Tag Archives: LGBT History

LGBTQ Groups Celebrate Historic SCOTUS Ruling

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 …

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Democrats Mark Fourth Anniversary Of Pulse Massacre

From the Democratic National Committee: Four years ago today, 49 people were murdered in the single deadliest attack on the LGBTQ+ and Latinx communities in U.S. history. What should have been a night of celebration was overtaken by hatred and bigotry. We will not let that hatred and bigotry prevent us from celebrating the lives of those we lost at …

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TRAILER: HBO Doc On Homocon Archvillain Roy Cohn

Deadline Hollywood reports: Here’s the first trailer for Ivy Meeropol’s documentary Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn, which will debut on HBO later this month. The feature film, which had its world premiere at the 2019 New York Film Festival, is another insight into the infamous attorney who prosecuted the Meeropol’s grandparents, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and later …

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BREAKING: Activist, Author Larry Kramer Dead At 84

The New York Times reports: Larry Kramer, the noted writer whose raucous, antagonistic campaign for an all-out response to the AIDS crisis helped shift national health policy in the 1980s and ’90s, died on Wednesday in Manhattan. He was 84. His husband, David Webster, said the cause was pneumonia. Mr. Kramer had weathered illness for much of his adult life. …

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LGBTQ Rights Pioneer Phyllis Lyon Dies At Age 95

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 …

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California Governor Posthumously Pardons Civil Rights Leader Bayard Rustin For 1953 Gay Sex Conviction

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 …

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Construction Begins On USS Harvey Milk Ship [VIDEO]

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 …

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JMG Short Story: Ricky Loved Madonna

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 …

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ILLINOIS: Dem Gov Signs LGBT History Curriculum Bill

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 …

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BRITAIN: Alan Turing To Appear On New £50 Note

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 …

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Anti-Gay Former GOP Rep. William Dannemeyer Dies At 89, Called For Firing And Quarantining People With HIV

The Washington Post reports: William E. Dannemeyer, a seven-term congressman from California who exemplified the archconservative politics of Orange County, calling for a balanced federal budget while making national headlines for his attacks on “militant homosexuality” in the early years of the AIDS epidemic, died July 9 at his wife’s home in Thousand Palms, Calif. He was 89. He had …

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Mayor Puts NYC WorldPride Attendance At Five Million

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 …

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PHOTOS: New York City Pride / Stonewall 50 March

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 …

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Democrats Celebrate Stonewall: We See You, We Hear You, We Won’t Stop Fighting For Your Rights [VIDEO]

Just in via email from the Democratic National Committee: “Today, we celebrate the birth of the modern LGBTQ rights movement. We honor the courage and diversity of the activists at Stonewall. We remember heroes like Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson – two trans women of color – whose bravery changed our country for the better. And we recognize all …

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Mayor Pete: Stonewall Made It Possible For Me To Run

Just in via email from the Buttigieg campaign: Fifty years ago, early on a Saturday morning, police came through the door of the Stonewall Inn. That raid gave rise to a resistance, which in turn helped launch the arrival of LGBTQ consciousness in America as we know it. My candidacy is possible today only because of the hard work and …

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NYC Pride Dazzles With World Pride Opening [VIDEO]

Last night I attended the opening ceremonies for WorldPride/Stonewall 50 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center where NYC Pride dazzled the packed arena with a slick production that was by turns moving, inspiring, and just plain fabulous.  Variety reports: Whoopi Goldberg was the host of the evening, delivering an uplifting speech that set up the evening’s celebratory atmosphere while marking the 50th …

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LGBTQ History: “The Foot Wore A Spiked Heel”

It was 50 years ago this week 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 …

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American Psychoanalytic Association Apologizes For Having Once Labeled Homosexuality As Mental Illness

The Hill reports: The American Psychoanalytic Association apologized on Friday for previously labeling homosexuality a mental illness. “It is long past time to recognize and apologize for our role in the discrimination and trauma caused by our profession,” Lee Jaffe, the group’s president, said in a statement. “We all know that hearing the words ‘we are sorry’ is important to …

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Tickets Still Available For NYC Pride Opening Ceremony: Cyndi Lauper, Whoopi, Chaka, Billy Porter, & Much More

In the next day or so I’ll have a much more extensive post about the myriad events offered up by NYC Pride and WorldPride, some of which are long sold out, but in the meantime I’ve just been told that some tickets are still available for the opening ceremony, which has quite the fantastic lineup: NYC Pride is proud to …

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Bill Would Make Pulse Nightclub A National Memorial

CNN reports: In the days ahead of the third anniversary of the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida lawmakers have proposed plans to designate the nightclub a national memorial. U.S. Reps. Darren Soto and Stephanie Murphy, both from Central Florida, announced their plan to declare Pulse a federal landmark at a service in front of the temporary memorial …

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