1998
U.S.: Films of gay interest that win awards at the Golden Globes include My Life In Pink (Ma Vie En Rose) and As Good as It Gets. * Anne Heche says that although she knows she’ll be with Ellen DeGeneres the rest of her life, her mother does not accept their relationship. * An episode of the controversial TV show, Nothing Sacred, involving a gay Catholic priest afflicted with AIDS, is withheld by ABC; a decision that rankles the show’s producers. * America Online admits breaching its policy and says it regrets disclosing to a Navy investigator the identity of Senior Chief Petty Officer Timothy R. McVeigh, a sailor facing dismissal from the service as a homosexual. * Robin Joy Shahar, a lesbian lawyer who says she unlawfully was denied a job on the Georgia attorney general’s staff because of her impending marriage to another woman, loses a Supreme Court appeal. * Reversing a longstanding policy, GMHC suggests that New York doctors begin reporting persons testing HIV+ to the NY State Health Department. * Citibank announce that they will donate $1 million to Elton John’s AIDS foundation, in return for the star appearing in their commercials. * Austria: The Catholic church is rocked by accusations that former Vienna Archbishop Hans Herman Groer sexually abused boys. *
1993
U.S.: Advocate publisher Niles Merton says: ‘For sound business reasons, I want to identify, target, locate and acquire the lesbian market. * Sgt. Laurie Teague, a lesbian police officer, files a discrimination suit against Marin County police force, charging that her supervisor frequently referred to her as a ‘dyke.’ * Seattle nursing assistant John Baldetta returns to work after a three-day suspension because he refused to cover a tattoo on his arm declaring he was HIV Positive. * The San Diego school board unanimously votes to kick the Boy Scouts of America out of the city’s public schools. * Japan: Famed poet Yutaka Hirata becomes the first Japanese citizen to publicly acknowledge that he has AIDS.
1988
U.S.: National Gay Rights Advocates file suit against Farmers Insurance Company on behalf of a gay couple, Boyce Hinman and Larry Beaty, who were denied a joint ‘umbrella’ liability insurance policy on their house. * The Moral Majority attacks presidential contender Gary Hart because of his extramarital affairs. The right-wing group states that public apathy about Hart’s behavior is ‘an enemy more dangerous than militant homosexuals, more repulsive than the smut peddlers and child pornographic merchants.’ * The Supreme Court rules that Georgetown University cannot deny the gay and lesbian student group access to facilities on a basis comparable to other campus organizations. * Bernardo Bertolucci’s movie The Last Emperor, about Pu Yi, the last emperor of China, is the new hit. Although Pu Yi is depicted in the movie as heterosexual, some biographers contend that he was homosexual. * Representatives from gay Republican organizations meet to institute the formation of a new national association to be called United Republicans for Equality.
1983
U.S.: Living My Life by singer Grace Jones is in stores. * The UCLA annual survey of college freshmen reveals that 50 percent believe ‘same-sex couples should have the right to legal marital status.” * Dr. Michael Gottlieb at the UCLA School of Medicine, talking about AIDS, in The Advocate: ‘The more we learn about this, the deeper we go, the more it looks like science fiction.’ Dr. Harold Jaffe of D.C.’s AIDS Task Force tells the interviewer: ‘We don’t know of any hot leads in research, do you?’ * The Gay Book of Days by Martin Greif is in bookstores.