Year
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In Houston/Texas
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Other
Events in United States |
1980
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May. Organized in November
1979, the Montrose Sports Association got non-profit status in
May 1980, and covered a variety of sports, like softball, bowling,
tennis and volleyball. The Monstrose
Softball League broke away from MSA in 1983, forming its own
organization.
June 28 Fred Paez shot and killed by an off
duty HPD officer
A pride week bar raid at Mary's results in
61 arrests, including two lesbian bystanders who are outside the
bar. A few days later, many of those arrested were proudly sporting
Mary's Fairies Out of Jail T-shirts.
Houston Pride Week grows to a 10-day celebration.
The first Pride Guide, with a schedule of events, political editorials,
and historical information about the Houston community was published.
The parade starts in the parking lot of The Old Plantation, a
club located at 2020 Kipling. Admiral Linen Service now occupies
the building.
August 12th Due to the extraordinary work
of Phyllis Randolph-Frye Houston city ordinance 28.42.4, criminalizing
crossdressing, is repealed.
October 17-19. Seventh Texas
Gay Conference held in Denton
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Ken Horne is the first
person with AIDS (then called Kaposi's sarcoma) to report to the
Center for Disease Control
The Human
Rights Campaign Founded in Washington, D.C.
Joanna Clark (now Sister
Mary Elizabeth Clark) organizes the ACLU Trans Rights Committee
Audre
Lorde, Barbara
Smith, and several other lesbians co-founded Kitchen Table:
Women of Color Press, the first U.S. publisher for women of color
The term gender identity disorder (GID) first
appeared in the American Psychological Association's Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd Edition) (DSM-III)
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1981
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November 2, 1981 Houston's
Gay Political Caucus is covered in a story in the New York Times
The Montrose Clinic opens its doors to the
Houston GLBT community to combat the growing threat of HIV/AIDS.
Over the many years it evolved in Legacy
Community Health Services.
Sep 4-6. Eighth Texas
Gay Conference held in Houston. GayToday editor Jack Nichols
delivered a keynote speech, entitled The
Gay Tradition
Kindred
Spirits. A long-time and historic Houston lesbian bar, open
from Sept 1981 until May 1989. It was owned by Marion Coleman,
who was an amazing community leader participating in the Pride
and Political Caucus organizations, among others, and eventually
forming the Kindred Spirits Foundation
October. Club
Scene magazine, a small-sized publication catering to the
leather scene, lasting through 1984.
Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community
Churches annual meeting held at the Shamrock Hilton Hotel in Houston,
TX.
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Individual PFLAG chapters
from around the country join together to create a unified national
organization.
Ebony magazine poses the question, "Is
Homosexuality a Threat to the Black Family?" (The article
concludes that it is not.)
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1982
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Judge Jerry
Buckmeyer overturns Section 21.06, the "Homosexual Conduct"
law though it will be repealed repeatedly by the state for years
to come.
AIDS
Foundation Houston is formed to educate and help those with
HIV/AIDS
Towards a healthier gay lifestyle
: Kaposi's sarcoma, opportunistic infections, and the urban gay
life : what you need to know to ensure your good health
published by the Citizens for Human Equality, located in Houston.
It is the earliest pamphlet on safe sex published for the gay
community. 21 pages.
May. The club JRs
opens at 808 Pacific and is one of the longest-running bars in
Houston.
Mayor Kathy Whitmire appears at the
Pride Week Rally in Spotts Park, along with other Houston politicos,
including City Council members George Greanias, Dale Groczynski,
and Jim Greenwood, as well as Lance Lalor (the City Comptroller),
Mike Driscoll (Harris Country Attorney), and Debra Danburg (State
Representative District 79).
Sep 3-5. Ninth Texas
Gay Conference held in Houston
November. The Ripcord
opens on 715 Fairview, oriented to the leather crowd.
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February 25. Wisconsin
becomes the first state to approve civil
rights protection for lesbians and gay men.
April 13. Los Angeles:
US Congress representatives open the first committee hearings
on the disease that will come to be known as AIDS.
July 27. Gay community
leaders, federal bureaucrats and the investigative team from the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention meet in Washington.
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, or AIDS, is chosen as the
name for the disease that had been labeled gay-related immune
deficiency, or GRID, by some people, gay cancer by others
October 1. Former Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder
Glenn
Burke becomes the first professional baseball player to come
out
Coors beer sues gay activist Howard
Wallace over his successful organization of the 1970s boycott
of Coors products by the GLBT community.
The first Gay
Games are staged at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco from August
28 to September 5, with 1,300 athletes competing in 16 sports.
(At this time it was still called the "Gay Olympics"
--- the U. S. Olympic Committee later sued for trademark infringement,
and won.)
The Center for Disease Control replaces the
acronym GRIDS (Gay Related Immune Deficiency Syndrome) with AIDS
(Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)
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1983
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Tina Turner headlines
for the Houston Gay Pride Rally at the Summit.
A federal Court ruling that struck down Texas
(the 26th state to legalize consensual gay sex between adults)
homosexual conduct bill went under appeal and legislation to re-criminalize
gay sex was introduced into the state legislature
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Wisconsin became the
27th state to legalize consensual gay sex between adults.
The U.S. House of Representatives votes to
officially censure Rep.
Gerry Studds after becoming the first member of Congress to
come out.
August 21. La
Cage aux Folles opens on Broadway
to rave reviews and $4 million in advance ticket sales. With a
book written by Harvey Fierstein, La Cage is a romantic musical
comedy based on a popular French film about two male lovers, the
manager and the leading star of a nightclub featuring female impersonators.
August 22, Organizers of a Washington march
marking the 20th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I
Have a Dream" speech announce that no representatives from
gay or lesbian rights groups will be allowed to speak. A group
of lesbians and gay men stage a sit-in at the organizers' office
in response.
All My Children features the first lesbian
character in soap opera history
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1984
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Early in June, City
Councilman Anthony Hall's introduces an amendment to prohibiting
discrimination, in city employment, on the grounds of sexual orientation.
Houston City Council passes the measure. Opposition is very vocal.
A Houston chapter of the National
Leather Association was inititated in April 1984 for the leather/BDSM/Fetish
community.
June 9. Escorted by 800 members of the Houston
Police Department (at a cost of an estimated $80,000), fifty-five
members of the Ku
Klux Klan march up Westheimer, through the Montrose area,
in a fight to deny equal rights to the gay community. Even though
most members of the gay community purposely boycotted the demonstration,
the Klansmen were jeered by roughly 2,000 counterdemonstrators.
An editorial in the Texas Daily News regarding
the anti-gay rally by the Ku Klux Klan reads, Given a choice
between sharing a park with homosexuals or a bunch of white-sheeted,
racist, hate-peddling losers, we think we would prefer homosexuals."
Mayor Kathy Whitmire delivers the first City
Proclamation declaring the week Gay Pride Week
Unity and More in '84 is the theme
for the June 24 parade, which is the largest and most lavish yet.
A record 100,000 view 54 entries. In the meantime opponents of
the antidiscrimination ordinance obtain the necessary signatures
to force a referendum that is set for January.
The appeal for reinstating the "Homosexual
Conduct" law, Section 21.06, is denied but would be appealed
by the state yet again
July. The Houston
Outdoor Group (HOGS) formed, organizing outings in a variety
of areas, still active as of 2015.
The Imperial Court of the Single Star (now
The Royal, Sovereign, Imperial Court of the Single Star of Houston,
Inc., ERSICSS)
founded
DIFFA
(Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS)is founded by Patricia
Green and Larry Pond to mobilize the immense resources of the
various design communities to provide HIV/AIDS services and education
programs in the United States.
First Texas
Gay Rodeo takes place on the first week-end of November in
a rodeo arena in Simonton, about 40 miles west of Houston.
Last Texas Gay Conference held.
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Brothers debuts as
the first television show in the United States with a gay lead character. |
1985
|
January. A referendum
to repeal the city's non-discrimination ordinance of 1984 passes
with an overwhelmingly 82 percent vote.
January. Houston
Forum (later, Texas Forum) newspaper began, lasting until
April 1987.
Mayor Kathy Whitmire tours several gay bars
to thank gay voters for their support in her re-election only
to be verbally attacked in City Council as a gay-friendly barmaid
who was "slipping and slithering over sticky semen-coated
floors."
June 5th At the City Council meeting Dr. Steven
Hotze announced he was assembling 10,000 signatures on a petition
to force the mayor and council members not to attend this years
Gay Pride Parade
if they attended they would be endorsing
the homosexual lifestyle and pornography.
The Parade Route was lined with American and
Texan flags which stayed up through the fourth of July. The flags
were purchased from the International Flag Co. through the underwriting
of the Black Eyed Pea Restaurant.
Then Police Chief Lee Brown meets with the
gay community to discuss harassment of gays by the Police Department
and the existence of an infamous "fag list" of gay individuals
specifically singled out for harassment.
June. Womynspace
/ Wand begun, lesbian feminist newsletters, lasting through
1996.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld
the Section 21.06 "Homosexual Conduct" law as constitutional
stating that it does not violate federal privacy rights, thus
overturning the lower court's decision in 1982.
October 24 Louie Welch, trailing in a bid
to defeat incumbent mayor Kathy Whitmire, made one of Houston´s
most famous political gaffes. When he thought a microphone was
off, he said on live television that the solution to AIDS would
be to shoot the queers. By the next morning, people
were wearing T-shirts that said LOUIE, DON´T SHOOT!
Welch and the Straight Slate were unsuccessful.
First Pride week in Abilene, TX
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Newsweek writes that
support for legal protection for gays is "politically hazardous
in the AIDS-altered climate" of the period.
Pivotal year for Oscars: Vanessa Redgrave
is the first woman to be nominated for Best Actress playing a
lesbian role in The Bostonians and The
Times of Harvey Milk wins Best Documentary (first documentary
on a gay subject to do so). An estimated 1 billion viewers hear
its director, Robert Epstein, express his thanks to, "my
partner in life, John Wright."
It is revealed that actor Rock Hudson has
AIDS.
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1986
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March 11. Club owner and community welfare
activist Marion
Pantzer is shot to death in her bar during a robbery, sending
the community into shock and grief.
All but one Board member of the Pride Committee,
then known as the Houston Gay Pride Week Committee, resign over
a controversy over T-shirts but the Pride Celebration still goes
on as scheduled.
The rainbow used as a logo for the Houston
parade for the first time.
The Texas Supreme Court rules that Section
21.06, the "Homosexual Conduct" law is constitutional
and reinstates the law once again making homosexual activity in
Texas a criminal offense
Lobo
Bookstore opened, providing sources
for legitimate book in Houston from 1986 through 2004. A Dallas
branch was open from 1973 to 1990. Both bowed to the declining
feasibility of stores during a digital age of distribution.
Texas Health Department moves to have people
with AIDS "quarantined" as a way to stop the spread
of the deadly disease, until gay lobbyist show how it would not
help
August. Omega House opens
at 616 Branard, an AIDS hospice, still serving today, though under
the umbrella of Bering
Omega Community Services.
An affiliation between the University of
Texas System and American Medical International Inc., a private
hospital corporation, results in the opening of the Institute
for Immunological Disorders the nation's first the nations first
AIDS hospital, in Houston.
June. Heartsong,
a mostly lesbian chorus formed, considered for a while to be the
sister chorus for the Houston Gay Men's Chorus. The group gave
many concerts through at least 1995.
Austin Texas passed an ordinance prohibiting
discrimination against people with AIDS
"Steven Joachim filed a suit claiming
sexual orientation discrimination in AT&T's decision to dismiss
him, AT&T argued that the policy in its employee handbook
did not create a contractual obligation. The Fifth Circuit Court
of Appeals agreed -- finding under Texas law that AT&T's "employee
handbooks constituted no more than general guidelines,'
and did not create a contractual right in the employees.""
Highlighting the necessity for the pasage of ENDA. See this artilce
by Professor Ian Ayers
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The United States
Supreme Court rules to uphold Georgia's sodomy law in the case of
Bowers
vs. Hardwick ; overturned in 2003 by Lawrence v Texas.
Cleve Jones begins the AIDs Memorial Quilt
project
The first Oscar awarded to an actor in a GLBT
role was presented to William Hurt for his role in Kiss of the
Spider Woman.
Delta Lambda Phi (national social fraternity
for gay, bisexual, and progressive men) founded by Vernon L. Strickland,
III, in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Louis
Graydon Sullivan founds Female-To-Male
International
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1987
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October-LOAF (Lesbians Over the Age of Fifty)
holds its first meeting is held at Womynspace. President and Founder
of LOAF is Arden Eversmeyer.
Pride Week begins with bar raids by the Houston
Police Department. On three consecutive nights, officers raid
Michael's, Chutes, and the JOE Club, arresting patrons, staff,
and male dancers. HGLPC leadership holds a press conference, announcing
its intention to meet with Mayor Whitmire and Police Chief Brown
and declaring that Houston's gay community will not be silenced
by intimidation.
Parade organizers request that money usually
spent on parade floats be redirected to AIDS services.
Hatch
Youth formed in 1987 to meet the needs for sexual minority
adolescents between the ages of 13 and 20. Today, Hatch Youth
is a program of the Montrose Center, a nonprofit 501c3 organization.
The word lesbian included in the
title of the Houston festivities for the first time
June 15. Houston
v. Hill a 1987 U.S. Supreme Court
case. The case presented the question whether a citizen may verbally
challenge the police -- as in Ray Hill's query to a Houston officer
of "Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?" --
without fear of arrest. Mr. Hill won.
September 6. "After Hours"
radio debuts on KPFT, lasting 30 years.
L.O.A.F.
"Lesbians Over the Age Fifty" has first meeting in Oct
1987
The Assistance Fund founded
For the first time in Texas politics, openly
gay candidates ran for office across the state, showing that gays
could run and win public office.
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Over 750, 000 GLBT
people march on Washington D.C. demanding equal civil rights for
the community to the chant of "What do we want? Gay Rights!
We've got the power to fight back!"
Flamboyant, yet still closeted, entertainer
Liberace died of HIV/AIDS, leaving behind an entertainment legacy
few can forget.
Congressman Barney
Frank (D-Massachusetts) comes out.
The Minnesota Supreme Court refused to rule
on the constitutionality of the state's sodomy law, which allowed
the law to remain on the books.
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1988
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The massive NAMES
Project AIDS Memorial quilt is displayed in Houston for the first
time
Local Houston physicians establish Body Positive
in response to the growing number of people living HIV positive.
The annual musical event benefiting non-profit
HIV/AIDS service organizations, Halloween Magic produces
their first freewheeling spoof, liberally mixing elements of a
popular musical with contemporary references straight from entertainment
and news headlines
Upon being approached by the Human Rights
Campaign Fund, Jay Hollyfield agreed to organize a dinner. With
the help of Gene Harrington, Monte Front and Scott Holman, the
first Black Tie Dinner was held in the Tonys Wine Cellar.
The Houston parade honors its first honorary
grand marshals, slain San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, the
first openly gay elected public official (represented at the parade
by San Francisco Supervisor Harry Britt-a native Houstonian),
and Sharon Kowalski (represented by an empty wheelchair), the
young lesbian whose family separates her from her lover Karen
Thompson after she is profoundly disabled in a 1983 auto accident.
November 28 A Dallas judge sentences the
killer of two gay men to 30 years in prison instead of a life
sentence because, as he later tells the Dallas Times Herald, "I
don't much care for queers cruising the streets." The Dallas
Gay Alliance joins political leaders across the country in protesting
the judge's decision.
December. Pokey Anderson and
Annise Parker open Inklings
Bookstore, a social and more resource. It closed in 1997.
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October 11th First
National Coming Out day celebrated
World AIDS Day is created to bring a message
of compassion and hope throughout the world.
In a Senate floor debate over appropriations
for AIDS services, always controversial U.S. Senator Jesse Helms
said of a person with AIDS: "If they had a father who was
worth a damn, he would not have gotten AIDS."
Father John
J. McNeill expelled by the Vatican from the Society of Jesus
(Jesuits) for challenging the teachings of the Roman Catholic
Church on the issue of homosexuality, and for refusing to give
up his ministry and psychotherapy practice to gay men and lesbians.
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1989
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Mica England goes before the Dallas City Council,
then debating whether or not to support students in China who
were taking a stand for democracy. She tells them that she has
been turned down for service to the Dallas Police Department because
she is openly a lesbian. She posed the question, "Why is
there no democracy for me in Dallas?
May. Amigos Volunteers in
Education and Services (AVES)
formed. The mission of AVES, Inc. is to promote a healthy community
through education, disease prevention, advocacy, and direct care
to Latinos and other historically underserved populations.
January 28. Thomas
Charles Hammerton, a gay man, is stabbed to death in the street
near his home in the Hyde Park area of Montrose with no know motive
or suspects.
The parade, celebrating Stonewall 20, is the
largest ever with 60 entries, including the Lone Star Band of
Houston and the Oak Lawn Band of Dallas combined as one marching
unit. There are 14 big floats, two dozen marching units, two dozen
vehicle entries, and walking contingents. The one-hour parade
is broadcast live on KPFT-FM, and an airplane sponsored by Mother's
Bar flies overhead trailing a streamer that reads Gay &
Proud.
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Pat Robertson forms
the powerful conservative political organization known as the Christian
Coalition, saying gays should be rounded up and executed.
The Moral Majority is dissolved.
Teacher Kevin Jennings helps his students
form the first
Gay
Straight Alliance (GSA) school club in Concord, Massachusetts
The United States postal service issues the
first "Lesbian and Gay Pride" postage stamp.
Memphis, TN First Gay and Lesbian Community
Center opened.
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