November 20 - National
Stuart Timmons published “The Trouble with Harry Hay Founder of the Modern Gay Movement” to document the life of Harry Hay in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s has he started the gay movement for civil rights.
June 30 - California
The First National Bisexual Conference is held in San Francisco
January 1 – Michigan
Steve Culver launches a newspaper in Ann Arbor called Ten Percent, it was later re-named to the Michigan Tribune.
March 28 - Ohio
In Cincinnati, Ohio, the “culture war” against art with gay or lesbian content results in the prosecution of a museum displaying a Robert Mapplethorpe exhibit and the rescinding of National Endowment of the Arts grants to three openly lesbian or gay artists.
March 3 - Utah
“The World of Anne Frank” a touring Holocaust exhibit came to Salt Lake. A volunteer committee sent the State Office of Education a packet of supplementary materials that would be sent to teachers around the state that included information about the Nazi persecution of homosexuals. The Office of Education deleted 3 pages titled “The Fate of Homosexuals Under Nazi Rule” and decided to not distribute the historically accurate information to Utah schoolteachers. The Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Utah protested this decision and the three pages were distributed.
May 1 - National
Matt Wagner begins his unfinished “THE AERIALIST” series in DARK HORSE PRESENTS #40 (Dark Horse, May 1990), which is set in a world where the majority is LGBT and it is heterosexuals who are in the closet.
President George W. Bush
November 29 - Washington D.C.
Immigration Act of 1990 101 P.L. 649; 104 Stat. 4978; 1990 Enacted S. 358; 101 Enacted S. 358, November 29, 1990 Removed homosexuality as grounds for exclusion from immigration to the U.S. Census includes "Unmarried Partner" option U. S. Census Bureau. (2013, August).
August 18 - Washington D.C.
President George Bush signs the Ryan White Care Act, a federally funded program for people living with AIDS. Ryan White, an Indiana teenager, contracted AIDS in 1984 through a tainted hemophilia treatment. After being barred from attending school because of his HIV-positive status, Ryan White becomes a well-known activist for AIDS research and anti-discrimination.
September 17 - National
General Motors issues an apology after one of its commercials refers to trucks made by foreign companies as “little faggot trucks.” And agrees to stop using the term "little faggot trucks" in their promotional videos.
January 22 - New York
James Zappalorti, a gay Vietnam veteran, was stabbed to death.
June 3 - National
Chris Glaser a writer publishes “Come Home!”
January 1 – National
The Diocese of Oakland, Ca., establishes an outreach to gay and lesbian communities and their families, joining ministries in Trenton, NJ; St. Augustine, Fla.; Los Angeles; and Seattle.
March 1 - National
Paul Russell publishes his novel “The Salt Point”
January 1 – Michigan
Offices of Lesbian Connections magazine catch fire
James Zappalorti
January 1 - Massachusetts
GLSEN is founded by a small, but dedicated group of teachers in Massachusetts who came
together to improve an education system that too frequently allows its lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) students to be bullied, discriminated against, or fall
through the cracks. GLSEN’s primary focus is K-12 school years and helps students that are bullied by other children.
January 1 - Oregon
Child perfective services begins certifying gay and lesbian couples as foster parents.
November 20 - National
Jeffrey Weeks publishes “Between the Acts. Lives of Homosexual Men 1885-1967”
June 1 - Michigan
Organizers of Michigan Womyn's Music Festival issue statement prohibiting S/M activities.
October 5 - National
A film with a relationship between two bisexual women, called Henry and June, became the first film to receive the NC-17 rating from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).
November 7 - National
OutRight is founded to begin fighting for LGBT right in the United States.
June 9 - Ohio
Rally at Fountain Square, Parade to Sawyer Point (Greater Cincinnati Gay & Lesbian Coalition)
January 2 - Michigan
Bruce Dettloff, former owner of the Gold Coast Saloon in Detroit, is shot and killed in his home.
Julio Rivera
Pat Robertson
June 1 - National
At the 101st Annual Conference of American Rabbis, it was decided that gay men and lesbians would be accepted as rabbis. The resolution states that “...All Rabbis, regardless of their sexual orientation, be accorded the opportunity to fulfill the sacred vocation which they have chosen.”
June 23 - National
In 1990 the oldest national bisexuality organization in the United States, BiNet USA, was founded. It was originally called the North American Multicultural Bisexual Network (NAMBN), and had its first meeting at the first National Bisexual Conference in America, which was held in San Francisco, and sponsored by BiPOL.
Bisexual health was one of eight workshop tracks at the conference, and the "NAMES Project" quilt was displayed with bisexual quilt pieces. Over 450 people attended from 20 states and 5 countries, and the mayor of San Francisco sent a proclamation "commending the bisexual rights community for its leadership in the cause of social justice," and declaring June 23, 1990 Bisexual Pride Day.
July 20 - Michigan
In a broad-based constitutional challenge, Michigan Organization for Human Rights (MOHR) v. Kelley, the sodomy and gross indecency laws were attacked as violative of privacy, equal protection, and free association. In 1990, a trial court struck down all of the laws
May 1 - National
Grant Michaels publishes his first novel “A Body to Dye For”
January 1 – National
Tom Bianchi, writer and photographer, releases his first gay male photo book “Out of the Studio”. After the launch if his first book he releases 20 more photo books documenting his photo journal of
the male body.
July 12 - Washington D.C.
Americans with Disabilities Act 101 P.L. 336; 104 Stat. 327; 1990 Enacted S. 933; 101 Enacted S. 933, July 26, 1990 Specified that the term "disabled" or "disability" shall not apply to transvestites.
October 1 - National
Jesse Helms a lifelong politician for the Republican party referred to LGBT people as disgusting.
January 1 – Michigan
General Motors issues a company directive barring discrimination based on sexual orientation.
December 5 - California
Robert Chesley who dided of AIDS related complications is honored for his work by the Publishing Tiangle and give “The Robert Chesley Award for Lesbian and Gay Playwriting” to deserving recipients every year.
May 20 - Colorado
University of Colorado football coach Bill McCartney founds Promise Keepers, which holds all-male stadium revivals promoting "traditional masculinity". McCartney calls homosexuals "a group of people who don't reproduce, yet want to be compared with people who do reproduce," and says, "Homosexuality is an abomination of Almighty God."
United States LGBT History for 1990
July 2 - New York
Julio Rivera was murdered in New York City by two men who beat him with a hammer and stabbed him with a knife because he was gay
Barney Frank
State equality and discrimination bills
June 1 - National
LGBT publisher Alyson Publications launches the Alyson Wonderland imprint for children’s titles. It publishes “Daddy’s Roommate,” by Michael Willhoite, the first children’s book to depict gay male parents, and mass produces “Heather Has Two Mommies.”
November 7 - National
Lawrence D. Mass a physician and writer publishes “Homosexuality and Sexuality: Dialogues of The Sexual Revolution, Volume 1”
Jesse Helms
March 1 - New York
Jay Blotcher was a founding member and Media Coordinator for “Queer Nation” New York and the executive producer of the Anti-Violence Campaign. The founders were outraged at the escalation of anti-gay and lesbian violence on the streets and prejudice in the arts and media. The group is known for its confrontational tactics, its slogans, and the practice of outing.
January 1 – California
Two San Francisco Lutheran churches proceed with their ordination of gay and lesbian pastors, making them the first openly homosexual individuals to be ordained in the Lutheran church. The action provokes an immediate controversy and the ELCA brings official charges against the churches. Bishops later submit a statement expressing fear that the ordinations pose a “challenge to the unity” of the church.
July 1 - National
“Common Threads,” a film about 5 people with AIDS, wins an Academy Award.
Bill McCartney
May 1 - National
David M. Halperin a theorist and historian publishes “Before Sexuality: The Construction of Erotic Experience in the Ancient Greek World”
January 1 – National
Bo Huston a writer publishes “Horse and Other Stories”
January 5 - Washington D.C.
In the Matter of Representative Barney Frank, U.S. House. Committee on Standards of Conduct. Frank was outed during investigation into affair with a male prostitute.
January 1 – National
Televangelist Pat Robertson founds the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), run by Christian Right attorney Jay Sekulow. The ACLJ will be instrumental in fighting gay marriage, calling it a cancerous “perversion” that “directly attacks the family, which is the most vital cell in society.”
April 23 - Washington D.C.
The Hate Crime Statistics Bill passes through Congress in February and is signed by President George H. W. Bush. Previous legislation required the collection of data on crimes motivated by racial, ethnic, or religious prejudice. This new law also requires that data be collected on crimes motivated by prejudice against people of differing sexual orientations. It is the first federal law to
include the term “sexual orientation” and the first to extend federal recognition of gay men and lesbians.
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