California
Metropolitan Community Church formed
J.E. Freeman
United States LGBT History for 1968
Larry Dane Brimner
National
International Olympics Committee institutes required sex testing for all women athletes – naked athletes are inspected by a panel of medical doctors. Two Russian women athletes, sisters Tamara and Irina Press, whose “masculine” appearance and gold medal performances in track and field prompt concern about male athletes “masquerading” as women competitors never compete again after the sex tests are instituted.
California
The Patch, a gay and lesbian nightclub in the Wilmington suburb of Los Angeles, is raided by Vice Squad officers and half a dozen policemen who interrogate and arrest some of the patrons. The club's owner, comedian Lee Glaze, tells the crowd that it is "not against the law to be homosexual, and it's not a crime to be in a gay bar!" Glaze retaliates against the police by purchasing hundreds of flowers and staging a flower-power protest in front of the police station while waiting for those arrested to be released. This style of campy retaliation against police persecution suggests a precursor to the theatrical stylings of later organized GLBT protest movements such as ACT UP and Queer Nation.
National
Larry Dane Brimner started college and recognized that he was gay. Under pressure from his parents, he went to a psychiatrist and underwent electroshock treatments for his sexuality. These experiences led to his 1995 book for gay and lesbian teenagers, “Being Different”.
Oregon
The Oregon Supreme Court finds the book Lesbian Roommate obscene. The decision later is reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
State equality and discrimination bills
Witter Bynner
New Mexico
Witter Bynner poet, writer and scholar, dies after a long career in writing with his husband.
National
The American Psychiatric Association moves homosexuality from the “sociopathic” category to the “sexual deviation” category in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual.
New York
Robert La Tourneaux is cast as the “hustler” in the off-Broadway production of “Boys in The Band”
Utah
Homosexual acts added to the BYU General Handbook of Instruction as an excommunicable offense.
Minnesota
Bi Alliance begins at the University of Minnesota
Utah
BYU begins what has been called “the gay witch-hunts.”
September 30 - National
Charles Pitts from the New Symposium interviews "Jay Perry", a 19-year-old hustler, or male prostitute who offers sexual services to other males, whom the host met one evening while cruising on Christopher Street. "Jay" reflects on why he decided to become a hustler, the hazards of his chosen profession, sado-masochistic roles in hustling and his own sexual identity. Broadcast: WBAI, 30 Sept.
National
François Clemmons a signer and actor was told by Fred Rogers that while his sexuality did not matter to him personally, Clemmons could not be "out" while appearing on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Rogers suggested that Clemmons get married as a cover for his sexual orientation, which he did. It didn’t work out. Despite the divorce Rogers still did not allow him to be out on his show, even refusing to allow him to wear an earring in his right ear, a signal of homosexuality in the 1970’s, during filming.
National
J. E. Freeman revealed his sexuality to the United States Marine Corps, leading to his discharge.
President Lyndon Johnson
Mississippi
Civil rights and lesbian activist Audre Lorde begins teaching at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi, where violent backlash to the Civil Rights Movement remains a serious threat. Tougaloo College also is known as the alma mater of Anne Moody, whose 1968 memoir, Coming of Age in Mississippi, is an unflinching narrative about growing up in the Jim Crow South and the grim realities of civil rights activism in rural Mississippi.
Copyright © Proud Scholars 2023.