January 1 - New York
In New York City Dr. Fritz Klein founded the Bisexual Forum, the first support group for the bisexual community.
October 1 - Chicago
A Catholic church in Chicago holds a special mass to celebrate the relationship between “the church and the homophile community.” While Chicago’s Archbishop, John Cardinal Cody keeps “a safe distance” from the service, it is described as the only “worship service conducted specifically for gay Catholics in a diocesan church with the full knowledge, if not tacit support, of the area’s top prelate.”
January 1 – Washington State
Several lesbian mothers and friends in Seattle form the Lesbian Mothers National Defense Fund to help lesbian mothers in custody disputes.
January 1 – California
The first Front Runners club was formed in San Francisco by Jack Baker and Gardner Pond. Front Runners clubs host one or more weekly fun runs. Following a 30-year tradition, members typically gather afterwards at a local restaurant.
Many of the larger clubs host social events such as potluck dinners and annual banquets; participate as a team in distance relays and international LGBT sporting events such as Gay Games, World Outgames, and EuroGames; and elect officers, have bylaws and a membership-dues structure. They focus on active lifestyles and networking. They exist in most major cities.
December 1 - Colorado
The efforts put forth by the Gay Coalition of Denver leads to the successful repeals of four city ordinances: Lewd Act, Loitering for Sexual Deviant Purposes, Renting a Room for Sexual Deviant Purposes, and an Anti-Drag law. A lawsuit filed with the city results in a major win for Denver’s gays and lesbians. The final verdict declares acts that are legal between heterosexual couples just as legal for homosexual couples.
January 1 – National
AT&T becomes first major American corporation to agree to an equal opportunity policy for lesbians.
January 1 – Utah
Robert Isaac McQueen, a returning missionary and son of a bishop becomes editor of a small gay magazine called The Advocate. From 1974 until his death in 1989, The Advocate publishes over 16 articles about the intersection of homosexuality within Mormon culture and the Church’s treatment of its gay members.
June 1 - Colorado
Capitol Hill emerges as Denver’s premiere gayborhood. Cheesman Park hunkers down as “the gay park,” and is the site of the first gay pride rally — or “gay-in” as it was called.
David Bailey Sindt
January 1 – National
Patricia Nell Warren’s book, The Front Runner, about a gay love story between a gay coach and a runner on his team, is published.
July 1 - Ohio
The Ohio Supreme Court rules that even though homosexuality is legal, the state can refuse to incorporate a gay organization because “the promotion of homosexuality as a valid life style is contrary to the public policy of the state.”
March 1 - Rhode Island
The Rhode Island State Council of Churches grants “affiliated status” to the local Metropolitan Community Church. In protest, Line Baptist Church in Foster withdraws from the American Baptist Churches of Rhode Island.
State equality and discrimination bills
United States LGBT History for 1974
January 1 – National
Undated Presbyterian Rev. David Bailey Sindt begins the Presbyterian Gay Caucus, which later becomes Presbyterians for Lesbian and Gay Concerns (PLGC), by holding a sign at the General Assembly that asks “Is anyone else out there gay?”
November 1 - Illinois
Episcopal Dr. Louie Crew, LGBT ECUSA, starts a newsletter called Integrity and Jim Wickliff founds the first chapter in Chicago
Dr. Louie Crew
November 1 - Michigan
Kathy Kozachenko is elected as an open lesbian to the Ann Arbor City Council.
January 1 – Oregon
The Portland City Council adopts Resolution Number 31510 banning job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation for city employees. The vote was 3-2, with Connie Macready, Charles Jordan, and Neil Goldschmidt voting yes; Mildred Schwab and Frank Ivancie voting no.
January 1 – New Jersey
A New Jersey superior court judge rules that a father’s sexual orientation is not in itself a reason to deny him child visitation, the first time a U.S. court has acknowledged the constitutional rights of gay
fathers.
January 1 – Ohio
Ohio Supreme Court rules that even though homosexuality is legal, the state can refuse to incorporate a gay organization because “the promotion of homosexuality as a valid life style is contrary to the public policy of the state.”
Kathy Kazachenko
President Richard Nixon
February 25 - National
Steven Grossman’s debut album Caravan Tonight is distinguished as being the first album dealing with openly gay themes and subject matter to be released on a major label.
January 1 – Michigan
Lesbian Connection begins publishing in East Lansing.
January 1 – Oregon
Kristan Aspen and Naomi Little Bear form the Ursa Minor Choir, a primarily lesbian music group.
January 1 – National
“Time“ and “Newsweek“ run “bisexual chic” articles
January 1 – National
John Lauritsen an author and activist publishes “The Early Homosexual Rights Movement” and “Religious Roots of the Taboo on Homosexuality”
February 1 - National
The PTL television ministry is founded by Jim Bakker and Tammy Fae Bakker. The religious organization that was littered with scandal and money laundering until bankruptcy and a failing business model pushed it out of business.
March 1 - National
Mary Wings produces the first all-lesbian themed comic book, COME OUT COMIX. She follows it with her self-published DYKE SHORTS (1978).
September 1 - Virginia
The Gay Alliance of Students group forms at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond. It asks for space and support from the school and is denied, then files suit against the school in Gay Alliance of Students v. Matthews, et al (the board of directors of VCU). The initial ruling favors the school and the decision is appealed.
April 1 - National
Sam Glanzman does a surprisingly sympathetic story called “TORO“, about a seaman who may be from faerie, or may simply be a fairy, in the “U.S.S. Stevens” story appearing in OUR FIGHTING FORCES #148.
April 1 - Rhode Island
The American Baptist Churches of Rhode Island appoints a panel to study whether homosexuals can lead Christian lives. The task force is chaired by the Rev. Robert Drechsler, pastor of Shawomet Baptist Church in Warwick, who at the time was living with the secret of being gay. The task force would conclude that “homosexuals are persons for whom Christ died.”
January 1 – Oregon
A few lesbians buy land in Southern Oregon and start the collective, Womanshare. Women living in Wolf Creek and other communal land publish WomanSpirit.
June 1 - Virginia/New York
Gay Awareness in Perspectives (GAP), a gay and lesbian group, forms in Richmond, Virginia. The organization publishes GAP RAP from 1974 to 1978.
January 1 – California
Privacy was appended to the California Constitution's Declaration of Rights for the first time, protecting gay people from being outed by certain public organizations.
January 1 – Georgia
Bill Smith begins publishing The Barb, a free gay newspaper distributed in gay bars locally in Atlanta and elsewhere until 1983.
January 1 – Oregon
A Portland gay newspaper called Northwest Gay Review is launched by Lanny Swerdlow and Neil Hutchins.
January 1 – Washington D.C.
Lambda book report made reference to a bookstore operated by Lambda Rising from 1974 to 2010.
Robert Isaac McQueen
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