then-President Bill Clinton. He was the first openly gay person to be nominated to an ambassadorship, and faced down a nationwide …

Gothamist reports: The American LGBTQ+ Museum will have a permanent home in the expansion of the New-York Historical Society’s headquarters on Central Park West, with a $35 million infusion in capital funds from the city. The capital funds represents a quarter of the historical society’s $140 million expansion to add more than 60,000 square feet onto the lot directly behind …

It was 52 years ago this weekend 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 …

USA Today reports: President Joe Biden has signed a law designating the Pulse nightclub in Orlando as a national memorial. Survivors of the 2016 shooting and the victims’ family members attended the signing ceremony at the White House. “May no president ever have to sign another monument like this,” Biden said as he signed the law as survivors stood around …

Just in via press release: The Stonewall Inn, widely regarded as the birthplace of the LGBTQ rights movement, will ban Anheuser-Busch products from the bar during NYC Pride weekend, June 25-27, in response to news that the company made political contributions to lawmakers behind bills targeting transgender youth. Community members will join the bar’s owners in a public ‘pour-out’ of …

NBC News reports: LGBTQ civil servants and service members were systematically fired or forced to resign due to their sexual orientation or gender identity over the past seven decades, and a proposed bill is seeking to have the federal government issue an official apology acknowledging its past discriminatory policies. The bill, introduced Thursday by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., says the …

Via press release from the White House: Five years ago today in Orlando in the middle of Pride Month, our nation suffered the deadliest attack affecting the LGBTQ+ community in American history, and at the time, the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman. Within minutes, the Pulse nightclub that had long been a place of acceptance and joy turned …

Just in via press release: 5 years ago, 49 LGBTQ people, largely Black and Latinx, were killed in the deadliest attack on LGBTQ people in American history. The shooting is also the second-deadliest mass shooting in American history. In response, DNC Chair Jaime Harrison, DNC Secretary Jason Rae and DNC LGBTQ Caucus Chair Earl Fowlkes released the following statement: “Five …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: Days before the fifth anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting, U.S. Senators passed a bill designating the site of the former nightclub as a national memorial. The legislation passed unanimously Wednesday afternoon after its sponsor, Sen. Rick Scott, asked that it and its companion bills be approved by unanimous consent in observance of the five years …

From a just-issued White House proclamation: Today, we honor and celebrate the achievements and resiliency of transgender individuals and communities. Transgender Day of Visibility recognizes the generations of struggle, activism, and courage that have brought our country closer to full equality for transgender and gender non-binary people in the United States and around the world. Their trailblazing work has given …