Oct. 14-20
1996
U.S.: In Raleigh, N.C., a state appeals court return custody of two young boys to their gay father, ruling there was no evidence he exposed them to “improper influences” by living with a male lover. The N.C. Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling that had transferred the boys from Frederick Smith to his former wife. * The U.S. Supreme Court rejects the appeal of Lt. Paul Thomasson, a former Navy officer, dismissed for declaring his homosexuality.
1991
U.S.: At least nine lesbian and gay employees of Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores are fired as a result of the company’s policy of supporting “heterosexual values.” Queer Nation, among other activist groups, mount a series of protests. * Andrew Sullivan is named editor of The New Republic, becoming the first openly gay editor of a major magazine of opinion in the U.S. * Madonna’s Truth or Dare is the Top Video. * One time Vice-Presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro, in her keynote speech to the Human Rights Campaign Fund, says: “At the same time our government spends millions to recruit and train volunteers, when we need to have the most effective, high-morale armed forces, it goes after people like Perry Watkins, Miriam Ben-Shalom, and Joe Steffan … it’s a perfect example of how mindless bigotry undermines a nation.” * George Foreman, former World Heavyweight Champion boxer, donates $100,000 to the food pantry program of the Houston AIDS Foundation. “I know that some day they are going to find a cure for this dreadful disease,” said Foreman at the check presentation, “And I want to be able to tell my children that I was a part of that.”
1986
U.S.: True Colors by Cyndi Lauper is in record stores. * The National Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union votes to adopt a formal policy statement endorsing both gay and lesbian marriage and a range of economic benefits for gay and lesbian partners. * In Princeton, N.J., in the largest single philanthropic effort to date in support of hospital care for PWA’s, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation donates $17 million for the care of AIDS patients around the country. * In Iowa City, the Gay and Lesbian Pride Week Committee announces a new fund to provide assistance to victims of domestic abuse. * In Boston, at an elegant black-tie banquet at the Park Plaza Hotel celebrating the 5th anniversary of the New England Committee of the Human Rights Campaign Fund is marred by hotel staff clearing the tables wearing yellow rubber gloves.
1981
U.S.: A presentation of The Celluloid Closet, an audiovisual show prepared by Vito Russo that explores gay and lesbian images, themes, and characters in American cinema, drew more than 1,000 people to the Beacon Theater in New York. * In Detroit, approximately 3,000 people attended the All People’s Congress at Cobo Hall to map strategy to oppose the Reagan Administration’s budget cuts. Gay men and lesbians joined Salvadorian refugees, welfare rights activists, poor people, and others. * In Providence, R.I., Bella Abzug, a former U.S Rep. and an outspoken supporter of gay rights, has a speaking engagement canceled after the local Roman Catholic Bishop received more than 100 calls complaining about Abzug’s pro-abortion stance.