1998U.S.: A group of women file a federal lawsuit to block a new Alabama law that bans the sale of sex toys, arguing the law intrudes on their right to privacy. * Representatives of 36 states attend the mid-year meeting of the Federation of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Political Organizations in Denver. * Quentin Crisp tells the San Antonio Express: ‘Never, never work. I’ve lived in New York for 18 years and I’ve never worked. Like Blanche DuBois, I rely on the kindness of strangers.’
1993U.S: With regards to the issue of ‘gays in the military,’ President Clinton agrees to the compromise ‘don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t pursue’ policy put forward by the Pentagon, the Justice Department and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. * Randall Terry, head of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, tells a crowd of 800 members that God is using AIDS, floods and hurricanes to punish the United States for tolerating homosexuality. * The Colorado Supreme Court upholds a lower court ruling that ‘fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote.’ This proves to be a severe setback to the State’s anti-gay Amendment 2 ruling. * The New Orleans City Council approves an ordinance allowing same-sex couples to register their relationships. Rip Naquin and Martin Greesom are the first couple to do so. * In a lawsuit filed in Clackamas County circuit court, Oregon City resident, Scott Gilbert, sues the Oregon Citizen’s Alliance(OCA) and more than 20 of its leaders for $5.5 million each, for using a photo of his three children without his permission in a campaign flyer denouncing homosexuality. Gilbert, who is gay, also alleges that the OCA invaded his privacy by revealing in the flyer that both he and his lover are HIV Positive. * France: The French government announces that, as part of its national AIDS-prevention drive, it will distribute a million free condoms with coffee and croissants at 200 cafes along the Riviera. * Britain: Elton John announces that he will sell his personal collection of 48,000 records and donate the proceeds to the Terrence Higgins Trust, a British AIDS charity.
1988U.S.: After being character witnesses for a woman being courtmartialed for lesbianism, two female Marines are relieved of their duties and harassed by their superiors, for their ‘unacceptably lenient attitude’ toward lesbianism. * In New York, Bernard Braverman, a gay man whose lover died of AIDS, wins the right to remain in his late lover’s rent-stabilized apartment, after a Manhattan civil court judge rules that he is ‘an immediate family member.’ * A member of a right-wing Republican group in Vermont asks Gov. Madelaine H. Kunin to issue a proclamation designating Nov. 8 as ‘Straight Pride Day.’
1983U.S.: Rep. Gerry Studds, D-Mass., becomes the first openly gay member of Congress, after he admits to having had an affair with a 17-year-old male in 1973. * De Sade & Men, an S&M group in New Orleans celebrates Bastille I, in recognition of the Marquis de Sade’s imprisonment in the infamous French prison. * The Wall Street Journal turns down an ad from Atlas Savings & Loan. The ad reads, ‘Atlas Savings and Loan, the World’s first financial institution organized by Lesbian/Gay persons to serve the Lesbian/Gay community, is conducting a nation-wide search for a qualified person to fill the position of Chief Executive Officer. Interested persons should send their resume to … .’ A spokesperson for the newspaper says the mention of sexual orientation was ‘unnecessary’ for the ad.