April 1-7
1996
U.S.: Gay and lesbian police officers file suit in federal court against the New York City Police Department, contending that the department had not treated an organization of gay law enforcement workers as an equal of other fraternal organizations. The Gay Officers’ Action League, or GOAL, is the main plaintiff in the suit. The group maintains in the complaint that the Police Department violated constitutional guarantees by refusing the league permission to have a ceremony and set up a display at police headquarters honoring the contribution of gay police officers. * In Washington D.C., a divided U.S. appeals court upholds the controversial “don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t pursue” policy allowing the firing of military members who say they are gay. In the first appellate ruling on the controversy, the court by a 9-4 vote declared the policy constitutional and said the discharge of Paul Thomasson, 33, a gay U.S. Navy lieutenant represented “an appropriate exercise of military authority.” * Camp Sister Spirit hosts the 8th Gulf Coast Womyn’s Festival in Ovett, Mississippi. * Ilka Tanya Payan, the Dominican-born soap-opera star and New York civic leader, dies of AIDS dies of AIDS aged 53.
1991
U.S.: In Norman, OK., University of Oklahoma regents vote down a student-backed amendment to the student code that would have given gay and bisexual students protected status as a minority group. * Jecquin Stitt, a pre-op transsexual from Michigan, wins the Ladies’ Home Journal Oprah Winfrey look-alike contest. * In Salt Lake City, eight members of Queer Nation show up at Mormon church headquarters to be personally excommunicated from the faith. * In New York, the Montefiore Medical Center announces that it is extending spousal benefits to domestic partners of its lesbian and gay staff members. In doing so, Montefiore becomes the largest private business in the U.S. to include domestic partners in its program. * The first issue of Diseased Pariah News, a new humor ‘zine written by, and for, PWA’s is published.
1986
U.S.: An auction of Rock Hudson memorabilia at the William Doyle Galleries in New York raises $84,000. * Rosemary Kuropat, co-director of the National Lesbian and Gay Task Force, resigns, pointing to difficulties she had raising funds for the organization. * My Beautiful Launderette, starring Gordon Warnecke and Daniel Day Lewis, is in the movie theaters. * Despite a plea to President Reagan for clemency, Australian Anthony Sullivan, who fought the Immigration and Naturalization Service for 10 years to remain in the U.S. with his lover Richard Adams, is denied immigrant status. * Lisa “Hershey” Hirschkop, accused of assaulting a police officer during a protest of Gov. Dukakis’ homophobic foster care policy, is found not guilty in Boston Municipal Court. * Britain: British tenor Peter Pears, lifelong lover of composer Benjamin Britten, dies aged 75.
1981
U.S.: Ebony magazine publishes an article, “Is Homosexuality a Threat to the Black Family?” which seeks to dispel the myth that whites introduced homosexuality into the Black community to weaken and destroy it. * The Indiana Gay and Lesbian State Conference is held in Terre Haute. The theme is “The New Right – Policies and Attitudes.” * Australia: Over 700 people gather outside the Parliament House in Sydney to support the move to amend the sexual assault bill by repealing the anti-homosexual sections of that law. * Italy: The Communist Mayor of Rome opens the Protomoteca Hall on Capitone Hill to all gay Italians for meetings and discussions on gay problems. * Iran: Two men are executed for gay “crimes.” Aged 24 and 30, they are killed by firing squad in the central Iranian city of Shiraz.